When Bronco football hits the field you can expect to hear plenty of fans shouting, “Row the Boat!” but 50 years ago the players weren’t thinking about rowing, they were shouting, “All Set? You Bet! Ready O? Let’s Go!”
That was the battle cry of Coach Doolittle, who in 1966 led the Bronco Football team to their first MAC Championship win, an accomplishment left unmatched until 1988. Fifty years later, some 40 members of that team gathered on Western’s campus for a reunion.
Over the years, the 1966 team has stayed in touch, and according to Glenn Cherup (B.A., Biology), who helped coordinate the reunion with the help of WMU's Division of Intercollegiate Athletics, has become even stronger.
“We've shared life experiences such as watching each other's children grow up, the addition of grandchildren, the deaths of former teammates,” Cherup said. “Meeting at Waldo Stadium to catch a game, gathering in Florida during the winter months, or just having a telephone conversation to catch up are ways that we still interact as teammates.”
In their early years, the team stayed in touch on a regular basis with phone calls and letters, but today Facebook and email make it much easier. In recent years, the group has begun gathering for summer trips; this year they’ll be headed to Canada for the “Second International 1966 Bronco Summer Reunion.”
Back in 1966, Cherup recalled that they had been picked to finish last. “At first, when I realized we had won I think I was stunned,” He said. “I felt a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction knowing we had proved the experts wrong!”
The sense of accomplishment the team felt has stayed with them for 50 years. Roger Elford (B.S., Physical Education), who served as a student assistant coach under Doolittle and was present for the reunion, said, “There is a special bond that takes place, that lasts a lifetime whenever a team experiences a championship. The thrill of accomplishment and attainment is in a way unexplainable to someone who has never experienced it.”
“The ingredients that go into bringing about the achievement of being a champion are more than words such as sacrifice, leadership, goals, hard work, teamwork, discipline, etc. To a championship team the words become identifiers of who they actually are. They become the glue that binds the individuals who make up the team into something much greater than the sum of all the parts. That glue makes the members of the team stick to each other for a lifetime.”
The weekend’s activities included a meeting with Coach Fleck and 2016 team, a tailgate, and a special on field appearance before the Broncos kicked off against Georgia Southern. Karen Sams, Coach Doolittle’s daughter was on field with the 1966 team to present her father’s MAC Coach of the Year Trophy to Coach Fleck. It will now have a permanent home on WMU’s campus. The 1966 team also formed the human tunnel as the 2016 team sprinted (“Not just ran!” As Elford said) onto the field.
“The 60's were a special time to be in college anywhere in the United States especially for us baby boomers,” Cherup said. “It wasn't just about football. We were all trying to figure things out, find answers to life's questions, and at the same time keep it all together. Being part of the football team at WMU under Coach Doolittle’s leadership gave us an identity that defined us as a group and as individuals within that group. It was a life enhancing experience that made us better people.”
This weekend in Detroit, 50 years after WMU Football’s first championship win, the 2016 undefeated Broncos will kick off against the Ohio University Bobcats for the 2016 Marathon MAC Championship.