40 years later, 1983 Parkwood Bears reflect on historic season

Oct. 12—There were no superstars and no NFL prospects, but the 1983 Parkwood Bears football team was chock-full of gritty, determined players focused on carrying on a tradition of football excellence.

That squad, under coach Dewey Combs, became one of the most successful teams in Missouri high school football history — ending their season 14-0 as Missouri Class 4 state football champions after defeating St. Louis Union 35-7 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

It was the last Joplin team to win a state title in football.

On Friday, during halftime of the Joplin-Carthage game at Junge Field, the Parkwood Bears team will be honored 40 years after their historic season.

Jason Pottenger, a junior offensive tackle for the 1983 Bears who is now a lawyer in Kansas City, said that four years before Parkwood won that state title he was a seventh grader at South Junior High when then SJH coach Roy Knight hung a banner in the weight room that read: "1983 Parkwood Bears-State Champions."

That seemed to be a precursor to what the 1983 Bears would accomplish, with the nucleus of the Parkwood team coming from South Junior High, a team that in 1979 not only went undefeated but held all teams they faced that season scoreless.

Rob Peterson, now a wildlife biologist in Joplin and also a former South Junior High Cardinal, talked about what made that 1983 Parkwood team successful.

"We carried through with the tradition of winning that Dewey Combs had built," Peterson said. "We were billed as overachievers, which we didn't particularly like, but we gelled. We weren't big, but we were fast. We expected to win and that mindset is how we finished the year."

Peterson, playing at about 160 pounds as a defensive end and linebacker, was dubbed by local sports broadcaster Don Gross as the "most fierce competitor" on the team.

Teammate Randy Darby said he coaxed Peterson, who did not play football his sophomore or junior seasons, to come back and play as a senior.

Coach Combs

"Coach Combs tried to run him off by sending him down the hill to practice with the freshmen," Darby said. "Bob ended up being an outstanding defensive end. He was a rock at 160 pounds. He was an inspiration to me and I think about him a lot."

Peterson said he had gotten into disagreements with the coaches his freshman year, left football and had to work to regain the respect of Combs.

"I had a hole to dig myself out of when I showed up for our first practice my senior year," Peterson said. "Coach Combs called me into his office the first day after practice and said, 'Peterson, I'm just going to tell you what I'd tell any other senior that hasn't played for us — you're not going to be happy on the bench and that is where you are going to be."

The week before the Bears first game of the season, Combs stopped practice to announce that Peterson would be the Bears' new starting defensive end. Peterson had proven himself in hamburger drills, which pitted one defensive player against four offensive players.

Darby, a senior middle linebacker and tight end, was the only player from that 1983 squad to play four years of college football. He played four years as an outside linebacker and strong safety for Missouri Southern State University under coach Jim Frazier and later Rod Giesselmann, and was one of the first four Joplin players to ever receive a full-ride scholarship at then nationally ranked Southern. Darby joined fellow Bears Jody Hunt, Kent Frazier (Jim Frazier's son,) and Shawn Huff at Southern, but was the only one of the four to play all four years.

"That season was a group of guys that came together and worked extremely hard the spring and summer before our season to give us the best opportunity to win a state championship," said Darby, who now lives in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Pottenger, who will be at Friday's event, said Darby was a "team first" player, moving out of his regular position to play center when needed for the Bears.

"He was all about the team," Pottenger said. "He didn't bat an eye."

Darby said he and his teammates were motivated by previous Parkwood teams and the success they were able to achieve. Darby said that as a freshman at Parkwood, he watched players like Alan Cockrell, Jim Combs, Jeff Tupper and Terry Wemer lead the 1980 Bears to a 13-0 state championship season.

"We were brought up through that winning tradition that Coach Dewey Combs produced," Darby said. "So going into my senior year, we were going to give it everything we had. We really didn't have any superstars, but we had determination, a strong work ethic and we were well coached at every position."

Fond memories

Darby said his fondest memories were the bonds he formed with his teammates.

"Forty years later, some of my best memories were playing with the friends that I grew up with playing high school ball," Darby said. "In college, you make friends, but you're never as close as you are with your high school friends."

Darby said his proudest moment was when coach Combs asked him to speak at Combs' induction into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.

"There were many players that were much more gifted than me," Darby said. "It was quite an honor for coach Combs to ask me to do that."

Darby talked about what made the legendary coach so successful.

"Coach Combs was a wonderful, hard-nosed football coach," Darby said. "He surrounded himself with a wonderful coaching staff as well."

That staff included coaches Dick Brownlee, Willie Smith, Dick Kruse, Robert Burr, Bill Gatlin and Jack Coon.

Darby will be joined Friday night by his biggest fan, his father, Ron Darby Sr. Steve Phillips, a member of the 1983 team, will also be attending with his dad, Gary Phillips.

"My dad took me to all those Parkwood games when I was younger," an emotional Darby said.

Pottenger said being a part of the '83 squad set the tone and tenor for the rest of his life.

"You're part of something that is bigger than yourself," Pottenger said. "To have been part of something like that stays with you. But it was more than just our team. It was our parents, it was the community. All of those people worked to push and bind us together. I was blessed to be a part of that team and blessed to have been part of that community as well."

Jeff Guillory, a senior defensive back for the Bears who is now an attorney in Columbia, said a state championship is something that sticks with a person the rest of their life.

"It required a lot of hard work and dedication," he said. "We weren't the biggest team and were the underdog in a number of games that season, but we played well as a team."