Former William & Mary Sports Information Director Pete Kalison (1955-57) ranks the top five teams in school history. These features appeared in the football game programs throughout the 2015 season.
 
 
No. 5
2004
 
One of head coach Jimmye Lay­cock's finest teams, the 2004 squad posted an 11-3 record (7-1 in the Atlantic 10) en route to advancing to the NCAA Semifinals. After go­ing just 5-5 during the 2003 season, the Tribe seemingly came out of no­where to surprise pundits and Tribe fans alike during the remarkable re­cord-setting season.
 
The team was led by senior quarterback, Lang Campbell, who emerged as one of the nation's elite signal callers during his senior sea­son and won the prestigious Walter Payton Award, which is given to the country's top FCS player. In addition to helping the Tribe total a school-record 486 points, he engineered a number of miraculous comeback victories.
 
The lasting significance of the 2004 team's success is evident today, as it served as a catalyst for many of the upgrades that today's squad cur­rently enjoys. Among them are the Jimmye Laycock Football Center, a FieldTurf Pro playing surface, a vid­eo scoreboard, stadium lights, prac­tice fields – and a $27 million Zable Stadium renovation that is currently underway and will be ready for the 2016 season.
 
The memorable campaign's cre­scendo came during the NCAA Semifinal contest against in-state conference rival James Madison, which was played before a sold-out Zable Stadium on national televi­sion (ESPN2). Temporary lights were brought in for the contest to allow for the 7 p.m., kickoff. The excite­ment was palpable leading up to the game, as more than 1,000 students, some of whom camped out over­night, lined up to get tickets.
 
Campbell recalled the hype build­ing up to the game that season: "As the season progressed we (the play­ers and coaching staff) could feel a heightened excitement from our fel­low students and alumni, a feeling of one with the team and our program. Everyone sensed it.
 
"(Coming into the season), we knew going in we were loaded with some very good players and had the capability to be exceptional", Camp­bell said. "We had a very good spring practice and many of us stayed around to work out together during the late spring and summer months. I personally worked with most of my receivers, and this included Domi­nique Thompson, a guy with tremen­dous speed and athleticism. He and I spent many days working together.
 
"During the season itself, interest on campus spread. Suddenly even our professors, most of whom didn't know I played football, started lead­ing off classes talking about that pre­vious Saturday's game. One of my professors, who had been at W&M for many years, suddenly addresses me in class one day and noted that he had just attended his first game ever and congratulated me on the win. That floored me. It was unreal around campus and in Williamsburg, something we'd never seen."
 
And what a season it was.
 
*W&M 9, New Hampshire 7.
This game in Durham, the third game of the season and against the No. 10-ranked team in the country, was played in a driving rain and windstorm that never let up and proved the mettle of this Tribe team. Three remarkable field goals by All-American placekicker Greg Kuehn, all booted in a swirling wind and rain, proved the difference as the defense completely stopped UNH's high-powered offense. This win was the victory that convinced everyone the Tribe had something very special going.

*W&M 27, JMU 24. The game that proved W&M as one of the nation's elite. A back and forth bruising battle in front of a par­tisan Dukes crowd that remains as one of the signature wins of not only the 2004 team but of Tribe history. Campbell led a final minute drive, completing six passes in a row, that set up the game-winner on the final play, a 43-yard field goal by Kuehn. Just prior to Kuehn's kick, a blustery wind suddenly calmed and the ball was quickly snapped. Few will ever forget the ensuing kick as the ball sailed over the crossbar as a noisy JMU crowd fell silent – a remarkable kick in an adverse atmosphere.
 
*W&M 44, Delaware 38 (2OT)
NCAA Quarterfinals
In this writer's mind, this was the most incredible victory in Laycock's 36 years at W&M. The Tribe, who had lost the regular season game at No. 2 UD, trailed by 21 points after three quarters and no team had ever seemed more out of a game. But the Tribe's defensive back, Stephen Cason intercepted a pass on the first play of the fourth quarter and sprinted 62 yards for a TD. The Tribe defense, led by defensive end Adam O'Connor, completely shut down Delaware down the stretch and ral­lied back behind a suddenly red-hot Campbell, as well as halfback Jon Smith and wideouts Dominique Thompson and Joe Nicholas.
 
In the second OT, after both teams scored TDs in the first OT, W&M scored a touchdown on a Smith burst up the middle. But the de­lirious crowd gasped when Kuehn missed his first extra point in two years after making his previous 99 in a row, which left the door open for a Delaware win. The Tribe, however, kept UD out of the end zone and ad­vanced to the program's first NCAA Semifinal appearance in school his­tory. The entire W&M student section charged the field and celebrated the win that afternoon in what was one of the most remarkable scenes ever witnessed at Zable Stadium. A mo­ment and game for the books.
 
Wade Harrell, linebacker/defen­sive lineman and co-captain with Campbell that season, remembers that scene this way: "The second I saw this horde of Tribe students flooding the field all I could think about was four years earlier when we had few students in the stands and lots of empty space; it filled me with a pride and emotion I can still feel today."
 
"Coach Laycock", Harrell also rec­ollected, "had told us at halftime that the way we were playing, Dela­ware might score a hundred on us and I believed right then and there we knew we were going to take it to them in the second half. People for­get Delaware was the defending na­tional champion and had really been put­ting it to us for sev­eral years."
 
That Delaware playoff game ended Harrell's football ca­reer. "I got blind­sided on the play just before Cason's interception and TD run and had my knee blown out and that ended the season for me. That got my teammates riled up too."
 
This game came just a week after a thrilling 42-35 first round playoff win at home against a very good Hampton team, sparked by a late 92-yard kickoff return by Thompson.
 
In addition to Campbell, Smith, Kuehn, Thompson, Cason and O'Connor, all of whom earned postseason hon­ors, offensive lineman Cody Morris, punter Mike Masi, and linebacker Chris Ndubueze also were listed. Campbell was A-10 Player of the Year and, as previously mentioned, winner of the Payton Award, and first-team All-American along with Kuehn and Thompson. All three set numerous W&M all-time records that still stand. Perhaps one unoffi­cial record of Campbell's stands out in this observer's mind is that during the regular season he had only one pass intercepted all year - an incred­ible mark.
 

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No. 4
2009
 
After a somewhat disappointing 2008 season in which William & Mary closed the fall with consecutive losses to finish with a 7-4 record and narrowly miss an NCAA Playoff berth, there was uncertainty surrounding the following year's team. However, the 2009 edition of the Tribe, bolstered by one of the nation's most outstanding defensive units, equaled a school record with 11 wins, advanced to the NCAA Semifinals and ranked No. 3 in the final national polls.
    
The defense, in this writer's opinion, puts the 2009 team ahead of the high-octane 2004 squad that scored a school-record 486 points and was ranked as the College's fifth-greatest team in school history. In addition to second nationally in scoring defense (12.1), W&M's offense was productive and scored at least 30 points six times.
    
Anchoring the outstanding defense was a pair of All-American linemen in seniors Adrian Tracy (DE) and Sean Lissemore (DE). Both players were selected in the NFL Draft later that spring – Tracy by the New York Giants (6th round) and Lissemore by the Cowboys (7th round). Tracy, at 6-3, 240 pounds,  possessed lightning quickness that resulted in a school-record 12 sacks. Lissemore, at 6-3, 305, was a big man but had remarkable, almost ballet-like, adroitness in his feet and legs that enabled him to escape blocks and torpedo opposing backs in their own backfield. Both men had tremendous upper body strength to go with their quickness and speed.
   
Adding such terrific defensive players such as linebackers Jake Tranton and Evan Francks, safety David Caldwell, and freshman cornerback B.W. Webb, who had eight interceptions his freshman season, made the 2009 defense a formidable one, indeed. First-team all-conference punter David Miller also made an significant impact, as he averaged more than 40 yards per punt and consistenly pinned opponents deep in their own territory.
   
In addition to ranking second nationally in scoring defense, W&M also led the country in rushing defenes (61.1) and ranked second in total defense (229.8). The unit also forced 27 turnovers.
     
The offense more than did its share, too. Senior quarterback, R.J. Archer passed for 2,778 yards, which ranks 10th on W&M's single-season list, while sophomore tailback Jonathan Grimes rushed for 1,294 – the fourth-best single-season total in school history. Also providing offensive production were speedy senior wide receiver D.J. McAulay (57 catches for 620 yds) and senior tight end Rob Varno (50 catches for 467 yds).
   
Indications that the 2009 season might be one to remember came during the opener at Virginia when W&M earned an impressive 26-14 victory in front of a crowd of nearly 55,000. W&M controlled the entire game, as it held UVA to just 268 total yards and forced seven turnovers – including three interceptions by Webb that culminated with a 50-yard pick-six to seal the victory with 2:39 remaining. Webb's impressive collegiate debut helped him win national defensive player of the week honors.
   
After the upset at UVA, W&M won four of its next five – with the lone loss coming, prophetically, at Villanova. That run set up a showdown with long-time rival James Madison for Homecoming. After falling to the Dukes, 48-24, during the 2008 season, the Tribe played inspired football in the 2009 matchup and earned a 24-3 victory against JMU before a soldout crowd at Zable Stadium. The all-around impressive effort included 158 rushing yards by Grimes, two touchdown passes by Archer, 11 tackles by Franks and 1.5 sacks by Tracy.
   
After rolling past Rhode Island, 39-14, and blanking Towson, 31-0, the Tribe faced a huge game at   Zable against No. 7 New Hampshire – one of the nation's most productive offensive teams.
   
The game was a thriller, with W&M prevailing in the fourth quarter, 20-17, on a 37-yard field goal by Brian Pate with just 2:54 remaining. The Tribe's defense was outstanding and limited the Wildcats to just 226 total yards, including just 27 rushing yards on 24 carries.
   
With Grimes rushing for 136 yards, the Tribe controlled the ball much of the game, but a big play that put W&M ahead was a leaping Lissemore interception deep in UNH territory that led to a 16-yard touchdown pass from Archer to junior wide receiver Chase Hill. 
   
The memorable season continued at Zable in the FCS Playoffs with a resounding 38-0 blanking of  Weber State, propelling the Tribe to a game in Carbondale, Ill., against top-ranked Southern Illinois. The Salukis, which had won 11 consecutive games averaged 36 points per game and were led by All-American running back Deji Karim.
   
W&M met the challenge with a stunning 24-3 pounding of the Salukis in perhaps W&M's most      complete game of the season. En route to celebrating Laycock's 200th career victory, the Tribe held Karim to just 27 rushing yards on 12 carries, while Grimes recorded 133 yards on the ground with three touchdowns.
   
The win advanced the Tribe to the NCAA Semifinals for the second time in five years, as it would travel to Villanova where it had suffered a 28-17 setback earlier in the season.
   
In a hard-nosed defensive battle, W&M found itself on the losing end again, this time by one point, 14-13, a very tough end to a magnificent season.
   
Leading 10-0 at halftime, the Tribe had totally shut down the Wildcats in the first half, holding their explosive offense to just 70 total yards. Sparking the halftime lead was the longest TD pass in school history, a 98-yard completion for a touchdown from Archer to wide receiver Cam Dohse.
   
Villanova's defense rallied to control W&M's offense in the second half, however, limiting the Tribe to a Pate 40-yard field goal late in the third quarter. Despite an excellent effort defensively, two plays spelled doom for the Tribe and ended its chance to play for a national title.
   
The first was halfback Matt Szczur's 62-yard touchdown run on a surprise direct snap that caught W&M out of position. The other came on a fourth-down fake punt run by in which it seemed W&M had stopped the runner short of the first down marker. However, the drive continued and enable Villanova to march on for the eventual game-winning touchdown. Pate kicked a field goal on the ensuing series, but W&M was unable to score on its final two possessions. 
   
Junior defensive tackle Mike Stover had a tremendous effort with a game-high 11 tackles, 3.0 TFL and a sack.
   
There were lots of postseason honors for W&M:  Tracy and Lissemore were both selected as All-Americans by multiple organizations, while they were joined by Grimes, Caldwell and Miller on the All-CAA First Team. Other all-conference selections included Archer, McAulay, Varno, Trantin, Webb, Pate and offensive lineman C.J. Muse. Webb was also honored as the CAA Rookie of the Year.
   
This remarkable team rightfully earns its spot as the fourth greatest team ever at W&M.
   
Certainly, in the many years I've been watching W&M teams, since the fall of 1953, it remains the best defensive team in those 62 seasons.
 

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No. 3
1993-96
 
These four teams featured a bevy of some of W&M's finest players, including some who played on all four teams - making it impossible for this writer to pick just one, but rather to select the entire group. The teams combined to post a 34-13 record, including a 25-7 record in conference action.
   
Three quarterbacks led this aggregation: the elusive and record-setting pinpoint passer, Shawn Knight ('93-94);  the  efficient Matt Byrne ('95) and the hard-nosed, durable Mike Cook ('95-96). The running game was the equal of the passers with record-setting stars such as Troy Keen and Derek Fitzgerald, who combined for a two-man total of an astounding 6,693 yards in three years, plus Alvin Porch who ran for 1,210 yards in 1996.
   
To complement the star passers, the Tribe featured some of the best receivers ever to grace Zable's then natural turf: the steady hands and exacting patterns of Dave Conklin; the mercurial Mike Tomlin (the Pittsburgh Steelers head coach still holds W&M's record for most yards gained per catch); the physically dominant Josh Whipple; and Terry Hammons (5-9, 160), an undersized speed merchant who caught passes and ran back punts. Between the four they caught 64 TD passes and all rank among the best in Tribe record annals.
   
Powering all this remarkable offensive talent was a collection of memorable linemen who were among the nation's best. Leading the charge were the likes of All-America guard Josh Beyer, center Charlie White, guard Dan Rossentini. Tackle Wally Vale and guard Tom Walters.
   
On defense, the 1993-96 squads led the league with numerous All-Yankee Conference and All-America stalwarts. Linebackers Greg Applewhite, Jude Waddy, Stephan Moody, Eric Lambert and Jason Miller provided W&M with an amazing five All-Yankee performers over the four-year period, while defensive ends Mike Bertoni and Luke Cullinane, defensive tackles Jim Simpkins, Pete Coyne and Brian Giamo all starred on a series of four strong defensive lines.  All were named to all-conference teams.
   
The kicking game featured placekicker Brian Shallcross and punter Chris Dawson, both All-Yankee Conference choices.
   
The four-year dominance of this powerhouse aggregation brought William & Mary NCAA Playoff appearances in both 1993 and 1996 as well as the 1996 Yankee Conference Championship. W&M's won-loss records from 1993-96 of 9-3, 8-3, 7-4 and 10-3 attest to the greatness of these Laycock squads. In the Yankee Conference alone, W&M won 25 games and lost just seven.
   
The 1993 season celebrated W&M's Tri-Centennial and the 100th year of football.  On Sept. 25, the College, the nation's second-oldest college, officially celebrated that 100th year of football with a memorable 45-17 trouncing of Harvard, the oldest. Shawn Knight picked the Crimson apart with 216 passing yards, three touchdown passes and ran for one himself as 14,000 cheered – a crowd that included invited former Tribe stars from the previous 50 years, many of whom sat adjacent to the current players on the sideline.
   
Homecoming in 1993 was the official 300th Birthday Celebration, and Coach Laycock's men did not disappoint, whipping No. 3 Villanova, 51-17. A crowd of 17,616 jammed every corner of Zable Stadium.
   
That team defeated JMU, UMass, New Hampshire and Richmond, and was invited to play in the NCAA playoffs. Instead of getting a first-round home game, W&M was sent all the way to Lake Charles, La., to play the nation's No. 3 team, McNeese State. On a hot, humid night, W&M led 21-20 at halftime before losing, 34-28, with the Tribe on State's 24-yard line as time ran out. Knight played most of the fourth quarter with a broken thumb on his throwing hand.
   
In 1994, the team again cracked the Top 25 with an 8-3 mark. Despite wins against Furman, Villanova, Delaware and Richmond, W&M was not invited to the playoffs.
   
The season's highlight was a huge 28-26 win against top-ranked Furman. Knight again showed why he had to be ranked among W&M's greatest quarterbacks with a bravura performance that saw him named National Player of the Week. Knight connected on 15 of 19 throws for 219 yards with two touchdowns, while running back Troy Keen ran for 106 yards with a touchdown en route to piling up 1,175 yards that season.
   
Furman scored in the final seconds to come within two points, but linebacker Greg Applewhite and the Tribe line smothered a Purple Paladin 2-point conversion attempt to preserve the victory.
   
In 1995, despite a "disappointing" 7-4 mark, the team continued its great play.
   
A memorable 18-15 Homecoming win over No. 2 Villanova thrilled another packed Zable Stadium of more than 13,000 with the Tribe winning on the game's final play – a 47-yard field goal by Brian Shallcross, his fourth field goal of the contest.
   
Another significant win came against Ivy League champion, Penn, 48-34, as the Tribe intercepted one of the country's leading passers, Mark DeRosa (who later played Major League Baseball for a decade), five times.
   
In the season's final game against Richmond at Zable, W&M defeated the playoff bound, No. 13 Spiders, 27-7. A halfback touchdown pass from Derek Fitzgerald to receiver Josh Whipple highlighted the victory.
   
The final year, 1996, of this four-year express train of a team, was perhaps the finest. The team won the Lambert Cup while putting up a 10-3 record that, with just a little luck, might have been 13-0, losing its three games by margins of six, five, and three points.
 
The squad produced multiple All-Americans and a record 12 All-Yankee Conference selections.
   
The first big win came in a 30-21 defeat of No. 9 Villanova. Although W&M trailed, 14-0, a Stephon Moody interception turned the game around as the defense asserted itself with 10 sacks – eight of which came in the second half when the Tribe limited the Wildcats to -39 yards rushing.
   
Another comeback win at home against Northeastern, 21-14, featured a last-minute 60-yard drive led by Cook that culminated with a touchdown run by Porch. W&M played its first-ever overtime game the following week when it won a grinding defensive battle against Delaware with a 42-yard field goal by Shallcross.
   
There were two other memorable wins: a stunning 30-6 win against nationally ranked UMass, a game that was tied, 6-6, at halftime; and a first-round NCAA Playoff win against Jackson State at home, 45-6, in which W&M totaled 480 yards of offense.
   
The second round playoff game, at Northern Iowa, was a heartbreaking 38-35 loss but was perhaps the team's finest hour. The Tribe trailed in this one, 27-0, at halftime. This great team showed its mettle in the second half, rallying to tie the game 35-35 as Cook threw four touchdown passes in four third quarter possessions. Down by seven points late in the game, the team marched 80 yards in the final minutes to tie the game at 35 as Cook hit Whipple for a touchdown.  It was Cook's fifth TD pass of the half and Whipple's third. Northern Iowa eventually won with a late field goal following a muffed punt deep in W&M territory.
   
After the game Coach Laycock told the Daily Press, "on the road in a tough place and down 27-0 at half it would have been easy to fold up the tent. Instead we came back and almost won it."
 

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No. 2
1940-42        
 
Carl Voyles had been hired as William & Mary head coach in 1938 with one aim - to restore the program's sagging fortunes, five years of woeful, non-competitive losing teams.  Voyles wasted no time, bringing in Rube McCray as his top assistant and recruiting in 1939 a freshman class that would be known as Voyles' "Fabulous Freshmen."
   
The impact of this resulted in a great team from 1940-42 that won 23 games, tied two, and lost just five against top competition.  His teams claimed W&M's first Southern Conference title in 1942, three state titles (a big deal in the state then), its first Associated Press  first team All-American and future College Football Hall of Fame inductee, guard Gerrard "Buster" Ramsey,  and two rankings in the nation's Top 20 (No. 14 in 1941 and No. 10 in 1942).
   
His powerful single-wing offense featured wide, sweeping reverses and end runs, as well as punishing straight ahead power runs, with an occasional forward pass thrown in. He relied heavily on the quick kick for field position. His linemen weren't huge, utilizing very quick players who could pull out and block and double-team in his single-wing offense and play the entire field on defense with their great quickness.
   
In those days almost everyone played both ways. There were few substitutions, and Voyles used as few as 17 players in some key games.
   
Among the memorable two-way players on those three teams were Ramsey, tackle Marvin Bass, fullback-placekicker-defensive back Harvey "Stud" Johnson, guard Glenn Knox, quarterback/defensive back Jackie Freeman, running back Harvey Masters, end Nick Forkovitch, center Tex Warrington and backs Bob Longacre and Jimmy Howard.
   
It must be noted that in that era W&M's nickname was The Indians.  The Flat Hat student newspaper noted in a 1941 issue that the number of touchdowns kept "Wamapo," the school's beautiful painted horse mascot, ridden bareback  by W&M students in full Indian regalia, "charging one lap around the Cary Field track after a W&M score to the delight of all."
   
In 1940, the first year the Voyles' 1939 freshmen became eligible to play, the team established itself as a new power in the South with a signature monumental win over nationally ranked and state power, Virginia, led by UVA's Heisman Trophy winner, Bill Dudley.  The 20-13 Indian win before a sold-out crowd of 9,000 at Cary Field garnered headlines from coast-to-coast.
   
William & Mary had never defeated UVA in football, having lost 10 and tied one (a 0-0 game that marked the 1935 opening of Cary).  Scoreless at the half, W&M, led by Stud Johnson's two third quarter touchdown runs, scored 20 points, never trailed, and drew front page headlines the next day in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Dudley was no factor, bottled up most of the day by a relentless W&M defense led by Buster Ramsey, who in that game established himself as a premier guard.
   
The win started an undefeated streak by W&M over state teams that lasted ALL OF THE 1940s!
   
Jackie Freeman, coach and AD at W&M in the mid-'50s and a star member of the          team, told me year later that "Ramsey was in their backfield all day, dogged Dudley continuously and used his great quickness to throw Dudley six times for losses."
   
The 1940 team won the College's first-ever State Championship in Richmond on Thanksgiving Day, by blanking one of Richmond's best teams, 16-0, which was described by the Flat Hat  "as swarming over the Spiders all day with stifling line play that stopped Richmond dead."  Cited were Bass, Ramsey, Charles Gondak and Bill and Ed Goodlow. Johnson ran for a touchdown, and end Newell Irwin clinched the game with a leaping touchdown reception of a pass thrown by Masters.
   
The 1941 season, with almost everyone returning, was an even better year for the Indians, winning 8-of-10 games and another State Championship, as well as a second-place finish in the Southern Conference.
   
A huge 16-7 win over undefeated Virginia Tech, their best team in ages, at Richmond's City Stadium on Oct. 3 drew headlines cross the state.  Freeman, who stood just 5-6 and 150 pounds at quarterback in the single wing, starred on defense with two key interceptions that set up Indian touchdowns by Johnson and Howard.  Johnson also kicked a key field goal that secured the victory.
   
The other major victory for the 1941 team was a stunning intersectional win over Ivy League power, Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H.  The 3-0 upset win in a driving wind and rain over the 20-point favorite brought notice in the New York Times and Boston Herald.  Local press had described Dartmouth before the game "as the Eastern powerhouse expected to roll over the little school from Williamsburg."
   
The win was keyed again by Voyles' lightning-quick defense as Ramsey and Bass drew plaudits from much of the Eastern press.  Ramsey drew All-America mention for the first time by throwing Dartmouth halfbacks for six and nine yard losses on consecutive plays, and then blocking the punt. The block set up Johnson's game-winning 39-yard field goal in the rain. Tex Warrington sealed the victory with a interception on the W&M 10-yard line in the final minute.
   
It was William & Mary's first-ever win over an Ivy League team (the Ivies back then were national powerhouses) and propelled Voyles' team as a national force.
   
The 1942 season was the final one for the "Fabulous Freshmen" of Carl Voyles and one of the greatest seasons ever at W&M.  The team posted a 9-1-1 mark, with the only loss coming to an all-star military team, N.C. Pre-Flight, filled with former NFL and college All-Americans in the military during WWII.  Indeed, many of W&M's stars would find themselves in the service all over the world within the 12 months following the season.
   
Four games stand out that season, one that found W&M ranked 10th in the nation.
   
First was the 3-0 win in Annapolis at Navy's old Farragut Field that garnered national coverage.  An early Johnson 20-yard field goal held up as once again the Indian defense stifled the opposition.  Ramsey, Bass and Forkovitch were credited with 10 tackles for Navy losses in their backfield. Freeman's booming punts, several on third down, kept Navy bottled up several times inside its own 10.
   
A 61-0 win over George Washington in Williamsburg showcased a powerful Indian offense as the team rolled up 27 first downs to GW's 1. The team intercepted seven Colonial passes—still the W&M single-game record. Seven different Indians scored touchdowns, including Bass with a blocked punt and recovery in the end zone.
   
Another good Dartmouth team again ran afoul of William & Mary, this time in Williamsburg, as W&M steamrolled to a 35-14 victory.  Bob Longacre, a blazing back, ran for three touchdowns, with Johnson and Freeman also scoring, the latter on a 48-yard burst, as the team rolled up more than 600 yards of offense.
   
But it was the final game of the season, even as many of the players prepared to go off to war in 1943, that proved the greatness of this team. Venturing to Norman, Okla., the Indians defeated the University of Oklahoma, 14-7, on Dec. 5.  The two W&M scores came on pass receptions by end Glen Knox on passes from Longacre and Korzowski.  The defense, again, was outstanding and shut down the high-scoring Sooners offensive attack.
   
The Indians expected an Orange Bowl bid, but didn't get one because bowl officials cited the loss to the military all-star team, a game that was 0-0 for 58 minutes before W&M lost in the final two minutes to a team stocked with NFL players.
   
That season, W&M won its first-ever Southern Conference championship as well as its third consecutive All-State title.  Four players were first-team All-Southern: Ramsey, Johnson, Bass, and Knox.  Additionally, seven W&M players were named to the 11-player All-State team, the previous four plus Longacre, Warrington and Forkovitch.
   
Ramsey became the first W&M player ever named to first-team AP All-America – only the second ever from the state (the other was UVA's Dudley).
   
Knox Ramsey, now in the W&M Hall of Fame, played in the NFL almost 10 years.  Marvin Bass, also in our W&M's Hall of Fame, was named, with  Gerrard Ramsy, to the All-Century team by the Richmond TD Club.  "Big Moose", as he was called, went on to a long career coaching in the college and professional ranks for four decades.  He and Buster are the most famous brother duo ever at W&M.
   
Stud Johnson, not only a punishing runner and field goal kicker, but also a gifted defensive back, played in the All-American pro league. He coached and held executive positions in the NFL for years.  He, too, is in W&M's Hall of Fame.
   
Ramsey, who played almost 60 minutes every game for three years at W&M, is now recognized as one of college football's greatest guards. He is one of just two W&M players in college football's Hall of Fame (the other is Jack Cloud).  After the war, he went on to the NFL where he was a great guard for the NFL Champion Chicago Cardinals for 10 years. He was recognized by the NFL as one of the two guards on the All-1940s team of the decade.
   
There is not enough space to cover all the great players on this team of 1940-42.  However, Tommy "The Kid" Korzowski returned after WWII to become a star on other great  W&M teams. Tex Warrington transferred to Auburn after service and became an All-American for two seasons there.  Nick Forkovitch played for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
   
The 6-2, 200 pound Ramsey, recruited by Voyles out of Knoxville, Tenn., remains a gridiron legend in the South and it is he who is the face of this team.  Freeman described him to me once over dinner in New York: "Buster had fantastic quickness with his speed and could anticipate plays better than anyone I ever saw.  He could cover the field from sideline to sideline and catch backs from behind.  And nobody could block like him; we played single wing left and single wing right play after play in our offense, and almost always he had his man flat on the ground and was still up and running to get the next one."
 

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No. 1
1946-48
 
Now we present our selection as the top football team ever to grace Zable Stadium at Cary Field—the magnificent team of 1946-48, three seasons of success highlighted by some of the greatest football players ever to wear the Green & Gold.
 
Eleven players, Coach Rube McCray, and assistant coach Eric Tipton were eventually elected to the William and Mary Sports Hall of Fame.
 
McCray, who had arrived at W&M as the top assistant to Carl Voyles in 1939 and had taken over as head coach in 1944, won 24 games, lost just six and tied two during the three years in 1946, 47 and 48, playing some of the top teams in the nation, garnering coast-to-coast attention, and establishing the program as the number one in the state.  It won one Southern Conference and three Virginia state championships, as well as the 1948 Delta Bowl.
 
McCray, who had taken over as head coach in 1944, was a great recruiter, continuing in that role since he was an assistant to Carl Voyles when Rube recruited many of the Golden Freshmen of 1939.  He continued W&M's single wing but added a potent passing game with the addition of passers like Tommy "The Kid" Korczowski and, later on, the great Buddy Lex… as well as top receivers with speed in Vito Ragazzo,
Bob Longacre, and Bob Steckroth.
 
He added two great assistant coaches; Eric "The Red" Tipton, a former All-American at Duke, and W&M's own Marvin Bass, one of the best linemen in W&M history.
 
We'll cover the great players in detail later in the article, but first we'll highlight some of the memorable games played by this team.
 
The 1946 team, fueled by many WWII returning veterans, won eight of 10 games and set notice that McCray's boys were a team to watch.
 
The first of those wins, one that startled football experts, was a stunning 49-0 pasting of Virginia Tech, ranked as the No. 1 team in the state, in Williamsburg.  Tech, a big favorite, was no match, making just four first downs all day while the Indians rolled up more than 600 yards of total offense. Korczowski highlighted the win over Tech, which had tied UNC and UVA, with touchdown runs of 50 and 41 yards and an 80-yard touchdown pass to Steckroth…all in the first half.
 
Other huge, headline grabbing wins that season were 33-14 at Maryland, and 40-0 and 41-0 victories at home against Richmond and VMI, respectively. For the season the team rolled up 347 points to opponents' 71, including four shutouts. Cloud emerged as a developing star with 536 yards in 121 carries.
 
1946 was the first of three consecutive Big Six State Titles, a big deal back then when the state had five major college teams.  The only losses were to Miami of Florida, 13-3, and UNC, 21-7.
 
The 1947 team was perhaps the best single season team in W&M annals, four deep in every position, gaining a No. 10 national rating as they rolled up a 9-2 record, winning the Southern Conference Championship and losing only to No. 5 North Carolina with Charlie "Choo-Choo" Justice, 13-7, and No. 8 Arkansas, led by Clyde  "Smackover" Scott, 21-19 in Birmingham at the Dixie Bowl.  The UNC-W&M game, played in Williamsburg is attributed in varying accounts, to having 20,000 people packing Cary Field, although no true count was ever made as fans and students broke through and flooded every square inch inside the stadium.
 
The team's signature win was a 21-0 win at Cary Field over a top Wake Forest team, ranked No. 5 in the nation going into the game. Wake featured the nation's top-rated offense and an All-American lineman, Bill George.  WF's offense was averaging more than 500 yards a game, but the Indian defense, led by linemen Lou Creekmur, George Hughes, Ralph Sazio, Knox Ramsey, and DBs "Jumping" Jack Bruce, and Cloud, held the Deacons to just 160 yards total offense.
 
W&M had five interceptions, two by Bruce and one, returned 60 yards for a touchdown, by Cloud. Two W&M tailbacks, Henry Blanc and Lex threw touchdown passes.
 
The team defeated Davidson, Citadel, VPI, Boston University, VMI, W&L, Bowling Green and Richmond to earn an invitation to the Dixie Bowl against a strong Arkansas team.  Despite two touchdowns from Cloud the team lost on a final minute touchdown by the Razorbacks, but received favorable national press for its game with the Southwest Conference powerhouse.
 
Seven Big Green* players were named to the first team All-Southern, Cloud made first team All-American, and McCray was SC Coach of the Year.

[author's note: in addition to "Indians", the team was often called "The Big Green", a reference to the distinguishing all-Green uniforms worn during those years.  Coach Laycock occasionally continues this with the past when his Tribe teams wear the all-Green]  1948 was possibly the greatest season ever for this talented group.  The record was 7-2-2, and some of the games rank famously in William & Mary's long gridiron history.
 
The starting line featured players named on All-Southern teams; ends Lou Hoitsma and Ragazzo, George Hughes and Jack McDowell at guard, Lou Creekmur and Harry Caughron, and the remarkable Tommy Thompson at center. Cloud, Korczowski, Henry Blanc and Lex started in the backfield. All played both ways, supported by players like George Heflin, Bruce, and Jim McDowell.
 
The team's greatest game wasn't a win, but the famous 7-7 tie in Chapel Hill with number three ranked UNC and Choo-Choo Justice.  McCray utilized a spread defense and Buddy Lex's eleven quick kicks/third down punts to keep Justice and his team tied up deep in their own territory most of the afternoon.  Trailing, 7-0, W&M tied it on a 22-yard TD pass from Korczowki to Hoitsman in the fourth quarter…and almost won the game when Joe Mark running an intercepted Justice pass 90 yards to the UNC eight, when time ran out before Lex could kick a winning field goal.  Lex told me several years ago that "the refs let the clock run out; it should have stopped on the turnover.  I was on the field and ready to kick the winning field goal."
 
After a 14-14 tie with a top Boston College team in the pouring rain at old Braves Field in Boston the team clinched a top-20 ranking with a convincing 26-6 win over N.C. State at Cary Field and a 9-0 shutout of Arkansas in a revenge win in Little Rock.
 
W&M gained more national honors with its 20-0 shutout pasting of Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) at the Delta Bowl in Memphis. A highlight, in addition to limiting State to under 200 yards total offense, was tackle Lou Creekmur's 70-yard interception return for a touchdown. It was the first bowl win for any team from Virginia.
 
Five W&M players were named on various All-American teams; Cloud, Thompson, Caughron, Hoitsma and McDowell.  Creekmur joined all five on the All-Southern first team.
 
Hughes, Cloud and Creekmur all played in the 1948 College All-Stars versus the NFL champions in Chicago.  Imagine three W&M players in that game from a small school that at the time had 1,600 students!
 
The long list of outstanding players, famous to this day at W&M, is remarkable.  Space doesn't allow us to cover them all, but some have to be noted.
 
*Jack "Flyin" Cloud, FB/DB…the one-quarter Cherokee Indian from Oklahoma was a cover player on the 1948 Street & Smith Football Annual. The 5-10, 200 pound powerhouse runner gained 2058 yards, scored 270 points and 45 touchdowns (still W&M records) in his career. With his Indian heritage he was a natural for a team called the Indians, and his photos in full Tribal regalia appeared in newspapers around the USA.  The great sportswriter, Grantland Rice, wrote that "Cloud is America's greatest Native American football player since Jim Thorpe." One of his teammates, blocking back Tom Mikula, told this writer that "Jack, with his huge stubby legs, would literally run over me if I wasn't fast enough to clear out defenders.  You couldn't tackle his legs; opponents would gang tackle his upper body to bring him down." Cloud made first team All-American in all three years.  He played five years in the NFL as a defensive back for Green Bay and the Redskins,
and later was an assistant professor and coach at the Naval Academy for
decades.
 
Tommy Thompson, C…A great two-way player who made several All-American teams, three ALL-SC teams, and played in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns where he was team captain.  He was a ferocious player and McCray would often hold him out of scrimmages so he wouldn't injure anyone.
 
Lou Creekmur, T….Big for the time at 6-4, 245. Creekmur had speed and strength and was described to me by Tom Mikula as "a deadly blocker who would knock his man down and had the speed to get another guy downfield too."  He played for championship Detroit Lion teams for 10 seasons and was elected to the NFL Hall of Fame in 1990.  In his college\ and pro career he never missed a game.
 
George Hughes, G…when McCray shifted him from tackle to guard his play elevated to a higher level. Adroit and strong, he specialized in trapping opposing backs behind the line of scrimmage.  Hoitsma told me several years ago at a football gathering "they didn't keep track of sacks back then, but George had a bundle of them."  He played five years in the NFL with the Steelers.
 
Buddy Lex, TB, Punter, XP, & DB…Only 5-11, 165 pounds, Buddy did it all for McCray's men.  A terrific passer, especially on the move, he also could run and was at his best in the biggest games. Set all of W&M's passing records to that time.  Once told me that "football was easy after being in the Battle of the Bulge" during WWII when he was just 18 years old.
 
Jack Bruce, E-DB.. "Jumping Jack" was not only a terrific receiver, but one of W&M's all-time defensive backs.  He had 15 interceptions during his career, 10 in 1947, including four in a game against Richmond.  Bruce was blessed with outstanding speed and game smarts. Cloud noted at a W&M football gathering, "Jack would pick you up all the time; if I was beaten or out of position there would come Jack to save you."
 
Of the many outstanding William & Mary teams throughout the years there is no doubt in this writer's mind that this crew from 1946-48 was the greatest.  They were "The Big Green" for certain.