April 8, 2002

Editor's Note: Dave Campbell's column appears in each edition of the Baylor Bear Insider Report, available upon membership in the Baylor Bear Foundation. For information on joining the Bear Foundation, click here.

When Kevin Steele named Dave Baldwin as Baylor's new offensive coordinator, two events came immediately to mind.

The first took place in early 1958. The second occurred on Nov. 1, 1980.

Naturally, a story goes with each.

FIRST, LET US recall the early days of 1958 and the events leading up to them.

In 1956 Sam Boyd had succeeded George Sauer as Baylor's head coach. Profiting from one of the great inheritances in Southwest Conference football history -- an inheritance that included the likes of Del Shofner, Bill Glass, Buddy Humphrey, Larry Hickman, Jerry Marcontell, Rueben Saage, Bobby Peters, Clyde Letbetter, Bobby Jones, Dave Lunceford, Earl Wayne Miller, Dugan Pearce, well, just a whole galaxy of stars -- Boyd coached the Bears to a 9-2 season that included a delicious victory on Jan. 1 over No. 2-ranked Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl.

Boyd and his jubilant Bears returned from New Orleans standing tall atop the mountain. They were the talk of the town, indeed, they were the talk of the territory. Oh, at that moment it was great to be young and a Baylor Bear.

The next season (1957) the bottom dropped out.

January's euphoria turned into November's despair. When the Bears wrapped up their season by going to Houston and losing to Rice, 20-0, they found themselves in total possession of the SWC cellar. They had not won a single conference game.

And by then, yesterday's cheers had become the moment's complaints. The '57 Bears had scored 14 points against Houston, 17 against Arkansas, 15 against Texas Tech. Otherwise, they had scored not more than 7 points -- a single touchdown -- in any of their other seven games. The offense, lacking the departed Shofner's speed and a lot of other things, was pitiful.

BOYD SUDDENLY FOUND himself under unremitting fire from all directions. He realized he had to do something. And he did: he dismissed Bob Barfield, his quarterback coach, and vowed to replace him with someone who could really jazz up the team's ability to move the football and score points.

His eventual choice: Chuck Purvis, who had played under famed U. of Illinois coach Bob Zuppke and later had served as an assistant at Auburn and Navy before returning to Illinois where he had served with distinction on his alma mater's staff for nine seasons.

Purvis' selection was a bell-ringer for Boyd and Baylor.

In his first season he transformed Buddy Humphrey from a pretty good college passer into the top passer in all of major college football. Yes, the NCAA's No. 1 passer. You can look it up.

Later, when John Bridgers replaced Boyd as head coach (1959), he retained Purvis as his quarterback coach, and fine passers continued to roll off the Purvis assembly line -- Ronnie Stanley (converted from a split-T quarterback into the SWC's leading passer in 1960), Don Trull, who led the nation in passing both in 1962 and '63 and won All-America honors in the latter season, and Terry Southall, who led the SWC in completions in '64 and ranked ninth nationally.

PURVIS WAS A TIRELESS worker and he demanded that Baylor quarterbacks be tireless in their work habits. He had worked out an unusual practice routine that had the quarterbacks throwing against a gymnasium wall. If the ball bounced a certain way, the bounce proved the nose of the ball had been "up" and thus it had been a good pass. Purvis had those quarterbacks throwing against walls all summer, and obviously with commendable results.

He continued to produce artful aerialists until Bridgers departed after the 1968 season. Bill Beall, replacing Bridgers, did not retain Purvis on his staff.

But Purvis' first year at Baylor was the eye-opener. Nobody had expected Buddy Humphrey, a fine athlete, to become a champion passer. But suddenly, there he was, leading the nation in aerial completions. And, yes, the Purvis-designed Baylor offense took on a lot more zip, scoring 26 points against Texas Tech, 27 against A&M, 15 against a rock-ribbed Texas defense, 29 against SMU, 21 against Rice. Those were the days of one-platoon football. For one-platoon football, that was quite a bit of scoring.

The only problem was, the Baylor defense was giving up even more points, the Bears were finishing in the SWC cellar again, and suddenly Boyd was out.

NO QUESTION, THE GAME that did him in was the A&M game at Baylor Stadium on the night of Oct. 25. The Bears got out in front of A&M by three touchdowns, they appeared to have victory all but signed and sealed. Baylor fans were wildly excited.

But then here came the Aggies, directed by Charley Milstead and making big plays right and left, and suddenly the game was over and A&M had won, 33-27. End Al Witcher, All-SWC for the Bears the next season (and now a prominent Waco attorney), has told me the loss to A&M that year was the most painful he ever suffered at Baylor. Baylor fans were already tasting the delicious treat and then an arch rival snatched it away.

The defeat and the way it came about was a dreadful experience for the Bears, and Baylor partisans were both crushed and enraged. I can still see the way it was shortly after the game -- fans flushed of face, sullen if not mutinous. In the forefront of the maddened mob was a major Bruin backer and his wife. She was carrying an umbrella (it either had rained that night, or looked like it might), and she had it tilted forward in front of her like a lance, and she was screaming in tones that could not be misunderstood: "We're going to fire him tonight -- tonight!"

Well, they didn't.

But at the end of the season they did.

As Baylor's athletic faculty rep Abner McCall -- later the beloved and distinguished president of the university -- told me after the decision was made to make a change, "Our people are all split apart (over the coaching situation). We've got to get them back pulling together if we're going to have a chance."

I've always thought Sam probably could have survived the onslaught (he had recruited very well the previous spring, signing the likes of 1958 freshmen Ronnie Bull, Tommy Minter, Bill Hicks, Herby Adkins, Ronnie Stanley, Bobby Ply, et al, thus providing hope for '59) if his defense had improved as much as his offense.

Alas, it didn't. And Baylor fans had exhausted their patience. Thus Chuck Purvis outlasted Boyd at Baylor by 10 seasons.

Here's wishing Dave Baldwin all the success that Chuck Purvis enjoyed with the Bears, and more. And here's hoping Kevin Steele has more success than Sam Boyd had in dramatically upgrading his defense, and in turning the scoreboard green and gold.

NOW ABOUT THAT other event, the one that took place in 1980.

That was the football season, remember, when coach Grant Teaff's Bears began their campaign by going to Beaumont and trouncing Lamar, 42-7. Then they returned home and gave the same treatment to West Texas State, 43-15. And all that was prelude.

Their SWC season began the next week, in Lubbock, and it became a giddy case of let the good times roll: Baylor 11, Texas Tech 3, Baylor 24, two-year SWC defending champion Houston 12, Baylor 32, SMU 28 (still ranks as one of the greatest games in BU history), Baylor 46, Texas A&M 7, Baylor 21, TCU 6.

For the first time in their history the Bears had moved seven games deep into a season without losing or tying a game. They were one of only six undefeated teams still left in major college football. The Associated Press had them ranked 10th in the nation, other polls had them ranked even higher. And coming up next was a Baylor Stadium game against unheralded, unranked San Jose State.

The Bears looked like such a cinch to me that I hurried off to Texas Stadium in Irving to cover the A&M-SMU game (SMU won, 27-0) for the Waco Tribune-Herald. Imagine my surprise -- indeed, my wonderment and consternation -- as the press box announcer at Texas Stadium kept updating the score from Waco: Baylor was ahead, then Baylor was behind, Baylor was back ahead, Baylor was behind again, and finally San Jose State was ahead, 30-22, and the game was over.

Two weeks later, at halftime of the Baylor-Rice game in Houston, the Owls' irreverent band serenaded Baylor fans with painful strains: "Do you know the way to San Jose. . ."

Ouch.

WHEN I FIRST READ Dave Baldwin's resume early this month and noted that he had coached wide receivers in 1980 at San Jose State, I naturally had to ask him: "In 1980, going into November, Baylor was undefeated and. . ."

"Yes, I was here," he interrupted with a smile, knowing what the question was going to be. "That was the first time we (San Jose State) had ever defeated a Top Ten team."

As we discussed the game, it quickly became obvious that Baldwin remembered even the finer points although the game took place 21 years ago. He remembered the big plays, the players involved, the game plan, even the little things.

Example: The game was played on artificial turf, which was not a normal occurrence for the Spartans. They didn't bring enough turf shoes with them. Some of their guys had to wear tennis shoes. One of the wideouts complained to Baldwin that his shoes were much too big for him. "Hey, let's switch. My shoes are smaller. Wear mine," Baldwin remembers telling his pupil. So they did switch, and Baldwin says he spent the afternoon slogging around on the sidelines in what felt to him like snowshoes.

Two decades after the fact, what comes through loud and clear is that San Jose was a talented team. "We had three NFL first-round draft choices on that team," Baldwin remembers, and he named them: "Gerald Wilhite was Denver's first-round choice and played 7 or 8 years in the NFL, defensive back Gill Byrd was taken by the San Diego Chargers and he's going to wind up in the NFL Hall of Fame, and Mark Nichols was a wide receiver taken by Detroit.

"We also had end Stacy Bailey who was taken in the third round by Atlanta, Mervin Fernandez was a wide receiver who went to Canada, played three years up there, was MVP of the CFL one year, and then came back and played several years for Oakland, and Kenny Thomas was a running back who played for the Chiefs for a year or so.

"We had some people."

THEY ALSO HAD some coaches.

Jack Elway, Denver Broncos Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway's father, was the head coach. John is the famous one in the family but father Jack is well known in his own right. Dennis Erickson, who would go on to win a national championship at Miami and then coach the Seattle Seahawks before moving into his present post as head coach at Oregon State, was the offensive coordinator. Gene McMackin, currently the defensive coordinator at Texas Tech and earlier the defensive coordinator at Miami and the Seahawks and several other stops, was secondary coach and recruiting coordinator. And Dave Baldwin coached the wide receivers.

WILHITE RAN FOR two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to win the game for the Spartans that day. Baylor had jumped out to a 15-0 lead on a 12-yard run by Dennis Gentry, a 41-yard Jay Jeffrey pass to Mike Fisher and a Tim Strong field goal. That's when the Spartans changed quarterbacks, putting sophomore Steve Clarkson in charge of their switchboard. Clarkson had started the first three games, then suffered a broken collarbone. While recuperating, he had gotten downright fat, said Baldwin.

"Our center weighed about 212 pounds and Clarkson weighed about 250," Baldwin recalls the Mutt and Jeff sight those two presented whenever the ball was snapped.

But there was nothing funny about the play they used time after time so effectively against the Bears -- three receivers split out to one side and the tight end running a delay pattern into open spaces down the middle. The tight end was Tracy Franz and he caught 6 crucial passes that day for 61 yards. Wilhite caught 4 for 82. And at game's end Clarkson had completed 18 of 33 passes for 201 yards against a Baylor defense that was best in the SWC that year.

"One touchdown was pure luck," recalled Baldwin. "Mike Singletary hit our receiver, Stacy Bailey, just as the ball got there. The ball bounced up and Gerald Wilhite caught it without breaking stride and turned it into a touchdown (52 yards)."

The Bears also knew at the final whistle that they had not played well. They almost seemed destined to lose. According to the late Mickey Humphrey, who covered the game for the Waco Tribune-Herald that day, the Bears suffered "four interceptions, two fumbles, had drives to the San Jose State 6-, 22-, 22-, 29- and 34-yard lines that ended in zero points, missed a 41-yard field goal, fumbled a punt snap that led to a San Jose field goal, got flagged for a roughing-the-punter infraction that kept alive the Spartans' winning touchdown drive, and lost a TD of their own when Gentry wound up a 29-yard run by fumbling away the ball in the San Jose State end zone."

"This loss was totally my fault," said Baylor coach Grant Teaff after the game. "We weren't as well prepared as we should have been. San Jose State won this game and they are to be congratulated."

Said Baldwin last week: "We were so excited after the game. I think we could have flown home without using an airplane."

WELCOME BACK NOW to the scene of the crime, coach Baldwin. The Bears now have a real need of the kind of magic you Spartans used to befuddle the form chart that November afternoon two decades ago.

And just for the record, Mike Singletary and friends did not let that Saturday shock get them down for more than a moment. They came back to finish out their season with three straight victories -- 42-15 over Arkansas, 16-6 over Rice, and 16-0 over Texas. Texas has not been shut out since.

At the end of the regular season the Bears were a record-tying three games ahead of the SWC pack and bound for the Cotton Bowl, and Baylor partisans were so happy that they had forgotten all about that day of disappointment against San Jose State.