by John Alosi ’94M

One of the most memorable games in Shippensburg University football history was the 1979 game against Slippery Rock in Ann Arbor, Michigan. September 29 will be the 25th anniversary that drew national attention to the two campuses.

The idea for a small college game in a big college stadium was the brainstorm of Don Canham, athletic director at the University of Michigan.

Every year Michigan hosted Band Day, featuring high school musicians from all over the state who performed at halftime. As time evolved, Band Day became an occasion that was separate from a Wolverine football game.

Always a showman, Canham wanted to boost the crowd for the Band Day celebration and came up with the idea of having Slippery Rock play in Ann Arbor. Because of its name, the Rock was popular with the Michigan fans and its scores were announced at the Wolverines’ home games.

The Wolverines would be playing the University of California on September 29, so with time zone differences, their fans could go to the Band Day game and still be able to tune in to the Wolverine radio broadcast.

That date was a Red Raider home game, so Canham negotiated a deal. He would pay all of the Red Raiders’ travel expenses to Ann Arbor and would compensate the Student Association for the revenues lost by giving up a home game.

The excitement caught on. ESPN decided to telecast the game and ABC sent a crew to feed live highlights into its regular telecasts. The week before the game the Detroit News sent Joe Falls to Slippery Rock and Jerry Green to Shippensburg to write feature stories.

Green interviewed players, coaches, and some students, including Dee Fichter of the Lady Raiders’ field hockey team. For his Detroit radio show, he reported Shippensburg was located along Interstate 81, not far from the Mason-Dixon Line. He was amazed that traveling along a short 30-mile stretch of that highway it was possible to be chased by police from four different states.

After talking with Head Coach Vito Ragazzo and looking at the statistics, Green told his readers Shippensburg was a passing team, something rarely seen at Michigan Stadium. Going into the game, Shippensburg quarterback Bob Potts was ranked fifth in the nation in passing.

Shippensburg was rebuilding after going 7-3 the year before. Because of the Raiders’ graduation losses and injuries, the Rock was heavily favored. However, Shippensburg had some hidden strengths. People overlooked Shippensburg’s offensive line. Tackle Joe Kachnoskie was a first team ECAC player and an Associated Press honorable mention All-American. Tackle Ken Schaeffer was a first team All-PSAC star and center John Sell would sign as a free agent with the Philadelphia Eagles in the spring of 1981. Tight end Todd Chronister was an All-Conference star who had 38 catches in 1978.

On defense, Mike Maxwell was developing into one of the best defensive tackles in school history, and Ed Bakale led the team in tackles. Defensive end John Wertz would earn honorable mention All-America status while setting team career records for sacks and fumble recoveries. Linwood Bradley led the secondary.

Besides the News’ Falls and Green, their cross-town rival, the Detroit Free Press staffed the game, as did the Associated Press, the United Press, Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Local media included the campus outlets (Slate and WSYC) and the town radio station, WSHP. Tom Coccagna, sports editor of the Chambersburg Public Opinion, was reporting for the Gannett chain too. The Harrisburg Patriot sent two reporters, Skip Hutter and Bob Hafer.

A crowd of 61,143, including 13,000 musicians, was on hand as the game finally began. Everyone thought Shippensburg, led by Potts, was going to fill the air with pigskins, but Ragazzo was a sly fox and unleashed his secret weapon, freshman fullback Steve Moskowitz.

Neither team could score early in the game. Late in the first quarter Moskowitz got his first call. He smashed inside and then cut to his left toward the far sideline, then cut down field and raced to the end zone for a 75-yard touchdown. The next time he touched the ball he went straight up the middle. After a few yards he was hit on both sides by converging defenders who jarred the ball loose. Without breaking stride, Moskowitz shrugged off the defenders, picked the ball up on the first bounce off the artificial turf and continued to the end zone for a 62-yard touchdown.

Early in the second quarter, halfback Scott Flinn went around right end for a 59-yard touchdown run and the Red Raiders were off to the races. They held a 31-0 lead at halftime.

At intermission, the three collegiate bands marched across the field from the visitors’ side as the high school bands filled behind them. The 13,000 musicians played “Hail to the Victors” in one of the loudest songs ever played in history.

The Red Raiders built a 45-0 lead after the third quarter. The Rock did not score until late in the fourth quarter.

Halfback Eric Payne scored two touchdowns and both were part of the live cut-ins from the ABC telecast of the Penn State-Nebraska game. Other players who scored for Shippensburg were Steve Looney and Dave Friese.

After the game, Slippery Rock’s president, Dr. Herb Reinhard, and Shippensburg’s president, Dr. Gilmore B. Seavers, settled their wager. Reinhard had to hang a Shippensburg pennant in his office for one year.

This is John Alosi’s last feature as SU’s sports information director. John retired in June after 32 years as the chronicler of Shippensburg sports.