1971 National Championship team honored in Livingston
LIVINGSTON, AL. (WTOK) -
It’s been a special weekend at the University of West Alabama as the school as honored the 1971 national championship football team.
Last night, around 40 members of that team, and their families, gathered in Livingston for a reunion to commemorate that national crown won 50 years ago.
”It’s special for UWA and the town of Livingston because of what this team and these guys and their families have meant over the last 50 years to Livingston,” said UWA Head Coach Brett Gilliland, who’s father played on that national championship squad. “Obviously it’s special to me because it’s my dad and a bunch of uncles because that’s the coolest part about this group is the family atmosphere they’ve had and the bond and brotherhood they’ve always had”
“I don’t think I can put words on it,” said Sam McCorkle, a player on the ‘71 team and former head coach at the school. “These guys are so special. I just feel I was blessed to be a part what I think what the greatest time in the university here because we weren’t just winning football. We were winning other sports. I kept hearing this today. I heard Coach Andrews talk about it to the present team. We loved each other.”
“The closest knit group of kids and people I’ve ever been around,” said Mickey Andrews, Head Coach of the 1971 Tigers. “They get to going on in our group text’s and it sounds like a bunch of teenage girls beeping on my phone. I got to thinking that this is silly. Then I got to thinking some more, you know this is great. How can you be that close to a group of grown men that they are right now. That’s one of the characteristics they had that helped them excel at the level that they did and I was just fortunate to be here and be a part of it.”
The current UWA team is 6-0, a first in school history, and ranked 10th nationally. The Tigers play host to 5th ranked Valdosta State in Livingston Saturday at 1:00 in a critical Gulf South Conference contest. The entire 1971 football team will be inducted into the UWA Athletic Hall of Fame prior to kickoff at Tiger Stadium.
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