Induction Year: 2016
The 1963 McMurry football team played a significant role in the history of McMurry University athletics, as well as the lineage of numerous other schools and organizations. Their legacy was defined and shaped by a singular near-tragic event – not of their own accord – which the group survived, and then parlayed, into a collection of life-changing career stories.
On September 28, 1963 – after a close loss at Northeast Louisiana State – the McM team (28 players and three coaches) were on board a DC-3 airplane for the return trip to Abilene from Monroe, La. The plane had difficulty taking off and damaged its landing gear and electrical system on two failed landing attempts trying to return to Monroe.
A decision was made, instead, to send the plane to nearby Barksdale Air Force Base, considering the damage the aircraft had sustained and with a full load of fuel on board. The plane would be forced to make a crash landing on its belly at Barksdale AFB. The airplane was a mangled wreck by the time it finally came to a skidding-stop that evening in Shreveport, but all 31 McMurry players and coaches – along with two pilots and a flight attendant – walked away from the wreckage relatively unscathed.
Afterwards, head coach Grant Teaff had cards made – listing all who were aboard the plane that night – and inscribed with Romans 8:31, “What shall we then say of these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” They also adopted the acronym B.I.B.L.E. for their “club”: the Brotherhood of Indian (as McMurry teams were nicknamed at the time) Belly-Landing Experts.
Survivors of the crash went on to enjoy many successful careers. Coach Teaff not only coached at McMurry, but also Angelo State and Baylor (where he was a six-time Southwest Conference, and once national, Coach of the Year). He also went on to serve as the serve as the executive director of the American Football Coaches Association.
Assistant coach Herschel Kimbrell went on to become McMurry’s all-time winningest men’s basketball coach and was elected to the NAIA Hall of Fame. Fellow assistant coach Buddy Fornes succeeded Teaff as McM head coach in 1966 and held that position until 1972, before moving over to Tarleton State (1973-82).
Former McM player Tim Marcum went on from McMurry to become the winningest coach in Arena Football League history, winning seven AFL championships. Clovis Hale became a college assistant coach at Texas Tech, North Texas, Iowa, Rice and SMU. He also coached several seasons on the prep level prior to joining the college ranks. Bill Grissom, Ken Bode, James Christopher, Waco Reynolds, Winford Shipp, Doyle Slaton and Dick Spier all went on to successful high school coaching careers in Texas. Others went on to achieve success outside of athletics, as well.
All were shaped by the events of that miraculous night in Louisiana. Each was forced to confront their mortality that night in 1963 and saw God’s hand hold them through their ordeal.