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The Undefeated 1967 Fulton
High "Mighty MitesTM
©"
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FRONT ROW : Randy Woods, Larry Brock, Louis Bridges,
Skipper Bean, Steve Sparks, Doug Young, Thomas Pearson, Gary
Stacy. SECOND ROW: Ricky Bridges, David Smith, Mickey
Walker, Ted Williams, Butch Sprain, Roger Davis, Ernie
Tracy, Jackie Walker, David McNeal, THIRD ROW: Mike Cockrum,
Tommy Cook, Mike Lewis, Bob Gough, Lanier Patterson, Ed
Taylor, Steve Calhoun, Gary Raley, Vince Ingle, James
Grimes. BACK ROW: Ben Byrd, Max Overton, Ervin Humphreys,
David Holt, David Mize, Herb Newton, LeRoy Brown, Leonard Hardin, Terry
Russell, Ralph Majors. Not pictured is Gary Lakins. The
roster below are team members that completed the
season. Trainer: Jack Berry. Coaches" Lon Herzbrun, Buddy
Beam, Bob Black.
Remembering the Undefeated 1967 Fulton Falcons
by: Russell Mayes |
The
2007 Fulton Falcons
First Game:
August 31, 2007 - Fulton v. Oak Ridge
See
1967 Fulton vs. Oak Ridge Game Film
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Fulton High -
Turning boys into winners and winning into a tradition.
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Bob Black Field at Fulton High School in Knoxville,
Tennessee - Home of the Falcons
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"Mighty Mites Win Again"
1967 Headline in an Article in Knoxville, Tennessee Newspaper
The 1967 "Might Mites"
"It is the size of the heart that is the measure of the man." --
Coach Lon Herzbrun
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Seed or Soil
©
Are winner's made or born? Is it the seed or the soil?
Most would say it is a little of each. But, one thing is for sure, no
seed will grow on barren ground and no ground will sprout
without a seed. That's true with football. Winning
football teams are made of a rare combination of players and
coaches, of desire and opportunity, of character and
confidence, of hope and discipline, of seed and soil. |
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The 1967 Fulton High
Falcon "Mighty Mites"
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"It wasn't about how big they
were, it was about the size of their hearts." -- Coach Lon
Herzbrun
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This site is dedicated to the 1967
Fulton Falcon "Mighty Mites", their coaches and their undefeated
season.
It is the story of the only undefeated
football team in the 56 year history of Fulton High School. As you
will see,
the "mighty mites" left more than an undefeated record behind; they
left an inspirational legacy and a timeless message to all that
hope, desire and discipline place no bounds upon what one may
achieve.
Under Fulton head coach Buck Coatney the Fulton Falcons have become
a
Tennessee football dynasty. Coatney led the Falcon to State Championships in
the State of Tennessee in 2003, 2004, and 2006.
High School Football in Tennessee
In East Tennessee there is nothing
bigger than high school football on Friday night. Tennessee football
is king and a matter of individual and community pride.
In Tennessee football
really matters. Every Friday night thousands gather to watch their
teams play.
There is nothing more Americana than
high school football in Tennessee. The lights, the color, the
crowds, the bands, hot dogs and cold drinks, the American flag
flying above the field, fans raising with their hands on their
hearts as the Star Spangled Banner plays, and the excitement of
football is in the air. It is what we call here in Falcon country,
Falcon pride and the 1967 Falcons had it, a lot of it.
The 1967 Fulton Falcon "Mighty Mites"
The Fulton Falcon’s winning tradition
all started in 1967 with a tough little band of die-hard football
players and a
group of inspiring no bones about it football coaches who believed
that football was about conditioning, teamwork and the desire to
win. That season, the players and the coaches made
winning a tradition at Fulton High School.
The
mighty mites line only averaged 145 lbs and they played
against teams that outweighed them by more than 50 lbs a man. They
were in the biggest and strongest division in the State of Tennessee
at that time and played one of the, if not the, toughest schedules in the entire
state. 8 of the 11 teams they played were in the Top 20 in the state
all year. The 67' Fulton Falcon's were the first team to go
undefeated in East Tennessee in a decade.
Lon Herzbrun, Bob Black, Buddy Beam and
Dickey Sharp were the coaches. Herzbrun, the head coach, played
linebacker for the Detroit Lions. The line and defensive coach, Bob Black, was a
small college All-American. Both of them played for the Knoxville
Bears, a semi-pro football team while they were coaching the 67’
Falcons. The Fulton players used to go to the games.
The men that
were coaching the 67' Falcons earlier in the day were on the field themselves
at night. No player could question whether they were tough and could
do what they were pushing the players to do. Herzbrun and Black were
monsters on the field and it certainly made believers of the 67
Falcons who saw them play during that legendary undefeated Falcon
season.
The "mighty mites" were a very special team that may only come along
every decade or so and whose greatest was not really revealed until
set against the test of time. There has been no undefeated football
team in the 56 year history of Fulton High School and although being
undefeated 13 years after the school was built may not have seem so
great, the fact that no Fulton High School football team has gone
undefeated in the 40 years since proves that the 67' Falcons were
special.
The
story of the "Mighty Mites"
and their coaches is not only a tale of individual struggle, but, it
is also one of unity and of a team effort.
The 67' Falcons are an example of an inspired desire to win and pay
the price to do it.
The
story of the 67' Falcons transcends the game of football, for
it is the story of the "mighty mites" that overcame all odds, and
as, one sport writer put it "big hurdles" to forever plant in
Tennessee football history an undefeated season and become KFL
champions.
It is a story of the stuff of which legends are made. It is about
hard work paying off. About setting
goals and the effort to make them happen. It is about tradition.
It is
a story about the inspiration
necessary to turn boys into winners and winning into a tradition.
And, a story of families that taught their children how to
survive and coaches that taught them to win.
You Had to Want it
On the first day of football practice
over 100 guys went out for the 1967 Fulton High School football
team. Some
probably thought it would be fun to be on the football team. Some
may have
thought it was an in thing to do. But, many learned very quickly
that it just wasn’t something you had a casual desire to do. You had
to really wanted to play football. It wasn’t tea on the back porch.
It was a tough hard hitting game that wasn’t for the weak or faint
hearted.
It was a hot summer day in August and
the Fulton High Falcons were in two a day practices weeding out
those that did not really want to play. The coaches were preparing
what would be the
last 32 standing for what became the only undefeated team in the
history of the school. The dirt would coat the lips of dry thirsty
mouths as sweet poured from every part of their bodies that had been
pushed to the limit, and, for some, beyond.
In the 90 degree heat and grueling two a
day practices they were dropping like flies, literally passing out.
Most of those that didn’t pass out: quit, just from the sheer
physical pain of the grass drills, running the circle, the laps, the
sprints, carrying the dummies on their backs to the school a mile
away and then running stadiums to the braking point and then beyond.
For those that could withstand the physical demands of the two a
practices they had to hit and hit hard. Almost all the big guys quit.
All that was left would become known as the "mighty mites."
Guts to Glory
The 32 players that made the team were
some of the toughest guys on any team in the state of Tennessee at a
time when high school football was as big as it gets. As the 1967
Fulton Falcons began the season the line averaged somewhere around 145 lbs a man and
for the most part they were out weighed by an average of 50 lbs a man against every team
they played. As they began an undefeated streak that started in 1996
and did not end until the 8th game of the 1998 season, the papers
began to refer to them as the “mighty
mites.” Before that they were "lightweights," featherweights," or
"flyweights." It was the winning that made them "mighty."
As they won game after game the crowds
got bigger and bigger. People flocked to standing room only stadiums to see a
team do what couldn’t be done Little kids waited outside the
dressing room to pat them on the back, shake their hands or beg for a chin
strap.
The "Mighty Mites" won game after game against bigger
stronger teams. The mighty mite Fulton Falcons were in better shape
than any team they played and they knew it. The fourth quarter was
Fulton’s and that’s when they won a lot of games. Although the
Fulton High Falcons have had many great teams since 1967, including
4 State Championships, no other Falcon team has gone undefeated in
the 56 year history of Fulton High School.
1967 Optimist Bowl
Fulton High
School vs. Morristown High School
Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 1967
Both teams were rated in
the top ten in the state. Fulton was undefeated and Morristown was 9
and 1 with and 8 game winning streak. Fulton won the game 27-6 with
a 16 point 4th quarter surge. The Fulton offense put up 356 yards in
total offense while the Fulton defense held Morristown to net
rushing yardage of zero. The impressive Fulton victory over
Morristown broke a 58 game non-conference winning streak by
Morristown. All-State Linebacker Jackie Walker was the defensive MVP
and quarterback Larry Brock was named the offensive MVP.
The
1967 Fulton High School Falcons remain the only undefeated football
team in the history of Fulton High School.
If anyone ever says you
can't. Ask: Why not? The mighty Fulton Falcons did.
“The price of success is
hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that
whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the
task at hand.” - Vince Lambardi
In In honor
of the 1967 Fulton Falcons - a CAN DO team
Copyright
FultonHighFalcons.com 2007
All rights reserved |
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