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I was there. Told some of the IBowl search committee that it might happen that day - they didn't believe me - Cecil, Cecil, you're a good man but... Wish Dr. Dan could feel the goosebumps I felt. Maybe then he could understand. You can sow the seed on rocky ground - but you cannot make it grow....
I am Larry Brewer's daughter, Natalie, and I came across this thread. It's really great to hear such great things and stories about my dad. We all miss him a lot, he was a wonderful dad. I just wanted to thank everyone for posting and if anyone else has any great stories, I'd love to hear. I'll be passing this site on to his parents and my brother.
I am too young to have seen your dad play but my dad was a teacher at Tech then and he loved to tell me stories about Terry and Company. I have allways heard that your pop was one of the first great Tech TE's. My dad passed when i was in high school and i love to hear stories about him also.
Originally Posted by MICKEYS14
I watched that game with Coach Mize on a small tv in the warmth of an indoor track meet at NSU. The snow flakes were falling and they would show Mickey and Pat sitting outside the pressbox calling the game. Bradshaw was truly a very strong player. He not only stood up to the Akron defenders but also to that strong, cold wind that was blowing in that stadium that day. The "Zips" got zipped.
I saw Tech play six games that year. One of the very best was at Lamar Tech in Beaumont. Bradshaw threw back to back td passes to Liberto in that game, the first being called back and the second for a score. That field was down in a hole and the light polls were very high. Those two balls were as high as the lights to Liberto and he ran under each with ease in stride. That young man could RUNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so much fun watching our OC, Mick, call the same play twice when something bad would go wrong the first time the play was called. The second time was usually much better than the first. Tech football has never been better than that year.
Larry Brewer and Mike Barber were the two of the best tight ends that have ever played at Tech. Brewer so big and strong and Barber so fast for that position. Barber ran the high hurdles with Ricky Stubbs.( White Oak and Queen City, Tx. boys ) Stubbs ran 13.3 and won the NCAA meet. Barber ran 14.1 for second to Stubbs in the conference meet at McNeese. The D-backs didn't know where he came from as he would run by them on the way to a TD catch. FUN TO WATCH.
When my mother was in rehab, she received very kind visits from Larry Brewer. He was a really nice man, in the best sense of that word. My aunt and cousins all lived in Minden.
I believe Barber ran a 13.8 at some point in his hurdle career. Ricky was the best hurdler in the US for a period of time but lost focus before the Olympics came around.
I have a book called Jerry Byrd's Football Country, published in 1981 all about North Louisiana football, high school, college, and the players who went pro. very cool book-includes the 1963 Minden team and several other state champions as well as some of the best college games played. This is going to be long, but here's the book's account of the Tech-NSU game in 1968:
Louisiana Tech-Northwestern State 1968
It was North Louisiana's version of Bobby Thomson's "shot heard round the world" in the 1951 National League baseball playoffs, breaking up a brilliant pitching duel.
Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State had been football opponents since 1907, but neither school had ever been involved in a game thatcould match the 1968 State Fair Classic for thrills.
The Demons had never scored 39 points against their old rivals from Ruston. When tech got the football in the last 25 seconds, Northwestern State fans were chanting "We wrecked Tech!" and pointing to scoreboards on both ends of State Fair Stadium that clearly showed their team leading 39-35. Across the field, Tech fans were filing out of the stadium.
Then it happened. Somewhere between "We" and "wrecked" the cheering stopped. Dropping back from his 18 yard line, Tech QB Terry Bradshaw unloaded a bomb to former Woodlawn High teammate Ken Liberto, streaking down the West sideline in front of the Bulldogs' bench.
Kenny Hrappman, the Demons' freshman cornerback from New Orleans, had intercepted a similar pass in the first half. But when he went for this one, it zipped through his hands. Liberto caught it in full stride. Another Demon defender, Dick Concilio, made a diving attempt to tackle Liberto, but only managed to nick the heel of his shoe.
In front of Northwestern State's bench, defensive coordinator Gene Knecht dropped to his knees, then pitched forward face first, pounding the ground. "It still haunts me," Knecht recalled 10 years later. "It was a nightmare. i felt worse for Kenny than anything. He was in perfect position, but he misjudged the play. It went through his hands. It was just a freak play."
It was the type of play that Bradshaw was making more frequently as the 1968 season progressed. His 258 yards passing in the State Fair thriller boosted his total to 1,330--only 31 yards short of the school and conference records set four years earlier by another Woodlawn product, Billy Laird, although the season was only half over.
Until the last 25 seconds, however, he had been overshadowed by the Demons' quarterback, Don Guidry. he had 278 yards total offense and three touchdown passes in the game as the two teams had a combined total of 895 yards total offense.
Northwestern fans playing the "if" game could point to a controversial "aiding the runner" penalty as the call that made Bradshaw's last-minute heroics possible. With 1:30 left in the game, Coach Glen Dossett's Demons were running out the clock at midfield. Richard Ware picked up a first down that would've enabled them to keep the ball away from Bradshaw, but the penalty erased the play and forced a punt.
A year later, liberto second guessed the Demons' defensive strategy.
"I was expecting them to be in a prevent defense," he recalled. "I thought everybody in the ball park knew what we were going to do. But they were in their regular defense. When I saw that, I figured we had a 50-50 chance of completing the pass. It sure made my job easier."
The season had been a roller coaster trip for the Bulldogs, in their second year under Maxie Lambright. They upset Mississippi State of the Southeastern Conference and East Carolina but dropped a pair of gulf States Conference decisions and came to Shreveport with a five game losing streak in GSC play.
It was literally a dream come true for Bradshaw. A couple of nights before the game, he dreamed that he would throw the winning touchdown pass in the final minute.
Neither Quarterback had impressive statistics in the first half. Bradshaw was 2-12, Guidry 3-14. But Tech exploded for an incredible 404 yards total offense in the second half - and needed every one of them to win the game.
Natalie, thanks for finding the thread and bringing it to the top. I am Coach Mick's age and saw many games in that era from the stands but love hearing other views from people with better memories who had better seats. I wish we could hear some of these stories from your dad!
Please say hello to your brother for me.
Aubrey Shepherd
I went back to correct a couple of typos and produced quadruplets. Hope it doesn't happen again!
I was on "Coach" Brewer's baseball team in the early 70's at Trinity Heights in Shreveport. He was a good man and had a positive influence on our team.
That print hangs in my football-watching room (aka the den). Ah, along with the print of the Halloween Run. (gotta remember, my wife has a degree from LSU (and NSU)).
Stodgdog, I may be wrong but as I recall Bradshaw was playing against East Carolina in one of the first, if not the first game in our "new" football stadium, when he threw a touchdown pass that was called back; then promptly ran the same play again which resulted in a touchdown that stood. Maybe he did it more than once.
Also, I seem to recall the lights in a particular dorm were turned on in a pattern that spelled an unmentionable four letter word.
That Halloween print wouldn't hang in my house. You're a wuss if it hangs in your's.
The only way it might hang in my house, would be if it were in the bathroom next to the toilet paper. Might be a little rough, but it would save toilet paper.
Keep this thread alive!
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