Varsity Athletics

BEREA, OHIO -- For the past 37 years, the Baldwin-Wallace College football program has produced a winning record. The active seasonal winning streak is the third longest in NCAA Division III (B-W is surpassed by only Central College of Iowa and Linfield College of Oregon) and in all of college football.

When a freshman football player comes to preseason camp, part of his indoctrination is learning about and learning to respect the streak.

"When I came to camp my freshman year, the seniors told us about the streak," said current Yellow Jacket senior offensive guard and Academic All-American Joe Harbour of Upper Sandusky. "They said that we are the caretakers of the streak. Every year, we have three main goals as a team. To win the Ohio Athletic Conference title, earn an NCAA Division III National Playoff bereth and to continue the streak.

"We take great pride in the streak," continued Harbour, who carries a 3.919 grade point average and is part of another B-W tradition -- Academic All-American football players. "You don't want to be part of the senior class that ends the streak. We told that to the freshmen this year, and they will tell the freshmen of 2007. Now that's a tradition."

During "The Streak," B-W has compiled a 274-79-5 overall won-loss-tie record with an impressive .779 winning percentage. The Yellow Jackets have made 10 Ohio Athlewtic Conference titles, made five trips to the Division III National Playoffs and won the Division III National title in 1978 when they defeated then Ohio Athletic Conference foe Wittenberg University, 24-10, in Pheonix City, Alabama. B-W's best season during "The Streak" was its national championship year of 1978 when the Yellow Jackets were 11-0-1 overall. B-W had two other undefeated regular season records, in 1982 and 1991. Eleven times during "The Streak" B-W has lost just once, including this year.

Three head coaches have led B-W during "The Streak". The late and legendary Lee Tressel mentored B-W from the beginning of "The Streak" in 1967 until his retirement in 1980. Tressel had a career 155-52-6 mark and .742 winning percentage. Recently retired Head Coach Bob Packard produced a career record of 156-54-2 and a .741 winning percentage from 1981 through 2002. During the past two years and heading into this year's NCAA Division III Playoffs, current Yellow Jacket leader, John Snell, has an 18-3 record and an outstanding .833 winning percentage.

"We talk about "The Streak" with our kids but we don't belabor the point," said Snell, a 1987 graduate of the College. "It is a part of Yellow Jacket football.

"What is so impressive about the streak is that involves so many great young men who have come to B-W, gotten a great education and have had a chance to play in a football program that has an outstanding tradition of excellence in so many areas," said Packard. "Winning is certainly a part of success and achievement.

"I think that the lessons young men learn in football makes a big difference later in life and in whatever they go on to do for a career," continued Packard. "Learning how to win gracefully and how to handle defeat well teaches you a great lesson. I think our winning streak and tradition of winning has made a difference in the lives of many young men.

"Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel is just one of those people," said Packard, who was Tressel's position coach from 1971-74. "We have had football players go on to successful careers in medicine, business, education and many other vocations, and every one of them will tell you that the lessons that they learned on the field played an important role in their success today. And, every one of them will tell you that they still take great pride today in "The Streak"."

Twice during "The Streak," B-W had to win its final four games of the year to preserve the feat, including 1995 when the Yellow Jackets upset Cleveland cross-town rival John Carroll University, 31-3.

"The Streak" is a motivating factor at times," said Packard. "In 1995, we began the year at 2-4 and had to find a way of motivating the players. We had already put ourselves in a position where we couldn't win an OAC title and we knew we weren't going to make the playoffs. It was a matter of pride. It was great to see our kids rise to the occassion and play each of those last four games like it was for the OAC title and an NCAA Playoff berth."

In 1989, the streak was again in jeopardy. The Yellow Jackets began the season with a 1-4-1 record with two of the defeats coming at the hands of Division II teams Ashland and St. Joseph's (Ind.). Again, the backs were to the wall.

But as pride and tradition gains momentum, so did B-W. A 28-7 win against Ohio Northern was followed by victories against Capital (38-0) and Marietta (27-7). All of a sudden, the Yellow Jackets again had a 4-4-1 record. It left the season-ending showdown with JCU as the game to either continue or end "The Streak". On a cold, rainty and snowy day in University Heights, B-W spoiled Parents' Day for the Blue Streaks and blew out JCU, 31-3. Following its halftime ceremony, the JCU faithful departed and left just the B-W fans to celebrate its win and continuation of "The Streak."

"That was one of the best season-ending banquets that I attended in my 41 years at B-W as a player, assistant coach and head coach," said Packard. "We had overcome so much adversity to accomplish a goal as a team. That is what you get into coaching to see. It was a highlight that I will never forget. Every kid at that banquet was happy."

Another season that "The Streak" was in jeopardy was in the Fall of 1983. B-W opened the season with four straight losses. The year previous, B-W had a 10-0 regular season and had advanced to the Division III Playoffs before losing a close game to eventual national champion Augustana (Ill.), 28-22. To begin the season at 0-4 was almost unthinkable. One of the other three losses also came at home to perennial OAC and national power, and worse yet, traditional arch-rival Wittenberg University, 12-10.

"We had played some good teams to open the season and lost some close games," remembered Packard. "We lost the opener to a very good Ashland team and then the next three by a total of six points. We had a very good team that year and they were almost in a state of shock. But, we knew that we could come back."

In the great tradition that is B-W football, it did come back, and with a vengence that produced a championship.

In the early 1980s, the Ohio Athletic Conference was a 14-team league that was split into two divisions, the red and the blue. In divisional play, each team played five games. The divisional winners met in the 10th game of the season to play for the OAC Championship Game.

With its 0-4 overall record in 1983, B-W began divisional play. The Yellow Jackets beat a good Muskingum team, 22-14, in New Concord. The Muskies celebrated Homecoming that day. They had a veteran team returning and felt that it was their season to win a divisional title. On the very first play of the game, B-W's 5'6" defensive tackle Bryan Borowy made maybe the most important play of the season. He picked off a Muskie screen pass and ran it back for a touchdown. That play ignited B-W for the rest of the year.

In its next four divisional games, the Yellow Jackets disposed of Mout Union (28-19), Capital (23-0), Heidelberg (32-14) and Wooster (35-16). It set up a November showdown in Springfield with Wittenberg for the OAC title. With 3,973 in attendance, B-W and Wittenberg traded touchdowns. B-W scored in the first quarter, Wittenberg in the second, the Yellow Jackets in the third and the Tigers tied the game at 14-14 with a TD with 6:25 to go in the contest. Undaunted, B-W quarterback Brian Moore drove the Yellow Jackets all the way to the Wittenberg one yard line. Then, B-W All-American placekicker Steve Varga won the game with a field goal with 1:51 to go in the game.

"That was a classic," said Packard. "It was a great game played by two outstanding teams. All I kept thinking was that we began the year at 0-4, and here we are as OAC champions. What a great day for every young man on our football team.

"As a football coach, you look for lessons that will help young men become better young men," continued Packard. "We found a great lesson that day. The lesson that you can persevere. That if you continue to work hard that good things will happen. It certainly did that day."

But that Wittenberg and B-W classic was not the only one. Enroute to winning its national title in 1978, B-W again met twice that year. In the first meeting, the Yellow Jackets and Tigers met in Berea and tied, 10-10. They were OAC co-champs. With just eight teams being invited to the NCAA Division III Playoffs, and B-W and Wittenberg being two of the best in Division III, the Selection Committee had no other option but to put both in the playoffs. And, because both were so good and had tied during the regular season, the committee had to put them in separate brackets.

As luck would have it, Wittenberg won its first two games and B-W beat St. Lawrence (N.Y), 71-7, and Carnegie-Mellon (Pa.), 31-6. to set up the OAC duo for the first and only intra-conference national championship game in Division III history. In Chatahoochee, Alabama, at Pheonix City Junior College, B-W would make history as it beat Wittenberg, 24-10, to claim the Division III national title.

The B-W and Wittenberg rivalry is storied, and one of the best in the history of small college football. Between 1968 when B-W returned to the OAC from being an independent until 1988 when Wittenberg departed the OAC for the North Coast Athletic Conference, the two schools combined to claim 14 OAC titles in 20 years. Twice, in 1978 and again in 1988, the Yellow Jackets and Tigers tied for the OAC title.

In addition to Wittenberg, both cross-town rival John Carroll and now current arch-rival Mount Union College have been a big part of "The Streak".

In addition to its wins against JCU in 1989 and 1995 which kept the streak alive, the Blue Streaks have also broken the Yellow Jackets hearts. In 1994, B-W had beaten Mount Union, 23-10, in Alliance. The Purple Raiders beat JCU, so all B-W needed was a win over the Blue Streaks on the final day of the season to have an undefeated season, win an OAC title and claim a spot in the Division III Playoffs. But it was not to be as JCU came to Berea and shut out the Yellow Jackets at The George Finnie Stadium, 9-0. It cost B-W not only its undefeated season but also a spot in the Division III Playoffs.

"That might have been the most somber postseason banquet I've ever attended," recalled Packard. "It was a tough loss for everyone involved in the program. Here we are, OAC tri-champions along with John Carroll and Mount Union, and no one was really happy about it."

In the past two decades, the B-W and Mount Union rivalry is one of Division III's best. From 1984 to 1994, B-W and the Purple Raiders combined to win nine of 11 OAC titles. And, even though Mount Union has gone on to greater things, B-W fans still acknowledge that Mount Union's last regular season loss was to B-W in 1994.

This season, B-W enters its final game of the 2003 regular season with an 8-1 overall and 7-1 OAC record. B-W's only loss this season is to number one-ranked Mount Union earlier this fall in Alliance. Despite that loss, the Yellow Jackets have run "The Streak" to 37 straight winning seasons. The team capped that goal three weeks ago when it beat Muskingum College, 35-17 on October 24. B-W has a seven-game winning streak and is ranked sixth in two and seventh in the another of the three Division III polls that are released each week. B-W was also ranked third in the North Region by the Playoff Selection Committee.

There are hopes in Berea of a playoff season. You know, the one's that dreams are made of; like the one's realized in 1978. Last week, Mt. Union clinched at title tie for the OAC title and can win it outright this week. That was one goal made and one lost. On November 16, players, coaches, the media and friends of the program will gather in the Tressel Lounge on campus to await word from the NCAA Division III National Selection Committee grants the Yellow Jackets a playoff bid and a chance to make it two of three and an opportunity to chase a dream.

Then next August, the B-W seniors will return to campus and looking forward to having a talk with an incoming freshman about "The Streak".