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Sept. 19: Welcome back the conference champion Chelsea High School 1959 football team

(Chelsea Update would like to thank Dave Rowe for the information in this story.)

Sixteen members of the Chelsea High School 1959 football team plan to gather for a reunion at the Friday, Sept. 19, football game, then go out to dinner at the Breakaway.

The 1959 team is special for a couple of reasons: The team won the Washtenaw Conference Championship scoring an average of 32 points per game to their opponent’s 3.3 points per game. This was Chelsea’s first conference championship since 1938. In addition, this was the first season that the current football field was played on.

The team of 1938 and 1959 had a couple of familial ties as well. The 1938 team was coached by Charles Cameron who later retired as the Chelsea School District superintendent, his son Charles Jr. played end on the 1959 team.

Duane Rowe was a senior on the 1938 team and played tackle, his son, David, was a senior on the 1959 team and played tackle.

The team was coached by Alan Conklin, who retired as the principal at Beach Middle School. Alan was a Milan School District alum, and I’m sorry to say that the 1959 CHS team (and the three previous teams), never beat Milan.

In fact, the 20-12 loss to Milan was the team’s only loss in 1959, but because it was a non-conference game, it didn’t affect the championship. The line was coached by Truman O’Doherty, who brought some sophisticated techniques to the high school line play. These techniques were very instrumental in our lopsided scores. Truman played college ball, Navy ball and semipro for a Port Huron team.

The following is a list of the players expected to attend and a little bio on each.

  • Don Blalock, halfback, retired from the insurance business.
  • Charles Cameron, end, retired educator.
  • Pete Flintoft, fullback, practicing attorney in Chelsea as well as the chairman of the Chelsea Downtown Development Authority.
  • Roger Herman, co-captain center and middle linebacker, retired plumbing contractor.
  • Larry Kramer, halfback, retired educator.
  • Jim Maynard, fullback, retired military.
  • Dave McLaughlin, fullback who later played for U- M, local practicing attorney.
  • Wilson Morley, tackle, retired timer harvester
  • Alton Nixon, end, retired educator.
  • Homer Nixon, end, retired educator.
  • Jerry Ringe, center, retired human resource executive in the auto industry.
  • David Rowe, co-captain tackle, a retired local insurance agency owner.
  • Al Schauer, halfback, retired Chelsea Milling Co.
  • George (Ted) Wilson, quarterback, retired from General Motors and a current business owner.
  • Rich Wood,  end, retired educator and current professional photographer.
  • Duane (Duke) Weiss, team manager, retired banker.

Seven of our 1959 team are deceased.

This gathering was organized by twin brothers Al and Homer Nixon, who played right and left end. The team wants to express our thanks.

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