'We had a lot of excitement.' Xavier football played its last game 50 years ago today

Fifty years ago today, on Nov. 24, 1973, the Xavier University football team played its final game, defeating Toledo, 35-31. Less than a month later, the Xavier Board of Trustees voted to discontinue the football program by a 15-3 vote.

For the 1973 Xavier Musketeers football team, the turning point actually came on Nov. 3, 1973. The Musketeer faithful at Corcoran Field gave the team a standing ovation at halftime of an eventual 28-28 tie with the University of Dayton.

Going into the game, Xavier was 2-5 and had lost its last two games (at Southern Illinois and at Arkansas State) by a combined score of 110-7.

"It was unbelievable. For a while I thought I was in the wrong stadium," Xavier running back John Chiodi told the Cincinnati Post after the game.

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"We had some loyal fans, a lot of supporters from alumni and people who believed in us. We didn't want to let them down," former Xavier wide receiver Bob Pickard told The Enquirer from his home in Columbus on Wednesday.

Xavier followed the draw vs. Dayton with wins over Northern Illinois (40-36) and Villanova (13-6). It set up a chance in the regular-season finale to restore the program by snapping a string of four consecutive losing seasons.

'It was pandemonium.'

Xavier and Toledo tangoed in a high-scoring game in front of over 6,000 fans at Corcoran Field with six lead changes.

Quarterback Tim Dydo, an honorable mention All-American in 1973, threw touchdown passes to Pickard and Terry Buda. Toledo led 17-14 at halftime, then took a 31-28 lead in the fourth quarter after back-to-back touchdowns.

Xavier responded with a 12-play, 80-yard drive, capped off by Ralph Hardin's go-ahead one-yard touchdown plunge with 4:25 left. On Toledo's ensuing drive, defensive back and St. Xavier graduate Bill Howe sealed it with an interception, which tied him for the program record (12).

"It was exhilarating. It really was a great feeling," Howe told The Enquirer on Wednesday.

Final score: Xavier 35, Toledo 31.

Xavier had won its final three games of the year to finish 5-5-1, indicating the program was heading in the right direction. Second-year head coach Tom Cecchini received a celebratory ice bath.

"We had a lot of excitement," Pickard remembers.

Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Paul Ritter wrote of the postgame jubilation: "It has been such a long time since Xavier's locker room has been filled with the whoops and hollers of triumph. It was pandemonium. It is more than five wins, five losses and a tie. It is the rebirth of respectability for a program which has licked the boots of the game's lowliest the past few years."

The right direction

Three days after the win, Cecchini ordered his normal Reuben sandwich at the Musketeer Club Booster luncheon.

The 28-year-old coach, who played at Michigan and was a Xavier assistant for two seasons (1970-71) before replacing Richard Selcer in 1972, was optimistic about the future. He spoke about how Xavier losing 22 seniors from the 1973 squad would open up more scholarships. The Musketeers' 5-5-1 record (a two-win increase from the year prior) would be an advantageous selling point in recruiting top-tier talent.

At the Xavier University football banquet two days later at the Cincinnati Club, Pete Rose, Bengals assistant coach Vince Costello and former Xavier guard John Shinners, the only first-round pick in Xavier history, were guest speakers.

Two years prior, the football banquet was in the cafeteria, with no celebrity guests. Now, there was hope.

"It was big time. It was our first classy affair," Billy Howe remembers. "All the momentum was there. We thought things were heading in the right direction."

'The worst Christmas I've ever had.'

In Aug. 1973, Xavier President Rev. Robert Mulligan wrote in the school's athletic review: "Intercollegiate football, basketball, baseball and other sports have always been a part of college life at Xavier University. The future will focus even more upon making them a rallying center of social life for our students and alumni."

On Dec. 19, 1973, just 25 days after beating Toledo, the Xavier Board of Trustees voted 15-3 to discontinue the football program. Mulligan said sustaining football would rack up an annual deficit of $200,000 and reviving the program at a smaller level would require an endowment of $4-$5 million.

"I think it's a very sad day for the university, dropping a program that's just starting to turn around," Joseph F. Rippe, the president of Provident Bank who helped with the Musketeer Annual Appeal to raise scholarship money, told The Enquirer. "I don't think you can measure in dollars alone what football does for the school."

Howe was looking forward to coming back and watching practice from the stands. Instead, he got a telegram with the news.

"It was shocking," Howe said.

The team's 22 seniors knew their time at Xavier was over. For others, they were left perplexed, wondering if they'd play football again.

From the Cincinnati Enquirer, Dec. 20, 1973:

"I've been telling everybody that football is on the rise at Xavier, that we'd have a good team next year. I'll just have to start looking, calling up places." − Mark Sweeney, sophomore defensive back.

"It's the worst Christmas I've ever had. I thought things were brightening up for the future, then all of a sudden this happens." −Terry Buda, junior wide receiver

"It's a shame because we have a lot of good athletes, we could have done better than this past season. People just don't give us a chance." −Rick Schoettmer, sophomore tight end

Will pads clash at Xavier again?

As there were whispers regarding the end of football leading up to its ultimate demise, there are similar not-so-subtle rumblings 50 years later about its return.

Xavier Director of Athletics Greg Christopher told The Enquirer in October that the university's first concern is the new College of Osteopathic Medicine, but football is still on the table.

"We're still interested in it, still exploring it," Christopher said.

Pickard said about the return of Xavier to the gridiron: "There are a lot of kids in the sport today that deserve the chance to play at the next level. Those kids, you hate to see them just walk away. I'm a huge fan of kids playing sports. I think that it's a big part of their development."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Xavier University football played its final game 50 years ago today