Published in the May 13-26, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Kim Moreno
Kim Moreno
We were just average small-town country kids growing up in the early ‘60s, honing our football skills on dirt and weed elementary school fields. College and pro football were becoming more common offerings on our home TV set. We dreamed of future crowds cheering us on from the bleachers of Live Oak High School where our older siblings were busy establishing their athletic reputations.
Acorn basketball, baseball, swimming and track teams were highly regarded throughout our league despite our small school population. But there was one onerous stigma we all had to endure: Live Oak could not compete in football. What made this hard to understand was our older siblings were demonstrably good athletes, the likes of Lonnie Beckenhauer, Tom Tracey, Jeff Mullins, Bob Ferri and Glen Moreno. They were strong and skilled, but as football players, suffered weekly routs at the hands of every team in the league.
Live Oak’s stigma was well-known throughout the region. Area sports journalists referred to us as the “perennial doormats of the league.” When arriving as visitors to another school, we would stare straight ahead and try to ignore the smirks and cat-calls from the people alongside the team bus. The departure after a lop-sided loss was more humbling still.
My freshman year, the varsity football team reached the height of frustration by suffering through an entire season without scoring a single point. But as football season approached the following year, we heard rumors of a new football coach in town. I said to myself: “What difference will that make? Live Oak kids are just not tough enough to play football. We’re losers!”
The first instance I recall of something being very different was when Coach Darrell Guthrie individually pulled each varsity football candidate aside for a talk. He shared his determination to build a winning football team. He told us how he saw our potential and quietly made it clear to us that only the players who demonstrated a burning desire to work hard and win would be on to the field when the whistle blew.
Our practices became a classroom of football technique. We spent time only on those drills that improved our ability to block, run, pass, catch, tackle, defend and wear down our opponent.
The over-riding rule of our practices was to show the same level of intensity as you would in a game. We learned how to read defenses and offenses. Based upon their advance scouting, the coach’s staff prepared us for the schemes we would face each Friday. As to our offense, Coach Guthrie reminded us that if we remembered our techniques and executed our assignments, we would move the ball and score against any opponent.
But it wasn’t until we prevailed in our first league game against fearsome Gilroy High that we began to believe in our team, our goals and ourselves. We now saw that by our desire, our solidarity and our drilled techniques, we were the ones physically dominating other teams and they were now the ones giving up.
There was another aspect of Coach Guthrie’s leadership that left a lasting impact on this team. He would gather us in the end zone of the field prior to kick-off and hold a quiet moment of inspiration and prayer. As a 16-year-old smart-ass, I admit that I rolled my eyes through a couple of those gatherings until I saw the determination, reverence and respect in my teammates’ eyes.
I draw a parallel of Coach Guthrie to the main character of the classic film, “Hoosiers,” in which a coach must not only teach, develop the character and “win over” his athletes, but must also do so for the student body, the parents and the entire community, bringing them into the circle of excitement, shared purpose and success. This objective, Coach Guthrie accomplished most successfully of all.
That fall of 1965, Acorn Football became the “Talk of the Town!” from the Orange Freeze to Jack’s Steak House, from the Villa to the Sinaloa Cafe. Our classmates proudly wore the green and gold and flocked to the Friday pre-game pep rallies. Our cheerleaders and song girls now had something to cheer and dance about and the crowds responded with a roar that was heartfelt to us down on the field.
We are now approaching the 50th anniversary of that miracle season, which climaxed in an unforgettable sodden struggle between the two top teams in the league. Live Oak claimed its destiny and its improbable first championship for our community, our school, our coach and our team, whose members would never be the same. We would pursue our lives with a new-found confidence and optimism.
The memories of that championship season remain as vivid and clear to us now as when those events unfolded in 1965.
Darrell Guthrie later moved on to pursue his goals of attaining a Ph.D. and a professorship at the university level. He left behind a solid football program with a new tradition of excellence. Larry Koester carried on that tradition which would lead to the historic teams of the Norm Dow era and continues to this day with the development of superlative athletes and teams under the direction of quality coaching staffs.
We owe much to the courage, resolve and character of Darrell Guthrie, and the lasting gift of excellence he bestowed upon this school and community those many years ago. On behalf of my teammates, my Live Oak classmates and the Morgan Hill community, I urge you to consider our coach for inclusion into the Live Oak Athletic Hall of Fame in this, the 50th anniversary year of Live Oak’s first football championship.
Kim Moreno was a member of that 1965 team and wrote this to the Live Oak High School Hall of Fame committee, urging members to include his former coach into the school’s hall of fame. In addition, the team is planning a 50-year reunion for the 1965 team and fans to coincide with this coming year’s Hall of Fame Football Game. He asks the 1965 team members, classmates and loyal fans to contact [email protected].
