I was sitting at my wife’s grandparent’s kitchen table on October 31st in the year 1996 watching the local news. On this day, I got the news. Bill Mallory had been relieved of his duties as head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers Football Team. I likened it to the day the football music died….again.
A day before my 11th birthday on March 17, 1979, my Dad came home, walked into our living room at 204 South Jackson Street in Brownstown and sat on the couch. He told me he had been relieved of his coaching duties at Brownstown Central High School where he had been the head football coach for nine years after three years of being an assistant. The football music died. Fortunately, the band struck up again and we were at North Harrison High School the next season.
Those were tough days for me. I didn’t want to leave Brownstown when I was a kid, but in retrospect I think it was a good thing. Have you met my wife? When Coach Mallory was no longer the coach of the Hoosiers I knew we were in for a long cold winter.
Saturday at Indiana University’s Memorial Stadium Carrie and I attended a Celebration of Life in honor of Coach Bill Mallory. He died on May 25, 2018. The music didn’t die this time…but there was a sad tune playing for sure. Sad, but optimistic. Pride was in the air. It was a product of doing things the right way. It was a product of doing things The Mallory Way. This way produced Mallory Men from Miami of Ohio, Colorado, Northern Illinois, and Indiana University. They were all accounted for Saturday on a hot day in Memorial Stadium.
I shook Coach Mallory’s hand when I was in high school. We were visiting practice and one of his graduate assistants, Gil Speer, introduced me and my Dad to him. My Dad was Gil’s coach in high school 1974-1977. He said some complimentary things to my Dad with regard to Gil. Gil is still coaching. In addition to working at Zionsville High School leading a very successful business program, Gil coaches defensive backs at Franklin College.
At a young age I knew Indiana had stuck in their thumb and pulled out a plumb when they hired Coach Bill Mallory. I saw a few practices. He saw everything on the field. He was one of those. The ball carrier was taking it up the gut and he saw that and how the receiver wide to the opposite side did not sell the play and got reminded of it even though the play was for big yards. Success was an every play, all time thing for Coach Mallory.
So here we were in Memorial Stadium nearly twenty-two years since Coach Mallory led his team out of the tunnel. The last game he coached at Memorial Stadium was November 16, 1996 against Ohio State. I was not there. My dear wife, and new bride of eight months, and I were in Oxford watching the Ole Miss Rebels host the LSU Tigers with Aunt Barbara. The Rebs kicked off early. They got handled by the boys from the Red Stick. As we hurdled down I-55 back to Jackson after the game I, for fun, tuned into 970 WAVG the Louisville radio station that covered the Hoosiers at the time. Miraculously, the game came in. WAVG is not a powerful station. We listened to IU and Ohio State on our drive back to Jackson. IU lost 27-17.
Twenty-two years later. Don Fischer, the Voice of the Hoosiers, said it best. In the 36 football seasons before Coach Mallory got to Bloomington in 1984, the Hoosiers had five winning seasons. In the seasons since Coach Mallory was the head coach in 1996, Indiana has had one winning season.
In his 13 years as head coach, Coach Mallory had seven winning regular seasons. The 1986, his third team, finished 6-6 after a losing to Florida State in the All-America Bowl. I watched that one playing cards at Mick Rutherford’s parents house.
Anthony Thompson, the greatest Hoosier of them all, spoke and gave a prayer.
IU players and Indiana State University players were in attendance. Curt Mallory, Coach’s youngest son in the head coach at ISU.
There have been many changes to Memorial Stadium since Coach Mallory led his teams here.
Neither end zone was filled in when Coach Mallory was leading the team. Had he not led when he did, they wouldn’t be completing this work.
On the aisle between section 111 and 11 I sat with my Mom and Dad for many a wonderful Indiana University Football games. I cherish those times. The rides up to the game. The fellowship. The good crowds. Keith Jackson and Bob Griese were in The House for the Ohio State game in 1988. That was the greatest game of them all. Indiana beat Ohio State 41-7. That is not a typo. The Hoosiers have not bested the Buckeyes since. But they will.
I agree with Don Fischer. Coach Tom Allen, the current Indiana University coach, will lead the Hoosiers to better days. As I sat and watched the 2017 Rose Bowl, I wrote Coach Allen a letter of encouragement and belief. I hope he got it.
One of Coach Allen’s assistant coaches, Mark Hagen, a Mallory Man and IU linebacker 1987-1991, was the last speaker we listened to Saturday. He spoke of IU beating Ohio State in 1987 and how OSU coach Earl Bruce called it “The darkest day in OSU football history.” Coach Mallory took that as slap in the face. Wait til they get to our house next year was the sentiment. Hagen told the story like it happened yesterday. For many of us, it still feels that way. IU 41-7 over Ohio State in 1988. I know this is a restatement. It is that special.
So special I brought my ticket stub from that game to Coach Mallory’s Celebration of Life.
I handed this ticket stub to good hands Saturday. It is a moment I will cherish and celebrate in honor of all of the Mallory Men.
Speaking the Hoosier Football Rights…
Danny Johnson