FOOTBALL FLASHBACKS: 60th, 75th anniversaries of title seasons at Glen Alpine and Drexel
Leon leads UNC to in-state sweep, bowl win
Former Glen Alpine football coach Ralph “Jug” Wilson (center) stands with players Tony Wood (left) and Victor Scott after the Green Wave’s 1965 NCHSAA 1A Midwest Region championship game victory over Red Springs in Salisbury. That victory 60 years ago capped a run of four Glen Alpine region titles in five seasons in an era in which state title games were not contested.
The Glen Alpine High School football juggernaut of the 1960s turned in perhaps its most defining performance 60 years ago late last month to cap an incredible five-year run under legendary former coach Ralph “Jug” Wilson.
The 1965 Green Wave gridiron bunch defeated Red Springs, 33-12, on Nov. 20 of that year in Salisbury to claim the NCHSAA Midwest (Region 3) 1A championship during an era in which state title games were not held.
It was Glen Alpine’s fourth regional title in five seasons as the Green Wave repeated as Midwest champs after having been West Region champions (Region 4) to open the decade in ’61 and ’62.
Glen Alpine continued a trend from the season before, going undefeated in league play en route to the Skyline Conference title as part of a stretch from 1964-1969 in which the Green Wave claimed 36 straight conference contests.
Though the ’65 season marked Glen Alpine’s fourth and final region crown in the sport, Wilson’s program completed an amazing nine-year run from 1961-1969 with nine straight outright or shared Skyline Conference crowns (winning at least one playoff contest in eight of those seasons) as it played for the region titles six times, won 11 or more games six times, and posted a 92-13 overall record in that span.
The ’65 Glen Alpine team’s roster included Jack Hyatt, Jim Benfield, Vic Scott, Glenn Winters, Paul White, Jim Beeler, Butch Crawley, Richard Mode, Bo Taylor, David Berry, John Ragan, Bobby Sparks, Garry McCurry, Paul Patton, Kenny Pitts, Bill Scott, Ralph Orders, Larry Stillwell, Dwight Stillwell, Gary Abernathy, Joe Proctor, Rucker Vance, Phillip Vance, Tony Wood, Phillip Abernathy, Sonny Taylor, Mike Causby, Blan Watson, Bruce Queen, Mac Poteat, Greg McGee, and Booker Rhynehart.
Hyatt, 76, still lives in Glen Alpine and was a junior tight end and linebacker for that 1965 team. He was also Wilson’s nephew.
“I called him ‘Uncle Coach’ when I was little,” Hyatt said. “The time just flies. A friend of mine, Jack Crump (a Glen Alpine Shrine Bowl back earlier in the ’60s) and I talk about every two weeks. I’m like him, you can remember some things that happened, but it’s harder to remember the plays you used to run. But I can remember ‘47 pass’ because that’s when I was going out 10 yards and cutting out to the left and catching a pass. I had a great quarterback (Jim Benfield).
“By my senior year, I was 5-11 and about 185 pounds. But then (as a junior) I was only about 160 pounds. Paul White was a tight end, and he was a senior the year I was a junior. He was a big old boy, probably 6-2 or 6-3 and pretty heavy. So I played behind him, but every time we had a pass play, I got to go in for that. Paul was a great defensive end and a great blocker, but I could catch a lot better I guess.”
The ’65 Green Wave finished 11-1 overall, with wins over three schools in larger classifications. The first of those came in Week 1 over 2A Hildebran, and the second one of those came in Week 3 in eyebrow-raising fashion at 3A Enka, 26-25.
Benfield, the Green Wave’s junior first-year starting quarterback that season, was referred to in a 1965 News Herald article from that Enka game as a “6-foot wizard who refuses to accept defeat.” He won the game on a 25-yard touchdown run on fourth down in the final 2 minutes and also passed for two TDs, one to Hyatt, in the victory.
Wilson called the lead change-filled fourth quarter of that game “the wildest I have seen in 17 years.”
Benfield had moved from halfback as a sophomore to start at QB prior to that season after the backup from ’64, Rucker Vance, was injured over the summer. Benfield went on to excel at the position, ranking as GAHS’ all-time leader in passing yards and TDs.
“It wasn’t my decision. I didn’t want to (play quarterback),” said Benfield, 76, who now lives in the Salem community and has attended all 14 Glen Alpine Sports Hall of Fame banquets.
“The guy in front of me, Rucker, was a good quarterback. I actually was ready to quit. I told my mother that I couldn’t beat him (for the starting spot). She told me, “‘Don’t never quit. Do what you can, and we’ll see what happens.’”
The lone Green Wave loss that season came in 28-25 fashion at Swain in the regular-season nonconference finale in Bryson City as GA’s late rally from down 28-12 was thwarted and its 18-game win streak was snapped.
Still, it’s a good memory for Hyatt, who caught five passes for north of 100 yards and one TD in a season-best effort despite the loss. Benfield was 11 for 18 for 182 passing yards and two TDs.
“That was the only time I heard Coach brag on me,” Hyatt said, laughing.
Both men bragged on their former coach, who was the first Burke County high school coach to be inducted into the NCHSAA Hall of Fame in 2016.
“Coach had an uncanny sense of bringing out the best in the boy,” said Hyatt, who also starred three years as a point guard in basketball for GAHS. “He knew what he was doing. I was a big cut-up, I got into little bits of trouble all the time. And I think every time, he knew about it before I did it. He was there for the boys, and you’d do anything in the world for him.”
Benfield added: “(Coach Wilson) was just an inspiration to everybody that come out. I’ve seen him make ballplayers out of boys that I didn’t think was that great. Everybody looked up to him. He was kinda like a father figure to you. There was times that I didn’t like him and times that I loved him. If you’d done something wrong, he didn’t mind telling you. And sometimes you didn’t wanna repeat what he said.
“But he was just a special person. I think everybody on the team loved him. He took care of the players. I just thought a lot of him.”
The Green Wave bounced back from their late-season loss to win a nail-biter, 13-6, against Jonesville in North Wilkesboro to open the playoffs and advance to the region title game as Winters (4 yards in the first quarter) and Benfield (3 yards in the fourth quarter) ran for short TDs.
Then after trailing Red Springs 6-0 early in the title game, Winters’ 90-yard kickoff return TD immediately tied the score. From that point on, the Green Wave rolled.
“It was a little scary right there at first,” Hyatt said. “You’re always apprehensive, you’re still learning the other team. But several teams I played on, we got scored on first and it seemed we had the resilience to come back about every time.”
Benfield found speedy senior Vic Scott with a pass, and Scott lateraled the ball back to Phillip Vance for a 39-yard go-ahead TD. Winters then rushed for 3- and 69-yard TDs for a 26-6 lead, and Scott galloped 88 yards on a kickoff return for the victors’ final end-zone visit.
Defensively, Poteat and Rucker Vance had interceptions, and Gary Abernathy ended a Red Springs drive with a fumble recovery.
That ‘65 Green Wave squad produced 11 men, including its entire four-man offensive backfield, that have been inducted into the Glen Alpine Sports HOF: Benfield (2012), Hyatt (2013), Winters (2014), McGee (2015), Scott (2016), Sparks (2017), Poteat (2019), G. Abernathy (2021), Mode (2023), Wood (2024), and Taylor (2025).
Scott, White, Mode, Patton, G. Abernathy, Benfield, and Winters were named to the All-Burke County squad that season, and they were joined by Taylor and McGee on the All-Skyline Conference team.
“Vic Scott was a heck of a split end,” Hyatt said. “I used to love to watch Victor (a senior that year) run the end around. He had speed. He’d swing deep for that end around, Jimmy’d lateral the ball to him, and if he had one or two blocks, he was gone.
“Glenn was an excellent runner too. He was a smart runner. He didn’t power over people. He was smart, he used his blockers. And he knew right when to cut one way or the other. He was really a special runner.
“My last two years were the best teams I ever played on. My senior year, we won the conference in football and tied for the conference title in basketball even though our tallest player was about 6-foot or 6-1 maybe. We really had a bunch of good athletes.”
In the 60 years since, no Burke County prep football team has won its final playoff game of the season or won a regional or state championship.
Members of the 1950 Drexel High School football team hoist coach Ray Teems onto their shoulders following the Wolverines’ NCHSAA six-man state championship victory over Whitaker-Battleboro. The contest capped a Drexel streak of 17 consecutive wins on the gridiron and was held at the old Morganton High School on Dec. 1, 1950 − 75 years ago this week.
Drexel wins county’s first football crown
Burke County’s high schools, past or present, have never won a full 11-man, all-encompassing state football title.
The lone state championship of any kind came 75 years ago this week, when the 1950 Drexel Wolverines completed a perfect 13-0 season on the gridiron to claim the NCHSAA six-man state championship.
Drexel capped a four-game playoff run on Dec 1, 1950, in Morganton by defeating Whitaker-Battleboro by a 20-14 score.
Those Wolverines, coached by Ray Teems, included: Donald McNeeley, Lamont Harris, Guy Settlemyre, Joe Saunders, Joe Dean Beard, Jerry Jackson, Luther Rhoney, Grant Queen, Willie Woodie, Ralph Isenhour, Bill Mull, Bobby Ramsey, Jerald McNeeley, Jimmy Daye, Preston Baker Jr., Max Baker, Waights Burgin, Jimmy Wright, and Lynn Woody.
The Wolverines won the title in dramatic fashion, with Harris’ 1-yard dive into the end zone capping an eight-play, 85-yard drive and breaking a 14-all deadlock in the game’s final 5 minutes.
Rhoney passed to Donald McNeeley for 39- and 24-yard TD catches, first for an 8-0 lead in the opening period and then to go back ahead 14-6 in the third before the dramatic ending.
Harris and Rhoney both grabbed interceptions to lead the Drexel defensive effort.
Drexel outscored its opponents that season by a 540-94 total margin, increasing its winning streak that dated back to 1949 to 17 games.
The Wolverines won nine games by 30 or more points. Their playoff run also included, in order, a 38-0 win over Scotts, a 34-12 win over Clemmons, and an 18-12 semifinal win over Lexington.
Former Freedom star Leon Johnson enjoyed four sensational years as a running back at North Carolina from 1993-1996. One of his best stretches as a Tar Heel came 30 years ago this November and December.
Leon Johnson goes beast mode at UNC
Former four-sport Freedom High School star Leon Johnson enjoyed one of the best two-month stretches of his decorated collegiate football career at the University of North Carolina as a Tar Heels junior running back 30 years ago this November and December.
An option quarterback who led the Patriots to 22 wins and two conference championships in three seasons from 1989-1991, Johnson was an immediate star at Carolina, eclipsing 1,000 rushing yards as a redshirt freshman tailback in 1993 as the Heels reached the 10-win plateau for the first time in a dozen years and Johnson was named ACC rookie of the year.
He went on to finish a four-year career as UNC’s all-time leader in rushing touchdowns (43) and was both the program and ACC career leader in all-purpose yardage (5,828), scoring TDs via rush, reception, pass, punt return, and kickoff return. His 50 career TDs were second all-time in the ACC when he graduated.
According to TarHeelBlog.com, which ranked Johnson as the No. 10 UNC player of all-time in 2017, Johnson was also “the only player in (ACC) history to be in the top five in career all-purpose yards, top five in career touchdowns, top five in career scoring, top 10 in career rushing yards, and top 10 in career receptions.”
Though UNC was 35-14 under coach Mack Brown in Johnson’s four years — which he ended up bookending with 10-win seasons as a senior in ’96 — the Heels had struggled to a 4-5 start after back-to-back losses to Clemson and Florida State in ‘95 when Johnson was a junior.
Johnson then put the team on his back to ensure a fourth straight UNC bowl berth, going for 179 yards from scrimmage and one TD in a 28-24 home win over Duke on Nov. 18 of that year followed by his 169 yards from scrimmage and two TDs in a 30-28 road win over N.C. State six days later as Carolina completed a 3-0 sweep of its in-state ACC squads for the unofficial state title.
Still, he saved his best for last, scoring the go-ahead TD and rushing for a career-best 195 yards on 29 carries to earn MVP honors of UNC’s 20-13 win over Arkansas in the Carquest Bowl on Dec. 30, 1995. Both Johnson’s yardage and TD mark were Carquest Bowl records.
“I’m just proud of myself. I’m proud of my team and our line,” Johnson told The Associated Press after the bowl victory. “We overcame a lot of adversity tonight.”
Paul Schenkel can be reached at 828-445-8595 or paul@thepaper.media.
