By Lee Davis
What a difference a season made for the Mountain Brook Spartans football team in 1976.
The previous season, the Spartans had surprised everyone except themselves in posting a 13-0 record and winning the Class 4A championship.
If nobody expected Mountain Brook to claim a title in 1975, everyone expected it to win again in 1976. The talented juniors from the championship team returned for their senior seasons.
“There’s nothing as sweet as that first championship,” Spartan quarterback Richard Burg recalled. “The second one was expected.”
Expectations didn’t diminish the magnitude of the achievement. Even playing with a virtual bull’s eye on its back, Mountain Brook rolled through yet another season undefeated as a potent offense averaged 30 points a game. The Spartans bagged their second straight title with a 52-26 demolition of Murphy of Mobile on a cold December night at Legion Field.
“The two teams were a little different,” said former running back Major Ogilvie, who would rush for more than 2,500 yards while on the way to All-State and All-American honors. “The 1975 team was led by the defense. In 1976, we were more about offense.”
There were other differences as well. The 1975 roster carried fewer than 40 players. The 1976 squad had about 70.
“After winning that first title, more guys wanted to be a part of it,” recalled Billy Morris, the Spartans’ other outstanding running back. “Nothing succeeds like success.”
Perhaps the biggest difference came on the coaching staff. Shortly after the 1975 season, head coach Robert Higginbotham was dismissed following a dispute with Mountain Brook Board of Education Superintendent William Eddins. Higginbotham’s abrupt departure sent shock waves across the state and upset many of the returning players.
“A lot of guys were really upset when Coach Higginbotham left,” Morris recalled. “There was a lot of loyalty to him among the players. We weren’t sure what would happen next.”
The board wisely retained assistants Mark Bradley and Marty Brenner and brought in Rick Rhoades, a 29-year old assistant at Jeff Davis in Montgomery, to take the top job.
Rhoades was different from the taciturn Higginbotham in style and personality, and that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“Looking back on it, you have to give Coach Rhoades a lot of credit,” Ogilvie recalled. “He understood what he had inherited at Mountain Brook. We had been successful, so he let the players play and didn’t change much.”
Ogilvie – as was the case with many of the Mountain Brook players – credited Higginbotham for developing them into high-quality athletes, but he also came to respect Rhoades.
“Coach Higginbotham had a very serious demeanor and didn’t joke around much,” he said. “Coach Rhoades was a little more relaxed and light-hearted. But they were both very good coaches.”
Mountain Brook began the season much as it had the previous season, with a double digit win over Vestavia Hills. The first real test came the next week with a visit to Jeff Davis at Cramton Bowl.
The fans saw an epic shootout, and the Spartans prevailed 38-35 on the strength of a late field goal by Rem Miller.
“That was a really good game,” Ogilvie recalled. “Jeff Davis had an established program and the fact we went down there and won showed that we were good enough to have a chance to win another state title. It helped our confidence as the season went along.”
Miller was a straight-on kicker, which even in 1976 was becoming a rarity. “The soccer-style kickers were starting to become more common,” said Morris. “I think about it now, Rem may have been one of the last straight-on guys I remember seeing. He was as good as any of them.”
Mountain Brook coasted to easy wins over Hewitt-Trussville and Erwin before hosting arch-rival Berry. The Spartans had ended a long losing streak to Coach Bob Finley’ Bucs the previous season and expected another tough test. They got one, as Mountain Brook prevailed 28-17.
“Berry was considered our biggest rival at the time, and 1975 was the first year Mountain Brook had ever beaten them,” Morris said. “The fact we were able to do it two years in a row was important to us.”
The Spartans’ closest call of the regular season may have come the next week. Richard Burg’s quarterback sneak for a touchdown in overtime earned Mountain Brook a 21-14 nail-biter over Banks.
Victories over Shades Valley, Hueytown, Tuscaloosa and Homewood followed as the Spartans capped their second consecutive undefeated regular season. Mountain Brook’s winning streak had reached an eye-popping 24 consecutive games, but the challenges were just beginning.
After a routine victory over Walker County in the first round of the playoffs, the Spartans’ hopes for a second championship were nearly derailed in the second game. Hayes – an inner city Birmingham school – forced Mountain Brook to the limit before falling 18-15.
“Besides the Sugar Bowl game against Penn State (1979) and Mountain Brook’s championship game against Murphy, the Hayes game was the toughest I ever played in,” Ogilvie, who later starred at the University of Alabama, said. “They were very physical and came close to beating us.”
Morris remembers the game as well.
“Hayes had a middle linebacker that knocked me around all night,” he said. “I’ve still got some bruises.”
An even tougher test came the next week when the Spartans journeyed to Decatur for the semi-finals. The Red Raiders led 20-17 late in the game. A great run by Ogilvie and a key interception by defensive back Mike Quinn gave Mountain Brook a 24-20 victory.
The Spartans probably saved their best effort – certainly offensively – for last. They would need that effort; Murphy’s Mardye McDole was probably the state’s best wide receiver, with the exception of Mountain Brook’s Sam Price.
On the game’s first play from scrimmage, Ogilvie raced 80 yards for a touchdown. Three plays later, McDole caught a 70-yard pass from quarterback John Holman to tie the score at 7-7. Ogilvie and his team would not be contained. He rushed for an incredible 339 yards and four touchdowns, as Mountain Brook didn’t stop until it had scored a playoff record 52 points to earn its second crown.
“We clicked offensively, but it was a tough game physically,” Ogilvie said. “Both Richard (Burg) and Billy (Morris) were injured, so I had to get the lion’s share of the carries. Our offensive line, as always, did a great job.”
Mountain Brook’s two-year reign of dominance ended after the win over Murphy. Legendary players such as Ogilvie, Burg, Morris, Miller wide receiver Sam Price, and linemen Bobby Shoulders and Keith Bouchillon all picked up their diplomas. Coaches Rhoades, Bradley and Brenner moved on to other jobs. But the shine of Mountain Brook’s two-year run of championships in 1975-76 and the 27 game winning streak that accompanied it remains to this day.
“That was just a special time,” Morris said. “I can’t believe 40 years have passed. Sometimes it really seems like yesterday.”
Yesterday is gone, and the championship trophies may have gained a little tarnish. But the legacies of 1975-76 will always stand tall in memory.
Follow the link for our 2016 MBHS Spartan Football preview.