East’s Randy Fowler. Player of the Year in 1974.
Salsibury’s Leonard Atkins (44).
North’s Mark Sturgis
By Mike London
Salisbury Post
SALISBURY — Fifty years is a long time, half a century, so the talented teens who were trampling defenders for Rowan County football teams in 1975 — if they’re still with us — are now 67 or 68 and collecting social security checks.
Memories fade, but legends never die, and 1975 is still remembered as the Year of the Running Back. Rowan football fans wouldn’t see anything quite like 1975 again until KP Parks, Bush Warren, Romar Morris and Thomas Lowe came on the scene at roughly the same time in the late 2000s.
The backs in 1975 had one thing in common with the backs of 2009. They couldn’t wait for the latest edition of the Salisbury Post to arrive, so they could see how the competition did. Basically, everyone was running wild.
An era was ending in 1975. Pete Stout was in the final season of his fabulous, 10-year run at Salisbury, while W.A. Cline was in the final season of a magical, nine-year tenure at East. Larry Thomason had North in high gear. Reid Bradshaw had gotten South rolling during toward glory with five straight wins to close the 1974 season. The Raiders wouldn’t slow down for a long time.
Those four men, all of whom were conservative, run-the-ball-and-play-great-defense coaches, have been inducted into the Salisbury-Rowan Hall of Fame.
Lou Manning was in his first season in 1975 as head coach of the West Rowan Falcons. West wasn’t great, not as good as the rest of the county, but it certainly wasn’t bad. The Falcons were just as conservative and run-oriented as their competition. They went 4-5-1, scoring 12 points per game and allowing 12 points per game.
The other four Rowan teams were excellent in 1975. Salisbury went 8-1-1. North was 8-2. South finished 8-3. East was 6-4. Rowan success that season is easy to overlook because the Raiders were the only team that qualified for the playoffs.
Rowan schools were still in the Western North Carolina High School Activities Association in 1975, although that era also was nearing the end of a mighty run. The WNCHSAA would dissolve after the 1976-77 school year, with its membership joining the NCHSAA.
In 1975, the WNCHSAA boasted 38 member schools competing in four conferences.
Salisbury was still slugging it out at the top of the nine-team South Piedmont Conference with stout Lexington and Concord teams. A.L. Brown, Statesville, Asheboro and Thomasville formed the middle of the pack in that formidable league, with Trinity and Albemarle on the bottom and taking a licking every Friday.
The other four Rowan County schools were placed in an odd, 11-team North Piedmont Conference that was sliced into two divisions. “Division 1” featured North Davidson and North Rowan and also included Mooresville, West Rowan and North Stanly.
“Division 2” featured South Rowan and East Rowan and also included Davie County, North Iredell, South Iredell and West Iredell. West Iredell had only opened two years earlier and was still taking serious lumps in 1975.
Salisbury tied Concord 0-0 and lost to Lexington 17-14. The Hornets finished behind both of those teams in the SPC standings and didn’t make the playoffs. It’s quite possible the 1975 Hornets are the best Rowan team there’s ever been that did not make the playoffs. Salisbury allowed 8.8 points per game and scored almost three times as many points as its opponents.
Salisbury back Leonard Atkins managed to put up memorable rushing outing in his 10-game season. including 237 rushing yards against Thomasville and 215 against Trinity on only eight carries. In those days, there was less obsession with stats. If a game was decided, stars headed to the bench early. Atkins probably could have gotten 400 against Trinity with no problem.
Atkins also had 180 yards against Albemarle (14 carries) and 186 in the big non-conference win against East Rowan that opened the season.
Atkins amassed 1,419 rushing yards that season. His production in the Thomasville game was a school record.
Pete Hardin and Tom McDaniel combined for another 1,200 rushing yards for the 1975 Hornets.
How much did the Hornets pound it? Chal Glenn, the QB, threw 39 times all season.
An East Rowan back might have broken all the records that season, but the Mustangs didn’t have just one. Rick Vanhoy and Randy Fowler were a running back tandem that split carries almost evenly.
Fowler, the fullback, had his biggest game that season with 17 carries for 185 yards (the school record at the time) in a major victory against North Davidson, the NPC champs.
Vanhoy, a 6-foot-4 halfback, had 158 yards on 24 carries against North Iredell.
Fowler averaged 6.4 yards per carry, while Vanhoy averaged 5.1. They combined for for 1,846 rushing yards that season.
Vanhoy and Fowler were seniors in the fall of 1975, but they actually were a tag team for three seasons (1973-75). Fowler had 2,361 career rushing yards. Vanhoy had 2,243. Fowler owned the school career record before Cal Hayes Jr. came along 25 years later.
East had sprinter Kizer Sifford at wingback in 1975, and while Sifford had modest season totals of 298 rushing yards and 340 receiving yards, when he touched the pigskin, he frequently went the distance.
He caught 12 passes. Eight went for touchdowns. That may be the highest percentage of touchdowns relative to the number of receptions ever. In all, he scored 14 touchdowns to tie for the county lead.
East had a notable QB in 1975 — Derry Steedley — but he was either handing off or pitching out. The Mustangs ran it so much that Steedley threw only 48 passes all season.
South’s carries were usually spread out in 1975, but fullback Eric Barker had a monster game against Davie County with 230 yards on 22 carries in a 42-7 blowout that was South’s most lopsided victory of the season.
For the season, Barker had 135 carries for 806 yards. Daryl Barnhardt rushed for 524, while Jeff Long added 396.
Barker’s 230-yard game stood as the school single-game record until Michael Ramseur ran for 249 yards against North Rowan in 1981.
South QB Rick Stamey was called on to throw only 57 times in 11 games in 1975. Stamey paced the county with 431 passing yards.
As the only Rowan team to make the playoffs, South battled in the first round, but lost a 15-11 decision to North Davidson.
The 1975 season was the junior year for Mark Sturgis at North Rowan. Sturgis posted 1,613 rushing yards on 220 carries, averaging 7.3 yards per carry.
Sturgis (1974-76) finished his career with 3,259 career rushing yards and 32 rushing TDs.
Leonard Alexander chipped in with 719 rushing yards as North’s second option in 1975.
North QB Randy Roberson threw 62 times in 10 games. He threw more passes than anyone in the county, but the Cavaliers wouldn’t start throwing often until Bobby Myers arrived.
West threw only three TD passes in the 1975 season, but had decent rushing yards with Andra Cowan, getting 627. Robert Garrison and Tim Cohen also had over 400 rushing yards. Cohen, an All-NPC defensive back, got his offensive yards on only 45 carries.
Cowan’s yards were derived mostly from two games — 196 yards against South Iredell and 158 against Mooresville.
The Falcons had Phil Hogue putting up big rushing numbers in 1974, but that was his last season. He wasn’t around for the fun in 1975.
The postseason accolades for 1975 were interesting. They only named first team All-NPC in those days. East’s Vanhoy and North’s Sturgis joined North Davidson’s David Robertson and Robert Everhart (QB) in the All-NPC backfield.
The All-SPC backfield was Salisbury’s Atkins, Concord’s Tracy Andrews (QB) and Ray Long and Lexington’s Robert Brown.
The Salisbury Post’s All-Rowan County team, compiled by coaches and sportswriters, recognized Sturgis as Rowan County Offensive Player of the Year. There was only room for three all-county backs. Those spots went to Sturgis, Fowler and Atkins.
That meant Vanhoy, one of the great three-sport athletes in East Rowan history, didn’t make all-county football as a senior.
It didn’t bother Vanhoy much. The Greensbor0 Daily News produced the most respected All-State team in those days. The two Rowan athletes named to that team were Vanhoy and Salisbury lineman/kicker Chuck Valley.
Vanhoy, Fowler and Valley were named to the Shrine Bowl squad.
Vanhoy is probably the best remembered now of the great backs of 1975 because he returned to Rowan as a teacher, coach and administrator after college and had some success as head coach at South Rowan (1995-2005).
Vanhoy also had an interesting college career at UNC, where he shared a locker room with icons such as Lawrence Taylor, Buddy Curry and Famous Amos Lawrence.
Freshmen played jayvee when Vanhoy arrived at UNC. He was the fullback for the jayvee team in 1976, but in 1977 spring drills, he began making a transition to tight end. He had the frame for it, but he was too light at about 205 pounds to handle a tight end’s blocking assignments. He redshirted the 1977 season, as he tried to add weight and did so. He peaked as a second-team tight end, and he did contribute and caught a few passes for the Tar Heels.
While he was transitioning from fullback to tight end, he also made a transition from international relations to education in the classroom, and Rowan County benefited from that move.
By Mike London mlondon@salisburypost.com Phil Hogue sits with his wife and grandson and watches K.P. Parks roll every Friday, and it takes him back to his own glory days at West Rowan. When Parks scored six TDs against Northwest Cabarrus in 2007, it cost Hogue a share of a school record, but he isn’t complaining. “K.P. is great,” he said. “And I hope this is the year West finally wins it.” There were a handful of fine backs in Rowan County this season, but Parks was a clear-cut No. 1. But in 1974, Hogue’s heyday, the competition among county backs was fierce and the talent deep. East had Rick Vanhoy, Randy Fowler and Kizer Sifford. Salisbury had Leonard Atkins and Tom McDaniel. North had Mayhew Cuthbertson and Mark Sturgis. West had Hogue and Clark Pharr. All nine had at least 500 rushing yards in a 10-game season. From 1974-1976, Fowler, Atkins, Sturgis and Hogue broke their school’s career rushing record. The Post’s three all-county backs in 1974 were Hogue, Fowler and Atkins. In 1975, it was Fowler, Atkins and Sturgis. Vanhoy was All-State and a Shrine Bowler in 1975, but not all-county. That’s how stiff the competition was. “We all knew each other and you’d see who could get the most yards,” Hogue said. “You’d look at the paper on Saturday and figure out what everyone had done. But a lot of things were different then. Kids play longer now. Back then, if you had it won, you came out.” Hogue was a sophomore in 1972 and had his moments as a cornerback. In 1973, his junior season, Hogue played both ways for coach Benny Robbins. He rushed for 850 yards and joined North’s Jimmy Heggins and Salisbury’s Powell Adkins as all-county running backs, but his fondest memories are defensive.
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