Holy Toledo! Chuck Ealey Nearly Lost One

Long, who is as reticent as Ealey is smooth, nonetheless takes the spotlight in the locker room after each victory and acts as choirmaster for a dirty ditty the team has been singing for four years. The first line is, "We are the Rocket gridders," and not one line after that is printable.

None of the Rocket gridders seemed to doubt that they would be singing as loudly and lewdly as ever after the Ohio U. game. The cockiest of the bunch, Middle Guard Steve Schnitkey (one of the team's four players from little Archbold, Ohio), was asked what he would do if he were an opposing coach and had to figure out a way to attack the Toledo defense.

"I don't know what I'd do," he said. "I think I'd just give up." And he added, "It's not whether they are going to beat us or not, but how bad they are going to get beat. That's the way I feel, anyway."

Ohio U. had no intention of giving up, however, especially since it had in its backfield a MAC truck, Bill Gary. The first time the Bobcats got the ball Saturday night they behaved as if they intended to make Schnitkey eat his attitude. Giving the ball frequently to Gary and avoiding Mel Long's side, they smashed 85 yards down the field in 13 plays for a touchdown. If the Glass Bowl record crowd of 21,984 couldn't see too well, it didn't need to. It could hear the hitting.

Toledo's defense stiffened after that, and Ealey went to work. The Rockets moved ahead 17-7, only to have Ohio close to 17-14 just before the half. An Ealey-to-Don Fair touchdown pass and an 80-yard burst by Tailback Joe Schwartz on a basic trap play shot Toledo out again 31-14, but again Ohio wouldn't die. It scored twice more to close within three points and was driving in Toledo territory with a little more than three minutes left. Plenty of time to end a win streak. But with fourth down and three to go on the Toledo 37, Ohio fumbled the snap from center and that was it. Ealey, who denied he had visualized that foul-up while watching from the sideline, ran out the clock for his victory No. 57.

Will any opponent—say, undefeated Bowling Green this Saturday—be able to beat Ealey and the Rockets this year? After all, an Ealey team did lose once—to Michigan when Ealey was a freshman and was injured in the second half. "Well," he said, "some negative thoughts do protect you from becoming overconfident." Then he smiled, and the positive thought waves shot out of him like gamma rays. You knew that inside his head he really couldn't picture such a thing.