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RICHMOND, Ky. – The football team that started the championship tradition at Eastern Kentucky University – the 1967 Grantland Rice Bowl Champions – will be honored at the Colonels' first home game of the 2017 season on Sept. 23 against Tennessee Tech University.
The game is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. The 2017 season marks the 50th anniversary of the Grantland Rice Bowl Championship. All members of the 1967 team are invited to attend the game and join in the recognition ceremony.
In the 10 years prior to 1967, Eastern Kentucky had managed only two winning seasons. However, Coach
Roy Kidd and the Colonels tallied a respectful 7-3 record in 1966, setting the stage for the first EKU championship team.
"This team got the championship tradition started at Eastern," said Kidd. "They have always been and will always be one of my favorite teams."
After finishing the season with a 7-1-2 record, the Colonels were chosen to make the university's second bowl appearance against Indiana Collegiate Conference champion Ball State University in the Grantland Rice Bowl in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
This bowl game was held to decide the NCAA Mideast Regional Championship, which included a 10-state and 100-team area, one of four such college division championships set up by the NCAA that year.
Eastern went into the game shorthanded as the NCAA would not allow freshmen to play, which kept running back Jack McCoy and fullback Butch Evans on the sidelines. Kidd countered this ruling by moving All-America receiver Aaron Marsh to tailback.
This move paid off as Marsh made a huge contribution in the first half, picking up 46 yards on the ground, grabbing three passes and totaling 39 yards on two punt returns, before being forced from the game with a back injury.
After the Colonels took a 13-7 lead at the break, it was time for one of the biggest plays in Colonel football history when All-America nose guard Teddy Taylor burst through the line, stole the ball from Cardinal quarterback Doc Heath and ran 39 yards for a score that put Eastern up, 20-7.
Ball State, ranked fifth in the nation heading into the Grantland Rice Bowl, responded by reaching EKU's nine yard-line before the Colonel defense stiffened and stopped the Cardinals' drive. The next few minutes was vintage Jim Guice. He sliced and diced the Ball State defense, hitting six straight passes for 64 of the 91 yards in the drive, and culminated the back-breaking sequence of events with a 28-yard scoring pass to Ted Holcomb that provided the Colonels with an insurmountable 27-7 lead.
The Eastern Kentucky University football program has won two national championships, 21 conference titles and has made 21 playoff appearances. No other Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) team has won at least two national titles and 20 or more conference championships.
Eastern Kentucky will open their 2017 season at Western Kentucky on Sept. 2. For ticket information, contact the EKU Athletics Ticket Office at 844-3-GOBIGE.
