The first Russellville High School football team to reach the state finals will be honored Friday night before the 2014 team celebrates homecoming 50 years later. It was in 1964 when Coach Waymond ‘Bogey’ Morris led his team to a meeting with Elkhorn City in the Class A finals at Stoll Field on the University of Kentucky campus.
All-State tackle Joe Hicks, who was a senior on what many people believe to have been the greatest offensive line in RHS history, will be an honorary captain as the season-long celebration of the 75th anniversary of Rhea Stadium.
The other honorary captain will be Michael Benton, who was one of three running backs who shared the ball toting duties for the team. Benton was the senior back, Mike Murphy the junior back, and the late Garry Todd the sophomore back.
The late Benny Cox, who had filled in as the quarterback as a junior while senior starter Phil Smart was injured, played quarterback on this team. He passed some and ran often, especially near the goal line.
Jerry Humble, the All-State linebacker who had a solid career playing for Western Kentucky University, served as a captain at the Panthers’ last home game. A retired Marin general, Humble had a meeting scheduled at the Pentagon this weekend and is unable to attend.
Any members of this team, managers and cheerleaders are asked to notify Greg Owens upon arrival at the stadium, and they will be recognized before the game.
The following is what I wrote about the 1964 team in my 1976 booklet, Football City,
Tom Kirkpatrick, then a sportswriter, predicted in March that the team could end up in Lexington on Thanksgiving if some outstanding ends came along. Although the ends never were highly acclaimed, the team went to that famous state finals in ’64.
Coach Morris admits that the team was better than he had expected. One cause for doubt was that no quarterback was returning and that the season before had been disappointing, even with one the caliber of Phil Smart.
Benny Cox had other ideas. He spent the summer throwing footballs through a winging tire at home. Cox made up for what he lacked in natural ability with a humorous cockiness that gave him the nickname ‘Cassius’ after a boastful boxer who then had that name.
Once in his early high school years he won a homeroom election for the student council by one vote. He readily admitted that he had voted for himself.
“If I don’t vote for myself, who will?” he asked logically. That self-confidence made him a superb leader.
Co-captain Cox went on to lead the SKY is scoring and to be named to the all-WKC team. Even more impressive, he was one of the very few quarterbacks that Morris allowed to call his own plays.
Cox was joined in the backfield by powerful fullback Jerry Humble and three speedy halfbacks—sophomore Garry Todd, junior Mike Murphy and senior Michael Benton.
The line was awesome with co-captain Gary Silvey and Joe Hicks at tackle, Tim Koch and Sammy Todd at guard, and Tom Kemp at center. They were big, talented men. Danny Anderson, Donald Smtih and Bill McCutchen shared the end positions. Every starting lineman was a senior.
One defense Dickie Crowder, McCutchen, and Smith played the end slots. Hicks and Silvey were the tackles, and Koch in the middle. Sammy Todd and either sophomore Mike Humble or junior Ricky Jenkins played the corners while Humble and Kemp were the linebackers. Garry Todd and Murphy were the halfbacks,
The team steamrolled over district opponents Franklin Lincoln and High Streets 38-7 and 34-6 before running into Hopkinsville. The Tigers were on their way to two straight Class AA state championships, but had trouble with the Panthers. In fact Russellville led 7-6 going into the last two minutes. The Panther defense stopped a Hoptown drive near the 10 and the win appeared a sure thing. Then fate stopped in.
“Coach (Stumpy) Baker and I had worked with Benny on a bely option pitch out at halftime, but we only expected to use it when we were behind,” remembers Morris, who wishes that he had been calling plays instead of his quarterback at the time. “Benny called the pitch-out on our 14 when we should have been falling on the ball, and they recovered the fumble. We held them for several plays, but Pete Moore scored the winning touchdown.”
That was the only loss of the season. In a 14-6 win over Fort Campbell young halfback Mik e Gilliam broke his leg. Garry Todd was out for two games and ran only three plays in the third. But the team ran up an 8-1 record and had the district sewed up.
Then came two ties. A 6-6 tie with Franklin-Simpson didn’t please anyone, but a 7-7 deadlock with powerful Bowling Green was a relief. In that one, Todd caught the tying extra points on his back in the end zone after Cox passed on a fake placement. Then all extra points still counted just one points.
For the first time, the Panthers were in state playoffs. They went to Murray, which was then in another district, and won 6-0 on Cox’s touchdown. It was the first win at Murray in 19 years and couldn’t have come at a better time.
The semifinals found the Panthers romping over Shelbyville in the mud 18-0 behind the powerful line. Then came Lexington.
Elkhorn City, the eastern champion, was big, too. Russellville scored first on Cox’s run, after Sammy Todd had recovered a fumble. Then fullback-linebacker Humble, the irreplaceable man, suffered a concussion on a jarring blow. He continued through the first half, not knowing where he was. The suffered a jarring blow, too, as Elkhorn City reeled off 33 unanswered points.
The Panthers were, however, state runner-up and co-champions of the Western Kentucky Conference for the first time since 1950. This time the title was for Class A after the division.
Humble was first team All-State Class A, and Hicks was second team Class A and third team overall. Both were all-WKC. Honorable mention all-state went to Silvey, Kemp and Koch, who was presented the loyalty award. All-SKY Honors were to Hicks, Jerry Humble, Kemp, Silevey and scoring-champion Cox.
Morris was named WKC and state Class A Coach of the Year. He became the second Russellville coach to have charge of the West squad, and his tackles Hicks and Silvey, went with him.
That ended the Morris Era, because he accepted the head coaching job at Daviess County in his home town, Owensboro.
“This was one of the most difficult decisions I ever had to make,” says Morris, who is now assistant principal at Apollo High. (He went on to become mayor of Owensboro). “Some of the most enjoyable years I ever spent were in Russellville. I loved the town, its people and my church. But we felt that football was headed to the larger schools and that it would be wise to go home. Russellville has tremendous football for a town its size.”
Joining the former UK offensive back on the coach staff were Buddy Linton, Howard Wren and Baker. Wren went with Morris to Daviess County, as did Mike Humble. Baker became the new RHS head coach and went to the state finals two years later with several of the young players from this team being key members of the 1966 squad. Linton and Wren were trusted assistants of Coach Ken Barrett on three state championship teams at RHS.
Players on the 1964 team not mentioned above included Fran Marren, Mitchell Campbell, Johnny Mallory, Tommy Bonasso, Warner Williams, Dickie Switzer, Jimmy Cunningham, George Epley, Gregg Arnold, William Temple, Mark Hughes, Tommy Page, Larry Cook, Jim Welker, Fred Atkinson, Alan Neal, Lewis Conger, Dickie Crowder, Tommy Silvey, Bill Willis, Butch Dotson, Kenny Rogers and R.W. Merideth.
The Honorary Captains
A 1970 University of Kentucky graduate majoring in Accounting, Joe Hicks began his career as a Certified Public Accountant with Touché Ross & Company, based in Nashville. After several years with Touché, Joe established the public accounting firm of Ottarson, Hicks & Emery where he served a Managing Partner. In 1982 Joe left the public accounting profession to form a private equity firm concentrating on domestic oil & gas exploration.
In 1995 Hicks assumed the duties as President and CEO of Imperial Fabricating Co. Inc. a leading Tier 1 parts supplier to the Class 8 Truck industry. Imperial became the primary parts supplier to Peterbilt, Kenworth and Freightliner trucks. In 1999 Joe and his partner merged Imperial with TTI, an international manufacturing company.
Currently Hicks is a partner in two privately held businesses which actively operate in domestic oil & gas exploration and self-storage respectively. Joe is also a pilot, aviation enthusiast and is actively involved with NASCAR racing. He is an active member and Elder Emeritus at Christ Community Church. Joe strongly recognizes that the “Team Based Philosophy” he learned as a member of the Russellville High School Panther Football Team has been a critical component in both his business and personal life.
Most importantly Joe is married to the former Susan Stewart, a Russellville native, 1964 RHS graduate and his high school sweetheart. This year they will celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary. Joe & Susan live in Brentwood, Tenn. They have three children, Bruce, Jenny & Lauren and six ‘incredible’ grandchildren.
Michael Benton has lived in Russellville all his life. He is a solid citizen and member of the community. His daughter Tia was an outstanding student at RHS, is a college graduate, and works at General Electric in Louisville. His son Mikie was a great all-around athlete at RHS and he played football for the University of Kentucky. Mikey is one of only three former Panthers who have started for UK football, joining Tom Wilkins and Andy Britt. Mikey started for the Panthers at safety for two years under Coach Joker Phillips. Mikie is a member of the current Panther coaching staff under his high school coach, John Myers.