30), Frank Williams (56), A1 Miller (44), Jim Penrod (65), Ron Goldstein 485; (third row) Jerry Nagy (47) Jim Boulton (59), Elvin Wright 51), Jerry Piesko (68), John Dennis (415, Clifford Carr (42), Jack Erwin 64 , Rob Murphy (66), Willie Junior (53); (top row) Lawrence Collins 22 , Sylvester Holt (23), Fred Waters (24), Bob Arnold (25), Phil Gaines 33 , Richard Brown (29), Ernest Rison (40), Ken Paul (36), Gene McFadden 28 . There were four other players who were either not in this picture or were unable to be identified. They are L.J. Muddy (27), Larry Arnold (49), Eddie Roberts (60) and Arnold Riggs (63).
Vikings Made It Look Easy Disposing of All Challengers to State Title
Nobody today plays the kind of football schedule Northern High faced in 1956.
In their nine-game season, the Vikings met and defeated six teams ranked in the state polls, two of them were No. 1 when they played Northern.
To draw a comparison, it would be like a college team today playing Nebraska, Miami of Florida, Oklahoma, Florida, Tennessee and Michigan – and beating them all.
When the season ended, the 9-0 Vikings were No. 1 in all polls and had handed the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 teams their only loss of the year.
The 1956 squad is the fourth Northern football team to join the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame, and the latest inductees are quick to compare themselves to their predecessors.
“They talk about the 1950 Northern team, but with all due respect, they beat Arthur Hill on the last play of the game,” observed ’56 co-captain Al Miller.
The ’56 team needed no such last second heroics, outscoring its foes 263-67 and shutting out four teams in a row. In what should have been their toughest game of the season, the Vikings routed No. 1 Ann Arbor 33-0, ending the Pioneers’ 40-game unbeaten streak.
“You hear talk about the (Leroy) Bolden and (Ellis) Duckett days, but what this team accomplished was truly amazing,” said right guard Ken Paul, who became a starter when Jerry Andersen was injured in midseason.
In fact, it was Northern’s tradition that made the ’56 state championship possible.
Afterthe 1955 team went 1-5-3 for the worst record in school history, principal and former coach Guy Houston bolstered Andy MacDonald’s staff with additional assistants.
They just weren’t used to losing, said left tackle Wayne Collard. Guy Houston was not going to allow the tradition he had established to fade into mediocrity.
“All of a sudden we had a lot more coaches on the field, and we were broken down into smaller units. Practice was a lot more individualized.
The talent was already there. John Sharp was a state quarter-mile champion.
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