UMass Football History ---1988

Click on the image for a larger view. I've added 14 scans to my UMass historical scans folder in Picassa. The album is here. Scroll to the new 1988 images. The inconspicuous magnifying glass image allows a zoom-in feature to make reading  print easier.

Included is a scan of the cover of the 1988 UMass Press Guide, somewhat the worse for having being soaked when my cellar flooded...

In 1988 UMass went 8-4 overall and 6-2 in the Yankee Conference to finish as conference champions.

UMass lost to Eastern Kentucky 17-28 in the first round of the FCS playoffs in a driving rain that hampered UMass' passing attack.

Notable game was UMass' 64-42 shootout win at UNH to finish the season on November 19th. I was there and I distinctly remember at the end of the game it was so dark that the field was lit by the glow of the Wildcats scoreboard showing the 64-42 total. The UMass players were jumping up and down and pumping their fists in gathering twilight.

The following players were All-Yankee Conference

• John McKeon (set UMass  single season TT record with 49-128 177 TT.
• Dave Palazzi (144-262 2,403 yards 14 TD's)
• Bill Butler
• Matt Tulley

Chip Mitchell was leading receiver with 33-638 19.4 AVE.

Kevin Smellie was leading rusher 188-807 8 TD's.

Other notables from that team were Gary Wilkos (who went on to have perhaps the best freshman UMass QB season ever), Thorr Bjorn, Paul Mayberry, Ron Villone and Joe Cullen.

A number of players from that squad continue to support UMass football in Friends of Football.

UMass Football history--- 1986

I've added 17 scans from 1986 to the "UMass Football History" collection. The link to the album is here. Note the tiny "magnifying glass' icon in the upper right of the images. Clicking that symbol presents a larger view to read text or have a closer look at the image. Click on the images above and blogger displays a much larger view.

Included in the scans are articles on Ned Toffey, Mike Moran, John Benzinger, Bob Greaney and Paul Manganaro.

UMass went 8-3 in 1986 and were Co-Yankee Conference Champs (5-2). A 17-20 loss to UConn in the last game of the season kept the Minutemen out of the playoffs. That was the 15th Yankee Conference title for UMass.

UMass QB Tim Bryant was Yankee Conference Rookie-of-the-Year. Bryant went 107-207 1,430 .517 AVE 6 TDs 111.6 EFF.

1986 Captains were Paul Manganaro and Stan Kaczoroski.

All-Yankee Conference players that year were John Benzinger OT), Stan Kaczoroski (OG), John McKeon (LB), Al Neri (FB), Pete Montini (C), Todd Rundle (LB), Bob Shelmire (DB) and Dimitry Yavis (P).

UMass played Maine at the Stadium at Old Orchard Beach. UMass won 23-13 in front of 8,500. Another article on the stadium renovation here. Mrs. Blog and I attended the game.

UMass also played Boston University at Nickerson Field. We won 34-25 in front of 12,000+. The two starters scans are from the BU program.

The image of the 1986 UMass press guide shows the damage it took during my basement flood.

Wednesday News --- May 12th, 2010

Former UMass TE and NFL All-Pro Milt Morin has been named to the College Hall of Fame.

This article has more including a bio of Morin. His UMass Hall of Fame bio here.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A couple of new names on the UMass football roster:

• Colton Leary WR RSJr 5-11 171
• Manny Nascimento LS RSFr 5-9 224

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'll be back tomorrow with some UMass History. I'm in the process of doing scans from six UMass 1986 football game programs including away games at Boston University, Holy Cross and Rhode island.

UMass Historical Scans--1985

Click on the image and Blogger displays a much large view. The 1985 UMass press guide depicted above has 80 pages and survived my basement flood although with some water stains.

I've added nine scans from four different 1985 UMass game programs to the UMass Football History section.

In 1985 UMass went 7-4 and 4-1 in the Yankee Conference (2nd place). That was Bob Stull's second and last season as head coach. Captains were Paul Platek and George Barnwell.

Dave Palazzi, Paul Platek, Todd Rundle and Bob Shelmire were All-Yankee Conference.

Al Neri led the team in rushing with 530 yards. Dave Palazzi went 84/157 1152 and 5 TD's. John McKeown had 80 UT 56 AT 136 TT to start on his way to becoming UMass all-time career leader in tackles.

I included a cover from the UMass-Northeastern game at Parsons Field. They were celebrating their 50th year of football.

Friday News---February 5th, 2010

The SeaCoast OnLine remembers Bob Pickett's Maine roots.

Matty Vautour has more tributes to Bob Pickett.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Daily Collegian has more about former UMass Captain Sean Smalls' December arrest.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Foxboro reporter has an article on Mike Delaney signing a LOI with UMass football.

A Foxboro Reporter photo.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wicked Local Norwood has a story on Dom Wooten verbaling to UMass.

A Robin Chant/Wicked Local Norwood image







------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Sun Chronicle has an article on both Matt Campbell and Mike Delaney signing with UMass.




A Sun-Chronicle image.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WEEI has a story on local college seniors (including Vladimir Ducasse and Mike McLaughlin), who were invited to the NFL combine.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Former UMass standout and assistant coach Ben Albert has joined another UMass football alum Joe Cullen as an assistant coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2010's OOC opponent Stony Brook has announced its schedule.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Memories of Kansas State

Presented here are three scans from UMass-Kansas State game program of September 13,2003. Click on the image and Blogger displays a larger view.

In 2003 UMass went 10-3 with losses to the Wildcats and triple-overtime thriller to Delaware. We then lost in the first round of the playoffs in the Colgate Snow Bowl. The Minutemen were, for the 19th time, A10 Champions that year.

This was one of Whipple's best teams. The Captains were Jeremy Cain, Jeff Krohn and Anton Mckenzie. On offense there were such names as Jason Peebler, R.J. Cobbs, Jimmie Howard, Rob Kane, Colin Stoetzel and David Thompson.

On defense there were, beside the two captains, Shannon James,Valdamar Brower, Serge Tikum, L.A. Love, Steve Costello and more.

For K-State the big name was Darren Sproles.

UPDATE: Article published today says Sproles may be the NFL's toughest player.

UMass led after the first quarter 7-0 after Jason Peebler's 65-yard bomb from Jeff Krohn. The rest of the game was all Wildcats as they outgained us 490 to 191 yards. Sproles rushed 28 times for 152 yards and 3TDs. The UMass defense held K-State to a season low 38 points and forced four turnovers. The Cats had 46,102 fans at the game.

Tuesday News ----- 05/12/09

Not much UMass or FCS football news on the wires today.

Over on one of the Kansas State boards, they have a link to this YouTube video tribute to the once-and-again Wildcats coach Bill Snyder. Nicely done. Snyder was the miracle man at K-State. Without him they averaged .243 winning average (137-445-18). With him the Wildcats went to eleven straight bowl games.

I went to the 2003 UMass-Kansas State game back in 2003. The crowd of 46,102 was the third largest to ever watch a UMass football game.

UMass led 7-3 after the first quarter on 63 yard TD pass to from Jeff Krohn to Jason Peebler.

The Wildcats primarily ran their star RB Darren Sproles. He ended up 28-152-3 TD's. We actually did a pretty good job on him. If I remember right, he got loose for a 30+ yard game once and another for about 18 yards. The other 26 carries averaged about three yards each.

Image from the K-State athletic dept site.

Outside of the long gain to Peebler, we only had ten first downs. After every K-State first down the stadium announcer would say "That's another Wildcat"--- and the crowd would roar "First Down!" By the fourth quarter, the UMass fans were doing the same thing for UMass first downs. We were a small but fiesty bunch.

I had a good time at the game and I'll always remember dodging pronghorn antelope on Interstate 70 on the drive back to Kansas City.

Coach MacPherson joins College football Hall-of-Fame

Former UMass, Syracuse and Patriots coach Dick MacPherson has been elected to the College Football Hall-of-Fame.

UMass Athletic Dept story here. Syracuse Athletic Dept news release here.

The Boston Herald has the AP release here. The Post-Standard has a stories here and here.

Congrats to Coach "Mac". He is one of a kind and can tell football stories like few others.

UMass fans will always wonder what would have happened if the UMass administration had allowed him to take UMass into the Big East.

UMass Historical Scans-- 1984

Click on the image above and Blogger displays a larger view. In the Picasa Web album link, each image has a small magnifying glass icon in the upper right corner. Picasa will display a large view that can be scrolled by dragging. It's useful for reading the rosters and other print material.

The album link is here. The total scans are now up to 98 images covering 1971, 1973 and 1976 to 1984. There are 14 scans from 1984.

In 1984 Coach Bob Stull was in the first year of his two-year stint with UMass. UMass Captains were Tom McEvilly and Navy transfer Peter Tracy.

UMass finished 3-8 with wins over Ball State (the last I-A win, I think), Northeastern and UNH. We lost to Lehigh, Holy Cross, Rhode Island, Richmond, Maine, BU, UConn and Delaware.

1984 was the year UMass renamed Alumni Stadium as Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium. In the 1984 scans there is a text image describing the career of Warren McGuirk (in case you've ever wondered why the stadium was named after him).

The game against UConn on 11/3/84 was the 100th game at McGuirk.

The 1984 team had the tandem brothers of Jim Simeone (1,595 yards 147/313 .470 5/8 TD/INT 89.9 eff) at QB and Bob Simeone (52- 794 yards 5 TDs) at WR. George Barnwell (931 yards and 3TDs) and Frank Fay were the RBs. On defense Holyoke's Dave Cavanaugh was at OLB/DE. Mike Dwyer was to be a first team All-America in '85. Todd Comeau (who has checked in here a number of times) was another OLB. Vito Perrone led the defense with 82 UT 45 AT 127 TT.

Two of the scans are from the UMass-Holy Cross game. The Crusaders were about to start their great run in the 80's. Their roster has Gil (the thrill) Fenerty and Gordy Lockbaum.

That was 25 years ago!

UMass Historical Scans ---- 1983

I've added fourteen scans from four different 1983 game programs to the "UMass Football History" folder. The link is here. The new scans are marked 1983. Be sure to use the magnifying glass option for larger views of the scans. Clicking and dragging the image allows easier reading of the captions or text.

The historical section now totals 84 scans covering 1971, 1973 and 1976 through 1983.

UMass finished 3-8 in 1983. We had wins over Harvard, Maine and Boston University. Losses were to Toledo, Holy Cross, Rhode Island, Delaware, UConn, Lehigh, UNH and Northeastern.

UMass Captains were Grady Fuller (1st team All-YC), Richard Jenkins and Gary Freker.

Bob Picket was Head Coach. Assistant coaches were Mike Hodges, Jim Reid, Bob McConnell, Kevin Karwath, Doug Berry and Steve Telander.

1983 was the last year of Bob Pickett's six year run as head coach.

Wisdom of the Blog---- Top UMass Quarterback

The greatest quarterbacks blog poll came directly from the career top 10 list in the 2008 UMass press guide. The 100 Blog votes went like this:

1. Liam Coen- 05-08 39 votes. Liam leads UMass in career TD's, Season and career passing efficiency, total yards and most yards gained in a single game (three of the top four). Coen has played in a lot of games and that adds to his career statistics. He played in 15 games in 2006, which was almost two seasons for the old time quarterbacks.
2. Todd Bankhead- 98-99 23 votes. Todd is the only UMass QB to win a national championship. Coach Whipple offered a scholarship to a QB he never spoke with in person from a JUCO in CA. A couple of months later, Bankhead was all over the Delaware defense and the single greatest season in UMass history was in motion. Bankhead played two years and holds the top two single season yards gained record. He put UMass on the map in the modern era.
3. Greg Landry 65-67 13 votes. Landry is UMass' only first round NFL Draft pick. His 1965 QB efficiency rating of 145.4 still stands as the UMass record. All-Pro for Detroit in 1971. Again, it would be interesting to see Landry in Whipple's offense.
   
4. Dave Palazzi. 85-88 13 votes. Palazzi was a I-A level QB. He was somehow missed by BC, Syracuse or Penn State. If he had played for a I-A team, he would have had several bowl trophies sitting in his rec room. Palazzi's 3rd in all-time career passing. Remember he was playing in an option offense.
5. Jeff Krohn 02-03 5 votes. After UMass' national championship, the question was open if UMass was going to have to wait another 20 years for a top level FCS/I-AA team. Krohn answered that question. Jeff kept the lights on in the Minutemen's reputation as a national and conference power. In his time before UMass, he led the PAC10 in passing...
6. Tim Day 02-05 1 vote. Tim is 6th in career passing for UMass and third in career passing completion average.
7. Mike McEvilly 77-79 1 vote. Mike is 9th in career yards passing.
8. Andrew McNeilly 92-95 1 vote. McNeilly is 10th in total yards passing. Another QB who played in an option oriented offense. He never had more than 86 completions in any season.
9. Gary Wilkos 89-90 1 vote. If any UMass QB reminded me of Tom Brady, it's Wilkos. Gary had that kind of demeanor as a QB. He only played 1.5 seasons before suffering a spinal injury that ended his career. He's still the #3 ranked freshman QB in UMass history.
10. Peil Pennington 71-73 0 votes. Maybe UMass' best pure passing QB. Still #6 in total yards passing.
    
11. Jerry Whelchel 62-64 0 votes. Played in the old-old Yankee Conference "three yards and a cloud of dust" offenses. He's #11 in total yards passing.

The results show a tendency to favor the more recent quarterbacks (as you might expect). Many of the older QB's played in offenses that were far removed from Whipple's high-octane passing game. Parsing the list by yards per attempt is fairer to the older QBs and looks like this:

1. Liam Coen 8.6 yards per attempt
2. Jerry Welchel 8.4
3. Tod Bankhead 7.5
4. Gary Wilkos 7.2
5. Tim Day 7.1
6. Noel Reebenacker 7.1 (1950-1952)
7. Dave Palazzi 7.1
8. Jeff Krohn 7.0
9. Greg Landry 7.0
10. Brian NcNally 6.7
11. Peil Pennington 6.6
    

Wisdom of the Blog------ Greatest UMass RB

The results of the RB poll went as follows:

1. Marcel Shipp 56 votes
2. Steve Baylark 26 votes
3. Rene Ingoglia 7 votes
4. Lou Bush 6 votes
5. Gary Pearson 4 votes
6. Frank Alessio 1 vote
7. Jerome Bledsoe 1 vote

Marcel Shipp finished his UMass career with 6,250 yards, 5.2 yards/carry and 58 TDs. His career total yards record will stand for some time.

Steve Baylark ended with 5,332 yards, 4.8 yards/carry and 42 TD's.

Rene Ingoglia is third in UMass career yards with 3,624, 5.1 yards/carry and 54 TD's. He had the best run I've ever seen at McGuirk against Delaware.

Lou Bush was an All-American at UMass when there was only one division. He scored a phenomenal 39 TD's in 1931 and 1932.

Garry Pearson was a two-time first team All-American. He's fourth in career rushing with 3,859 yards 4.8 yards/carry and 35 TDs. He was especially great against UConn. Pearson averaged over 200 yards/game against the Huskies.

Jerome Bledsoe is sixth in UMass career yards with 2,216, 6.0 yards/carry and 20 TD's. How tough was Jerome? He broke his leg playing against Holy Cross and lied to the coaches and told them it was OK so he could stay on the sidelines and see the rest of the game.

Frank Alessio is fifth in UMass career rushing with 2,887 yards, 5.6 yards/carry and 20 TD's. He holds the UMass single game record of 337 yards against BU. In 1995 he averaged 7.9 yards every time he carried the ball. Two of the top ten longest runs in UMass history belong to Alessio.

UPDATE: I should have mentioned Rene Ingoglia was one of two RB's included in the Yankee Conference's 50th Anniversary Team. Being rated as one of the top two running backs in 50 years covers a lot of territory.

My Top Ten UMass Football experiences

Only thirty days until the 2008 season opens and only five days till football camp starts! Be still my heart.

I read this article about one man's ten best college football experiences and I started thinking about my ten best UMass football memories. This list only contains games that I was actually in attendance.

1. Attending the National Championship game against Appalachian State in Chattanoogna.
   
2. Attending the 1978 27-0 win over Boston College and the largest ever crowd (20,000) at McGuirk.
3. Being at the 1996 UMass-UConn game at McGuirk. UMass was down 38-19 with twelve minutes to play. UMass TE Eric Henry catches a Jeff Smith pass with 31 seconds left for a UMass win 39-38. Greatest comeback in UMass history.
4. The Fly0ver at the Navy game. Two S-3's go over the stadium 500 feet up. And UMass played great football. The UMass band wows the Navy crowd.
5. Being at the BU game at Nickerson field when Frank Alessio ran for 337 yards.
6. Watching the Hatchell brothers beat UNH in both 2006 games.
7. Watching Steve Lemay's 102 yard interception for a TD against BU.
   
8. Watching Ben Albert score a TD and beat Holy Cross 7-3 and end their long home win streak.
9. Watching UMass beat Lehigh 27-21 in the first FCS playoff game at McGuirk since 1977.
10. Watching UMass crush UConn 62-20 in 1999. UMass played everybody except the student managers.

What's your favorite memory? TV games don't count. You had to have been there.

UPDATE: Just purchased two Texas Tech tickets from the UMass Athletic Ticket office! An honorable mention favorite UMass memory would be the Kansas State game. UMass led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter and there were 60,000 very, very quiet Cats fans at the game.

UMass Football History --- 1982 Game Program Scans

I've added 15 images from various 1982 UMass game programs to the UMass Historical Scans section of the blog. The link is here . Included are some featured scans of Garry Pearson.

In 1982 UMass went 5-6 and 3-2 in the Yankee Conference.

On 11/13/82 UMass defeated New Hampshire to win a piece of their 14th Yankee Conference Championship.

On 11/30/82 Garry Pearson rushed for a then-UMass single game record of 288 yards against AIC. He finished with 1,631 yards, 312 attempts, 5.2 yards/carry and 13 TDs.

All Yankee Conference were:

• Glen Holden CB
• Garry Pearson RB
• Todd Comeau DE
• Gary Frecker TE
• Grady Fuller S
• Scott LaFond LG

I found a number of 1982 game programs in the vast UMass Football Blog archives, that accounts for the larger number of scans than normal for 1982.

The historical scans section of the Blog now includes:

• 1971
• 1973
• 1976 through 1982

Check out George Parks' beard !
Enjoy!