The 1963 Saint John's Johnnies football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that compiled a perfect 10–0 record and won the

NAIA Football National Championship The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Football National Championship is decided by a post-season playoff system featuring the best NAIA college football teams in the United States. Under sponsorship of the National Associa ...

with a victory over Prairie View A&M in the

Camellia Bowl Camellia Bowl can refer to one of three college football bowl games: * Camellia Bowl (1948) The Camellia Bowl was a post-season major college football bowl game played at McNaspy Stadium in Lafayette, Louisiana, on December 30, 1948, between t ...

. It was the first of four national championships for the

Saint John's Johnnies football The Saint John's Johnnies football program represents Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota. They compete at the NCAA Division III level and are members of the (MIAC) Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. From 1953 through No ...

program under head coach

John Gagliardi John Gagliardi ( ; November 1, 1926 – October 7, 2018) was an American football coach. He was the head football coach at Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, from 1953 until 2012. From 1949 to 1952, he was the head footba ...

Schedule

Season overview

The team represented

Saint John's University St John's University may refer to: *St. John's University (New York City) ** St. John's University School of Law **St. John's University (Italy) - Overseas Campus * College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, St. Joseph, Minnesota and C ...

as a member of the

Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) is a college athletic conference which competes in NCAA Division III. All 13 of the member schools are located in Minnesota and are private institutions, with only two being non-sectarian. ...

(MIAC) during the

1963 NAIA football season The 1963 NAIA football season was the eighth season of college football sponsored by the NAIA. The season was played from August to December 1963, culminating in the eighth annual NAIA Football National Championship, played this year at Hughes S ...

. In their 11th season under head coach

, the Johnnies compiled a 10–0 record (7–0 against conference opponents), won the MIAC championship, and outscored opponents by a total of 335 to 72. The 1962 Saint John's team had also been unbeaten and untied but did not receive one of the four berths in the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

NAIA playoffs. Having strung together consecutive perfect seasons, the 1963 team was invited to the playoffs. On defense, the team set a national record by giving up an average of only 12.9 rushing yards per game.

Semifinal against Emporia

In their first playoff game, the Johnnies faced undefeated which featured the NAIA's most potent offense with an average of 517.3 yards per game. Saint John's smothered Emporia's highly-touted offense and won by a 54–0 score. Saint John's scored its 54 points in the first three quarters, intercepted four Emporia passes, recovered two fumbles, and blocked a punt.

Camellia Bowl

On December 7, 1963, the Johnnies faced Prairie View A&M in the

, the NAIA national championship game played in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

. Prairie View, which featured future NFL stars

Ken Houston Kenneth Ray Houston (born November 12, 1944) is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame ...

and Otis Taylor, came into the game as the undefeated black college national champion. Three months after the

March on Washington The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, also known as simply the March on Washington or The Great March on Washington, was held in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic righ ...

and two weeks after the

assassination of John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. CST in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was in the vehicle with ...

, the Camellia Bowl matched the all-black Prairie View Panthers against the all-white Saint John's Johnnies. The Johnnies trailed at halftime, but moved ahead with two third-quarter touchdowns and won by a 33–27 score. The victory extended Saint John's winning streak to 19 games. It also brought an NAIA Football National Championship to Saint Johns.

Awards and honors

Coach Gagliardi was selected by the

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...

(UPI) as the MIAC Coach of the Year. He was also named small college coach of the year by the Rockne Club of America. The 1963 team won the first of four national championships earned by Gagliardi's teams at Saint John's. Gagliardi's teams also won national championships in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

, and

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

. Gagliardi became the winningest coach in college football history and was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

. Halfback Bernie Beckman was named MIAC Player of the Year, as voted by the MIAC coaches for the UPI. Saint John's dominated the 1963 All-MIAC football team selected by the conference coaches, filling 12 of 22 spots: Craig Muyres (named as quarterback on offensive team and safety on defensive team); halfback Bernie Beckman (named to the offensive and defensive teams); halfback Bob Spinner; fullback Rich Froehle; end Ken Roering (named to the offensive and defensive teams); tackle John McDowell (named to the offensive and defensive teams); offensive guard Dave Honer; and defensive end Hardy Reyerson. The 1963 team was inducted into Saint John's J-Club Hall of Honor in 2019.

References

{{NAIA football national champion navbox Saint John's Saint John's Johnnies football seasons NAIA Football National Champions Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football champion seasons

College football undefeated seasons