Favored Ithaca (N.Y.) was averaging 43.6 points a game in 1974 but the rock-solid Central defense limited the Bombers to a pair of field goals and an intentional safety.

Sweet home, Alabama -- 50 years later, it still sounds sweet

Dec. 7 is anniversary of Phenix City trip, Dutch NCAA football title and a goal-line stand for the ages

By Larry Happel

December 5, 2024

Fourth and one.

In hindsight, even more than an NCAA Division III football championship hinged on that next play 50 years ago. The story is a familiar one to Central fans. It was 1974 and Central was clinging to a 10-6 lead over heavily favored Ithaca College (N.Y.) late in the fourth quarter in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl in Phenix City, Alabama. The high-powered Bombers reached the Central 6-yard line as the clock ticked down.

The Dutch made the memorable stop, of course, ultimately prevailing 10-8, and the gray-haired team members who returned to campus for a 50th anniversary celebration Sept. 20-22 were a reminder that, in a way, that play and that win represent more than the red banner that now clings to the east wall of P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium. It also ushered in an era of unprecedented athletics success for the college.

I certainly think that championship was sort of a springboard for Central College.'

Al Dorenkamp, 1974 team captain, Central athletics director from 1998-2012

Coach Ron Schipper with his 1974 team staff prior to the season. (Left to right): Larry Embling, Ed Willis, Gene Pals, Dick Bowzer, Eldon Schulte, John Edwards.

Among the Central students making the 15-hour drive to Phenix City were members of the Phi Delta Tau fraternity and the pseudo-frat TKB, with the group's trademark yellow hard hats.

Central’s athletics tradition was already well-established. But the 1974 win seemingly unleashed a torrent of titles. Prior to 1974, Central won 18 conference championships. Over the next 50 years the Dutch claimed 170, a period that also spawned Central’s other 10 national team titles, all 37 of the school’s individual NCAA Division III crowns and 510 of Central’s 518 all-America awards.

Beyond that, the championship pushed coach Ron Schipper into the Division III spotlight, propelling him to choice NCAA committee assignments, including the powerful TV Committee, and eventually led to him serving as president of the American Football Coaches Association followed by induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. Ken Weller, then in his fifth year as Central’s president, caught the eye of NCAA officials in Phenix City that week, impressed not only with his leadership qualities but with his appreciation for Division III and intercollegiate athletics. It put him on a path to eventually author the original Division III Philosophy, as well as gain a seat on the inaugural Presidents’ Commission and a term as Division III vice president. His influence also helped dean of students Marjorie Giles become the first female president of the Iowa Conference and later gain membership on the NCAA Council.

The victory gave new momentum to the development of the A.N. Kuyper Athletics Complex as well, with what is now Ron and Joyce Schipper Stadium opening in 1977 and other facilities following.

Division III and the Stagg Bowl were still in their infancy when Central and Ithaca clashed on a high school field in Alabama.

Les Hogan and Marc Cramer at 1974 football team reception

Les Hogan and Marc Cramer, clad in the team's bright red sport coats and oozing 1970s fashion, make their midnight entrance at a raucous Kuyper Gym celebration.

I told myself, ‘This is it. This is what we’ve been working for all year. We’ve come too far to blow it now.’

Defensive lineman Mike Street

All-American linebacker Al Dorenkamp, who later served as Central's athletics director, helped make the crucial fourth-down stop in 1974.

Team captain Al Dorenkamp ‘75, who gained all-America honors as a linebacker that year, served as Central’s athletics director from 1998-2012, and saw the connection.

“No question about that,” he said. “When Dr. Weller was around, he’d always come to these reunion banquets and say, ‘I just want to thank you guys as 1974 national champions because you opened the door for a guy like me to get more involved in the NCAA at the administrative level.’ I certainly think that championship was sort of a springboard for Central College.”

None of that was on the minds of Central’s tougher-than-gristle defenders as they dug into the brightly painted Alabama turf that December afternoon. Ithaca entered the game averaging 43.6 points and a Division III-best 487.9 yards per game. But Central’s defense, largely comprised of underrecruited, undersized but overachieving rural Iowa players, had somehow kept the Bombers in check. As 1,000-yard running back Dave Remick and the Ithaca offense huddled, Dorenkamp’s message to the Central defense was simple.

“I told the guys in the huddle that this was the reason we were here,” Dorenkamp told a reporter afterwards. “I told them the national title was riding on this play. That was all I said because I figured if that didn’t fire them up, nothing would.”

Ornery defensive lineman Mike Street ‘75 didn’t need any extra motivation.

“I told myself, ‘This is it,’” he said. “’This is what we’ve been working for all year. We’ve come too far to blow it now.’”

Former Michigan State coach Duffy Daugherty (left) was the color commentator for ABC's national telecast of the 1974 title game.

An ABC national television audience—back in the days of only three TV networks—looked on as Remick took the quick handoff at fullback and was immediately engulfed by a swarm of Dutch defenders.

“I don’t think he made it!,” shouted color commentator Duffy Daugherty, the former Michigan State coach who was the Kirk Hebstreit of his day. “I don’t think he made it!”

He didn’t. It wasn’t clear then who the tackler was and even less so on the grainy video. Some credit Dorenkamp. He insists there were others. But the officials didn’t even need a measurement. The Dutch defense had held.

Schipper, who seldom let the NCAA trophy out of his grasp throughout the trip home, told the Des Moines Register that the goal -ine stand “exemplified the whole season for us. They had to get the job done and they got it done.”

1974 football team welcome home reception in Kuyper Gym

Fifty years. Most of the starters are now in their 70s and the play still shines in their collective memory banks. Yet several other moments stand out as well. For many, the magic of that iconic season can be summed up in three words: Cutler to Busscher. The connection reached its zenith in game two.

After shutting out defending NAIA champion Northwestern College 19-0 in the season opener, the Dutch then had to tackle Division II Ferris State College (Mich.), which somehow landed on Central’s schedule. As fullback Mike Hodges ’75 pushed his tray along the metal serving line rails for the pregame meal in the old Graham Dining Hall, another player pondered the match-up and quietly asked him, “Do you suppose maybe Coach Schipper bit off more than he can chew with this game?”

Still, Central took a 15-10 lead over the Bulldogs with 3:42 left, only to have Ferris State strike with just 32 seconds remaining to go up 17-15. Many fans gave a disappointed shrug and headed for the exits.

But the Dutch still had one button left to push and it was named Randy Busscher ’75, who had already caught a 42-yard first-half TD pass. Busscher, later named to the Central Athletics Hall of Honor, set several school receiving records.

“He’s the best wide receiver Central has ever had, I don’t care what anybody says,” Hodges said.

Quarterback Gary Cutler ‘75 knew what he wanted to do.

“I looked at (offensive coordinator Dick Bowzer) on the sideline and asked, ’49 reverse pass?’” Cutler said. “And he kind of shook his head.”

From his own 23-yard line, Cutler found the flashy wide receiver streaking down the field for a game-winning 77-yard touchdown with 8 seconds to spare.

“Everybody knew what play we were going to run,” Schipper said. “The pro scouts always told us that Busscher wasn’t fast, but all I know is that Ferris State had a Michigan state sprint champion at free safety and he couldn’t catch Busscher on that play.”

Ironically, Busscher and that defensive back briefly met again as teammates at the Minnesota Vikings preseason training camp the following summer.

The breaks didn’t all go Central’s way, however. Three games later the Dutch endured a devastating one as Busscher was lost for the season with a shoulder injury. Yet the championship train rolled on.

“You take away our best player and we win the next six, that says something,” Schipper said.

(Busscher) was the best wide receiver Central has ever had, I don't care what anybody says."

Mike Hodges, 1974 team fullback

A season-ending showdown with William Penn was one for the ages. The heated century-old rivalry with the school from just 17 miles down the road was at its peak. Penn was still an NAIA member, ranked third in the nation. Both teams entered the game unbeaten with the Iowa Conference championship on the line and Schipper often claimed the overflow crowd that circled the cinder track at old A.N. Kuyper Field that day was the largest in Central history. Cornerback Tim Piester returned a fumble 36 yards for a score as Central took a 14-0 first-quarter lead and the defense pitched a second-half shutout for a 23-14 win to complete an undefeated season.

1974 Central-William Penn football game action

One of the largest crowds ever at Central's old A.N. Kuyper Field witnessed a 23-14 Dutch win over rival William Penn in a battle of the unbeatens that climaxed the 1974 regular season.

Players anxiously wondered if there was more to come. Only four teams were picked for the Division III playoff field and little-known Central’s status was unclear. The team held its post-season awards banquet the following week before landing the final playoff spot, traveling to the University of Evansville.

Upstart Central mustered just 127 yards total offense yet led the Aces 17-10 late in the fourth quarter. The Dutch averted one threat after Evansville reached the 8-yard line, forcing a fumble Street pounced on with 2:14 left. But given a final chance less than a minute later, the Aces hit on a 51-yard TD pass and were an extra point away from forcing a likely overtime.

Street, whose fierce determination personified that of the 1974 squad, turned to Schipper with a “Hold my Gatorade” look.

“He told me before the play, ‘I’m going to block the extra point,’” Schipper recalled years later. “He knew that offensive tackle because he’d studied him in the films and he went in scot free and blocked it.”

Central was a 17-16 winner, setting up the program-defining Stagg Bowl appearance in Alabama.

He told me before the play, 'I'm going to block the extra point."

Coach Ron Schipper, talking about defensive lineman Mike Street

Despite just 127 yards total offense, Central pulled out a surprise 17-16 playoff win at Evansville (Ind.).

But what if Cutler had overthrown Busscher against Ferris State? What if Street couldn’t get past the Evansville offensive tackle? What if Ithaca had scored on fourth-and-one? A half century later, would these players’ lives be any different? The logical answer, of course, is no. It’s only a game, right? Yet when asked, with the perspective gained from losing hair, gaining grandchildren and replacing hips, the old grads invariably pause before answering.

“That goal-line stand showed me what you can do when you are really part of a team and everyone on that team’s pulling in the same direction,” defensive back Al Paris ‘77 said. “That solidified for me how important teamwork and relationships are in my career. I worked for (John Deere and Company) for almost 40 years and I tried to build relationships that were based on mutual respect. And I think that’s a result of what I learned from the outcome of that game.”

And it’s the connections from that special season that endure, even as the memories fade.

“Your love for the college is the same as it was 50 years ago,” Paris said. “The friendships that came out of that team are incredible. We’re as close as we were 50 years ago, and I think that’s a result of that season.”

Members of Central's 1974 national championship team returned from across the country for a 50th anniversary celebration Sept. 20-22.

I look at the people on that team, and I see people who had compassion towards others and people who spent their careers working to help others. That’s what is significant to me.

Gary Cutler, 1974 team quarterback

A statue of the 1974 team's College Football Hall of Fame coach stands near the entrance to Ron and Joyce Schipper Stadium.

Fifty years. So much has changed. Today’s Central coaches and players are largely unfamiliar to the returning grads. The Vermeer Science Center now stands in what used to be the old Kuyper Field west end zone. And they don’t even call it the Iowa Conference anymore. Yet the emotions are fresh. The sight of 100-plus bright red jerseys on the Central sidelines, their beloved coach’s statue in the stadium that now bears his name, the first few chords of their 1974 anthem “Sweet Home Alabama” and the boisterous chant of “Hoo-Rah! Hoo-Rah” following the singing of “CUI” all bring the feelings rushing back, that same familiar surge of excitement they felt every time they dashed onto the field on chilly fall Saturday afternoons.

But time has softened the laser focus the players once placed on the scoreboard.

“The significance of winning that game is maybe not as great as it once was,” Cutler said. “What’s more significant to me is why we won. And I think that has to do more with the collective character of the team than it did so much about the athletic ability of the team members.

“(Retired Alabama coach) Nick Saban said who you are is more important than what you do. I think he recognized that if he had kids with character, the winning would take care of itself. And I look at the people on that team, and I see people who had compassion towards others and people who spent their careers working to help others. That’s what is significant to me.”

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