The Turkey Day Game – 50 Years Ago (1973)

There is nothing worse than a drought of Turkey Day Game wins. Since 1968, Webster had been the victor in the contests up until 1972 – that is five continuous wins. That means that nobody for their whole existence at Kirkwood High School had ever had possession of it. They had only seen it rung by Webster students at the Turkey Day Game. Two entire generations had graduated from Kirkwood High School, not experiencing a Turkey Day Game win. It was such a drought that 1964 Webster alumnus John Fricke had hoped for a change, if only to bring something unexpected to the rivalry. John Le Fort was the junior Kirkwood quarterback and he had a tough Webster team to beat. Both teams were entering the contest 4-1 in conference play so the title was up for grabs. The main person who Le Fort had to concern himself with was Jeff Hilliar, one of the best running backs to play for Webster and an All-Metro player. It was an odd year, so the game was played at Kirkwood's Lyons Field.

Jeff Hilliar was a senior and he had led the Statesmen to a 5-0 start on the season, but then he watched Webster lose three straight games without him due to a broken bone in his foot. Hilliar was ready to play in the Turkey Day Game though, and Le Fort had no idea what kind of shape Hilliar would be in for the game.

Kirkwood's head coach had changed from Bill Lenich, who had been head coach of the team since 1949, to Ron Marler. An advantage Marler had was that he had served as the Kirkwood freshman head coach so when he took control of Kirkwood football, he already had experience with the players. Despite Kirkwood's continued losses, numbers continued to be large for the Turkey Day Game and 8,000 came to watch on Thanksgiving Day.

It was not until the third quarter that anyone scored in the game when Steve Powell made a 9 yard dash into the end zone. Dick Russell kicked the point after, giving Kirkwood a 7-0 lead. Webster closed the gap in the fourth quarter with 11 minutes left in the game when Harold Cushshon scored on a 24 yard run. Webster had only scored two points all season on the point after so Webster's head coach, Jack Jones, did not even consider it as an option. The ball was given to Hilliar to run for a two-point conversion, but was stopped by team co-captain Tom Ebinger, assisted by Scott Schulte and team co-captain Allen Spence. The determined Kirkwood threesome retained the lead for Kirkwood 7-6.

The game was far from finished, though, and came to a final Webster possession on the 7-yard line, on a fourth down, and three yards to gain for a first down. There were only 36 seconds remaining on the clock. Jack Jones called a play in which Brian Carlson, the quarterback, was to hand it to Hilliar, who would hand off to Cushshon on the reverse. On the play, Hilliar fumbled the ball, scrambled to recover it, and then, with no other option, tried to run it to the goal line. Ebinger saw an opportunity and stopped Hilliar, thus winning the Frisco Bell for the first time in six years.

Losing the game in this manner, is something that a few handful of players have perhaps felt like they were the ones who lost the game for their team. Coaches will often cite a myriad of lost opportunities and mistakes that are the actual blame for a game's loss, not the action of a single player on a single play. Ron Marler remarked to the Post-Dispatch that "This is the happiest moment in my life," and added, "Jeff's a tremendous football player. If he hadn't played today, we wouldn't have felt that good about winning."

Fifty years later, John Le Fort said of the now deceased Hilliar, "All I know of him is what I saw of him on the football field. He was a really great guy who helped Kirkwood players off the ground and was really positive towards everyone in the game. He was just a great athlete and a good guy."

While we all are initially ingrained in the competition of Turkey Day, it is the respect of the game and our opponents in it which makes it a brotherhood.

This year celebrates the 114th varsity contest between the 125th football teams of both schools. In varsity meetings at the Turkey Day Game, Kirkwood leads the series 45-37-5. In the record of all varsity games ever played, Webster leads that series 54-52-7 – which, at two games, has not been that close since 1917. You may listen to all of the action as game broadcast regulars and Webster alumni Jim Grillo and Damon A. Patterson bring you all of the action and the best interviews on WOodland 1 Sports at woodland1.mixlr.com/

May the Frisco Bell ring for you this Turkey Day!