Oct. 10, 2007

By Jim Sumner
TheACC.com

If one looks only at win-loss records, then Earle Edwards wouldn't make many short lists of top college coaches. After all, his record in 17 seasons as head coach at North Carolina State was 78-88-8. That's a .468 winning percentage. These days, coaches with .468 winning percentages find themselves nudged into other professions.

But Edwards operated under severe constraints. Playing under the shadows of Everett Case's basketball powerhouse, NC State football in the 1950s was chronically under-funded and under-appreciated. That makes State's 1957 season especially impressive. Coming seemingly from nowhere, the Wolfpack pulled out one unlikely squeaker after another, ending its one-loss season as the school's first ACC football champion.

Edwards came to Raleigh after Horace Hendrickson's second State team went 1-9, losing all three of its conference games during the ACC's inaugural season in 1953. Edwards was a Pennsylvania native who was an assistant at powerful Michigan State when he accepted an offer to come south to the struggling State program.

Edwards had a small recruiting budget. He had a staff of five, smaller than the competition. State never used its full complement of scholarships. And then there was Riddick Stadium, the home field that State rarely used because nobody wanted to come play there. Bill Hensley, the NC State sports information director in 1957, calls Riddick "a god-awful mess, too small and poorly maintained. The press box was wide open. If it rained or was windy, it was chaos. Just a disaster."

Pennsylvania was a hotbed of high school football in the 1950s and Edwards had maintained numerous contacts in his home state. After being hired, he went to Pennsylvania and didn't leave until he had recruited himself a football team.

The key was Dick Christy, a touted back from Chester. But Edwards also added backs Dick Hunter and Tom Katich; linemen Darrell Dess, Francis Tokar, and Amedo DeAngelis; and ends John Collar and Don Miketa. All were natives of the Keystone State. Center Jim Oddo was from nearby Delaware, lineman Bob Paroli from Poughkeepsie, New York.

Hensley laughs, "I learned more about Pennsylvania geography than I ever imagined existed. I could pinpoint practically any town in the state."

Edwards realized he would need to tap into the local market and hired Durham High School coach Carey Brewbaker to help recruit North Carolina talent.

There was an adjustment period for Brewbaker. In 1956, State traveled north to play Penn State. Brewbaker ended his fiery pre-game with an exhortation to "beat those Yankee bastards." DeAngelis looked at Brewbaker and responded, "But coach, we're all from Pennsylvania. We're Yankee bastards."

The class of '57 struggled early. They went 4-5-1 in 1955, 3-7 the following season. But Oddo maintains, "We had a strong freshman class and we learned together. We became more and more competitive every year. By our senior year, we were pretty good. We had good spirit, good morale. We got along well, we had great coaches, and we had lots of fun. The small squad gave us an advantage. We all knew each other and we all cared for each other, the coaches as well as the players."

Hensley notes, "We had two excellent football players in Christy and Hunter and some good players who complemented them. The team had good chemistry, good spirit, and played well together."

Miketa adds, "Edwards was a gentleman, a great guy. We really respected him. We called him the Earl of Raleigh. It's not difficult to play hard for a man like that."

Edwards was cautiously optimistic going into the 1957 season. "If I were a sportswriter, I would say that North Carolina State is going to be an improved football team in 1957. However, I'm a coach and naturally I avoid sounding too optimistic, knowing that a lot of things could happen between now and the end of the season. I will say this. I'll be greatly disappointed if we aren't better than we've been for the past several years."

It was single-platoon football in the 1950s. Rules limited how often and when players could return to a game, so they went on both sides of the ball, punts, kickoffs, place-kicks. Teams usually substituted as units and it was a rare team that effectively went deeper than two units.

Oddo, a longtime high school coach at Charlotte Catholic, sketches the basics. "Our bread and butter was pretty simple stuff. We were a straight T-formation team by then. Reverses, counter plays, basic plays but hard to defend. Hunter and Christy complemented each other so well. Christy was bigger but he was plenty fast and Hunter was amazingly tough for someone his size. Christy could wriggle pretty good. We had to go both ways in those days, so their versatility was an asset."

Defense? "We hit hard. We got after them pretty good. We forced turnovers with hard hits. We played a simple 5-2 but we could adjust. We were solid as long as we did our jobs. The coaches trusted us."

DeAngelis adds, "We didn't have much size or depth. We only had about six guys with talent but we had heart and played together."

Christy was the star. A speedy running back blessed with that rare ability to make tacklers miss, Christy was a threat to score anytime he touched the ball. The 5'7", 160-pound Hunter was almost his equal.

State's first five games were on the road, a common pattern for State; they could make more money playing on the road than at Riddick. They opened in Chapel Hill, against Jim Tatum's Tar Heels on a brutally hot September afternoon. State culminated a 75-yard drive on the last play of the first quarter with a five-yard run by Hunter. State made it stand up, holding UNC to seven first downs and 148 yards total offense in the 7-0 win.

State followed with a 48-13 pounding of Maryland, ending a six-game losing streak against the Terps. Christy scored three times, once on a 96-yard kickoff return, while Hunter returned a punt 63 yards to set up a score.

Clemson outgained State 260 yards to 151 in week three but Christy again was the difference. He returned the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown. Clemson drove 79 yards late in first half but lost the ball on downs at the goal line. State took a 13-0 lead early in the fourth on a one-yard run by Don Hafer. Edwards gambled on fourth and two from the State 48 but Christy was stopped short. Bill Barbary hit George Usry for a score to make it 13-7 but a late Hafer interception enabled State to run out the clock.

Miketa says, "This is when we started to think we had something going. We won some games and it just snowballed. We won games by the skin of our teeth but we won them."

Florida State was another skin-of-the-teeth win. Ernie Driscoll hit Christy with a 46-yard touchdown late in the first half for the game's only score. Katich, Hunter and Hafer had interceptions for State to preserve the shutout.

State and Miami played to a scoreless tie in Miami. The teams combined for 20 first downs and 21 punts. State's best chance for a score came on a bizarre play late in the third quarter. State blocked a punt and recovered at the Miami 15. After three incomplete passes, Katich attempted a field goal. It was blocked but Christy recovered. He retreated back to the State 40, turned the corner and picked up some blockers. But Miami caught up and ran him out of bounds at the 10, five yards short of the first down.

The Hurricanes had a great chance to win in the dying minutes. Miami intercepted Hunter and set up at the State 26 with 4:15 left. Keeping the ball on the ground, the Hurricanes advanced to the nine before losing the ball on downs with 47 seconds left. Katich tried to pass but was sacked inside the one, only inches from a safety. Christy punted out and the game ended when Christy deflected a pass in the State end zone.

State's first home game was against undefeated and fourth-ranked Duke. Over 20,000 fans filled every square inch of Riddick Stadium. Duke had defeated State 42-0 the previous season and this would be a test of how much the Wolfpack had improved in a year.

State had to play from behind for the first time. A methodical drive gave Duke a 7-0 lead, which they doubled with a 47-yard pass from Bob Brodhead to Bill Thompson. The Wolfpack got a huge score right before intermission when Katich hit Christy with a 52-yard pass.

State pulled even in the third quarter. Oddo, a linebacker on defense, picked off a Brodhead pass and returned it to the Duke 17. He recalls, "I was in the right spot. I put my hand out and the ball just stuck. I wanted to lateral to Christy but every time I looked for him, he was blocking for me. I just ran out of gas."

State moved to the five. Hunter connected with Christy and the extra point tied the game at 14.

State maintained the tie with a great goal-line stand. Duke advanced to the one but reserve quarterback Pryor Millner was stopped for no gain. A penalty moved the ball back to the six. Duke didn't have a field-goal kicker so it went for it on the fourth down. Brodhead was sacked at the 15 by a swarm of Wolfpack defenders.

Duke got the ball back on its own 32 with time for one play. Brodhead connected with Wray Carlton down the sideline but Katich caught him at the 16. Duke outgained State 353 yards to 179 but State held on for the tie.

The Wolfpack had been climbing in the national polls and the Duke tie gave State its first ever appearance in the AP top 10. Wake Forest did nothing to threaten that ranking. Hunter scored on a fake field goal, Christy ran in from the two, and little-used Ron Podwika finished the scoring from 16 yards out. State's 19-0 win gave them a 5-0-2 record.

Prior to the season, at least one national magazine predicted that State's only win would be a home date against William & Mary. State scored four minutes into the game on a strange play when Hafer ran 69 yards, was hit at the one, and fumbled into the end zone, where Christy pounced on the lost ball for the score. Christy rushed for 101 yards on 12 carries, the Pack picked up 266 yards total offense, and State dominated the game.

But Edwards wasn't happy with the 6-0 halftime lead. Oddo says, "The coaches were livid at halftime. They told us something was going to happen if we didn't shape up and they were right."

Hafer was stopped on fourth down at the William & Mary one and the Pack lost four fumbles. In the middle of the fourth quarter, William & Mary put together a 67-yard drive, which ended when Dave Edmunds took it in from two yards out. Bob Hardage converted the PAT for a 7-6 lead. State drove to the William and Mary 28 but Hardage picked off a Hunter pass. Another drive ended on a fumble at the 34 and State was intercepted in the end zone on the game's final play. Following the 7-6 loss, Edwards quipped, "We played well against William but not so well against Mary."

Oddo laments, "Murphy's Law... fumbles, penalties, missed assignments. We just got caught on a bad day."

At least, it was a non-conference loss.

Virginia Tech was next, the last of four consecutive home games. Again, State was outplayed in most statistical categories except the final score. Tech outgained State 270 to 198 yards and picked up 17 first downs, to State's eight. Tech penetrated State territory eight times and came away empty eight times. One drive stalled at the four, a touchdown was called back on a penalty, Hunter recovered a fumble in the end zone after a big hit by Hafer. Driscoll threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Bob Pepe in the second quarter, while Christy scored on a 58-yard run in the fourth quarter. The final was 12-0.

State finished at South Carolina, while Duke, also undefeated in the conference, hosted North Carolina. The ACC title was at stake but not the conference's automatic bid to the Orange Bowl. Case's basketball program had been found guilty of recruiting violations and the entire athletic program was on probation.

Duke was upset by North Carolina. State's game against South Carolina was a riveting contest, remembered for one of the great individual performances in ACC history.

The Gamecocks scored with an early touchdown. State answered when Christy returned the ensuing kickoff 53 yards and scored nine plays later from the three. South Carolina scored twice more to take a 19-6 lead. Christy ran 39 yards to the one and scored on the next play with less than a minute left in the first half. It was 19-12 at intermission.

State tied the game on the first possession of the third quarter. Christy scored from the one and kicked the PAT for a 19-19 tie. Christy took over the place-kicking responsibilities after Hunter missed the first two.

The Wolfpack took its first lead late in the third quarter when a fumble recovery set up Christy's fourth touchdown, from one yard out. His conversion made the score 26-19. South Carolina evened it up on a 16-yard run by Julius Derrick.

It was still tied when State made one final bid for victory. Taking over at its own 39, State moved to the South Carolina 47, with time for one play. Katich's pass was intercepted by Alex Hawkins, who broke free for an instant before being knocked out of bounds at State 17. The clock read zero but South Carolina had been flagged for pass interference. The penalty gave the ball back to the Wolfpack at the 30. Christy convinced Edwards to let him try a 36-yard field goal. Christy had never attempted a field goal before.

After the game Christy relived the final seconds. "I held my head down for a moment. Then I looked up and saw the official raise his arms. Man, I was stunned. But oh, it felt good. No doubt, no doubt, it was the greatest day I've ever had on a football field."

Christy had scored all of State's points in a 29-26 win that locked up State's first ACC title and a 7-1-2 season.

Christy ended up as ACC Player of the Year and a consensus All-America. He played five seasons in the pros, but was killed in an automobile accident in 1966.

Dess played 12 seasons in the NFL, mostly with the New York Giants.

State dropped back in the middle of the ACC following the loss of Edwards's first recruiting class. But the 1957 team had an impact. The budget was increased and plans were made to replace Riddick with a new stadium.

DeAngelis stayed in Raleigh and operated a popular restaurant. He maintains, "Earle Edwards has been underrated. This season jump-started the State program and laid the foundation for later successes."

DeAngelis, believing that Edwards needs more recognition, is working with State officials on ways to commemorate the "Earl of Raleigh" whose 1957 team proved that State could compete at the highest level in football as well as basketball.

Jim Sumner's articles on southern sports history have appeared in the ACC Handbook, the ACC Area Sports Journal, Blue Devil Weekly, Inside Carolina, the Wolfpacker, Baseball America, Basketball America, and other publications. His latest book, Tales From the Duke Blue Devils Hardwood, was published in 2005. In his bimonthly column "Looking Back... by Jim Sumner", he will examine the rich history of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

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