A game (and season) to remember

Editor's note: This is a continuing series of Eastern Iowa sports history 'Time Machine” articles. Mark Dukes worked at The Gazette from 1973 to 1998, the last 14 years as sports editor.

By Mark Dukes, correspondent

CEDAR RAPIDS - Bob Ask dusted off his slightly tattered 1965 personal diary this week and flipped the pages to Friday, Nov. 5.

In impeccable penmanship, Ask documented the pep assembly at which he delivered a speech, the hand-crafted signs posted up and down the hallways and a one-word description of the end of what was then the greatest high school football game in Iowa.

In the penultimate contest on the 1965 schedule, Cedar Rapids Jefferson - as it had so many times in the 1960s - faced Davenport Central in a matchup of No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in Iowa. Both were undefeated at 7-0. A crowd upward of 12,000 turned out at Kingston Stadium and many more watched on television provided by WMT in Cedar Rapids and WOC in Davenport. Other games were postponed so players and fans could attend or watch.

Scribes described it as 'The Dream Game,” and it didn't disappoint.

Davenport Central's two fourth-quarter touchdowns gave it an 18-14 lead with seven minutes remaining. Then junior quarterback Larry Lawrence and the J-Hawks plodded 72 yards to a game-winning touchdown.

Lawrence's fourth-and-five, 14-yard pass to Hal 'Scoop” Hellentall kept the drive alive to the Central 17 with 1:46 left. Lawrence scampered the final 12 yards on a rollout with 1:11 remaining and Ron McDonald converted his second extra-point kick for a 20-18 J-Hawk win.

'Bedlam,” Ask wrote in his diary, describing the game's conclusion.

Ask, 89, was the line coach and government teacher at Jefferson for parts of five decades. He has kept a diary for 75 years, wrote the school's history 'High On The Hill” in 1984 and still attends prep games regularly.

With a romp over Rock Island in the season finale, Jefferson wrapped up a 9-0 campaign in 1965 and its second straight mythical state title. In a three-year span (1964-66), products of Wilson and Roosevelt junior highs brought the J-Hawks a 25-0-2 record. The only blemishes were ties against Central in 1964 and '66.

Friday, the 1965 team will gather for a 50-year anniversary celebration and will be honored along with the '64 and '66 teams (see below).

Head coach Ted Lawrence actually got the J-Hawk juggernaut going in 1961 and Jack Fisk continued it, including a 1972 state title in the first Iowa playoffs. In those 12 seasons, Jefferson lost just 13 games and won 95. From 1963 to '67, the J-Hawks had a 37-game undefeated streak (35-0-2).

But the 1965 team was, in many minds, incomparable. It scored 338 points in nine games and allowed just 42, including five shutouts.

'The '65 team has to be number one,” Ask said. 'The '72 team did more with the material they had and it was a great defense. But when it comes to sheer personnel, it had to be '65.”

Stars were plentiful. Lawrence played collegiately at Iowa and Miami (Fla.) and professionally in the National Football League and Canadian Football League. Lineman Layne McDowell starred at Iowa and played several season in the CFL. Lineman Bill Bevill and back Jon Meskimen were three-year letterwinners at Iowa. All four were named prep All-Americans.

Fifteen players on the 1965 team are in the Jefferson Hall of Fame. Several played collegiately and the majority of those on the roster collected college degrees.

'After all these years, it's still the gold standard at Jefferson and city-wide,” said Bill Lahman, a two-way starter in 1965. 'As legendary as our accomplishments were on the field, we had similar accomplishments off the field. The coaches taught us how to succeed. That's their hidden legacy.”

Ted Lawrence had only three varsity assistants: Ask, Fisk and Vern Bredeson. When Lawrence left in 1966 to join Ray Nagel's staff at Iowa, Fisk was named his successor.

Bill and Mike Lahman are the only brothers to have played on undefeated state championship teams at Jefferson.

'Mike and I have spent a lifetime debating the '65 and '72 teams,” Bill Lahman said. 'I tell him even though they had a great defense, you guys never could have stopped our offense.”

Each year, Ask writes a historical piece in the Jefferson game program. This year, he has a four-page spread on that terrific three-year run. The centerpiece, justifiably, is from the 1965 season.

Cedar Rapids Jefferson will mark the 50-year anniversary of its 1965 state football championship Friday night before the J-Hawks' varsity game against Cedar Falls at Kingston Stadium.

The 1964 and '66 teams also will be recognized. Jefferson went 25-0-2 with two state titles in that three-year span. More than 80 players and others affiliated with those teams are expected to attend.

A reception will be held Friday night from 9 to 11:30 p.m. at the Flamingo on Ellis Boulevard NW. Another reception is planned Saturday from 6 to 11 p.m. at the Moose Lodge on West Post Road NW.

l Contact Dukes at markdukes0@gmail.com with your thoughts and ideas