One of the highlights of Homecoming at Chadron State College this weekend will be a reunion of athletes coached by Bill Baker 60 or more years ago.
Now 90 and living in Tucson, Ariz., Baker and the CSC Alumni Association organized the reunion, which will primarily focus on Chadron State’s undefeated football team in the fall of 1958.
The Eagles had to come from behind to defeat Southern State College of Springfield, S.D., 26-20 in the season-opener, but won all their remaining seven games by at least three touchdowns.
While Baker, who was just 28 when he initially came to Chadron State to coach football and track and field in 1955, is still going strong and will serve as the grand marshal of the Homecoming parade Saturday morning, time has taken its toll on the ’58 team. Sixteen the 30 lettermen have passed away and only five of the remaining 14 have made reservations to attend this weekend’s reunion.
Several others had previous obligations this weekend or said they don’t travel well because of physical problems.
However, five other football players that Baker coached as well as two outstanding sprinters from his track teams and a couple of basketball players from that era are planning to attend, along with at least two widows of football players.
Baker says the ’58 team was made up of rugged, hard-nosed players who worked hard and got along well. Several of them played more than one position and started on both sides of the ball. Fourteen of them received at least honorable mention when all-star selections were made at the end of the season.
Several of the standouts were from the Panhandle.
Tom Blundell, a native of Chadron, got the highest honors. He was selected as the outstanding senior lineman in the Nebraska College Conference and was named NAIA second-team All-American.
Dick Colerick of Alliance and Lonny Wickard of Minatare and later a long-time school administrator at Bayard, were the co-captains. Both were the all-conference linebackers. Colerick also was the fullback and Wickard the quarterback, or blocking back, on the single-wing offense.
Guido Santero of Lewellen was the tailback and played in the secondary on defense. He rushed 117 times for 807 yards and scored 13 touchdowns to spark the offense.
Wickard, who called the signals, completed 25 of 42 passes for 575 yards and seven touchdowns and had just two intercepted. He also handled the punting, but was needed for that only 23 times. His 42.8-yard average is still among the best in CSC annals.
Wickard, whose senior-season highlights also included an 80-yard punt and a 93-yard interception return, was inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame in 2005.
Other stalwarts included John McLane of Cambridge and Jerry Rowe of Valentine. Both played tackle on both offense and defense. They plan to attend this weekend’s reunion.
The Chadron newspaper noted that the team was a “heavy one,” with the line averaging 193 pounds and the backs 180.
The line average included a 158-pound center, Chadron native Don Mathis, who, at Baker’s insistence, was inducted into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003 when the team had its 45-year reunion. The entire team went into the hall of fame in 1998, on the 40th anniversary of that great season.
After coaching six years at Chadron State, Baker was an assistant football coach nine years at the University of Wyoming and two years at the University of Arizona. He then was a pro football scout for 25 years.