50 Years Of Covington Catholic Football

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Covington Catholic's third football helmet design, used in 1969:

 

[Jackie Ed]

8-2 Win/Loss record. No playoffs?

[Theoldguy]

8-2 Win/Loss record. No playoffs?

 

If you notice, they didn't play enough local teams to qualify to play in the playoffs.

[gchs_uk9]

If you notice, they didn't play enough local teams to qualify to play in the playoffs.

 

They actually did play enough opponents to qualify, as under the Dickinson System you were required to play at least four district opponents. Newport Catholic, Highlands, Boyd County, and Ashland were all in their district. The problem for CovCath was that NewCath and Ashland both had losing district records and thus hurt the final point total for the Colonels, allowing Campbell County to win the crown. The Camels then fell to Bryan Station in the playoffs.

 

Here are the final district standings for 1969 (record and rating):

 

1. Campbell County (7-1; 26.25)

2. Covington Catholic (4-0; 25.00)

3. Boone County (5-1; 23.75)

4. Highlands (5-2; 22.50)

5. Boyd County (3-2; 18.00)

6. Dixie Heights (4-3; 17.86)

7. Holmes (4-4; 15.00)

8. Ashland (1-4; 15.00)

9. Lloyd Memorial (2-4; 13.34)

10. Simon Kenton (2-5; 12.86)

11. Russell (1-3; 12.50)

12. Newport (0-6; 10.00)

13. Newport Catholic (0-2; No Rating/lack of games)

Edited July 1, 2017 by gchs_uk9

[ThrillVille Cardinal51]

Covington Catholic's third football helmet design, used in 1969:

 

[ATTACH]62547[/ATTACH]

 

That's definitely Colonel Sanders wearing a hat.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

That's definitely Colonel Sanders wearing a hat.

 

That specific mascot logo was used by the school for like 35 years, actually. It was based off of an image of Colonel W.S. Gilbreath that they included in their 1934 yearbook - which was right around the time they started using the "Colonel" as their mascot. They cited him as one of the inspirations behind the Covington Catholic Colonels. Gilbreath had been a Captain in the US Army during the Civil War, was a member of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels, and after going back to the civilian world he was the man who conceived of and helped create the Dixie Highway through his involvement with the Detroit Automobile Owner's Club and the Michigan State Highway Commission.

 

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Covington Catholic's 1969 starting lineup, taken from the Courier Journal preceding Cov Cath's final game of the season against the St. X Tigers.

 

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Cov Cath had their first college division one football signee after only one season of varsity football. Bob Wieck, the first player to ever start at running back for the Colonels, went on to play football at Brown University. (Brown football, as well as the other Ivy League football programs, was a D1 program up until 1981.)

 

Wieck, who was already a standout on the Cov Cath baseball team, was senior for the school's first season of football in 1967.

 

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Two seasons, two division one players.

 

Tight end Mark Pfeiffer, who also took care of kicking for the 1968 Cov Cath football team, was recruited to play football for Xavier University.

 

 

 

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Three seasons, four division one players.

 

Cov Cath quarterback/running back Jerry Arrasmith was signed by Marshall and went on to play as a flanker for the Herd.

 

Cov Cath running back Rick Hornsby was signed by the University of Louisville as a running back for the Cardinals.

 

Arrasmith and Hornsby combine for part of 3 standing records for the Covington Catholic football team. Hornsby is tied with 5 other Colonels for most points scored in a single game - 30 points, scored against Ashland Blazer in 1969. Arrasmith still holds the record for longest punt return for a touchdown - 91 yards against Boyd County in 1969. And the two of them were both integral in setting the high water mark for team rushing yards in a single game - 406 yards against Somerset in 1969.

 

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

@Jackie Ed @Theoldguy @gchs_uk9 Here's a little insight into the playoff situation from the 1969 season. From the Courier-Journal on October 23, 1969.

 

[Runcible Owl]

May be jumping ahead of the thread, but add Bill Topmiller ('71), a junior on the '69 roster (Post #52), to the list of DI footballers. Bill was a varsity letter-man at Vanderbilt, and played some baseball there as well.

 

Topmiller was a three sport all-stater at CCH. He was a member of the the 1970 regional champion baseball team, and a member of the '69-'70-'71 regional champion basketball teams. A member of CCH's 1000 point club in basketball, he graduated as the schools second all-time leading scorer (now 12th).

 

Theoldguy could fill in the blanks, but I think Bill is still highly ranked among the school's all-time leaders in receiving for football, and hitting in baseball.

 

Hornsby's track credentials are mentioned in Post #55, and both he and Arrasmith were members of Cov Cath's 1970 regional champion track team. The two of them were members of sprint relay teams that held school records for many years.

[gchs_uk9]

@Jackie Ed @Theoldguy @gchs_uk9 Here's a little insight into the playoff situation from the 1969 season. From the Courier-Journal on October 23, 1969.

 

 

Good stuff. It wouldn't be until 1979 that the Dickinson system was done away with, however as districts became smaller it forced teams to play each other to meet the game requirements. Funny that the same recruiting complaints (almost word for word) come up even today.

[Theoldguy]

Cov Cath had their first college division one football signee after only one season of varsity football. Bob Wieck, the first player to ever start at running back for the Colonels, went on to play football at Brown University. (Brown football, as well as the other Ivy League football programs, was a D1 program up until 1981.)

 

Wieck, who was already a standout on the Cov Cath baseball team, was senior for the school's first season of football in 1967.

 

 

 

 

Bob of course didn't play in his Freshmen year at Brown, as back in those days, Freshmen weren't allowed to play sports. Bob indeed was a very smart student at CovCath and IMHO a better Baseball Player than Football player. I believe Bob now lives in RI and was/is a Lawyer, hopefully he and the other guys all show up for the reunion this year!

[Theoldguy]

Two seasons, two division one players.

 

Tight end Mark Pfeiffer, who also took care of kicking for the 1968 Cov Cath football team, was recruited to play football for Xavier University.

 

 

 

 

Mark today (and has for years) helped run the clock/scoreboard at the CovCath football games and is looking forward to being in the new and much larger CovCath press box. If you have ever seen the movie We are Marshall, Mark was a member of that X team.