By TOM BONE
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BLUEFIELD —
United by an unusual common bond, 17 men in their late 60s and a team of teenagers shared an emotional few minutes at Bluefield High School on Friday afternoon.
The undefeated Beaver football team of 1960 was back in the building, meeting with the 2010 team in the BHS media center. Both groups followed up a state championship team when they began their seasons, 50 years apart.
Tom Kesting, a Georgia resident who was a co-captain in 1960, said, “Just walking down the halls makes tears come to your eyes. We’re honored to be here.”
Current head football coach Fred Simon watched as his team, wearing matching T-shirts, marched in and formed a large ring around the seated alumni. The players from 50 years ago applauded their successors for almost two minutes as they arrived.
Simon said, “We’re honored and proud to be standing among you-all, to hear what you have to say.”
They had plenty to say. Kesting began with a joke. “In 50 years, unless you take better care of yourselves than we did, THIS is how you’re going to look,” he said as he indicated his teammates.
Kesting said that the 1960 team heard predictions that the Beavers would win only two games that season, “but because of the tenacity we had, and coming together as a team, we went undefeated.”
Doug Ward, a senior right end in the fall of 1960, remembered hearing comments that his team was going to be “too small and too slow.”
Tom Lilly, a Princeton attorney who played tackle for the 1960 Beavers, said, “This was certainly not our most talented team, but this was the team with the most heart.”
Despite that, the 10-0 Beavers did not get to play for a state championship. The system that year consisted of a one-game Class AAA title contest between the top two ranked teams. Bluefield ended the season ranked third.
Ward said, “A lousy system, but that’s the way it was, so we retired undefeated.” Lilly said the state football scene at the time was “provincial.”
Kesting said matter-of-factly about the two finalists, “I still think we could’ve given Weirton a better game than Nitro did.”
Most of the players credited the head coach of that era, Merrill Gainer, with driving the team to its successes
Ward said, “There’s probably several of us, like me ... who never actually played in a losing high school football game — because as a sophomore, you only got in games if you were winning.”
The 1959 Beavers also went undefeated, and won the first of Bluefield’s 10 state football championships.
John Brooks, an all-state end on the 1960 team, said, “We didn’t have as much talent, but we were undefeated, and we did it from the heart. I don’t know how we did it. The ’59 team was super-talented, and super-big. We were small, but we had a lot of heart.
Brooks also made the Sporting News all-America high school team in 1961, his teammates reported.
He told the young men around him, “I don’t care if you play guard, tackle, end. Just do the best you can. It’s what you do that counts. Put it on the line, and you’ll be successful.”
Halfback Dusty Lotito said, “We expected to go out and be successful, and win every game. And I know you guys do the same thing. … Obviously, this has filtered down through the years. It’s something that makes all of us proud.”
Kesting told the current students, “You have fans all over the country,” including ex-players in Annapolis, Md., and Fairbanks, Alaska. “Just remember, we really love you guys, and we really support you. And we just hope you guys win back-to-back state championships. That’d be a fabulous thing to do.”
Henry Hall, once known as “The Mouth of the South,” used his speaking skills to tell the students, “I don’t care what you say about Texas football, and Pennsylvania football, and Florida football. There’s no better football in the country than right here in Bluefield. You guys have pride, and you’ve got the record to show it.”
“I’m so proud of you, I can’t stand it. I’m in tears right now, because you are special people … because you are on a special team, that has made an impact on a lot of people. … Keep up the good work. God bless all of you!”
Center Harry Wright said about the Beavers tradition, “You’re a bright spot in Bluefield, West Virginia.
Lilly told the 2010 team, “By golly, you can be whatever you want to be. You can do whatever you want to do. Everything you do, give it all you’ve got, like you do on this football team.”
Charles “Chuck” Denham, a halfback in 1960, said, “We’re proud to have been part of the tradition that you are carrying on. One thing to remember is humility — and you’ll never go wrong in life, no matter what you do.
The other captain of the 1960 team, quarterback-halfback Richard Bourne, is now deceased, but he was vividly remembered as well on Friday.
“Richard was just a phenomenal athlete, a phenomenal runner,” Lilly said. “… He was the most gifted athlete I’ve ever seen. He’d run down the field like he wasn’t even running fast, and he had eyes in the back of his head.”
Kesting said, “He could throw the ball with either hand. It just amazed me. … He was a great baseball player, too, and a good basketball player. He could also run track … and he could sing. He had a good voice.”
The weekend for the 1960 team included an introduction at Mitchell Stadium prior to Friday’s football game with Princeton and a Saturday night banquet at the Bluefield Elks Lodge. Kesting said the team planned to sign a football to give to Simon, and to take up a collection to benefit the BHS football program.
Simon said, “What’s been great for me is having the different teams back, and getting to hear you-all speak. I see why you won. I see why. And our players know, and we talk about it a lot. We’re all together. … It’s a nice team family.”
Pete Sarver, who volunteered to help with the reunion, greeted the 1960 team at the media center on Friday.
“You-all have long thought of yourselves as the forgotten bunch, but that will never be the case again,” Sarver said. “As a 7-or 8-year-old boy up in the stands, you thrilled my heart. ... We are so honored to have you-all back.”
Ward was taking the events in stride. He said on Friday afternoon, “I haven’t been back for a reunion, ever. I don’t recognize any of ’em.” Breaking into laughter, he said, “They haven’t aged, and I have.”
— Contact Tom Bone
at tbone@bdtonline.com
