Football has changed quite a bit over the past 60 years. Yet, some things are universal in football, and team sports in general. That includes that intangible but irrefutable influence of what many call team chemistry.

The 1966 Mt. Lebanon football team, which will be honored at this year’s game against Canon-McMillan on October 30, had never won a championship. The tough Gardner system in use then had blocked the Blue Devils from championship situations.

Then came 1966, and not just the 10-0 record and the WPIAL Class 3A title after a notable comeback 18-14 win over Hempfield at Pitt Stadium. That was a big deal. However, the road to that began in the heat of August and the three-a-day training camp schedule overseen by coach Ralph Fife and his staff that formed a cohesiveness.

“Those two weeks in August were more intense than most people could probably imagine,” said John Valentour, a senior defensive halfback on that team who now splits his time between Athens, Ohio, and Hilton Head.

“Back then they didn’t have water out at practice. It was very intense. Morning practice. Then a really nice lunch at the high school. Two hours off. And we always went over to the park and just sat around together. And then we practiced in pads. Hot, hot, hot. Then we’d go home for dinner, and we’d come back in the evening for more practice. That type of three-a-day activity really bonded us as a team. You really got to know the fellas that you were with.”

As the weeks passed, Lebo kept winning. Decisively. The offense averaged 36 points a game. The defense gave up only about four points a game on average.

Fife, who was an All-American guard at Pitt in the 1940s and is now deceased, followed the trend at the time of relying on the running game on offense, using a T formation and rarely passing.

“In his playing days, he was a pulling guard, and our whole offense was designed around pulling guards,” said Steve Foster, a senior halfback and captain of the team, now of Sewickley Hills.

There were a couple of key wins during the 1966 season. One was at Uniontown.

“Back in the ‘60s, Uniontown was a power,” said Chuck Brodbeck, Glenridge Lane, a senior and the center on that team. “You would drive through Uniontown and there were signs of them winning WPIAL championships in football, basketball, whatever. We were undefeated going down there, but it was still potentially intimidating. And then we just blew them away 45-0.”

Foster was a big part of that win, scoring four touchdowns and rushing for 145 yards — all in the first half before sitting as Fife took the chance to use his considerable team depth to play others.

Lebo was deep in all areas then. While a lot of high school teams used players on both offense and defense, the Blue Devils had only a handful who played both ways.

One of them was Jack Mathison, now of Florida, who played offensive and defensive tackle as a senior in 1966. He, too, saw something special developing in the preseason workouts.

“I played football since seventh grade, and we never got that fired up in the summer, but my senior year we did,” he said. “You’re hitting tackling sleds and blocking sleds. Everybody was fired up to see who could hit the hardest. We even broke one of
the sleds.”

The Blue Devils broke opponents’ hearts that season, too.

Another signature win came against Baldwin. Both teams were undefeated, and the winner seemed likely to advance to the WPIAL title game.

Since there were no state championships in football then, clinching a spot in a WPIAL title game — and, of course, winning that game — was the ultimate achievement.

“It was senior recognition night,” Mathison said of the Baldwin game. “There were thousands of people in the stands. I was so rattled I couldn’t pin my mother’s corsage on her, so I had to hand it to my dad.”

Talent overcame anxiety, and the Blue Devils prevailed 27-6.

On to Pitt Stadium and the matchup with Hempfield. Except there was a three-week wait for that title game, and it showed. Hempfield ran up a 14-0 halftime lead.

“We were a little cold going in. We kind of woke up and dusted the rust off,” Foster said. “Had we played them early in the year, it would have been a different game.”

Vince Russo rushed for 101 yards and scored all three Mt. Lebanon touchdowns in the second half. Fife probably had something to do with the comeback, too.

“It’s halftime and we’re sitting in the locker room and Fife gives a pretty good speech,” Mathison said. “I’ll never forget his final words were, ‘You dug yourself into a hole, now you dig your way out.’ We came out. We weren’t going to lose.”

Fife, in a shock to many, left Lebo after that season and went to Chartiers Valley. He was replaced by a coach who became legendary with the Blue Devils, Art Walker. The Mt. Lebanon field will be renamed in Walker’s honor October 23 at the game against North Allegheny, which is coached by Art Walker Jr.

While some members of the 1966 team have passed away, there remains a core who keep in touch regularly, a bond that began that August in 1966 and grew
from there.

“It was an experience that taught me a lot, taught me a lot about myself,” Valentour said. “I can vividly remember almost everything.”