The 1971 Howard Payne College football claimed the Co-Lone Star Conference Championship and a victory in Cowboy Bowl to solidify its place as possibly the best Yellow Jacket football team ever.
Howard Payne opened the season versus Texas Lutheran College. Though losing three fumbles, throwing an interception and being penalized 11 times for 91 yards, the Yellow Jackets would score just seven seconds before halftime. The Jackets then held the Bulldogs scoreless in the final 30 minutes to capture 7-0 victory.
Next came Northwest Louisiana State, wo found the Jackets to be much more than they expected. The Yellow Jacket defense held favored Northwest Louisiana to negative rushing yards in the first half and then took over the game in the second half for a 24-7 non-conference victory.
The Yellow Jackets then opened conference play with the Lumberjacks of Stephen F. Austin. Howard Payne stormed back from the brink of defeat to outscore the underdog Lumberjacks, 38-27.
Now with the team rolling, Howard Payne battled past the East Texas State Lions, 37-13 in front of a big hometown crowd.
At 2-0 in league play, the Jackets used that momentum to beat down Sul Ross State, 37-0. Howard Payne with a dominating second half, scored 27-0 points in the fourth quarter.
The Jackets then gained their only blemish of the season falling to Angelo State 28-26, now standing at 5-1 on the season.
The Texans of Tarleton State came to Brownwood next and with a strong second half, the Jackets posted the 29-14 win.
It was decision time for the Jackets, as Howard Payne found themselves down 17-0 to Sam Houston State after three early Jacket turnovers. Howard Payne would then flip the switch in the second half to down the Bearkats 53-17.
With Howard Payne just one game out of first place in the conference race, the Blue and Gold battled the Southwest Texas State Bobcats to a 9-9 tie at home. The Jackets were 5-1-1 in league play (7-1-1 overall) with defending national champion Texas A&I coming up next.
Hunting season had opened in Texas on November 13th and the Howard Payne College Yellow Jackets bagged a big Javelina in Texas A&I.
Howard Payne scored in multiple ways and simply outplayed the Javelinas in every department gaining the 20-14 victory. It was the first home defeat for the Javelinas since 1966 and placed the Jackets a half game out of first place.
When asked by Dallas Huston after the game “How does it feel to de-throne the national champs?” Captains Harold Bryant and Gil Gore didn’t have to think long before saying “Great!”
Texas A&I fell the next week to Southwest Texas State and the Yellow Jackets routed McMurry 40-0 to claim the Co-Lone Star Conference Championship.
Howard Payne got an invitation to the 1st annual Cowboy Bowl in Lawton, Oklahoma and did not disappoint defeating Cameron College 16-13 to finish the season at 10-1-1 under head coach James Cameron.
It was the best season the Yellow Jackets had on the gridiron since 1954. With the Yellow Jacket defense shutting out three opponents (Texas Lutheran, Sul Ross State and McMurry), Howard Payne finished the season with a #3 national ranking and 11 players with All-Lone Star Conference honors.
1971 LSC Football honors
Ken Sanders – First Team Defense/J. V. Sikes Award for Outstanding Lineman
Edward Robinson - First Team Defense
Robert Woods - First Team Defense
Mike Murphy - First Team Offense
Gil Gore - First Team Offense
Charles Louis - First Team Offense
Ronnie Colliflower – Second Team/J. B. Rollins Award for Outstanding Back
Obie Rockwell – Second Team
Bobby Hammer – Honorable Mention
Harold Bryant – Honorable Mention
Otis Fields – Honorable Mention
*Charles Louis and Bobby Hammer both led the LSC in scoring that season with 84 points.
The 1971 team to this day still holds the Howard Payne records for Rushing Attempts in a game with 71 versus Sul Ross State, Most Rushing Attempts in a season with 620 and Most Rushing Yards in a season with 2,640.
