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1976 Big 8 football champs reuniting this weekend
Contributed by: CU Sports Information on 9/14/2006

BOULDER - Thirty years ago, Rocky won the Academy Award for best picture; Paul McCartney and Wings had the nation's top single with Silly Love Songs; Happy Days was the top-rated television show; and Jimmy Carter was elected as the 39th president of the United States.

And the Colorado Buffaloes won their second Big Eight Conference title in football, ending the regular season ranked No. 11 in the nation and earning a berth opposite No. 11 Ohio State in the Orange Bowl.

It's the 30th anniversary of that 1976 Big Eight champion and Orange Bowl team, and most of the coaches and a good number of the players are returning to Boulder this week for a reunion.

Head coach Bill Mallory will return as will six of his assistants: Tom Batta, Ron Corradini, Gary Durchik, Floyd Keith, Bob Reublin and Dwight Wallace.

Mallory coached the Buffaloes between 1974 and 1978, piloting the team to a 35-21-1 mark those five seasons. The 1976 team went 8-4, rebounding from a season-opening loss at Texas Tech to win six of its next seven games in eventually finishing 5-2 in league play. Though both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State tied CU atop the Big Eight standings with a 5-2 record, the Buffs earned the invitation to the Orange Bowl thanks to wins over the Cowboys (20-10) and Sooners (42-31). In the Orange Bowl, CU took a 10-0 lead before falling to No. 11 Ohio State, 27-10. Colorado finished 16th in both the Associated Press and UPI Coaches polls.

Mallory and CU broke ties in 1978, but he resurfaced six years later and would coach the Indiana Hoosiers for 13 seasons (1984-96), becoming the winningest coach in IU history. He compiled a career record of 165-121-4 at three different schools (he was at Miami-Ohio prior to accepting the CU position). He guided all three schools to top 20 finishes in national polls, one of just a handful of coaches to do so.

Tailback Tony Reed led the team in rushing with 1,210 yards, while fullback Jim Kelleher had 615 and a team-best 15 touchdowns. Quarterback Jeff Knapple quarterbacks the team, throwing for 904 yards and three scores, while rushing for 224 yards and three TDs. Wingback Emery Moorehead was the leading receiver (18 catches for 374 yards and 2 TDs), while current CU assistant coach Brian Cabral led the team in tackles with 88 from his linebacker position, and cornerback Odis McKinney topped the team in interceptions with five.

Cabral, Kelleher, McKinney and Moorehead will all return this weekend, along with several other players: Jeff Austin, Howard Ballage, Larry Bradley, Willie Brock, Tom Catt, Pat Confer, Howard Chinatti, Mike Cilento, Mike Davis, Pat Dunn, Marty Erzinger, Dave Griffin, Mike Hagan, Mark Haynes, Greg Howard, Art Dale Johnson, Phil Kettleson, Jeff Lee, Brian McCabe, Chuck McCarter, Bobby Morris, Bill Muxlow, Bob Niziolek, George Osborne, Tom Roberts, Bart Roth, Joe Schaap, Bill Solomon, Mike Spivey, Tom Tesone, Jackie Thorton, Ruben Vaughan, George Visger, Stuart Walker, Greg Watson and Heaton Wrenn.

They will gather for golf Friday at the Omni Interlocken Resort in Broomfield, attend CU's team walkthrough that afternoon, and then have a dinner reception in the Byron White Club Room in the east stadium in the evening. They will also have a pregame function Saturday and then be introduced at halftime of the CU-Arizona State game.


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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Jeff Thomas has posted 1629 stories and 83 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. Jeff Thomas's average story rating is 4.73.
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