It did occur on occasion, though.
When it did, it was typically the result of having played a rigorous non-district schedule that took a toll on the won-loss record before embarking on a more palatable district slate.
The coachspeak then and now in such a scenario is that “you’ve got to play the best to be the best” or some such derivative. The art is to physically survive that initial gauntlet of games.
As the current Temple Wildcats (5-5) carry a five-game winning streak into their 38th playoff appearance, it will mark only the third time they will enter the postseason without a winning record.
The first one came in 1954. Just like the 2008 version, the ’54 Wildcats opened with five losses. No Wildcat team had ever done that before.
Temple entered 1954 coming off four straight district titles with a pair of state finalist teams in the mix. But that would be a transitional year for the Wildcats. Veteran Jay Fikes was succeeding Ted Dawson as the Wildcats’ head coach. Fikes spent the previous 10 years in Littlefield and had a Class A state championship in his portfolio.
But Fikes and assistants Pat Patterson and Marcine Cottle knew they would have a tall order. Long gone were early 1950s greats such as Doyle Traylor, Donnell Berry and Ronnie Guess. Only Odis Fuller and Clea Myers returned as starters from the ’53 squad and Fuller was lost for the year after breaking his leg in the opener.
Fikes told the Lions Club before the season, “These kids are typical Wildcats. They work hard and they’ll try hard. We think the least we can do is put the kids on the field in good shape.”
They would need to be in good shape against a murderer’s row of a non-district schedule: Texarkana, Houston Reagan, Waco, Longview and Corpus Christi Ray. Patterson wryly told the Lions Club, “We could have lined up a tougher schedule, but I don’t think Texas or Baylor would want to play us.”
In the opener, Texarkana came from behind to win 13-7. The following week the Wildcats were tied with Reagan in the second half before turnovers cost them in a 20-7 loss. After scoring two late touchdowns in a 21-12 loss to Waco, Fikes surmised, “I believe we have finally come to the point where we’ll start winning some ballgames.”
Not quite.
Fikes continued to shuffle the lineup. Quarterback Curtis Morries moved to fullback in favor of Tom Jenkins. A sure-handed end named Bobby McQueen worked his way into the starting lineup and tough-running Don Davis was seeing a lot of time in the backfield. Still, a furious comeback came up 10 yards short in a 27-21 defeat against Longview.
Despite the rare losing skid, the Wildcat fandom seemed to be astute enough to understand the plight. Bill Streich wrote in the Telegram: “These boys won’t give up. They’re not that kind of kids. They may not be the greatest we’ve ever seen, but they have about the biggest hearts.”
Temple jumped ahead of powerhouse Ray 13-0 in the first half before succumbing 27-13 to complete the whitewash in non-district play.
District wasn’t necessarily a cakewalk, either. It took a heroic 21-yard touchdown pass from Jenkins to Harold Cartwright in the waning moments for the Wildcats to beat Austin McCallum 19-13 in the opener. Fikes said, “As usual, all the boys gave everything they had and it finally paid off.”
Temple rolled over Austin Travis before coming up short against favored Palestine, 19-18. The Wildcats shut out Bryan and Corsicana in the final two weeks and forged a three-way tie for the District 5-3A crown with McCallum and Palestine. Cottle’s skills with a coin won a three-way flip to extend the season.
The Wildcats lost to eventual state runner-up Port Neches 13-7, with Davis scoring the lone touchdown. That capped the Wildcats’ season at 4-7. It was only Temple’s third sub-.500 team, but the Wildcats were successful just the same.
“This was the fightingest team I’ve ever coached,” Fikes said. “The boys gave everything they had all the time.”
Stretch the thread 43 years to 1997. McQueen, that junior receiver from the ’54 team, is in his 26th as the Wildcats’ head coach and Davis is overseeing the defense. This squad looked to create its own identity on the heels of a strong 10-3 team from ’96.
It was a rollercoaster ride through the first eight games, with the Wildcats sitting at 3-5 and reeling from back-to-back district losses to Killeen Ellison and Waco. They would need victories over Belton and Killeen to have a shot at one of the three playoff spots.
What they got were a couple of miracles.
Robert Magana kicked a 29-yard field goal with 12 seconds left to give the Wildcats a thrilling 15-14 triumph over Belton. In the regular-season finale in Killeen, Joey Haag threw two late fourth-quarter touchdown passes within 11 seconds of each other sandwiched around a successful onside kick to give Temple a stunning 26-25 comeback victory, vaulting the Wildcats into the playoffs at 5-5.
Temple overcame a third straight fourth-quarter deficit in a wild bi-district game against Georgetown. Anton Holloway barreled into the end zone from the 3-yard line with 50 seconds left to complete a 65-yard drive to capture a 35-31 win. The Wildcats would finally run out of thrills with a decisive loss to Houston Cypress Falls the next week.
“There’s no quit in these guys,” McQueen, who is still active consulting the current Wildcat coaching staff, said at the time. “It’s amazing how they kept fighting and kept fighting and kept their poise.”
Who else would know any more about that?
