FHS players recall ’63 undefeated season
Ten straight shutouts from 1962 to ’63
For all the program records and milestones from the 2016 Class 5A state champion Far-ragut High School football team, there are two records of note still left from the early 1960s.
Farragut’s 1962 and 1963 teams combined for a 10-game shutout streak — five to end ’62 and five to begin ’63.
The ’63 Admirals remain the only FHS team to go through a season undefeated [8-0-3].
“Just a good ole bunch of country boys that played together, worked together, grew up together and had some determination,” said Sam Guinn, an offensive tackle and defensive guard among a handful of former Admirals players from the Class of 1964, among roughly 100 graduates, who looked back.
“There wasn’t any five-star players. … Just a bunch of country guys at a small school that just loved to play football, I think that’s why we were so good on defense,” said David White, a two-time All-County defensive end and “offensive end” who was a three-year starter.
Other players of note from that class include the late Ronnie Kirby, a linebacker and bruising fullback.
“He was as hard a hitter as there’s ever been at Farragut,” David Keck, a two-year starter at defensive end/receiver, said.
“I remember Ronnie hitting a boy from West one night, and he broke his ribs and punctured his lung. The old boy was in the hospital quite a while.”
At the top, however, were head coach Bill Clabo and assistant coach Lendon Welch.
“I think probably the thing that made us most successful was coach Clabo and coach Welch,” Keck said. “… They made you want to win.”
Clabo “was a good teacher,” Keck said. “I remember him explaining to us on the blackboard what pursuit was.
“We didn’t know anything [about football]. … We were just a small farming community,” Keck added. “There wasn’t such a thing as a weight room or specialized training.
“We pretty much got our physical training working out in the hay fields and farms around the community.”
Welch said about those teams, which numbered about 40 players, “It was just a bunch of kids who liked to play.”
Although Guinn said the team “used pads that were left over from The University of Ten-nessee,” the Admirals’ 6-2-2-1 defense [six down linemen, two linebackers, two cornerbacks and one safety] put up quite a stone wall for that 10-game scoreless stretch.
“The streak got to be a thing of pride after a while. The newspapers started talking about it,” White said.
Admirals defenders posed with shotguns and other wea-pons for a Knoxville Journal photo and story, which ran Thursday, Oct. 3, 1963.
“They came out on a Wed-nesday before we played West on a Friday, and they got that picture,” White said.
“I distinctly remember coach Clabo telling them, ‘do not run that picture until next week.’
“Well, they went ahead and ran the picture before the game,” White added.
“Of course, that fired West up, and then we ended up tying it, 12-12, the first team that scored on us in [11] games.”
Coach Clabo “was very upset, very angry,” White added.
Another assistant coach, librarian “Bear” Hayes, “was a awfully good coach, he helped them out a lot,” Guinn said.
Other Class of ’64 players were Wayne Smathers, Glen Norman, Butch Blosser, David Huffaker, Richard Hobbs, Gary Scarbrough, Milton Brooks, Don Payne, Larry Blalock and Wayne Starnes.
Farragut’s ’62 shutouts came versus West, Maury, Gatlinburg, TSD and Karns.
Its ’63 shutouts came against Karns, Seymour, Halls, Green-back and Webb.
