MACHS Class of 1965 Honored at Homecoming, 2014

MONAGHAN, THOMAS, MCNEIL, ROED, ABARR, BRYAN, COULSON, HUNT, KNIGHT, MILLER, SACKETT, SICKELS, STULL, THOMPSON, TRULLINGER, CALDWELL, GILES, PRENTIS, SHAY, SMITH

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 10/14/2014 at 12:33:38

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, October 02, 2014, Page 1

Homecoming in full swing

Homecoming Week in Mount Ayr Community schools is in full swing. . .

Class of 1965 to be recognized

[Page 1] An annual tradition of each year's Homecoming celebration is the recognition of the 50-year graduating class, and this year's honorees are the Class of 1965.

The 1964 football team, whose seniors graduated in 1965, is remembered as one of the more successful in Raider history.

The Raiders had a winning streak of 22 games dating from the fifth game in 1962 to a 14-0 loss to Creston in the final game of the 1964 season. In fact, the 1964 seniors ended up with a record of 33-3 over their four years in high school.

The dominance of the 1964 squad is revealed in the season scoreboard:

Mount Ayr 38 Leon 0
Mount Ayr 21 Greenfield 0
Mount Ayr 40 East Union 0
Mount Ayr 12 Bedford 6
Mount Ayr 34 Lenox 0
Mount Ayr 28 Villisca 7
Mount Ayr 49 Saydel 7
Mount Ayr 40 Clearfield 15
Mount Ayr 0 Creston 0

According to Barry Monaghan, the senior quarterback of the '64 squad, the Saydel game was heavily publicized by the Des Moines Register because of the Raiders' winning streak, the longest in the state at the time. Ironically, head coach Joe McNeil and assistant coach Doyle Thomas were unable to be on the sidelines at Saydel after they were injured in a car accident while traveling to watch former Raider Eugene Ricker play a college football game in Rolla, MO the previous week. Assistant coach Chet Roed directed the Raiders to the convincing 49-7 victory in front of Mount Ayr fans who had traveled to the game in eight pep buses.

The 1964 conference-champion Raiders were led by 12 talented seniors, including Monaghan, Andy Abarr, Stanley "Bird" Bryan, Dan Coulson, Ken Hunt, Jerry Knight, Gale Miller, Keith Sackett, Alvin Sickels, Bill Stull, Jon Thompson and Roger Trullinger.

Coulson and Monaghan were team captains, and they along with Gale Miller were named first-team all-conference.

The 1964 Homecoming queen was Janice Caldwell, and her court included Sharyn Giles, Kathy Prentis, Carol Shay and Mary Jane Smith.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, October of 2014