Tech Football | 100th Anniversary: Tragedy creates spark toward first OVC title, bowl appearance
The 1950s was a decade of prosperity for the United States following the close of World War II. So too was the gridiron for the Tennessee Tech football team during that period as the Golden Eagles won five Ohio Valley Conference championships during that era. However, it was a tragedy that sparked that run.
PART FOUR: A time for transition (1940-1949)
PART THREE: A changing landscape (1930-1939)
PART TWO: A search for identity (1920-1929)
PART ONE: The pre-varsity years (1916-1921)
By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
The 1950s was a decade of prosperity for the United States following the close of World War II. So too was the gridiron for the Tennessee Tech football team during that period as the Golden Eagles won five Ohio Valley Conference championships during that era.
However, it was a tragedy that sparked that run.
The 1950 season opened with a change at the helm as Hooper Eblen stepped back to become an associate professor in the Health and Physical Education department and help oversee intramurals. Eblen's story with Tennessee Tech was far from over though – he later served as athletic director from 1962 to 1974 and was the namesake for the current basketball arena.
In Eblen's stead, Sterling "Star" Wood became the head coach in December 1949 and oversaw the Golden Eagles in 1950 and 1951, the first of what was three head coaching posts for the later Tennessee Sports Hall of Famer. Wood later became the head coach and athletic director at East Tennessee State.
The 1950 season saw the Golden Eagles go 4-7, 1-5 in the OVC as a 13-0 victory at Evansville proved to be the lone league win that year, but Tech also claimed a 21-6 victory over Carson-Newman, a 61-6 win over Howard (Samford) and a 41-12 win over Union. The brief five-year series against Tennessee was in its fourth contest with the Vols winning 48-14.
In the spring of 1951, Sparta native Robert Hill Johnson transferred to Tennessee Polytechnic Institute. The 1951 Tech game program said Johnson came to finish his degree and serve as an assistant coach, overseeing the ends and scouting for Wood and assistants Calvin Frey and Wilburn Tucker.
Johnson was the eldest of two sons of Ammon E. and Mary Hill Johnson. He attended White County High School for one year, then transferred to the Baylor School in Chattanooga, playing football there for three years and graduating in the Class of 1947. While at Baylor, Johnson suffered a shoulder injury, but it wasn't enough to sideline him as he caught the eye of the University of Alabama.
Following his freshman year, Johnson was on the 1949 roster for the Crimson Tide, suiting up at quarterback and wearing the number 4. However, another injury in preseason practice on the shoulder that plagued him ended his playing career, but he refused to let go of the game he loved.
The Golden Eagles had an up-and-down season in 1951, finishing 5-5-1 that year, including a 3-3 mark in Tech's third season in the Ohio Valley Conference, beating Morehead State, Western Kentucky and Evansville in league play, while falling to Murray State, Eastern Kentucky and Marshall at the end of its brief stay in the OVC. Tech also had contests against Southeastern Conference foes Kentucky and eventual national champion Tennessee, before closing out the season with a 14-14 tie against rival Middle Tennessee in Murfreesboro.
The future was looking bright for Tech football though. Unfortunately, Johnson never got to see it.
It was about 1:15 a.m. on January 14, 1952. Johnson and his passenger, Erbie Clark, were returning to Sparta from Nashville on the Woodbury highway near Cripple Creek about seven miles east of Murfreesboro. It was unseasonably warm, creating slick road conditions. Johnson attempted to make the curve, but crashed in the process. Johnson was killed instantly, while Clark escaped with minor injuries.
The family held the funeral the next day at their family home in Sparta with a wide outpouring of sympathy and support. Members of the Golden Eagle football team served as honorary pallbearers.
Tennessee Tech football alum Ed Zegarske, who was broadcasting the Tech games for WHUB at the time, was quoted: "Football fans in the Upper Cumberland region have suffered a tremendous loss. A promising career would have been his for he had demonstrated his ability to lead men and his knowledge of the game was declared outstanding for a person his age. These qualities, plus his intense love of the game, would have led him upward to success."
In the January 25, 1952, edition of the Tech Oracle, the newspaper pleaded that something be done to honor the memory of their fallen classmate.
"His fighting spirit and brilliant young football mind brought him to our campus, where he spent many hours helping other young men solve the intricate problems of football. The spirit and determination which he displayed during his lifetime will live forever on the football field at Tennessee Tech. Tech lost one of its greatest assets – a young man who would have contributed much more to the high ideals of this institution.
"The editors suggest that something constructive be done to honor the memory of Robert Hill Johnson. Whatever is done, however, should have the unanimous consent and approval of all concerned. We feel that he would have wanted it no other way."
After Coach Wood left to take over the football program at ETSU, P.V. "Putty" Overall came back to the lead spot for the Golden Eagles and led Tech to one of its best seasons in program history. Tackle Tom Fann was named an Associated Press Little All-American, while he was joined by Eddie Scott on the All-OVC squad.
The season opened with the Golden Eagles cruising to a 27-0 victory over Fort Campbell as Paul Satterfield scored the season's first touchdown on a two-yard rush, then Jack Van Hooser had a great drive with two passes and a touchdown rush. Tech then scored 13 points in the final 43 seconds of the game as Jack Matthews completed a pass to Eddie Scott, then Sonny Allen intercepted a last-ditch effort and returned it 55 yards for the pick-six.
It was the start of nine straight wins, including the first victory over Murray State since 1942 as Lynn Pugh blocked a game-tying extra point for the 14-13 win. Tech trounced Morehead State 30-6, Eastern Kentucky 28-14 on touchdowns from Kenneth Broyles and Scott on a Van Hooser pass.
Arkansas State finished the previous year 10-0 and had the offensive advantage against Tech, but the Golden Eagles clinched the game on a 73-yard drive as Van Hooser connected to Scott for a three-yard score for the 21-13 win. Undefeated Western Kentucky was the next victim, Tech holding on 21-13, then the Golden Eagles made the trip to Huntington, W.Va., to claim its first victory against Marshall as Paul Satterfield ran for two scores, then added on by Jack Matthews and Van Hooser throwing a strike to David Ransom for a 28-7 win.
The next week, the Golden Eagles were reunited with their previous coach as Star Wood's East Tennessee squad came to Overall Field. The Buccaneers took an early lead on a Tech fumble, but the Golden Eagles countered as Satterfield scored from five out, then Bobby Holloway continued to be automatic with the extra point. Ransom scored from the one to complete the drive Don Francisco started before leaving with an injury. Scott worked his way around the Tech line for the touchdown, then held off ETSU for the 21-13 victory.
The winning streak continued as Tech blanked Memphis on a season-high 360 rushing yards – 412 against East Tennessee State four years later stands as the school record. The Tigers intercepted the ball on their 13 but Memphis turned the ball over on downs at the Tech 21 – and that proved to be their only scoring chance of the night.
Instead, Tech shut down Memphis as Satterfield and Broyles had touchdown runs, Van Hooser threw a TD pass to Scott, Matthews scored from the one, then Gordon Miller intercepted the ball for a 55-yard score.
The winning streak ended on Thanksgiving of all days as the Golden Eagles took on Middle Tennessee in the annual game against the Blue Raiders. MTSU went up 19-0, but Broyles broke up the shutout late with a score.
At halftime, University President Everett Derryberry and Robert Hill Johnson's younger brother, Bill, made the first presentation of the Robert Hill Johnson Award. Flavious Smith was the first winner.
As the award celebrates its 70th anniversary this season – one of the longest named awards given out by a college or university – its alumni is a veritable Who's Who of Tennessee Tech football talent with many of its winners going on to become TTU Sports Hall of Famers. Even today, the Robert Hill Johnson Award stands as Tennessee Tech football's highest honor and is one of the longest continuously awarded honor bestowed by a collegiate athletics program. The winner is selected each year by a vote of the members of the Tech football team.
Three Golden Eagle football players – Larry Schreiber (1967-69), Larry Shipp (2005-07) and Tim Benford (2008, 2010-11) – have won it three times. Barry Wilmore, who won the NCAA's Theodore Roosevelt Award – the organization's highest honor – was a Robert Hill Johnson winner in 1985.
Bill Johnson, a star at White County High at the time, went on to become a three-year letterwinner at Tennessee, starting the 1956 and 1957 seasons at guard, earning All-America and Academic All-America honors in 1957 – the first Volunteer to do that and just one of three in program history – and helping lead UT to an SEC championship in 1956.
He returned to Tennessee to serve on its athletics board from 1972, then served as a trustee for 21 years. He was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1980. A long-time supporter of Tennessee Tech football and Golden Eagle athletics, the younger Johnson brother passed away in 2020.
With the loss to Middle Tennessee, the Golden Eagles split the 1952 Ohio Valley Conference championship with Western Kentucky, both going 4-1 in the league. With that, Tech was invited to its first bowl game – the 1953 Tangerine Bowl on New Year's Day in Orlando, Fla.
Their opponent was East Texas State – now known as Texas A&M-Commerce, who will be playing its first season of Division I Football Championship Subdivision competition this season (and facing the Golden Eagles on Sept. 10). The Lions then were ranked 43rd nationally in the Litkenhous ratings, Tech 118th.
The Tangerine Bowl was started in 1947 and continues to be one of the oldest non-College Football Playoff Bowls. Before 1968, the game featured matchups between Southern schools with the OVC holding a tie-in from 1948 to 1967, the Mid-American Conference from 1968-75, the Southern Conference from 1968-72, the Southeastern Conference in 1972 and 1973 and the Atlantic Coast Conference from 1987 to 1991.
In 1983, the Tangerine Bowl took on the name most know it as now – the Citrus Bowl.
An armada of Tech students, the Golden Eagle band and cheerleaders, as well as a crowd of well-wishers, left from Cookeville on Dec. 29, stopping in Atlanta and Jacksonville, Fla., along the way. On New Year's Eve, the Tech marching band appeared the bowl parade, then the Tech party continued at the Angebilt Hotel and a pep rally in Orlando's town center.
The attendance at the game was 12,340 – a high point in the bowl's early history – with proceeds going to the Harry-Anna Crippled Children's Home.
East Texas State lived up to its reputation, claiming its 19th straight win as the Lions shut out the Golden Eagles. Marvin "Nubbin" Brown was named the game MVP after scoring touchdowns of 25 and 73 yards. Van Hooser saw an interception by Glynn Johnson returned for 75 yards, then Lucky Parks scored the final touchdown. James Gray also had two touchdown passes.
Tech's offense was slowed down as the Golden Eagles rushed for 72 yards and passed for 144. Broyles, Anderson and Satterfield put together an offensive charge early, but was held at the Lions' 6. After the Tech line was able to block a punt at the 18, the drive ended after three rushes and an incomplete pass.
It was a tough finish for a year that saw Tech's first OVC championship. Still, it was just the beginning of a decade of dominance.
Next: The 1950s close as the Golden Eagles continue a dynasty.
