Two former Russellville High School standouts who were teammates and classmates both at RHS and Western Kentucky University will be honorary captains for the 2014 Panthers will they entertain Butler County at Rhea Stadium this Friday.
This is the second installment of a season-long celebration of 75 years of Panther football at stately Rhea Stadium.
Toby Nichols and Brad Watson were seniors on Coach Stumpy Baker’s 1968 Panther team which went 7-2-1 but missed the playoffs, since one of those losses was to district opponent Murray 20-14 in the next-to-the-last game of the season. Only one team from a district advanced in those days, in the first decade of classified football.
The ’68 Panthers made their final game memorable, beating Bowling Green 27-6. In that game, Nichols rushed 37 times for 221 yards. RHS dominated the game at BGH so thoroughly that Baker moved huge tackle Frank Tinch to tackle in his final football outing.
That team won big often. They whipped a highly regarded Franklin-Simpson team 33-7 to start the season. They beat Fort Campbell 40-0, Crittenden County 45-0 and a Daviess County team mentored by former RHS coaches Waymond Morris and Howard Wren 14-0 in a trio of consecutive shutouts.
In a 6-6 tie with North Marshall, the Panthers had a touchdown by James ‘Slick’ Kees called back on a clip called after Kees crossed the goal line. Baker learned in that game as good as fullback Nichols and tailback Kees along with sophomore Ronnie Bell were at carrying the ball, the Panthers had to develop a passing attack. That fell on the shoulders of junior quarterback Charles ‘Star’ Duncan and sophomore sensation Virgil Benton.
In my 1975 booklet Football City, I wrote, “Baker began to develop his passing attack and came up with the best pair of ends Russellville had possessed since 1950. Brad Watson and Billy Warden are best remembered for their defense, but they were sure-handed receivers. Watson dropped only pass thrown to him all season at tight end and Warden was a speedy split end… In a 40-0 shellacking of Fort Campbell, Duncan had passes of 41 yards to Warden and 85 to Watson, and Benton hit Warden with a 42-yarder.”
In that deciding loss to Murray, Nichols ran for 174 yards. Tiger star Don Shelton had 176.
Nichols, who had been All-WKC Class A as a junior, was named second team all-state and junior tackle Larry Duffy was third team all-state. They both were all-Western Kentucky Conference Overall and in Class A while Watson and Tinch joined them on the Class A All-WKC team. All of them were All-SKY League, as were Warden and center Tom Silvey. Nichols was chosen for the West squad in the East-West All-Star game.
The seniors had been sophomores on Baker’s 1966 team which was state runner-up. The juniors—including Duffy, Duncan, Marc Sanford, Tim Gilliam and Tommy Threlkeld—and sophomores moved on to be key players on Baker’s last Panther team, which “lost the scoreless tie” at Tompkinsville in the regional finals. The next year the sophomores who had played extensively on this team—guys such as Benton, Billy Costello, Bob Flowers, Randy Cowan and the Parrish brothers, Ralph and Barry—were on Coach Jim Gladden’s 1970 team which reached the state semifinals.
Baker later told me, “I believe the 1968 team had as much talent as the ’66 team, but a couple of bad breaks kept them from proving it. I would have liked to have seen ‘66, ’68 and ’69 go against each other.”
WKU coach Jimmy Feix liked what he saw and recruited both Nichols and Watson to play for the Hilltoppers. They were freshmen together on The Hill.
Watson didn’t get deeply involved in football until his brother Chris, who started for the ’66 team as a junior and played football at West Point after his senior season, had moved on. He started his Western career on a partial scholarship. By the time preseason drills had ended, he had a half-scholarship. And at the end of his freshman year, he had earned a full ride.
Brad was a three-year starter for the Hilltoppers and was co-captain of the team in 1972 when he was named All-OVC defensive end.
Watson taught elementary school physical education for a couple of years, but he kept feeling the draw of playing in the National Football League. He tried out for the National Football League’s Washington Redskins. Legendary coach George Allen saw Watson’s potential, but didn’t think Brad was ready to be on the roster. Watson was with the ‘Skins two seasons, hanging out with fellow reserves like Super Bowl winning quarterback Joe Theissman.
His weight kept fluctuating, depending on what NFL coaches wanted him to be. If he was to be a middle linebacker, he gained weight. If he was designated an outside linebacker, he would work to lose weight on his big, tall frame.
He then tried out and made the first-ever Tampa Bay Buccaneers team in 1976. The coach was John McKay, who had been the highly successful coach at USC—the University of Southern California where he had developed backs like O.J. Simpson and Sam ‘Bam’ Cunningham. The quarterback was Steve Spurrier, now head coach at another USC—South Carolina. One of his teammates was defensive great Lee Roy Selmon.
In the final preseason game before the Bucs were to play the franchise’s first regular season NFL game, the speedy Watson was at the point of the wedge on the kickoff return team. He was run over by members of his own team, tearing up his knee. He spent the season on injured reserve, having undergone major surgery. Then he remained in Tampa, working hard during the offseason rehabilitating the knee. Surgeons didn’t know as much about knee surgery in 1976 as they do near 40 years later. He couldn’t perform the dills the way he had in the past, and his NFL career ended.
Watson joined the Navy and became a pilot. When his required service ended, he was hired as a commercial pilot. He still flies regularly for Northwest Orient airlines. His flights to the Far East are so long that he has to wear special hosiery to keep from developing blood clots around that NFL-damaged knee. In fact, he’s recovering from knee replacement surgery now. He and his wife live in the Nashville area.
Brad Watson still holds the distinction of being the only graduate of Russellville High School to have been an NFL player.
Toby Nichols has made his home in Logan County ever since his football career ended at WKU. He is a trusted and valuable employee of the Logan County School System. He is also well known for being devoted to his family.
About his being named an honorary captain for this week’s game, his daughter, Riley Knifley, says, “He deserves it… for the player and leader he was then and for the amazing and generous man he is today!”
From that 1968 team, players Frank Tinch, Slick Kees, Charles Duncan, Larry Duffy, Tom Silvey, Scott Neil, John Paul Hughes, Mark Sasson and Ralph Parrish are among those no longer living. Neither is Coach Stumpy Baker.
They will be well represented Friday, though, when Toby Nichols and Brad Watson (honorarily) captain the Panthers at Rhea Stadium.