The state 1A and 2A football championships in North Carolina were dominated by the Smoky Mountain Conference in the 1970s.
The conference accounted for seven state 2A champions in that decade and six 1A state champions. Three coaches that accounted for most these championships, which ushered the conference into the 1980s – Charles “Babe” Howell of Sylva Webster and Terry Postell accounted for two 2A state champions, Bill Dyar of Franklin accounted for one more and a new coach on the scene, who played and had been an assistant coach under Howell, accounted for the 1979 state championship. Boyce Dietz would be on the scene for several years at Swain County.
During the 1970s, only conference champions got to advance to the playoffs, but the SMC was unique in the sense that it named two champions because it was a split conference with both 1A and 2A classifications. There were years the conference claimed both titles, until 1972 the state championship game was split with a western champion and eastern champion.
Howell started his coaching career at Sylva in 1954 as an assistant before being hired as head coach at East Fannin High School in Morganton, Ga. He returned to Sylva-Webster in 1965, where he won the first ever regional championship with a team that included Tommy Love and a guard by the name of Boyce Dietz. Howell followed that up with another regional championship in 1966, then claim two 2A state championships in the 1970s.
Frank Maennle Sr., who won the first state championship at Andrews in 1958, was the coach Howell replaced in 1965. Maennle was fired, along with assistant Terry Postell, to make way for Howell. Postell landed in Murphy as an assistant in 1965, then was promoted to head coach in 1966.
Bob Colvin came back home to his alma mater, Robbinsville, in 1962 as an assistant coach to Modeal Walsh, father of current Robbinsville coach Dee Walsh. Colvin was elevated to head coach in 1965 and led the Black Knights to their first state championship in 1969.
Postell started off his head coaching career in 1966 with a 9-1 record. His only loss was to the eventual state regional champs that year, Sylva Webster, which just happened to be the school that fired him two years earlier. Postell would dispatch the Golden Eagles for the next three years.
Murphy claimed its first 2A state championship in the 1970s when the Bulldogs won the Western District 2A championship. The team was led by a group of seniors with at least four who went on to play college football – Mitch Myers, Denny McClure, Tommy Stiles and Tommy Fisher.
Murphy had lost in the first round of the Western District playoffs for three years in a row prior to the 1970 championship; once to TC Roberson, and twice in a row to Hendersonville. The Dogs had a few notable games that year, one being at Bryson City.
In 1970, race relations were not the best in the world in these mountains. Only Murphy, Sylva Webster and possibly Franklin had black football players, and the other teams in the conference were not always hospitable to the black players. That came to a head on a Friday night in Bryson City, which many people in Swain County simply refer to as “The Fight.”
Murphy had an African-American tailback named Willie Bush, and almost every time Willie got tackled there was an extra punch, kick and sometimes even a bite added in the pileup, along with racial slurs that were hurled at him all night. With less than three minutes left to go in the game, Willie came up out of the pile swinging.
Myers literally picked Bush up, with Willie still punching at air, and carried him back to Murphy’s huddle. Stands emptied, and a melee ensued that caused the game to be called. I have an eyewitness account from a 10-year-old boy standing on the sidelines.
The thing that stood out for me at that game was a tall, skinny referee and a little person from Swain. Never learned the little person’s name, but in later years I found out the referee was Blaine Pressley. The little person went up behind the referee, reached up and pecked him on the shoulder, and when the referee would turn around the little person would administer some chin music.
The little person got away with it three times before the referee finally figured out what was going on. Murphy players eventually were escorted to the school bus by police and escorted out of Swain County.
A counterpart from Bryson City, Gary Ayers, tells this story. Gary’s uncle, Floyd King, once went onto the field and punched a referee named Grady Corbin. King was later given a five-year ban from all Swain County athletic events from a local judge, along with a fine. It also caused all teams in the conference to be forced to install chain-link fencing around their fields.
Another memorable game was the second round of the playoffs when Tommy Fisher, Murphy’s star tailback, went down late in the second quarter to injury. He was transported to the hospital for X-rays, which turned out negative but caused him to miss most of the third quarter.
At the end of the third quarter, Spruce Pine had just scored to take the lead, but it wasn’t their stands that were erupting – it was Murphy’s stands when fans saw Fisher return to the field. He went on to lead the drive for the winning touchdown and intercept a drive-ending Spruce Pine pass to seal the game. Murphy defeated Bandy’s in the finals to win the Western District championship 20-8.
Meanwhile, in Graham County, Robbinsville registered its second 1A state championship with a 28-6 win over Saratoga. Murphy graduated 10 seniors off that team, and Howell’s Golden Eagles dominated 2A football in 1972 and 1973 with back-to-back 2A state championships.
Colvin at Robbinsville added the Black Knights’ third 1A championship in 1973 with a 50-0 victory over Rosewood. Robbinsville played in the 1A championship game but fell to Robersonville 30-18 in 1971.
Robbinsville would dominate 1A football in the 1970, when the Black Knights won six of 10 state 1A championships. Since the conference was split into two divisions, Robbinsville’s losses against 2A SMC opponents didn’t affect their chances at the 1A playoff berth, although there were several years where they won many of those 2A games. The Black Knights rarely ran into competition in the 1A ranks during the ’70s.
Postell would return his Bulldogs to the championship ranks in 1974. After losing the conference crown to Sylva Webster for two years in a row, the Bulldogs were wound tight when the Eagles visited Murphy in 1974.
Murphy had a star running back, who broke the state rushing record that year, by the name of Willie Brown. The Golden Eagles had a back named Steve Streeter who went on to play at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. When Willie was ragged all week that Streeter was going to eat his lunch, he always replied with the same phrase: “We’ll see.” Brown finished the game with 137 yards on 13 carries.
Back in those days, the towns went all-out for this game. The Sylva Post Office sent the Murphy Post Office a “dog bone” in the mail before the game with the message that read to the effect, “Here’s something for you to chew on after we beat you Friday night.”
Not to be outdone, Murphy’s Post Office returned the favor the next week – after Murphy beat the Golden Eagles 22-13, ending their 29-game winning streak – with a box of chicken feathers with a note that read, “You left these in Murphy Friday night.”
Murphy go undefeated the rest of the season, with the Bulldogs’ toughest test coming in the semifinals of the state playoffs against South Stanley 21-14. Murphy defeated Robersonville 32-21 to claim their second 2A state championship, and Brown broke the all-time rushing record.
Sylva-Webster moved up to 3A in 1975 for a brief time, returning in the 1979 season. Murphy won the conference in 1975 but lost in the second round of the state playoffs. Cherokee also left the Smoky Mountain in 1975 in favor of the Appalachian Conference. Those moves left Murphy, Franklin and Swain in the 2A division, with Andrews, Hayesville and Robbinsville in the 1A division.
Bill Dyar was an assistant coach at Pisgah up until 1974, when Franklin hired him to be head coach. During Dyar’s first year, he only won one game. However, he instituted an off-season program after the season, and it payed off.
In 1976, Franklin started off 1-3 with a trip to defending conference champs Murphy, squeaking by the Bulldogs 23-20. They went on to claim the Smoky Mountain Conference crown and win the state 2A crown, which was Franklin’s first. While all this was going on in the 2A camp, Robbinsville kept racking up 1A state championships, claiming the crown in ’76, ’77 and ’79.
Dietz became the new head coach at Swain County in 1977 after serving as an assistant under Howell at Sylva Webster. It had been 13 years since Swain had been to the playoffs when Dietz took over. In his first year, he knocked off Sylva-Webster, a team Swain hadn’t beat since 1964, winning the conference crown that year but falling in the second round of the state playoffs.
Sylva returned to the Smoky Mountain Conference in 1979, but Swain had its number, defeating Sylva Webster twice that year to claim the conference crown and Swain’s first 2A state championship. Swain would be a major player in regional football for the next two decades.
Next week: The 1980s.