Hooray for Upsets

Fantastic season openers dominated Week One of the 2007 college football season with not only the University of Michigan bowing to defending national 1-AA champion Appalachian State, but Tennessee, Rice, Florida State,and the Brave Old Army team also going down in defeat.
Modern day sportscasters called the Appalalchian victory perhaps the greatest upset of all times in the College game. They apparently never heard about little Centre College going East to tumble proud Harvard, or little Mississippi Southern invading Montgomery in 1953 to shock defending Orange Bowl champion Alabama, 25-19, in the lid-lifter on a Friday night before other teams started play the very next day.
Alabama had throttled Syracuse in the Orange Bowl and had most of their key players returning, including Quarterback Bart Starr. Coached by Red Drew the Crimson Tide had been selected as the likely SEC champion but a national contender as well. Southern was coached by Thad (Pie) Vann and he rounded up a sterling group of Junior College players which blended well with his returning starters, plus a couple of war veterans, six-six Marine Corps veteran Sgt. Don Owens, and six-five Army warrior Jim (Coon Dog) Davis.
Owens weighted 250, Davis 245, which was huge in those days. Davis' next birthday was either 29 or 30,as my memory is correct.
Southern also had the best one-two running back combo in America, a pair of former Junior College backs, Fullback Bucky McElroy and Halfback Hugh Laurin Pepper. McElroy was a a steam roller, Pepper a jet-propelled bomber. As juniors Pepper and McElroy, the Black Knight from the Bayous, out-gained Heisman Trophy winner Billy Vessels and Buck McPhail of Oklahoma.
In 1953 gridders played both ways. Pepper was superb defending passes, intercepting them and running back for touchdowns. McElroy was a dynamic line-backer, who later played 60 minutes in Southern's 14-0 whitewashing of the University of Georgia, whose quarterback Deke Bratkowski had been averaging three touchdowns a game.
Both Pepper and McElroy made Little All American and Mid-Bracket All=-America but neither is in the College Football Hall of Fame but both have been nominated. Both are still alive and should be honored over a half century later while they can still smell the roses.
Southern also had two great defensive ends Stonewall Jackson Brumfield and Richard Caldwell, who were coached by H.A. Smith, a one-time Chicago Bear. Brumfield haunted Bratkowski and Starr as did Caldwell.
Alabama rallied to win the SEC and play Rice in the Cotton Bowl in the famous game where Tommy Lewis came off the bench to tackle Dickie Moegle.
Jerry Moore, The Appalachian State coach, who has already received the All-American Football Foundation's Johnny Vaught Head Coach Award, and has been honored as Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association, probably clinched his future induction in to the College Football Hall of Fame with his team's victory over mighty Michigan.
The Wolverines will come back after this staggering loss. That's my prediction.
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On another note did you see where Leona Helmsley left her pet dog millions of dollars in her will. No dog should be lonely. I think that my dog, Christian, should be introduced to Leona's dog. If they hit it off Christian would move to New York. I have discussed this with him and he told me he would never leave me and move to New York, and since I lived and worked in the New York area I obviously knew the best places to hang out, including Jimmy Neary's Pub on East 57th street between First and Second avenue. Christian told me he would not move to New York to hang out with Leona's pup unless I went with him. I agreed.
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