Watch (the first 15:34 of footage consists of highlights from the national semifinal vs. Emporia State, Kan.)

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - The final #TakeMeBackTuesday is Saint John's football's first national championship, the 33-27 win over Prairie View A&M (Texas) in the 1963 NAIA title game. The contest, which was also known as the Camellia Bowl, was held on Dec. 14 in Sacramento, Calif.



In eight regular-season games in 1963, Saint John's outscored its opponents 298-45 and allowed only 12.8 yards rushing per game in an era of college football that was still primarily run-oriented.  Offensively, SJU averaged 396.1 yards per game with an average of 37.3 points per contest.

Following the 1963 regular season, 12 Johnnies were named All-MIAC, including the entire offensive backfield consisting of quarterback Craig Muyres '64 and halfbacks Bernie Beckman '64, Rich Froehle '65 and Bob Spinner '64.

Beckman and Spinner combined for 20 touchdowns and 48 percent of the Johnnies' scoring in 1963. Spinner led the Johnnies in both rushing yardage (78 carries for 619 yards and seven touchdowns), yards per carry (7.9) and receiving yardage (11 receptions for 272 yards and three touchdowns) for his second consecutive MIAC scoring title. Beckman followed with 96 carries for 558 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns en route to MIAC Most Valuable Player honors. Muyres ended the 1963 regular season with 473 yards passing and four touchdowns on the season, connecting with Ken Roering '64 on 12 occasions for 233 yards and two touchdowns.

Although 11 players from the 1963 Prairie View team went on to either sign free-agent contracts or be drafted to play professional football in some form or another, the Johnnies lacked athletic scholarships and were largely a home-grown lot. Of the Johnnies' top 34 players in 1963, 12 were from within a 14-mile radius of Collegeville and no fewer than 26 hailed from distances of 80 miles or less.

The NAIA Eastern division playoff game between Saint John's and Emporia State (Kan.) was played on Nov. 30, just eight days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. A chilly 26 degrees welcomed the squad from Kansas before an NAIA-playoff-record crowd of 12,438 spectators at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minn. On the game's opening possession, SJU's Jim Dey '65 blocked an Emporia punt through the back of the end zone for a safety and an early 2-0 lead; an ominous sign of what was to come for Emporia State the next three and a half quarters of football. SJU won the game 54-0, amassing 535 yards of offense, including 494 yards on the ground.

Following its 20-7 come-from-behind win over Kearney State (Neb.) in the other semifinal on Dec. 7, the NAIA made Prairie View wait to travel until Tuesday, Dec. 10, when the charter flight carrying the rested Saint John's football team stopped in Grand Island, Neb. This was done so that only one charter flight instead of two would be needed to get both teams to Sacramento, which in the end saved a great deal of money for the NAIA. 

Once the flight landed at Sacramento International Airport, both teams participated in a civic welcoming parade from the airport through downtown to their respective hotels and then reported to their first practice that afternoon. Two-a-day workouts were scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, with Friday scheduled for briefing sessions and formal NAIA dinners that evening. However, after just one day of practices, SJU head coach John Gagliardi abandoned the idea and scheduled one practice per day following lengthy film sessions each morning.  

Separated by less than 15 miles, Prairie View's football home for the week was American River Junior College, while Saint John's practiced at Sacramento City College. The practice host site provided so much support, in fact, that the band and cheerleaders from American River supported Prairie View during the championship game, while the band and cheerleaders from Sacramento City did the same for Saint John's.  

On Wednesday, Dec. 11, the SJU basketball team defeated St. Thomas 71-58 despite being without starters Muyres, Gregg Gillham '66, Joe Mucha '66 and Hardy Reyerson '65. More importantly, however, the Johnnies were without head basketball coach Ed Hasbrouck, Gagliardi's lone assistant coach on the football team. Instead, team captain John Christopherson '64 acted as player-coach for the game.  

On the morning of Dec. 14, Saint John's (9-0) and Prairie View (9-0) arrived at Hughes Stadium with a temperature near 39 degrees and fog. According to the local California Associated Press, Saint John's was favored to win, thanks in large part to the numerous injuries that plagued Prairie View. Word that the Panthers' starting quarterback, Jim Kearney, would not start the game due to a hairline fracture on his left hand emulated throughout the press core, shifting the edge to Saint John's. 

To further the Johnnies' praise, The Brooklyn (N.Y.) Tablet named the small Catholic college All-America teams just two days before. Beckman, Roering, tackle Dave Honer '64 and tackle John McDowell '64 were named first team, while Spinner and guard Paul Labinski '65 were named to the second team. Gagliardi was named Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season, though he shared the honor in 1963 with John Ray of John Carroll.

In addition to the hundreds of fans that arrived in California to support Saint John's, the day's attendees also included Minnesota Gov. Karl Rolvaag, Gov. Edmund G. "Pat" Brown of California and American Football League (AFL) commissioner Joe Foss. Thanks in large part to Saint John's Alumni Association trustees Fred Hughes '31 and Harry Holtz '39, fans back home in Minnesota were able to watch the game live on WTCN-TV in addition to the live audio broadcast on WCCO-AM.

At 3:30 p.m. CST, SJU received the opening kickoff but stalled offensively and needed to punt. Just 3:40 into the game, Prairie View defensive back Ken Houston blocked Terry Hartman's punt and was recovered by the Panthers at the Saint John's 29-yard line. On its first offensive play from scrimmage, Prairie View's backup quarterback Billy Hall rolled out on a quarterback keeper around the Johnnies' left side and scampered untouched for a touchdown. A John Harris point-after-touchdown (PAT) kick gave the Panthers a 7-0 lead and a hasty blow to the Johnnies' morale. Not discouraged, the Saint John's offense moved all the way to the Prairie View 14-yard line before a pass by Muyres was intercepted on the goal line. 

After stalling deep in its offensive zone early in the second quarter, Prairie View's Evelt Coleman punted from his own end zone to Spinner, who returned it 41 yards down the sideline for a touchdown. Prairie View's Norris McDaniel blocked the PAT kick by Hartman '66, preserving the 7-6 lead.

Prairie View head coach Billy Nicks decided to make a momentum change to his team and inserted injured quarterback Jim Kearney behind center for the Panthers. On his first play from scrimmage, Kearney lofted a 61-yard touchdown pass to Otis Taylor that immediately swallowed whatever breeze of momentum the Johnnies had. Another Harris PAT made it 14-6 in favor of Prairie View. 

Later in the second quarter with the Johnnies on defense once again, 160-pound John McCormick intercepted a Kearney pass and returned it 44 yards for a touchdown. Fearing another blocked kick, Gagliardi abandoned the PAT kick and instead decided to bring his offense on the field for the PAT try. The choice paid off as Muyres completed a pass to Beckman for the PAT, cutting the deficit to 14-13 in favor of Prairie View, which is where the score stood at halftime. Although the two-point conversion was instituted in college football in 1958, a PAT in the NAIA playoffs was only one point regardless of whether it was run, passed or kicked successfully.

Following the second-half kickoff, Prairie View began driving the field in the hope of adding to their one-point lead. In a surprising sequence of events, Kearney hit Norris McDaniel with a pass but then fumbled the football over to SJU on the Johnnies' 40-yard line. The rushing duo of Froehle and Spinner carried the Johnnies deep into the Prairie View zone, where once again the clutch passing of Muyres' sustained the Johnnie drive. Muyres found both Spinner and Roering each on two separate third-and-long situations, breaking the will of the Prairie View defense. Following a suggestion from Reyerson, the hot hand of Muyres hit Reyerson for a 23-yard touchdown pass and completed the subsequent PAT pass to Roering to give SJU a 20-14 lead. The successful drive provided a giant momentum shift in favor of the Johnnies and awarded them with their first lead of the game.

Just a few plays into the Prairie View possession, Beckman recovered another Panther fumble deep in their own zone. Beckman bounced a double-reverse pass off the hands of Prairie View defense back Jim Williams into the waiting arms of Roering for an 18-yard touchdown. The ensuing PAT pass from Muyres failed, making the score 26-14 in favor of the Johnnies. Nicks later described the great play by Roering as the turning point of the game. 

Prairie View was too good of a team, however, to quit or be considered out of the game. On a crucial fourth-down play to start the fourth quarter, Kearney hit Doug Brodus for a 14-yard touchdown pass. Harris' PAT made the score 26-21 in favor of SJU. An appealing Saint John's drive highlighted by a 47-yard Beckman run was erased by means of a Prairie View interception. Moments later however, Prairie View turned the ball back over to the Johnnies via another critical fumble (above).

On a crucial fourth-and-two, Gagliardi decided to go for the first down. The decision paid off for the Johnnies as Muyres hit Roering for an eight-yard gain to keep the revived drive and the Saint John's momentum afloat. With a third-and-16 in front of them, Muyres connected with Beckman on a 19-yard gain for a first down. Muyres then led the Johnnies to the four-yard line before a 15-yard penalty moved the football back to the 19-yard line. Nevertheless, the setback failed to fluster the Johnnie offense. For the second time in the game, Muyres, following a play action fake to Froehle, hit Reyerson for a 19-yard touchdown pass with 5:04 to play. A Muyres-to-Spinner PAT pass gave the Johnnies a 33-21 lead.

Nonetheless, Prairie View once again answered with a smooth-sailing drive a few minutes too late. The Panthers covered 60 yards in nine plays, capped off on a one-yard touchdown plunge by Ezell Seals. A bad snap on the PAT attempt caused Harris to make an ill-fated attempt for the goal line, making the score 33-27. Prairie View tried an onside kick on the following kickoff, but the attempt went directly to Roering who returned it to the Panther 32-yard line, dashing any residual hope of a comeback. The exuberant Johnnie offense ran out the clock to seal the win and the institution's first national championship. 

When observing the final statistics one may notice that Prairie View held the edge in both first downs and net offensive yardage. However, two key pass interceptions and three fumble recoveries by Saint John's eradicated its significance. Of the 33 players in uniform, seven Johnnies played both offense and defense on that atypical California afternoon. Beckman, the shortest player on the field at 5-foot-7 and 170 pounds, was named the game's Most Outstanding Player. Roering was named the game's Top Lineman and Prairie View's Kearney was named the Top Back.

The 1963 Johnnie football team, which finished with a 10-0 record (7-0 in the MIAC), was honored with the Minnesota Chapter of the National Football Foundation's 2013 Murray Warmath Legendary Team Award and were inducted into SJU's J-Club Hall of Honor in