ADA – In athletics saying that a team is a family has almost become a cliché, but when you talk to members of the 1984 East Central University football team the bond that they formed through adversity truly grew into a second family.

Photos from 1984 Season

In 1981 a group of young men, including three from the same family, came to Ada ready to fight for what was expected to be a fourth-straight Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference Championship.  The team was ranked No. 9 in the preseason, but lost the first five games of the season and ended with a 2-8 overall record and a 2-2 mark in the OIC.

The team then rebounded for a 5-5 overall record, but still only managed a 2-2 mark in league play in 1982.  But the improvement was overshadowed by the loss of a teammate when he was struck and killed by lightning.

The 1983 season resulted in even more improvement (7-3, 2-2 OIC) and the team finished the season ranked No. 1 in NAIA Division I in rushing offense and second in total offense.  The team produced four honorable mention All-Americans, but yet an OIC Championship was elusive.

As the 1984 season was approaching expectations were running high, as the Tigers had the extremely talented Calip Trio (Brad, Bryant & Neal) heading into their senior year.  The trio drew comparisons to a trio of players from the 1978 season (Clifford Thrift, Mark Nelson and Mark Gastineau) who were all drafted into the NFL after their collegiate careers ended.

Legendary head football coach Pat O'Neal summed up the pressure and previous three seasons outcome in the season preview.

"Just look at it, we should have a good offensive team.  We could be much improved on defense.  But all this talk is just so much speculation.  So much can happen—good and bad—to affect a football team.  If you have a couple of good things happen early, you can go a long ways with a mediocre group of athletes.  If bad things happen to you early, you can see a great bunch of players have a poor season."

As you can obviously tell from the fact that we are going to honor the 1984 team at the Sept. 27 game vs. Henderson State, the team pulled together and those good things happened.  The team won the first two games of the season, before falling by just four points in the third.  ECU then rattled off eight-straight wins to finish the regular season 10-1 and a perfect 4-0 in the OIC to claim what would become the first of four-straight titles.  The season also season produced eight All-OIC selections and two All-Americans in Brad Calip and Neal Calip

Even more impressive was the fact that their record qualified them for the first NAIA National Championship playoff game in school history and it would be played at Norris Field against Central Washington.  A showdown in the first round of the playoff against No. 1 (ECU) and No. 2 in the NAIA Poll.

"There were several times in the past, especially when Elvan George was coaching, that I thought we could have gone to the playoffs," commented O'Neal.  "They only took four teams to the playoffs and you had to be undefeated, but we wanted to make sure and play worthy competition and not play down just to make the playoffs.  So when they expanded the playoffs it was extremely gratifying to be voted in."

So all the pressure was evenly placed on the shoulders of the Calip Trio; twins Brad and Bryant and their cousin Neal.  The other team was also greatly interested to meet this group of young men that had pulled the team through so much to reach this point.

That meeting was set to take place, Nov. 30 at the banquet before the game; however it would have to wait as more adversity was already in place for the team.  Neal's mother was sick back at home in Hobart, Okla., and the trio decided to head home to check on her and forgo the banquet and then head back to Ada early for the game the next day.
This is where the dream season came to an end and a few of the "bad things" coach O'Neal had talked about happened.  Despite being a team that worked so well together like they had all season, Brad Calip says they just couldn't get in a rhythm and fell by just two points (20-22).

So now the team has a bitter sweet memory of that season, being the first team in ECU history to earn 10 wins and finally win that elusive championship, but like all but one team that advanced to the playoffs, they lost in their final game.

But according to Brad Calip, he wouldn't change his time at East Central because it truly was a family here.  Brad had a chance to play at Oklahoma, but choose to come to the Tigers. The Calip Trio had promised each other as youths to continue to play together no matter what.  All the challenges that this team faced also had a huge impact on his view on life.

"We went through a lot of tears and blood as a team before my senior year," Calip commented.  "But we all stuck together and by the time we got to our senior year we knew each other like family and that helped us be so successful on the field."

Coach O'Neal also has great memories of his time at ECU and especially of the strange trip that led to the 1984 team's success.

"This was an unusual group of youngsters that came together strongly after the problems we had faced in the years prior," said O'Neal.  "When you try and single out some for their efforts it is almost impossible because they banded together and became an exceptional group of players who became not only some of the finest football players we have had, but are also some of the finest citizens we have representing ECU today."

So come Saturday, the ECU Athletic Department hopes that you can join us in honoring a team that helped shape the Tiger football program into the brotherhood it is today.

"I met a lot of great friends and my beautiful wife at ECU and it became my second home," said Calip.  "I have always told my son that you are there for an education first, but college is going to be the place where you have the most memorable moments of your life.  You will also face some of your toughest challenges, but as long as you stick together with your teammates, like a family, the good will outweigh the bad."

These reunions are meant to of course reunite old friends and help the faithful fans of Tiger Nation show their appreciation for those that have helped mold the school's welcoming environment.  But they are also meant to be a learning tool for the current student-athletes.

"The best part of coaching for me was building personal relationships with my players," added O'Neal.  "I hope reunions like this can help build those types of relationships between the former, current and future members of the Tiger football program to ensure that brotherhood is never taken for granted."