I took a direct snap from the center and ran around the end. Ken Blair
Sixty years ago this fall, Newbury High School’s football team started the season, unaware they were creating a local legend.
For two years, the Newbury football team trampled their opposition. They not only won every game, they allowed only one touchdown in all those games.
Now, the winning teams from 1954 and 1955 and the late coach Ken “Red” Blair will be inducted into the Newbury Schools Hall of Fame on Sept. 20.
Mention of the two years of fame still brings a sparkle to the eyes of long-time Newbury residents who remember the terrific winning streak.
Barb Mental Prots has been tracking down the remaining 30 players from those two seasons. So far, she has heard from a few who plan to attend the weekend’s festivities.
“Those I have heard from are so excited about it,” Prots said.
Also invited are the 50 former inductees and the community, she said.
“Anybody can come,” said Prots, who is also a member of the Hall of Fame.
The HOF?weekend will start with Friday’s game against Grand Valley High School. At halftime, Newbury Hall of Fame Committee President Bob Johnson will recognize the nominees.
On Sept. 21, the banquet, usually held every two years, will start at 6 p.m. with dinner at 7 p.m. at Grand View Country Club. The induction ceremony will follow dinner. Cost per plate is $35 and a cash bar will open at 6 p.m.
Reunions and tale-telling will be a big part of the events.
One of the favorite stories revolves around that one touchdown scored against Newbury in those two years.
“The player who scored that touchdown was the coach’s son, Kenny,” Johnson said.
The Blair family lived in Burton at the time and Kenny attended Burton High School and played for the Burton Maple Leafs both years.
Sitting comfortably in his living room in Newbury, Blair recalled parts of that game, held in Chagrin Falls.
Football games were usually double-headers back then because only Chagrin Falls and Chardon Schools had fields, Blair said.
“Newbury and Burton played the second game,” he recalled, adding the steady rain had made the field into a swamp.
“They’d already tore the field up pretty good,” Blair said.
He remembers mud running over the top of his high-top spikes as he lined up in the quagmire.
“After the first quarter, you couldn’t tell which team was which,” said Blair, who wore jersey 24.
When the muddy line of scrimmage was about 20 yards from the goal, the ball was snapped to him and he ran it in.
“I took a direct snap from the center and ran around the end,” Blair recalls.
He wasn’t surprised he scored. For one thing, the two-year streak and a tough reputation were still ahead of Newbury. For another, Blair was used to running the ball. He had 1,208 yards running that year.
“I never ever gave it a thought, how important it was,” he said. “I do remember I got a real good block from Russ Artwell.”
Artwell’s maneuver opened the way to the goal posts, but Blair also credits the rest of his team.
“We had a lot of good players,” he said.
The junior didn’t take any grief from his father on the far side of the field.
“Dad was always a fair player,” Blair said, adding he encouraged his son’s interest in the game from an early age.
That didn’t stop his proud father from preparing his own team the next time Burton came up against Newbury the following year. Blair’s cousin, George Blair, played right end for Newbury.
The practices before the big game were memorable that year.
“He said ‘Your dad kicked my butt all week (and told me) don’t let Ken through!'” Ken Blair said with a laugh, and Newbury won the game, 30-0.
Ken Blair went on to play the halfback position for the Ohio University team in his freshman year. He and his wife, Jan, have tailgaited at nearly every The Ohio State University football game played in Columbus for years.
The victorious Newbury teams and the coach won’t be the only inductees. Thomas said others being honored are Juanita Klatka, volleyball and basketball score keeper; Calvin “Terry” Boyd, football, basketball and track star who graduated in 1964; Bert DeCapite, basketball and baseball star and football player who graduated in the late ’60s; and Kelly Spangler Sinkenbring, a 1986 graduate who earned 13 varsity letters in volleyball, girls basketball, softball and track.
Thomas, who taught and coached at Newbury for 39 years, said the only other entire team inducted was the wrestling team from 1986.
