Sunday, October 26, 1997

Kicker should have spoken up sooner

By Ted Dunnam / Abilene Reporter-News

Had Ray Nunez been a bit more vocal, Dewitt Jones figures he'd probably have fewer gray hairs today.

Jones, the former Abilene Christian University head football coach, was reunited Saturday with Nunez and many more of his players on the 20th anniversary of ACU's 1977 NAIA Division I national football championship.

Like anything worth accomplishing, attaining that national title didn't come easy, according to Jones.

ACU started Lone Star Conference play with an 0-1-1 record, tying Texas A&I, 25-25, and losing to Angelo State, 21-14. Then, in their final LSC game, the Wildcats rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit to defeat Howard Payne 42-24 to earn a playoff berth.

"We had inconsistency in the kicking game all year, and Ray Nunez comes up to me the week of the championship game, and says 'Coach, I can kick' " Jones said. "We put some old square-toed shoe on him and went out there and kicked like somebody who had been doing it all his life.

"I said 'Where were you when we needed those three extra points against A&I?' He sure could have made things a lot easier."

The national championship was the second for ACU in the '70s, coming four years after the 1973 team accomplished the feat.

"The thing I remember the most about that season," Jones said, "was the slow start and that our quarterback, John Mayes, suffered a broken thumb. Then we had to go with David Hansen, a freshman quarterback, who performed quite well for us.

"We went on to win a few games and then we're down 20-6 at halftime to Southwest Texas State, and I asked coach (Ted) Sitton what we ought to do. We couldn't decide, and then I said I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to stick John Mayes in the game and 441 yards later we win 36-30."

The following week, ACU then took on Howard Payne and trailed 24-7 at intermission.

"At halftime, we weren't believing what was happening," Jones said. "Then Kelly Kent and John Mayes start making big plays, the defense gets fired up and we win the thing."

Then, the Wildcats easily defeated Wisconsin-Stevens Point, 35-7, in the semifinals and followed that with an equally convincing 24-7 victory over Southwest Oklahoma in the title game.

"Wisconsin-Stevens Point had a quarterback who had passed for more than 10,000 career yards," Jones said. "I don't know what number Ruben Mason was -- I think it was 52 -- but whatever it was, he left it imprinted in that quarterback's forehead. Then the next week, all we did was play our best defensive game of the year in the Kingdome.

"Glenn Labhart knocked down a pass and Harold Nutall made an interception, two really key plays in the game."

Nutall was one of those present Saturday to relive those memorable days.

"That A&I game was probably the lowest point in my career," he said. "We tied that game, but it felt just like a loss. And then we lost to Angelo the next week. But I still felt like we were as good as anybody in the nation.

"We got back on track the next week against East Texas State, and we just got on a roll after that. We didn't have the greatest talent, but we all believed in each other.

"All year, we just seemed to take it up a notch when we had to. Me and Cle (Montgomery) had a couple of friends who played at Howard Payne and we didn't want to lose to those guys. When we were down 24-7 at halftime, that was a big wake-up call for us. We knew we shouldn't be losing."

Greg Feasel, an offensive linemen on the team, said he didn't feel like a major contributor in helping John Mayes establish several ACU passing records.

"I was only a sophomore that year," he said. "I guess I helped him the next two years. We had a lot of good players, but the guys that I thought really made us click were John Usery and Ray Nunez.

"We hit a couple of bumps in the road, and they made sure we didn't hit any more. John and Ray kept everybody going in the right direction."

Not surprisingly, Nutall and Feasel are still involved in sports.

Nutall is in his 15th year coaching at Plano High School while Feasel is the vice president of sales and marketing for the Colorado Rockies.

Jones has no trouble pinpointing the overriding reason for the 1977 team's success.

"They just never gave up. Guys like Mayes, Cle Montgomery, John Usery, Mike Lively, Nutall and Chuck Sitton," Jones said. "It would have been easy to throw in the towel after that 0-1-1 start and the injuries we had. But those guys really came together, and we had a very memorable season."