University of North Carolina Athletics
Rod Broadway chases Johnny Evans in a win at NC State in 1977.
Extra Points: Turning Forty
November 16, 2017 | Football, Featured Writers, Lee Pace
By Lee Pace
It was an onerous and painful three-game stretch late in the fall of 1975 for Carolina's football team. A team with only seven seniors dropped consecutive games in Kenan Stadium to East Carolina 38-17, Wake Forest 21-9 and Clemson 38-35 on the way to a 3-7-1 season. It was the only hiccup in the decade-long tenure of Coach Bill Dooley once his program started winning in 1969.
"We heard the boo-birds," remembers Alan Caldwell, a sophomore safety that year. "Those of us who were left, we took a pledge to never let happen again on our watch in Kenan Stadium. "
Ken Mack was a freshman running back that season. "There wasn't a single member of my freshman class who didn't seriously consider quitting," he says. "Those were some tough times. Coach Dooley worked us pretty hard. But soon after we started to have some fun."
Indeed, the Tar Heels bounced back the following year to post a 9-2 mark before losing to Kentucky in the Peach Bowl. Then in 1977 with a senior class that included the likes of Caldwell, Rod Broadway, Dee Hardison and Bobby Gay on defense, the Tar Heels posted an 8-3-1 mark and won the championship of the seven-team ACC.
The main event that year: A defense that allowed opponents 7.4 points and 238 yards a game. There were five All-ACC players on that unit that worked from a 5-2 alignment: linemen Hardison, Broadway and Ken Sheets; linebacker Buddy Curry; and Caldwell.
That side of the ball was coached by four men who had been or would become head coaches. Jim Dickey was the coordinator and the secondary coach; he left after the 1977 season to become head coach at Kansas State. Gary Darnell coached linebackers and would later coach at Texas, Florida and Notre Dame and become head coach at Western Michigan; Al Groh was defensive ends coach and eventually led programs at Wake Forest, Virginia and the New York Jets; and Tom Harper, the defensive line coach, had spent the 1972 season as Wake Forest's head coach and later would be one of Danny Ford's key assistants at Clemson.
"When our offense struggled, we said, 'No worries, we got this,'" says Caldwell, retired now after a career at R.J. Reynolds in his hometown of Winston-Salem. "You look at the caliber of guys we had and coaches we had, you can understand why we were so good. First-rate guys all around. We had great respect for each other and loved each other. It showed the way we played on the field."
"Our defense that year was so good and so dominating, they had so many weapons," adds Phil Ragazzo, an offensive lineman from 1974-77. "There were no weak spots on that defense."
Carolina was well-known during the Dooley era for its Wing-I offensive attack built around a strong offensive line, a bruising fullback and an outstanding run of tailbacks that began with Don McCauley in 1968-70. But in 1977, the Tar Heels unveiled a freshman named "Famous Amos" Lawrence. He stood 5-10, 180 pounds and played in stark contrast to the kind of tailbacks that had been generating thousand-yard seasons for Dooley on a regular basis.
"We were used to Mike Voight and James Betterson, these big backs who would just run over people," Ragazzo says. "Then Amos Lawrence came in as a freshman in '77. We were running the same plays, but all he needed was a tiny bit of daylight. He had this spin move that had us dropping our jaws. I'll never forget Pat Watson, our line coach, re-running one of Amos's moves on the film projector. He said, 'Look at this guy. All you have do is block a little."
The Tar Heels lost at Kentucky and in week four at home to Texas Tech—both by identical 10-7 scores that illustrate the team's emphasis on defense and special teams at the time. They opened a 3-0 ACC run by beating Wake Forest, N.C. State and Maryland, then hosted Clemson in their traditional early-November showdown. Carolina recovered a fumble late in the game, and Tom Biddle kicked a 30-yard field goal to secure a 13-13 tie. Since Clemson had lost to Maryland at home in the season opener, the Tar Heels knew a tie was nearly as good as a win, provided they could dust off Virginia and Duke to end the year, which they did with no problem.
The season catapulted two elements of the team into the future. Dooley, who had long coveted a dual role as head coach and athletic director and knew he couldn't hold both at Carolina, left after the loss to Nebraska in the Liberty Bowl to take that dual position at Virginia Tech.
And a talented freshman class that included Lawrence, Donnell Thompson, Ron Wooten, Rick Donnelly, Steve Streater and a defensive end named Lawrence Taylor, learned how to win. After a 5-6 stumble in 1978 under first-year coach Dick Crum, those players were the bedrock of a team that went 8-3-1 in 1979 and then 11-1 in 1980 with another ACC title.
"We looked to the older guys to see how they did things," says Thompson, who went on to a decade-long NFL career and now is restaurant franchise owner in Atlanta. "They were very influential. We learned how to carry ourselves. That year, we pretty much held the bags during practice, played special teams and got a few snaps when the game was decided. We were happy to be a part of that '77 team. But we had plans ourselves."
Ragazzo, son of coach Vito Ragazzo, who had been at Carolina under Dooley in the early 1970s, was a freshman in the 1974-75 academic year and remembers that being the first year of NCAA scholarship restrictions.
"Some of the earlier classes were 50 or 60 guys, but our's was only 25," he says. "So we developed a pretty close bond. We were seniors or red-shirt juniors in '77, so we grew up together."
The 1977 team will hold a reunion this weekend around the Western Carolina game, with some 70 players, managers, trainers, coaches and support staff expected to attend. The group will be recognized on the field during the first half of the game.
Lee Pace is in his 28th year covering Tar Heel football through "Extra Points" and 14th as the sideline reporter for the Tar Heel Sports Network. His book, "Football in a Forest," is available in bookstores across North Carolina and online at www.johnnytshirt.com. Email him at leepace7@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @LeePaceTweet.
It was an onerous and painful three-game stretch late in the fall of 1975 for Carolina's football team. A team with only seven seniors dropped consecutive games in Kenan Stadium to East Carolina 38-17, Wake Forest 21-9 and Clemson 38-35 on the way to a 3-7-1 season. It was the only hiccup in the decade-long tenure of Coach Bill Dooley once his program started winning in 1969.
"We heard the boo-birds," remembers Alan Caldwell, a sophomore safety that year. "Those of us who were left, we took a pledge to never let happen again on our watch in Kenan Stadium. "
Ken Mack was a freshman running back that season. "There wasn't a single member of my freshman class who didn't seriously consider quitting," he says. "Those were some tough times. Coach Dooley worked us pretty hard. But soon after we started to have some fun."
Indeed, the Tar Heels bounced back the following year to post a 9-2 mark before losing to Kentucky in the Peach Bowl. Then in 1977 with a senior class that included the likes of Caldwell, Rod Broadway, Dee Hardison and Bobby Gay on defense, the Tar Heels posted an 8-3-1 mark and won the championship of the seven-team ACC.
The main event that year: A defense that allowed opponents 7.4 points and 238 yards a game. There were five All-ACC players on that unit that worked from a 5-2 alignment: linemen Hardison, Broadway and Ken Sheets; linebacker Buddy Curry; and Caldwell.
That side of the ball was coached by four men who had been or would become head coaches. Jim Dickey was the coordinator and the secondary coach; he left after the 1977 season to become head coach at Kansas State. Gary Darnell coached linebackers and would later coach at Texas, Florida and Notre Dame and become head coach at Western Michigan; Al Groh was defensive ends coach and eventually led programs at Wake Forest, Virginia and the New York Jets; and Tom Harper, the defensive line coach, had spent the 1972 season as Wake Forest's head coach and later would be one of Danny Ford's key assistants at Clemson.
"When our offense struggled, we said, 'No worries, we got this,'" says Caldwell, retired now after a career at R.J. Reynolds in his hometown of Winston-Salem. "You look at the caliber of guys we had and coaches we had, you can understand why we were so good. First-rate guys all around. We had great respect for each other and loved each other. It showed the way we played on the field."
"Our defense that year was so good and so dominating, they had so many weapons," adds Phil Ragazzo, an offensive lineman from 1974-77. "There were no weak spots on that defense."
Carolina was well-known during the Dooley era for its Wing-I offensive attack built around a strong offensive line, a bruising fullback and an outstanding run of tailbacks that began with Don McCauley in 1968-70. But in 1977, the Tar Heels unveiled a freshman named "Famous Amos" Lawrence. He stood 5-10, 180 pounds and played in stark contrast to the kind of tailbacks that had been generating thousand-yard seasons for Dooley on a regular basis.
"We were used to Mike Voight and James Betterson, these big backs who would just run over people," Ragazzo says. "Then Amos Lawrence came in as a freshman in '77. We were running the same plays, but all he needed was a tiny bit of daylight. He had this spin move that had us dropping our jaws. I'll never forget Pat Watson, our line coach, re-running one of Amos's moves on the film projector. He said, 'Look at this guy. All you have do is block a little."
The Tar Heels lost at Kentucky and in week four at home to Texas Tech—both by identical 10-7 scores that illustrate the team's emphasis on defense and special teams at the time. They opened a 3-0 ACC run by beating Wake Forest, N.C. State and Maryland, then hosted Clemson in their traditional early-November showdown. Carolina recovered a fumble late in the game, and Tom Biddle kicked a 30-yard field goal to secure a 13-13 tie. Since Clemson had lost to Maryland at home in the season opener, the Tar Heels knew a tie was nearly as good as a win, provided they could dust off Virginia and Duke to end the year, which they did with no problem.
The season catapulted two elements of the team into the future. Dooley, who had long coveted a dual role as head coach and athletic director and knew he couldn't hold both at Carolina, left after the loss to Nebraska in the Liberty Bowl to take that dual position at Virginia Tech.
And a talented freshman class that included Lawrence, Donnell Thompson, Ron Wooten, Rick Donnelly, Steve Streater and a defensive end named Lawrence Taylor, learned how to win. After a 5-6 stumble in 1978 under first-year coach Dick Crum, those players were the bedrock of a team that went 8-3-1 in 1979 and then 11-1 in 1980 with another ACC title.
"We looked to the older guys to see how they did things," says Thompson, who went on to a decade-long NFL career and now is restaurant franchise owner in Atlanta. "They were very influential. We learned how to carry ourselves. That year, we pretty much held the bags during practice, played special teams and got a few snaps when the game was decided. We were happy to be a part of that '77 team. But we had plans ourselves."
Ragazzo, son of coach Vito Ragazzo, who had been at Carolina under Dooley in the early 1970s, was a freshman in the 1974-75 academic year and remembers that being the first year of NCAA scholarship restrictions.
"Some of the earlier classes were 50 or 60 guys, but our's was only 25," he says. "So we developed a pretty close bond. We were seniors or red-shirt juniors in '77, so we grew up together."
The 1977 team will hold a reunion this weekend around the Western Carolina game, with some 70 players, managers, trainers, coaches and support staff expected to attend. The group will be recognized on the field during the first half of the game.
Lee Pace is in his 28th year covering Tar Heel football through "Extra Points" and 14th as the sideline reporter for the Tar Heel Sports Network. His book, "Football in a Forest," is available in bookstores across North Carolina and online at www.johnnytshirt.com. Email him at leepace7@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @LeePaceTweet.
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