In my weekly Wednesday column, I have written about some extraordinary individuals that excel in their daily lives. One such person is our very own local product, Mr. Jay Roth. Jay is one of the most pleasant men I have ever been around, and one I am proud to call a friend.
Roth was not only a great football player in high school and later in college, but also an excellent teacher for our young men and women. I say women because he coached the ladies in various sports at Nettle Creek, and again in Seneca.
Last week, I wrote about the 1964 Morris Redskins unbeaten football squad with Denny Knapp. This week, I will concentrate on the 1967 Redskins, which compiled a mark of 8-0-2.
For three years in 1965, 1966 and 1967, Morris played 10 games each season and that was before the playoff system was started. The '67 squad had two superstars on the team, Dan Darlington and Mark Bates. Both players were awarded scholarships to the University of Illinois when their high school careers were completed. That was no small feat for a small school, such as Morris — to have two players from the same class attend the University of Illinois. There was a lot of talent on the '67 team, but I believe most fans will agree those two athletes were deserving of the star status.
However, there were others on this team that went on to play in college, Jay Roth (Illinois Wesleyan, Culver Stockton), Dennis Steele (Culver Stockton), Keith Laughary (Illinois Wesleyan, Morehead State, the Marines and Illinois College in Jacksonville), Chuck Olson (New Mexico State), the late Rick Shannon (Culver Stockton) and junior quarterback Rich Wells (Northern Illinois). The senior quarterback on the team was Guy Christensen, who attended the University of Illinois but did not play football. Bill Wilson also played football at Joliet Junior College.
Jay said he was a freshman during the '64 team's success. Roth's sophomore season was very successful, as the sophomore team was undefeated — and that was with Darlington and Bates being moved up to the varsity squad.
Jay had this to say about his early years at Morris.
"I was very fortunate to come in when Coach Joe Hall was here because it was a good initiation what dedication and hard work was all about, because he certainly worked us hard," he said. "I do remember at the end of one practice he had all the freshman stand in a long line holding the standup dummies, and coach Hall had the varsity players line up across the field 100 yards away. He blew the whistle and the varsity all charged toward us as if they were going to really hit us. They didn't hit us, but it sure did scare us. Coach liked to intimidate us."
Roth said because the numbers were down, the sophomores got to practice every day with the varsity, and the starting offense also dressed for the varsity game.
During the '67 squad's senior year, the season did not start out real well as the team tied its first two games (Princeton 6-6 and Hall 19-19). Darlington was injured and missed most of the first two games and that really hurt the 'Skins, both offensively and on defense. Morris bounced back to beat Ottawa Marquette 14-13, as Mike Dummitt blocked the Crusaders extra point to preserve the victory. The Redskins really got moving after the slow start, beating Pontiac 34-19, Bishop McNamara 58-0, St. Anne 66-12, St. Bede 27-14, Momence 61-7, La Salle-Peru 20-7 and Streator 26-0.
Darlington had 21 unassisted tackles and personally held the La Salle-Peru Cavaliers' star running back Gary Windy to minus yardage. Windy later played at the University of Illinois.
On the final game of the year, Morris knocked off Streator and star Doug Dieken (who later played with the Cleveland Browns in the NFL). Roth remembers knocking Dieken out of the game from his linebacking position. Dieken caught a pass over the middle and Roth, weighing all of 155 pounds, hit the big Streator athlete under the chin and took him out of the game.
Roth could really hit hard, as could many of the '67 Redskins crew. On offense the lineup went like this: the tackles were Mike Dummitt and Jim Tibbott; the guards were Jay Roth and Mike Hume and Brad Hayes was the center. Mike Barr and Chuck Olson were at the ends. Dan Darlington, Mark Bates and Keith Laughary were the halfbacks with Denny Steele and Bill Ragan at fullback. The quarterbacks were Guy Christensen and Rich Wells. Rick Shannon and Bill Wilson played defense. Darlington and Roth were the captains on the team.
Roth commented on the teams size.
"We knew were not going to out-size any team but we could out-hit them," Roth said. "We hung out hats on that. There was not any weak links on the team. Everybody would stick their nose in there."
When asked what the mood in the Morris community was during the year: Jay said they had great crowds at each game and the community was always very supportive.
While in college at Illinois Wesleyan, Roth roomed with Keith Laughary. They played Illinois State University in one game. ISU had Jed Waters as star running back and Harold Olson as starting quarterback, both former Morris greats. Jay transferred to Culver Stockton to play for two more years and teamed up with former Morris players Steve Fannin, Denny Steele and Rick Shannon. While at Culver Stockton, Roth caught a touchdown pass.
They once played an inmate team from Iowa when many prisons were having riots.The tension was high and during the game. Roth intercepted a pass and was running along the sidelines with no one in front of him heading for a sure touchdown. A player from the prison team came off the sidelines and tackled Roth. He was awarded the score but not before things heated up. Jay said it all settled down but he remembers when during the Morris /Benet Academy game in 1979, some one from the Morris bench tackled a Benet runner and no one noticed it.
Over the years, Jay Roth has coached/taught at Nettle Creek, Shabbona, Mazon-Verona-Kinsman, Seneca and Morris Community High School. He has coached just about every sport for boys and girls before retiring in 2005. He still coaches the Morris Warriors football team. Jay has been married to his lovely wife, Cheryl, for 34 years. They have two children, Nikki and Brant and one grand-daughter, Jossalyn.
There are many fine teachers and coaches in our area, people we all want our youngsters to be around. Jay Roth is and was a leader and role model for all the students he has been involved with. Congratulations on a standout career.