CHESTER, PA. — Teamwork is essential to achieving victory in any sport. For Widener University's football program, it has racked up 715 victories in its 140 seasons of football. Included in that total are the 13 wins it put together to win the NCAA Division III championship in 1981 for the second national title in school history.
Fast forward 40 years to today, as the 1981 team will be recognized at halftime of Widener's Homecoming game against Wilkes for the accomplishments it achieved during that magical season. For members of this team, today's 40th anniversary celebration serves as a reminder of how powerful teamwork can be and last.
"It keeps us together," Jim Smith, who was Widener's defensive back on the 1981 team, said of the squad's national championship. "The Widener 1981 team wasn't my only team I played on. I played in high school. I played in Little League. But that team, because we climbed that mountaintop, it means more. This is legacy stuff."
The 1981 team built its legacy because it had a group of players who were all motivated to right a couple of wrongs that happened in the 1979 and 1980 seasons. The Pioneers had advanced through perfect regular season sand won their quarterfinal games in the national tournament only to see their ultimate goal dashed with losses in the semifinals. The Pioneers lost to Wittenberg, 17-14, in 1979 and fell to Dayton, 28-24, in 1980, with both teams going on to win the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl and claim the national title in those respective years.
The 1980 semifinal defeat was hard to swallow, as the Pioneers led at halftime before Dayton came storming back to win it.
"The scars from those games, especially the 1980 semifinal game, laid the seeds for the upcoming season," said Anthony Britton, who was a senior and slot back on the team at the time. "We learned that every game was a playoff game to us because back then, if you lost at any point, you were out of the running for the playoffs and the national title. With our team having gone through those experiences, we really benefitted from that. We worked a lot harder and we kept everyone on task. We kept saying, 'It's never over until you finish it.'"
With this inspiration in mind, the 1981 team rolled to a third straight MAC Championship and a third consecutive 10-0 start. Widener steamrolled its opposition during the regular season, winning by an average of 18 points per game. Led by its defense, the Pioneers allowed just 8.1 points per contest throughout the course of the year, highlighted by back-to-back shutouts of Dickinson and Moravian.
Heading into the playoffs, once again the defense would be key. Points were at a premium as Widener downed West Georgia, 10-3, on the road in its opening game to advance to a third straight national semifinal. Playing in front of an excited home crowd, the Pioneers rallied from 6-0 down in the third quarter to beat Montclair State, 23-12, and advance to the national title game, setting up a revenge game with the Dayton Flyers.
In order for them to come away with the win this time, the team had to do the "little things."
"The little things matter," said Nick Pulos, who was a freshman kicker on the team. "The simple throw, the simple run, the simple catch, the simple kick, the simple return. No holding or penalties. When we were playing, it was hard and everything was magnified, especially if you were batting to be No. 1 or No. 2 in the country."
Much like its previous appearance in the Stagg Bowl, Widener had to dig itself out of a halftime hole, trailing 10-0 at intermission. Starting with three-time All-American Tom Deery's 76-yard punt return for a touchdown, the Pioneers completed the rally, taking advantage of six Dayton turnovers in the game and holding the Flyers to just 72 yards of offense in the second half to come away with a 17-10 victory.
The win gave Widener its second national title, joining Wittenberg as the only Division III programs at the time with two NCAA football championships.
As the current Widener football team looks to follow in the footsteps of the 1981 team by trying to win the MAC championship and making a run in the NCAA Tournament, members of the 1981 team will be in attendance cheering them on while also reminiscing about all the memories that they made during their special season on the gridiron.
And when halftime comes, the 1981 team will certainly let their emotions flow when they are honored. After all, its teamwork led them not only to the ultimate victory all those years ago, but also to this shining moment.
"When we won the championship that Saturday in 1981 and while everyone was jumping up and down celebrating, I got down on one knee and said 'Thank you God!'" Smith said. "Who was to say that this would ever happen in my lifetime? On Saturday, I'm going to do the same thing and I'm going to cry because it didn't have to happen. Not everyone wins a championship. But, during my four years, I played a role that helped a team get to the mountaintop. To proudly be able to come back, wear my championship ring and celebrate this is going to be special."
"That season was about every guy on the team working as one unit," Pulos said.
