Last unbeaten football team in northern part of county was 1955 Richwood Tigers
November 06, 2009 at 7:01 am
By VIRG RANKIN
Pictured left - The 1955 Richwood Tigers football team was the last gridiron team from what is now the North Union Local School District not to lose a game prior to the current NU squad. The ‘55 team won the Mid-Ohio Conference championship with a 7-0-1 final record. Pictured are from left, front row, Jerry Eaches, Ed Wheeler, Jim Parker, Ronnie Ellinwood, Ed Pacha, Richard Rush and Vern Payne. Second row, Kenny Ellinwood, Gene Dilger, Mike Thompson, Chuck Spurlock, Paul Vance, Lanny Littell, Hal Parish, Ink Monroe and Jim Kyle (who is not in uniform because he was injured). Back row: coach Dave McGuire, Roger Shearer, Chuck Warner, Ronnie Martino, Ronnie Ballard, John Moyer, Jim Fox, Jack Fox, Bob Roberts and Carl Wood. Absent: Gale Perkins, who was injured early in the season.
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Numbers are a huge part of athletics, as individual and team statistics are analyzed and records memorized by followers of all sports.
Ultimately, wins and losses remains the most enduring number and for the 2009 North Union High School football team, those numbers are an historic 10-0.
According to a hasty search through records that are sketchy at best, it can be reported that never before in the history of football in the schools that now make up North Union Local Schools, has a team posted a perfect record.
Since North Union was consolidated in the mid 60’s, the next best record was 9-1 by the 1998 squad. Prior to moving to a 10-game schedule in 1972, the 1968 team finished 8-1, sharing the MOC title with Buckeye Valley.
Football began at Richwood High School in 1914 and the first coach was E.G. McFarland, who later became Delaware County Superintendent of Schools. In 1946, McFarland participated in the dedication of a new football field behind the high school building that later became NU Middle School and was just demolished in August.
The field was named Memorial Field in honor of those who served in World War II and the engraved stones at its main entrance have been moved to the field at the current high school site.
Records from 1914 to the mid 50’s are difficult or perhaps impossible to find.
In 1952, the Richwood Tiger team posted a 7-1 record. According to the Richwood Gazette, seniors on the “best team ever to represent the Tigers” were Dick Oman, Ivan Chandler, Roger Travis, Larry Greenwood, Ronnie Dildine, Jake Wood, Sam Pierce and Sam Bumgarner. The team outscored the opposition 206-84, gaining 1,583 yards rushing and 653 yards passing.
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