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HEADLINES 1964 Championship Football inducted into Bishop’s Wall of Distinction
(Version française ci-dessous) The ’64 Football Gaiters represent Coach Bruce Coulter’s first championship team at Bishop’s. Co-captained by Clem Chapple and Mike Sommerville, the Gaiters rolled to an impressive 8-1 record, defeating the Ottawa Gee Gees 32-12 in the title game for the Ottawa-St. Lawrence Athletic Association championship.
The offensive unit averaged over 30 points per game led by freshman quarterback Will Mitchell, running backs Alan Gratias, Chapple, Sommerville and Brock Thomson. Players of note on offense included Nils Bodtker, Roy Cullen, Pat Lafferty, Don Harris, Doug Calhoun, Rick Cannings, Bob Wilton and Peter Dunn. The defense was brilliant, limiting opponents to eight points per game while earning three shutouts during the year. Stalwarts on the defensive side of the ball were Bruce Walker, Bill Mitchell, Phil Townsend, Paul Gratias, Don and Dave Cooper, Ross Milmine among others.
A football team cannot win games on spirit alone though; there must be a considerable amount of talent at play. In this respect the Gaiters were perhaps outstanding in that there were no glaring weaknesses whatever, on either defence or offence. Last year's squad suffered somewhat from an erratic pass defence and an unsettled backfield. ***
***
The factor hitherto unmentioned is perharps the most important one, namely coach Coulter. In his bafflingly casual way he built a team in three years that lost only two non-exhibition games in all that time; a team that stood at the very bottom of the league when he came, and now stands at the very top. In a University that gives no special favours to athletes, that is a considerable accomplishment. ************* L’équipe championne de 1964 des Gaiters sera honorée
Sherbrooke, 6 septembre 2006 – Le
département des sports de l’Université Bishop’s est fier d’annoncer
l’intronisation de l’équipe de football de 1964 au Temple de la renommée
des sports RBC de Bishop’s qui se déroulera ce samedi 9 septembre. |
Sept.
9,
2006 – The Bishop’s University Athletic department is proud to announce
the induction of the 1964 Championship Gaiters Football Team into the
Bishop’s RBC Athletic Wall of Distinction.
“Beating Ottawa, one of the
top teams during the ‘60’s, allowed our program to be recognized on a
national level,” said legendary Coach Coulter. “That championship
brought a lot of attention to the University, our program and laid the
groundwork for future football excellence at Bishop’s.”
Reprinted
from The Campus - November 1964
The
exhibition schedule was a varied one. With less than ten days practice
under their belts, the Gaiters took on the highly rated N.D.G. Maple
Leafs. Outplayed by their opponents throughout most of the game the
better conditioned Maple Leafs sustained a last quarter drive to go
ahead and win 27-20. Besides that game the only one that had the Gaiters
worried was the annual match with the McGill J.V. Indians. It was the
well known 'off day' for Bishop's when, with the score 7-2 late in the
fourth quarter, McGill was threatening inside our 25 yard line. But in
those few remaining minutes Bishop's stingy defensive squad intercepted
a pass, inspiring their offensive partners to march 90 yards for a
clinching 14-2 win. In the other two exhibition games Université de
Montréal fell hard to a 52-0 defeat, and the Université de Sherbrooke's
alleged 
Naturally,
the brightest spot in the football season was the triumphant victory in
Ottawa on November 14, which won for Bishop's the Ottawa-St.Lawrence
football crown. Having practically forgotten how to play against a
bigger, rougher team, the Gaiters marched out onto the field, snatched
19 points in the first quarter, gave up none in the first half, and
proudly read the final score as 32-12. Desire did it. There was not one
sloppy play on part of the Gaiters. They out charged, out passed, out
ran, and out manoeuvred the bewildered to win at any time in the game
(except perhaps in the locker room at half time). It was a game that
probably happens to any one footballer only a couple of times in his
playing career. Some of the players had been working and waiting for it
for four years; it was well deserved by everyone.
This
year, however, freshman Willie Mitchell quickly and effectively filled
the vacant quarterback slot, while another newcomer, Alan Gratias,
scored 55 points from right halfback, which speaks accordingly for his
contribution. The rest of the offensive team was old talent. Sommerville
was moved to advantage at halfback and scored 66 points. Chapple filled
in as the left full back beside Thomson and those two proved a constant
threat to enemy defences, scoring 54 points between them. Absolutely
nothing can be done without a good line and it is sad that the whole
front seven plus three backs will graduate this year. Bodtker, Lafferty,
Cullen, Harris, Calhoun, Cannings and Mills made it possible for the
glory boys to score 273 total points.
The
defence guarded its end of the field viciously giving up only 8 points
per game, shutting out its opponents three times. Graduation will rob
the team of Walker, Bill Mitchell, and Townsend, but Wilton, Kaulbach,
Paul Gratias, two Coopers, Gibb, Milmine and others promise another year
or move of fine work.