Harvard Football 1980: A Truncated Rejuvenation

With about 15 seconds remaining in The Game, exultant Yalies began tugging at the goal post at the open end of Harvard stadium. Twisted and gnarled, the post never snapped cleanly; it just sagged and let out a little groan.

It might have been the sound of a four-way tie for third place. After the great start, the upsets of Army and Brown, and the comeback over Penn, Harvard's final resting place does not look especially noteworthy. But in all the furor about the potential championship--the "if Yale loses and Brown and Dartmouth tie and we win our last two" speculation endemic in the Houses this fall--it's easy to lose sight of the distance this Harvard football team travelled.

Less than one year after one local publication pondered "The Decline of Harvard Football," and many others asked similarly embarassing questions, the Crimson was battling for a championship. A victory over Yale in the final game of the season would have brought one to Cambridge for the first time since 1975. And even with the disappointing final day loss to the Elis, Harvard (7-3 overall, 4-3 Ivy League) completed its best overall record since the championship season.

The basic reason that Harvard followed a six-game losing streak (the longest since 1951) with a six-game winning streak (longest since 1968) was defense. You can talk about the Multiflex until it rains double-reverses, but defense led Harvard to its victories. Most of the stalwarts were seniors this year, and they exited with a flourish. Coming into the final game against Yale, both the Crimson and the more celebrated Eli defenders had each yielded 124 points in nine games for a 13.8 average. In The Game, Harvard gave up 14 points, almost exactly its average: the D did its job.

The players recognized the importance of the defense and, accordingly, gave its most valuable player honor to the team's captain, senior defensive tackle Chuck Durst. He had missed the final game of his career with bruised knee ligaments. Might The Game have ended differently if the big man had been in there at full strength...they'll have all winter to debate that one at Charlie's.

Durst's senior teammates--many veterans of the same freshman year starting team--continued to distinguish themselves all year long. Linebacker Bob Woolway, the classy defensive signal-caller and three-year starter, played impressive ball down to the end, as did the other defensive tackle, Tim Paimer, the team's leading tackler. Big-play artist Mike Jacobs and Matt Foley leave a secondary that was probably the best in the league this year; and next year's defensive backfield, anchored by Ivy interception leader Rocky Delgadillo and new captain Pete Coppinger, figures to lead the League again.

But what of the offense, the Multiflexing pride and joy of coach Joe Restic? As always with Restic teams, the basic question comes down to the man calling the signals--as the quarterback goes, so goes Harvard football. After a heated struggle in pre-season camp, Restic awarded Brian Buckley the starting nod the day before the opener with Columbia.

The brawny left-hander went on to become the offense's leader, not just its quarterback (89 for 167, .533, 1123 yds., eight T.D.s). By the Army game, third of the season. Buckley looked like one of the best quarterbacks in the east. But late in the fourth quarter--after he had scored a pair of touchdowns and passed for 147 yds in the 15-10 Harvard upset--Buckley caught his knee on the astroturf carpet of Michie Stadium. The Crimson would lose two of its next three games, including an agonizing 7-3 squeaker in the rain to an inferior Princeton team.

The quarterback returned to lead a 17-16 triumph over Brown, but he wasn't the same ball-player. His intelligent leadership, which took Harvard back from a two-touchdown deficit at Penn, only helped mask the weaknesses (such as ten interceptions in the last three games) that became so apparent in the 14-0 humiliation against Yale. With a bad knee, the quarterback who ran 67 yards for a touchdown at Army couldn't run anymore. Nor did he throw well on that dark Saturday; thus Harvard--and its quarterback--ended the season with a thud.

Likewise, the running attack concluded a fine season ignominiously--as in negative 11 yards rushing against Yale. But that poor performance only slightly tarnished the record of a consistent and occasionally outstanding rushing team. Fullback Jim Callinan, the talented Ohioan who, when not injured, proved himself to be one the best backs in the league, topped 90 yds. three times this season en route to his team-leading 461 yds. And halfback Tom Beatrice, the backfield's reliable workhorse, had 435 yds. for the season.

Dogged by injuried his entire career and plagued by fumbles, senior halfback Paul Connors never realized his brilliant potential he displayed as a freshman. But juniors Jim Acheson and Paul Scheper (out most of the year with a bad knee) and sophomore Scott McCabe showed that the backfield should continue to be a Harvard strength.

And then there was Cuccia. The All-American high school quarterback became a flanker in his sophomore year, and even though the stats showed only 22 receptions and 70 yards rushing, no one made a bigger impression than Ron Cuccia. Fast, sure-handed, strong-armed and harder to catch than a winning lottery ticket, Cuccia was an electric presence on the field--and a sure bet to make himself felt in the years to come.

Add talented and underutilized tight end Chuck Marshall and an experienced offensive line led by guard Orazio Lattanzi and tackle Mike Durgin, and Harvard put together an impressive offensive front. Kicker Dave Cody ("He was the most pleasant thing that happened to us this year," Restic says) contributed 45 points. Not surprisingly, when injuries forced the team down to its fourth-string quarterback, it lost. The only other defeat was to Yale, clearly a better team, at least on November 22.

So even as rumors swirled all year about its coach's future destination (it now appears to be Cambridge), Harvard football enjoyed a significant rejuvenation this year. The rebuilding years (how many more can there be?) will conclude only with a championship. After so many dreams deferred, the title came tantalizingly close this year. The chorus has already begun anew...next year, next year...and it ends September 19, 1981 at Baker Field in New York City.