Eastern Kentucky University Athletics

The 1967 football team began the wonderful Fall tradition that we embrace of EKU Football.  They formed a team that was very versatile – one that had speed, talent at every position, toughness when needed, unmatched decision making and play-calling and a tremendous will to win.  It was Roy Kidd’s fourth year and the groundwork had been laid with the three previous teams highlighted by the 1966 team that finished 7-3. 
 
The ’67 team finished the year as Ohio Valley Conference champs with a 5-0-2 record.  One of those ties occurred when arch-rival Western Kentucky came to Hanger Stadium for Homecoming, the last matchup between the two rivals in that historic facility built in the 1930s.  The game ended 14-14 before a standing room only crowd of 15,000 and was highlighted by an EKU goal line stand that included seven stops of WKU All-American tailback Dickie Moore from the 1 and a half yard line before he scored.
 
A Colonel touchdown pass and a two-point conversion late in the game finished the scoring.  Eastern Kentucky was the OVC representative to play Ball State in the Grantland Rice Bowl which signified the NCAA champion of Division 2 schools which encompassed a 10-state area that included more than 100 schools.  The game was ABC-TV’s Regional Game of the Week and it was played in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  Despite NCAA rules which prohibited the playing of freshmen in the game which took EKU’s top tailback out of the game, Eastern was still able to defeat the Cardinals 27-13 to secure the trophy on the strength of MVP for the game, EKU quarterback Jim Guice, hitting a record 16 of 19 passes and two TD’s, plus a 60-yard fumble return for a TD by nose guard Teddy Taylor. 
 
With 11 players receiving some sort of OVC post season recognition, Eastern Kentucky finished the year 8-1-2 and ranked fifth in the nation.