FLASHBACK: 1957 SUGAR BOWL
12/29/2021 10:46:00 AM | Football
Marcontell Remembers Baylor's Historic Win over Tennessee
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Sixty-five years later, Jerry Marcontell still remembers the 11th-ranked Baylor Bears being "decided underdogs" in their matchup against No. 2 Tennessee in the 1957 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.
"Several of the national sportscasters, namely a fellow named Herman Hickman – who was considered one of the gurus at the time – felt like we shouldn't even be on the field with Tennessee, that it would be such a mismatch," said Marcontell, a consensus All-Southwest Conference end who was elected to the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013.
Not only was Baylor able to stay on the field with Tennessee, the Bears pulled off a stunning 13-7 upset of the Volunteers, the school's last win in a New Year's Day bowl game and the highest-ranked team it's ever beaten.
Including the 26-14 loss to Georgia in the 2020 Sugar Bowl, Baylor has lost five-consecutive New Year's Day games going into Saturday's matchup in the Sugar Bowl between the seventh-ranked Bears (11-2) and No. 8 Ole Miss Rebels (10-2).
After winning just two conference games the year before, Baylor was picked to finish in the middle of the pack in 1956 under first-year head coach Sam Boyd. But, the Bears swept intersectional battles against Cal, Maryland and Nebraska (all on the road) and cracked the top 10 in the polls before back-to-back losses to Texas A&M and TCU by a combined seven points.
Outscoring its last four opponents, 108-27, Baylor earned its first-ever bid to the Sugar Bowl. With A&M on probation that year, TCU was the SWC's representative in the Cotton Bowl and defeated Jim Brown's Syracuse team, 28-27.
"All season, we had a great defense," Marcontell said, "but our offense kind of sputtered until those last four games when it really got into high gear. . . . At the end of the year, I think we could have beaten anybody."
Contrary to previous Baylor teams that "had a good first team, and then a few injuries would cause us problems," Marcontell said the 1956 Bears "were really good three-deep at every position." That included quarterback, with Doyle Traylor, Bobby Jones and Buddy Humphrey all throwing passes in the Sugar Bowl.
"There was hardly any difference between the first and second team, or the second and third team," Marcontell said. "The coaches had no reservations about making substitutions when you could. But, you have to remember, that was the era of limited substitutions. So, you couldn't just go in when you wanted to."
The week of the Sugar Bowl, Marcontell remembers the team staying at the swank Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans, "but they kept a very tight rein on us."
"We had an early curfew. Only thing I remember is a bunch of teammates getting cleared to go to a movie one night," he said. "But other than that, we just stayed in. Bourbon Street was definitely off-limits. Mainly, it was just going to the practice field and being around the hotel for meetings."
Marcontell gave the Bears the early 6-0 lead when he hauled in a 12-yard TD pass from Jones in the second quarter.
"On third down, (Jones) called this pass play that went incomplete, but I was wide open," said Marcontell, who finished with three catches for 24 yards as the game's leading receiver. "I came back to the huddle and told him, 'Bobby, I'm wide open.' He called the same play again, and I caught the pass."
Tennessee (10-1) went up 7-6 in the third quarter, when Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Majors scored from a yard out. Sammy Burklow's PAT gave the SEC champions the one-point lead.
The pivotal play of the game came early in the fourth quarter, when Majors fumbled a Del Shofner punt that Reuben Saage recovered at the Volunteers' 15-yard line. Humphrey finished off the short drive with a one-yard QB sneak, then Don Berry added the conversion that provided the final margin of victory.
Running behind an offensive line led by All-American Bill Glass, Shofner finished with 88 yards on 14 carries and also intercepted a pass on defense to earn MVP honors and was named to the Sugar Bowl Hall of Fame two years ago.
"There is certainly no one more deserving," Marcontell said of Shofner's Sugar Bowl Hall of Fame selection. "Del Shofner was one of the greatest athletes I've ever seen. His freshman year, when freshmen couldn't play varsity sports, he was the last guy to letter in four sports – football, basketball, baseball and track. And besides that, he was just a great person, a good man."
Returning to Waco the next day, Marcontell said the Baylor team was greeted by a "huge crowd" on the tarmac at Waco Municipal Airport.
"They had convertibles there, and we had a parade through downtown Waco," Marcontell said. "At that time, downtown was where it was all at, there was nothing on the periphery. No shopping malls or anything. So, we had a parade through downtown Waco, all in convertibles. That was really nice."
Marcontell, who was also named to the 1956 American Peoples Encyclopedia Scholastic All-America team, stayed in school an extra year to finish a degree in chemistry. He went on to earn his medical degree from Baylor School of Medicine in 1963 and spent 35 years in private practice as a Houston-area obstetrician-gynecologist.
"I felt extremely fortunate to practice in what most people in my age group felt was the golden age of medicine," Dr. Marcontell said. "We had all the powerful antibiotics and new surgical techniques, where you can really help people. I just feel really honored to be a part of the medical profession and practice my profession in the Texas Medical Center, which I think is the finest accumulation of medical institutions in the world."
Inducted into the Baylor Hall of Fame eight years ago in a class with David Murphy (baseball), Brandon Couts (track & field), Sheila Lambert (women's basketball), Brian Skinner (men's basketball) and Walter "Pinkie" Palmer (football), Marcontell said he felt "undeserving, but I'm not going to give it back."
In the 88th annual Sugar Bowl, seventh-ranked Baylor (11-2) will face No. 8 Ole Miss (10-2) at 7:45 p.m. Saturday at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
Baylor Bear Insider
Sixty-five years later, Jerry Marcontell still remembers the 11th-ranked Baylor Bears being "decided underdogs" in their matchup against No. 2 Tennessee in the 1957 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.
"Several of the national sportscasters, namely a fellow named Herman Hickman – who was considered one of the gurus at the time – felt like we shouldn't even be on the field with Tennessee, that it would be such a mismatch," said Marcontell, a consensus All-Southwest Conference end who was elected to the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013.
Not only was Baylor able to stay on the field with Tennessee, the Bears pulled off a stunning 13-7 upset of the Volunteers, the school's last win in a New Year's Day bowl game and the highest-ranked team it's ever beaten.
Including the 26-14 loss to Georgia in the 2020 Sugar Bowl, Baylor has lost five-consecutive New Year's Day games going into Saturday's matchup in the Sugar Bowl between the seventh-ranked Bears (11-2) and No. 8 Ole Miss Rebels (10-2).
After winning just two conference games the year before, Baylor was picked to finish in the middle of the pack in 1956 under first-year head coach Sam Boyd. But, the Bears swept intersectional battles against Cal, Maryland and Nebraska (all on the road) and cracked the top 10 in the polls before back-to-back losses to Texas A&M and TCU by a combined seven points.
Outscoring its last four opponents, 108-27, Baylor earned its first-ever bid to the Sugar Bowl. With A&M on probation that year, TCU was the SWC's representative in the Cotton Bowl and defeated Jim Brown's Syracuse team, 28-27.
"All season, we had a great defense," Marcontell said, "but our offense kind of sputtered until those last four games when it really got into high gear. . . . At the end of the year, I think we could have beaten anybody."
Contrary to previous Baylor teams that "had a good first team, and then a few injuries would cause us problems," Marcontell said the 1956 Bears "were really good three-deep at every position." That included quarterback, with Doyle Traylor, Bobby Jones and Buddy Humphrey all throwing passes in the Sugar Bowl.
"There was hardly any difference between the first and second team, or the second and third team," Marcontell said. "The coaches had no reservations about making substitutions when you could. But, you have to remember, that was the era of limited substitutions. So, you couldn't just go in when you wanted to."
The week of the Sugar Bowl, Marcontell remembers the team staying at the swank Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans, "but they kept a very tight rein on us."
"We had an early curfew. Only thing I remember is a bunch of teammates getting cleared to go to a movie one night," he said. "But other than that, we just stayed in. Bourbon Street was definitely off-limits. Mainly, it was just going to the practice field and being around the hotel for meetings."
Marcontell gave the Bears the early 6-0 lead when he hauled in a 12-yard TD pass from Jones in the second quarter.
"On third down, (Jones) called this pass play that went incomplete, but I was wide open," said Marcontell, who finished with three catches for 24 yards as the game's leading receiver. "I came back to the huddle and told him, 'Bobby, I'm wide open.' He called the same play again, and I caught the pass."
Tennessee (10-1) went up 7-6 in the third quarter, when Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Majors scored from a yard out. Sammy Burklow's PAT gave the SEC champions the one-point lead.
The pivotal play of the game came early in the fourth quarter, when Majors fumbled a Del Shofner punt that Reuben Saage recovered at the Volunteers' 15-yard line. Humphrey finished off the short drive with a one-yard QB sneak, then Don Berry added the conversion that provided the final margin of victory.
Running behind an offensive line led by All-American Bill Glass, Shofner finished with 88 yards on 14 carries and also intercepted a pass on defense to earn MVP honors and was named to the Sugar Bowl Hall of Fame two years ago.
"There is certainly no one more deserving," Marcontell said of Shofner's Sugar Bowl Hall of Fame selection. "Del Shofner was one of the greatest athletes I've ever seen. His freshman year, when freshmen couldn't play varsity sports, he was the last guy to letter in four sports – football, basketball, baseball and track. And besides that, he was just a great person, a good man."
Returning to Waco the next day, Marcontell said the Baylor team was greeted by a "huge crowd" on the tarmac at Waco Municipal Airport.
"They had convertibles there, and we had a parade through downtown Waco," Marcontell said. "At that time, downtown was where it was all at, there was nothing on the periphery. No shopping malls or anything. So, we had a parade through downtown Waco, all in convertibles. That was really nice."
Marcontell, who was also named to the 1956 American Peoples Encyclopedia Scholastic All-America team, stayed in school an extra year to finish a degree in chemistry. He went on to earn his medical degree from Baylor School of Medicine in 1963 and spent 35 years in private practice as a Houston-area obstetrician-gynecologist.
"I felt extremely fortunate to practice in what most people in my age group felt was the golden age of medicine," Dr. Marcontell said. "We had all the powerful antibiotics and new surgical techniques, where you can really help people. I just feel really honored to be a part of the medical profession and practice my profession in the Texas Medical Center, which I think is the finest accumulation of medical institutions in the world."
Inducted into the Baylor Hall of Fame eight years ago in a class with David Murphy (baseball), Brandon Couts (track & field), Sheila Lambert (women's basketball), Brian Skinner (men's basketball) and Walter "Pinkie" Palmer (football), Marcontell said he felt "undeserving, but I'm not going to give it back."
In the 88th annual Sugar Bowl, seventh-ranked Baylor (11-2) will face No. 8 Ole Miss (10-2) at 7:45 p.m. Saturday at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
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