Bowling Green, Ky – Western Kentucky University will formally recognize the induction of its 1973 Hilltopper Football Team into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame Saturday, Sept. 2.
The '73 Toppers will be introduced during halftime festivities at the current-edition Toppers' season opener versus South Florida, set to kick off at 2:30 p.m.
Coached by Hilltopper legend Jimmy Feix, the 1973 Toppers ran off a school-record 12 victories (since tied, not broken) in a row. They were 7-0 in Ohio Valley Conference action and posted a triumph over Grambling in the Grantland Rice Bowl before falling short to Louisiana Tech in the first-ever NCAA Division II national championship game (The Camelia Bowl) to finish as the runner-up in the nation at 12-1.
Led by captains David Nollner (OG) and Lonnie Schuster (DT), that club is the only team in the 104-season history of the sport on The Hill to complete its regular season undefeated and untied. The next best on that list is the 1963 team (also a WKU Athletic Hall of Fame Team) that was undefeated but suffered a tie.
The '73 Hilltoppers ranked among the nation's top teams in scoring, scoring defense, total offense and pass defense.
Eleven individuals on the '73 roster – four coaches (Feix, assistant head coach Butch Gilbert, and assistants Romeo Crennel and Lee Murray) and seven players (DL Johnny Bushong, RB Clarence Jackson, LB Rick Green, DB Virgil Livers, DB Mike McCoy, QB Leo Peckenpaugh and WR Porter Williams) are already members of the WKU Athletic Hall of Fame.
Six players earned All-America honors during their careers at WKU – Jackson, McCoy, Nollner, Schuster, LB Aundra Skiles and Williams. A record nine were named first-team All-OVC in '73 – Bushong, Jackson, P. Charlie Johnson, McCoy, DB Bob Morehead, Nollner, Schuster (the OVC Defensive Player of the Year), Skiles and Williams.
Six of the 16 great Hilltopper teams making up the "inaugural class" of WKU Athletic Hall of Fame teams have already been formally recognized – the 2002, '52 and '63 football teams; the 1954 and '71 men's basketball teams; and the 1992 women's basketball team. The other nine teams on that elite list – the 1975 football team; the 1942, '48, '66 and '67 men's basketball teams; the 1985 and '86 women's basketball teams; the 1974 men's cross country team; and the 1980 baseball team – will be honored on campus in the near future.
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