Richard Whiting: 1965 Springfield College Football Team Papers
Collection Scope and Contents
The Richard (Dick) Whiting collection contains material and information primarily related to the 1965-1966 Springfield College Football Team. Dick was a member of the team that, for the first time in the College’s modern history, went undefeated and untied. Dr. Ted Dunn coached the team with Scott Taylor and Gary Wilcox serving as Co-Captains. A DVD, Team rosters, schedules, team statistics, photos of team members, co-captains, and coaches introduce the researcher to a remarkable season. Of particular interest is a letter written by the co-captains to the team members preseason in which Scott and Gary predict the undefeated, untied outcome and spell out how it will be done, game by game. As Dick said, “for something that happened only once in 100 years, this was an incredible prediction.” Another special item is a poem by E. G. Wright titled “The Big Game” given to Dick by Coach Dunn with a handwritten note from Ted to Dick about an upcoming exam. The date that Ted gave the poem to Dick is unknown. Game programs for the Amherst, Northeastern, and Wagner Games are in the collection along with playbooks for the Wagner Game. In addition to awards and honors given to team members, the First Naming of the All Decade Team is included with several players named from the ’65-’66 squad. Within the specific game folders there are game highlights and/or programs and the photos of the coaches. In addition, there are articles or scripts used for the narration of the Dick’s video. Reunion material is also included along with the aforementioned DVD narrated by Dick Whiting and created from the contents of the collection. A ‘Save the Date’ film refers to the 50th anniversary of the season, celebrated during Homecoming 2015.
In addition to the folder files is a well preserved Scrapbook that was assembled by Dick Whiting’s mother, Josephine. The Scrapbook contains, for the most part, newspaper articles about the season and the players and coaches. Miscellaneous and unrelated articles are of interest are also included in the Scrapbook. For example, Jack Lamabe ’65, G’68, who was relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and a clipping with Bob Cousy present when Governor Volpe proclaimed Saturday (date unknown), Dr. James Naismith Day. Olympian and Springfield College graduate, Kathy Corrigan is also featured in articles. Kathy grew up in Weymouth, MA near Quincy, MA. where Dick attended high school. Glen Olds’ retirement is noted along with tuition data. Most articles, however, are about the remarkable season including how close we came to playing in the Tangerine Bowl. The University of Maine was selected over Springfield College for a bid to play in the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando, FL., December 11, 1965.
Dick narrated the video found in Folder 1 of the collection (also contained in the Springfield College Football Collection) using some of the contents from the collection. The video was first produced in 2000 and in 2005 was converted to the DVD for presentation at the 2005 Reunion. Dick also narrated the “Save the Date” film for the 50th Football Reunion held during Homecoming 2015 (the film is found in Folder 15 with other reunion material).
Dates
- Creation: 1960 - 2015
- Creation: Majority of material found in 1965
Creator
- Whiting, Richard A. (Collector, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Unrestricted
Conditions Governing Use
Rights status not fully evaluated.
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Historical Note
The collection contains materials and information collected by Dr. Richard A. Whiting (Dick), ’66, G’68 concerning the 1965 Springfield College Football team. The 1965 went undefeated and remains the only Springfield College Football team to have an undefeated, untied season with the exception of the 1893 team which had a record of 2-0. Dick Whiting was a senior offensive tackle on the 1965 team. Before enrolling at Springfield College in fall of 1962, Dick was captain of his high school football team in Quincy, MA. At Springfield College he was described by Assistant Coach Dave Auxter as a 205 lb. offensive tackle, “not big, but tough and steady.” After playing Freshman Football, he played on the varsity squad for three years until his graduation in 1966. During his student days, Dick was Class President his sophomore, junior, and senior years and was a member of several clubs including the Traditions Board. Dick earned his MS Degree in 1968 and 12 years later earned an Ed.D from the University of Massachusetts. Following graduate work at Springfield College in 1968, Dick moved to Lexington, Kentucky and for two years served as a rehabilitation counselor at the Federal Narcotics Hospital as Second Lieutenant in the United States Public Health Service. In 1970, Dr. Jack Costello, then Dean of Students at Springfield College, asked Dick to return to his alma mater as Director of the Counseling Center, where he served for over 40 years until his retirement in 2011.
Football at Springfield College has a long and distinguished history. Amos Alonzo Stagg, the Father of American Football, organized the first football team and served as player-coach in 1890. Dr. James Naismith, the creator of Basketball, played center. The team was composed of both faculty and students and was known both as the Stubby Christians and Stagg’s Eleven.
Frank Seerley coached for three years before Dr. James McCurdy took over in 1895. McCurdy developed the forward pass and other innovative strategies for the game until Elmer Berry took over in 1917. Ed Hickox followed Elmer Berry in 1922 but the twenties were really known as the Rothacher years (1924-1936). It was during this time that the team was called the Maroons. Jack Rothacher was a giant in small college football in New England and a friend of Knute Rockne, who taught Football Coaching in the Summer School of Coaching summer at Springfield College in 1930.
Jack Rothacher resigned in 1936 and Paul Stagg, Amos Alonzo Stagg’s son, took the head coaching position. After successful careers at the University of Iowa and Syracuse, Ossie Solem came in 1946. Ted Dunn, G47', who was named head coach in 1957, was Ossie's assistant coach for 12 years. Ted graduated from Colgate where he played under Andy Kerr who was known for teaching move than football; winning is a by-product of learning to play together as a team and to respect one another and the opposition. Andy Kerr had also taught Football Coaching in the Springfield College Summer School of Coaching in the summers of 1933 and 1934. Ted, as head coach, embraced and taught these virtues, continuing the old-fashioned sportsmanship started with Amos Alonzo Stagg. Nine years after Ted assumed the head coaching position, he coached the 1965 unbeaten, untied team, the first in modern history. Ted retired from coaching in 1975 and was followed Howard Vandersea (1976-1983) and Michael Delong (1984-).
Springfield College’s opponents in ’65-’66 were the US. Coast Guard (30-14), Amherst College (13-0), Williams College (28-8), Colby College (42-13), Northeastern University (16-14), American International College (43-6), Rhode Island University (7-6), University of New Hampshire (43-13), and Wagner College (30-13). The game against Amherst College was televised on Channel 22 and was the first Western Mass football game every televised in the region. The team received many honors, including Ted Dunn being named UPI New England College Division Coach of the Year and several players received honors including being selected for the All Decade Team. The team came in second to the University of Maine for selection for a bid to play in the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando, FL, December 11, 1965.
Written by Dr. Betty L. Mann, May 2015
- Revisions and suggestions by Jeffrey Monseau, May 2015
Resources used
- Personal communications, Dr. Richard Whiting, April 16, 2015
- Springfield College Bulletin, November, 1965 Lynch, Hal (1991)
A century of football at Springfield 1890-1990, Springfield College, Springfield, MA (GV958 S6 L856; Athletics Collection: Football Papers, misc. materials; Box 1 of 76
Extent
1.5 Linear Feet (2 boxes) : 1 Scrapbook Box
Language of Materials
English
Metadata Rights Declarations
Abstract
The 1965 Football Team collection contains materials and information collected by Dr. Richard A. Whiting (Dick), ’66, G’68 concerning the 1965 Springfield College Football team. The Springfield College 1965 Football team went undefeated and remains the only Springfield College Football team to have an undefeated, untied season since 1893 when the season ended with a 2-0 record. Dick Whiting was a senior offensive tackle on the 1965 team. Dick graduated from Springfield College in May, 1966 and returned to the college for his MS degree, which he earned in 1968. In 1970, Dick became the Director of the Counseling Center at Springfield College, and continued working at the College for over 40 years, retiring in 2011.
Materials in the collection include photographs of the 1965-66 football team members, co-captains, and coaches; rosters & schedules; newspaper articles; team and individual honors and awards; cumulative statistics for the season; and reunion information and football programs (Amherst, Northeastern, and Wagner). A video narrated and created by Dick Whiting is also included. The video, created originally for the 2000 football reunion and converted to DVD format for the 2005 football reunion, was arranged based upon the contents of the collection. In addition, the collection contains a scrapbook assembled by Dick Whiting’s mother, Josephine, that includes numerous newspaper articles about the team’s success, as well as other information and materials about Springfield College created during his time as a student here.
Digitized Materials
Browse digitized materials from this collection. This collection is ppartially digitized.
Digital Objects Searches
Processing Information
Materials were originally arranged in separate interoffice mail envelopes, each with a title describing the contents. Folders were arranged, in part, in accordance with the video production for the film created by Richard Whiting, the 1965 Football Team. With Dick's permission, the materials were arranged in folders to allow for greater access. In particular, photos were re-arranged with team members, action shots, and coaches in separate folders. The DVD, Save the Date Alumni film, and poem from Ted Dunn to Dick were added to the collection on April 16, 2015. The folders containing the football programs or those containing materials that are game specific remain as they were originally arranged. These folders also contain photos of player’s instrumental to the outcome of the game; photos were not moved to other photograph folders for this reason. In order to maintain continuity between digital and physical materials, present order should be maintained.
Subject
- Whiting, Richard A. (Person)
- Olds, Glenn A. (Glenn Alvero), 1921-2006 (Person)
- Lynch, Harold G. (Person)
- Title
- Richard Whiting: 1965 Football Team Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Dr. Betty L. Mann
- Date
- 2015-05
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2023-03-24: Transferring information from the original Word document to ArchivesSpace.
Repository Details
Part of the Springfield College Archives and Special Collections Repository
Springfield College
Judd Gymnasia
263 Alden Street
Springfield Massachusetts 01109 U.S.A. US
413-748-3309
jmonseau@springfieldcollege.edu