Turkey Day Game–50 Years Ago (1975)

It snowed the night before Thanksgiving Day 1975 and for the first time since its creation, the Turkey Day Game was postponed from Thanksgiving Day to Saturday. It was not the first time that snow had fallen on the eve of the game-–that happened in 1950 and the teams still played. This was the first time since 1928 that Kirkwood and Webster Groves postponed the Turkey Day Game. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch touted it as the sixty-first football game between the two schools but that was incorrect. It was the forty-eighth Turkey Day Game and the seventy-first varsity football game held between the schools.

The game was played at Kirkwood's Lyons Field, which was on grass, which is to say they played in mud. Kirkwood had beaten Webster Groves in 1973 and 1974, both Suburban South Conference games, but Kirkwood did not win the Suburban South championship with those wins. Dan Sprick was in his senior year at Webster, serving as quarterback. He noted that "Kirkwood was known for its 'Doomsday Defense,' anchored by Keith Angel, Jon Meriweather, and Rich Morris." The weather warmed after the snow so instead of playing on frozen ground, it was soft, muddy, and hard to move. Sprick thinks that worked better for Webster, who was outweighed significantly by their Kirkwood counterparts. "Kirkwood definitely was the favorite for the game," he remarked. Jack Jones was coaching his eleventh season for Webster and Ron Marler was coaching his first season for Kirkwood. Kirkwood was 3-1 in the Suburban South Red Division and 7-2 overall. and Webster was 3-1 in the Suburban South Red Division Conference and 6-3 overall. Most important to this late season game was that the winner would share the conference championship with Ladue. Since the beginning of the Show Me Bowl in 1967, neither Webster Groves or Kirkwood applied to be in it. The Turkey Day Game was the final championship of their seasons.

After three quarters of what the Post-Dispatch called "some pretty dull football," Webster's Clarence Robison scored first in the first quarter on a seven-yard end sweep. The next score came in the second quarter when, on a fourth down, Kirkwood faked a field goal by quarterback Jeff Rogers, who knelt for a long hike and immediately stood and passed to split-end Flip Walker, who ran the ball 42 yards to the five. The Pioneers made one yard on three plays and then scored when Mark Miller ran around end. Ricky Smith kicked the extra point, going ahead 7-6 by the half.

There was no scoring in the third quarter but in the fourth, Webster's Roland Jung kicked a 20-yard field goal, giving Webster a short-lived 9-7 lead. Webster kicked off to Flip Walker, who ran the ball 69 yards to the Webster 21. Six plays later, Mark Miller ran the ball to the end zone from the second yard line and Ricky Smith again kicked the extra point–Kirkwood 14, Webster 9.

There were eight minutes twenty seconds left in the game when Kirkwood kicked-off. Webster then proceeded on a methodical 67-yard drive downfield by Clarence Robison and Gary Forrest. Forrest finally scored from the two-yard line with three minutes twenty seconds remaining. Kirkwood blocked the kick, but Webster won the game 15-14, the win giving Webster a conference championship tie with Ladue.

This year celebrates the 115th varsity contest between the 127th football teams of both schools. In varsity meetings at the Turkey Day Game, Kirkwood leads the series 46-38-5. In the record of all varsity games ever played, Webster leads that series 54-53-7–which, at one game, has not been that close since 1916. The Webster Groves Historical Society has compiled all of the football conference champions and published it as an article on Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis_County_Football_Conference_Champions

May the Frisco Bell ring for you this Turkey Day!