EDMOND – The University of Central Oklahoma owns claim to 20 team national championships and 78 individual national championships. The Bronchos have won team titles in four different sports and individual titles in six different sports. The athletic department is taking a look back at some of them and there is no better place to start than the first.
The 1962 national champion football team.
Central State College as it was known entered the year with a solid team coming off a 9-1 season in 1961 that ended with a conference championship. The players were there. The talent was there. Head coach Al Blevins was entering his fifth season and had twice posted one-loss campaigns (Central went 8-1 in 1959).
The Bronchos opened up with Eastern New Mexico on September 14 in Edmond. The start might have been the indicator of good things to come.
Bobby Williams – a freshman – fielded the game's, and the season's opening kickoff at his own 8-yard line. His first touch in a Broncho uniform, according to The Vista's report of the game, was a dazzling display.
"The 195-pound sprinter from Lincoln, Neb. Gathered in the kickoff, zoomed upfield, cut to his right and literally outraced the remaining two defenders to the goal."
A 92-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on the first play of the season.
Maybe Central knew it then. The Bronchos whipped Eastern New Mexico 25-6 that day. Week 2 rolled around and Central – hosting Langston – whipped up on the rival-Lions 27-0, the total yardage an unbalanced 375-87 in favor of the Bronze & Blue.
Week 3? Another home game and a 44-7 swatting of Emporia State.
From The Vista … "Approximately 4,000 spectators yawned through the contest as coach Al Blevins emptied his bench early in the game, using his regulars sparingly."
After a 20-6 win over Southwestern in Week 4, Central must have been overdue and gave up a season-high 20 points to East Central in Week 5. It was still a 40-20 victory for the Bronchos, but the 20 allowed points sparked some desire in Central as evident by the final four regular season games that followed.
Central beat Northwestern Oklahoma State 42-0. Central beat Northeastern State 38-0. Central beat Southeastern Oklahoma State 33-7. Central beat Oklahoma Panhandle State 33-0.
The Bronchos went through Week's 6-9 outscoring opponents 146-7.
That was enough to get Central into the playoffs. This would be the first-ever trip to the postseason for the Bronchos, playing in the NAIA semifinals against another Emporia, Kan. squad, the College of Emporia, which was 10-0.
The teams met in Oklahoma City's Taft Stadium.
Central never blinked.
The Bronchos were led by R.L. Briggs that afternoon and, again according to The Vista, he did everything except sell tickets. Briggs had two rushing touchdowns and would have had a third had he not fumbled into the end zone (teammate Jim Davis fell on the ball for the score).
Central had two other touchdowns called back. Williams darted for a 27-yard rush and Broncho quarterback Mike Rollins connected with Billy Jones for another touchdown that was nullified.
All of that was fine in the end. The Broncho defense that had posted three shutouts in the previous four games and four shutouts on the season, kept the trend going and blanked the College of Emporia.
Central won 20-0 and earned a spot in the NAIA national championship, played in Sacramento, California in the Camellia Bowl. Central would face Lenoir-Rhyne, a private school one hour outside of Charlotte, N.C., in the title game.
What stood as odd then and might still today is the NAIA chartering a plane out of Hickory, N.C. with Lenoir-Rhyne aboard that stopped in Oklahoma City to pick up Central State before continuing its path to Sacramento for the big game.
Lenoir-Rhyne was a football power on the Eastern seaboard. The Bears won the NAIA title in 1960 and in an eight-year stretch from 1955-62 posted an astonishing 76-6-4 overall record.
But they never played Central State University out of Edmond, Oklahoma.
Lenoir-Rhyne did score first, going up 6-0 with just over seven minutes to play in the first quarter. But Central responded with a 19-play, 64-yard scoring drive (including three fourth-down conversions). Briggs capped it off with a 2-yard touchdown run and Jack Krieder gave the Bronchos a 7-6 lead with the point after.
In the second quarter though, Central began to flex its muscle. The Bronchos held the Bears three times inside the 20-yard line in the frame.
After one of those stops, Briggs opened the second scoring drive of the game with a 29-yard scamper to the Central 43. George Hughley followed that with a 57-yard touchdown run and Krieder's PAT made it 14-6, Central. That's how the game went to halftime.
Lenoir-Rhyne must have become inspired at the break and came out in the third quarter with a 9-play, 90-yard scoring drive to pull within a point, 14-13.
Most of the third quarter stayed that way. But Rollins connected with Jones (this happened often in their careers) on a 28-yard touchdown pass in the final seconds of the third quarter to give the Bronchos a 21-13 lead.
In the fourth, Rollins to Jones again, and Central put it away. The final score, the nail in the coffin, the dagger, was the most exciting play of the game.
Rollins flipped a pass to Jones, who caught it at midfield and spun away from would-be tacklers and raced 62 yards for the touchdown to give the Bronchos a 28-13 lead.
That held and the Bronchos were soon called national champions.
Rollins was named MVP for his efforts. Central's defense finished the game with four interceptions. Krieder, who kicked four PATs, picked off two passes on the other side of the ball.
Central's 11-0 finish that season remains the best performance in school history. The Bronchos claimed the first of two football national championships that day and set the stage for the university's route to 20 national titles today.
