● 1964 Niles vs Massillon "game of the century" 30,128 att. 48+52 unbeaten streaks ▪︎ Akron Rubber Bowl ▪︎
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I remember those years all to well .....
︎ I remember those years I had a complete scrapbook as a kid in 1961 and 1963 both State Championship years for Niles.
And in 1963 was the Bo Rein senior season where he averaged 2.5 TDs/ game and went on to the Ohio State University under coach Woody Hayes and then pro football and baseball.
Mooney 1963 regular Season: 6-2-1 City Series: 5-1-1 (1st) Non Conference:1-1 Diocese: 1-0-1
13-Sep
Mooney 0 *Niles McKinley at Rayen 46 L
Niles won 46-0 and went on to the All-American conference after that and basically quit playing the local schools. I also remember WKBN sportscaster Don Gardner saying before the game that Mooney would win and after the game that Mooney just had an off game yes a 0-46 off game.
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I'm glad to see so many of you sports minded fans have visited this thread. Even though this game was 53 years ago I've always liked historical sports articles to compare then and now and other interesting sports stories.
When you see the declines in sports attendance and budgets it is important to try to keep interest in sports and sports history as alive and well as possible for current and future generations.
And who would have thought Earle Bruce's roots started in Massillon or that over 30,000 people attended a high school football game?
The legendary game was played at the Akron Rubber Bowl in front of 30,128 fans. The contest also garnered national media attention. Wire stories on the outcome were published the following day in newspapers across the country....
Legendary indeed at the now gone Akron Rubber Bowl in front of 30,128 fans, just a memory now.
GO BUCKEYES, BROWNS, INDIANS, CAVS, YSU, NAVY and yes I like ND! -
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I'm glad to see so many of you sports minded fans have visited this thread. Even though this game was 53 years ago I've always liked historical sports articles to compare then and now and other interesting sports stories.
When you see the declines in sports attendance and budgets it is important to try to keep interest in sports and sports history as alive and well as possible for current and future generations.
And who would have thought Earle Bruce's roots started in Massillon or that over 30,000 people attended a high school football game?
The legendary game was played at the Akron Rubber Bowl in front of 30,128 fans. The contest also garnered national media attention. Wire stories on the outcome were published the following day in newspapers across the country....
Legendary indeed at the now gone Akron Rubber Bowl in front of 30,128 fans, just a memory now.
I'm glad to see so many of you sports minded fans have visited this thread. Even though this game was 53 years ago I've always liked historical sports articles to compare then and now and other interesting sports stories.
When you see the declines in sports attendance and budgets it is important to try to keep interest in sports and sports history as alive and well as possible for current and future generations.
And who would have thought Earle Bruce's roots started in Massillon or that over 30,000 people attended a high school football game?
Legendary indeed.
And the historic Akron Rubber Bowl is now history itself.
Was on the field there several times and at a few now classic rock concerts there in the later 1960s and 1970s.......oh yeah, ROCK ON!
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As we come up on yet another football season I sometimes wonder where it all began for me, well here it is two days before my 9th birthday with my dad, we saw every NILES MCKINLEY HIGH SCHOOL football game, what an era.
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It began quietly on Sept. 26, 1959 when the Niles McKinley Red Dragons defeated Lakewood St. Edward 36-6 at Niles Riverside Stadium.
Though the 3,500 fans in attendance didnt know it at the time, they were witnessing the beginning of what became arguably the greatest accomplishment in local high school football history.
The Red Dragons win over the Eagles marked the start of a five-year unbeaten streak.
By the time the streak reached its 47th game in November of 1963, Niles was regularly playing in front of crowds in excess of 10,000, both home and away. Along the way, the Red Dragons won a pair of state titles, and were viewed as Ohios premiere program.........
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Strange small world, tonight I was coming home from the hospital via a local ambulance two young guys on the crew both football fans started talking about football including high school football got around to Niles McKinley RED DRAGON football including the 1964 NILES - MASSILLON Game of the Century and this one NILES - MASSILLON 1966.
He googled them up, I told him I was there on the sidelines in NILES in 1966 and listened to the 1964 NILES AT MASSILLON GAME....amazing moments.
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Wow, 2019 will be the 55th anniversary of that game, I guess all of the players are retired now or not with us anymore.
Time sure does fly.
Wow, 2019 will be the 55th anniversary of that game, I guess all of the players are retired now or not with us anymore.
Time sure does fly.
They did have some reminiscing and interviews with some of the players that we're still around from that 1964 game. Old and grey and largely retired, teachers, policemen, all different walks of life many who's grandchildren were now playing high school football.
It was interesting reading about and hearing their stories.
Time does indeed fly by... for all of us.
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February 2020, since the Vindicator is now history the links may not work.
Youngstown is now the largest city in Ohio without a local newspaper. Not good. <--
︎. (edit) ..... Not good for America when we lose small local newspapers. We lose the truth about small to medium size American history, reporting and life.
The internet is not the same, we still need professional reporters.
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February 2020, since the Vindicator is now history the links may not work.
Youngstown is now the largest city in Ohio without a local newspaper. Not good. <--
︎. (edit) ..... Not good for America when we lose small local newspapers. We lose the truth about small to medium size American history, reporting and life.
The internet is not the same, we still need professional reporters.
February 2020, since the Vindicator is now history the links may not work.
Youngstown is now the largest city in Ohio without a local newspaper. Not good.
Some of the old Vindicator links still not working even though the (Warren) Tribune Chronicle has taken the old (Youngstown) Vindicator name and has a mahoning county section.
Every time a local newspaper goes under we lose a small piece of the American fabric and history...... besides the local watchdogs protecting us all.
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In 2019 - the 55th anniversity of this game.
In 2024 - next year it will be the 60th anniversary of this historic game well in it's time. Now many of it's players and coaches may be gone then too -but- I hope to be here again.. Who knows about the upcoming 65, 70 or more annivesaries. I guess we'll all see soon enough ..... ?
...... edit ..... that helmet looked almost exactly like my first helmet in the 5th & 6th grade. Single bar red, white stripe.
My first spikes in high school had a rare left foot square toe kicking shoe (Lou Groza style) from 1965-66-67. Wow .... back then. Rev. October 28, 2023. [ I believe that I returned it to the equipment room, probably long gone now some 57 +/- years ago. Rev. 01/01/2024. ]
And see the 1964 program below .....
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Great information! Thanks a lot for it
Great information! Thanks a lot for it
No problem Wayne, who is also just a memory like a book checked out and read just once and returned ..... never to be heard from again.
Just a memory in time some 5½ years ago who like Wayne is gone and never heard from again
︎ Rev. January 01, 2024. mjp.
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★ ( Rev. January 25, 2024 ) - I would be interested in hearing from the great high school football powers alumni in Ohio like Massillon, Canton McKinley and the Warren high schools like Warren Western Reserve, Warren G. Harding and other Ohio schools in the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and other areas.
Both on these two stories from 1964 and 1966 by the (now closed) Youngstown Vindicator and other stories from the above mentioned high schools and others like the areas around. Akron, Ashtabuls, Toledo, Steubenville, and the smaller farm and southern counties which I always had some interest in.
[
︎ My read on this story.]
︎. My grandfather used to have a post office run in the 1960s and early 1970s between the smaller post offices from the a Niles (my hometown) and the Warren post offices to the many small post offices in the outlying beautiful farm countries and the many little towns and villages around Kinsman, Mespo, and the towns around the Mosquito Lake areas.
It was so much fun if we would do an allowed ride along with him delivering the small locked bags of mail and packages to these small often one person post office drop offs and pickups for the Niles and Warren post offices. It was a fun but brief time.
I wondered where did these kids go to school ? Play sports (many did) ? Football ? Many had basketball, some pretty good ! And I've always followed their scores ! Sports is such a big thing in the state of Ohio.
[
︎ End of my read on this story. ]
SO, please contribute your local newspaper or high school information or even your own stories if you have them here ON THIS HIGH SCHOOL FORUM.
■ Thank you, mjp or mjp28, moderator on the BROWNS, GUARDIANS and HIGH SCHOOL Forums here.
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