Maine’s two unbeaten teams left their mark on gridiron history

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From the outside looking in, the 1951 University of Maine football team didn’t look like a championship squad that would make history.

Head coach and wing-T innovator Dave Nelson had departed for Delaware following the ’50 campaign, leaving 33-year-old Harold Westerman behind to assume his first head-coaching position with a new staff of assistants. The opposition – especially preseason favorites New Hampshire Yankee Conference and Bowdoin in the State Series – thought the Black Bears were ripe for a fall.

They thought wrong.

Seven memorable games later, Maine had experienced its first unbeaten season in 50 years of football history. The 6-0-1 Black Bears also put the Yankee Conference and State Series titles in their trophy case.

“This was a closeknit group,” said Westerman, recalling the ’51 team. “I don’t think we had 50 people. But they played together, and we had great team feeling. They operated as a team. We played one game at a time.”

Westerman, though young, thoroughly grasped the wing-T offensive concept. He continued to innovate and had players who could execute his ideas.

The squad featured the explosive backfield of fullback Gordon Pendleton, halfback Ed Bogdanovich and quarterback Gene Sturgeon. The line featured Gerry Hodge at center, tackles Harry Richardson and Ray Cox, and guards Pete Pocius and Jimmy Butterfield. Bob Whytock and Harry Easton were at the ends.

“It was a group of guys that happened to fit together,” recalled Whytock. “We had intensity and desire, but not much size.

“They took the single wing and turned it into a T-formation, with double trap blocking,” Whytock continued, explaining Maine’s offense. “It got opponents off stride.”

After sputtering to a 12-0 win over Rhode Island in the opener, Maine’s wing-T really hit stride, punishing Vermont 42-0. While the offense roared, the defense, led by end Gordon Thorburn and safeties Jack Butterfield and Sturgeon, blanked the opposition.

The third game, against New Hampshire, was a defensive struggle that ended in a 0-0 tie in Durham, giving Maine it’s only blemish of the season.

“I can remember we had to kick out of our endzone a couple of times late in the game, and I was a little nervous about that,” said Hodge, the team’s long-snapper.

“The New Hampshire coach was a bright one. He figured out the blocking scheme we used, and their linebacker would spin whenever our guards pulled. Our guards didn’t pick up on that,” Whytock said.

Westerman adjusted following UNH, and Maine went on to whip Connecticut (49-19), Bates (26-7), and Colby (24-0), setting up a showdown with Bowdoin in Orono for the State Series crown and an unbeaten season.

Before a record-setting crowd of 11,600, Maine crushed Bowdoin 40-14.

“It was the culmination of our season,” recalled Whytock. “I can remember (Bowdoin coach) Adam Walsh coming into our locker room and complimenting us after his team was wiped out. It was the old kind of football. Everyone liked each other until we got on the field. Then, after the game, we liked each other again.”

1961 Black Bears

It has been 30 years since the last UMaine football team went undefeated.

Maybe so much time has passed because the 1961 Black Bears used up the program’s entire supply of a. destiny, b. luck, c. Maalox, or d. all of the above.

Four of the ’61 Bears’ eight victories in that 8-0-1 campaign came by three points or less.

You want destiny? In a key game against Rhode Island, Maine attempted a 1-point conversion kick when the snap sailed over the holder’s head. Quarterback Manch Wheeler retrieved the ball at the 40-yard line and heaved a prayer of a pass into the end zone that, miraculously, was caught by Dick Kinney for two points. Final score: Maine 22, URI 20. Late in the game against always tough Connecticut, Kinney broke through the line and blocked a short UConn field goal attempt. Final score: Maine 2, UConn 0. A 7-6 win over New Hampshire came when UNH missed a PAT. The schedule originally called for Maine to play powerful UMass in the season-opener, but a medical epidemic in Amherst forced the game to be postponed. The makeup date was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving in Orono. Amid freezing rain and a snowstorm, Maine pulled out a 10-7 win on the first field goal of sophomore kicker Roger Boucher’s career.

“You know what they say about it being better to be luckyhan good? We were lucky and good,” said Wes Jordan, a tackle on the ’61 squad and now the well-known athletic trainer for the Black Bears. “We were a team of destiny almost. I wouldn’t compare us to teams of today, but we had pretty fair athletes. Probably not as good as Connecticut’s and UMass’s athletes, but we made things happen.”

Linemen like Jordan, Ed Reidman, John Roberts, Ray and Roger Sawyer, Phil Soule, Norris Nickerson, Alton “Bump” Hadley, and Tom Patrick blocked for the strong-armed Wheeler at QB. Kinney and Don Harnum were the ends. When Maine ran, Wheeler gave the ball to powerful fullback Dale Curry, or halfbacks Walt Beaulieu, Dave Cloutier and Frank Tarazewich. The Maine wing-T offense put points on the board.

Defensively, the Bears bent, but somehow always came up with the big play when needed.

“It was a special team,” is how former Maine coach Harold Westerman assessed the ’61 Bears. “They believed in themselves. In a close game, we always felt we would do whatever we needed to do to win. And we did.”

Wheeler, who still ranks as the No. 8 all-time passer in UM history, credited the ’61 team’s success to a coaching staff that, in addition to Westerman, featured future Black Bear head coach Walter Abbott, along with Jack Butterfield, and Dave Rand.

The ’61 team saw Wheeler and Cloutier go on to play pro football with Buffalo and the Boston Patriots, respectively. The team also may have produced the most future football coaches in Maine history.

Halfback Pete Cooper would go on to become a legend at Lawrence High in Fairfield. Backup QB Tom Austin is currently the coach at Colby College. Ray Caldwell coaches Mt. Blue High in Farmington. Curry coached for many years at Mattanawcook Academy in Lincoln. Hadley would coach for years at Old Town High.