Published: October 06, 2008 11:35 pm         

Remembering Rocky and Rose: Engineering institute celebrates 50th anniversary of undefeated season

TERRE HAUTE — Fifty years ago, Dwight D. Eisenhower was serving his second and final term as 34th president of the United States.

Younger readers may not realize the United States consisted of 48 states then, not 50, because Alaska and Hawaii were one year away from being granted statehood.

In Terre Haute, Ralph Tucker was approaching the end of his third term out of five as the city’s mayor.

In local sports, Indiana State’s football team was struggling through a 2-6 season under head coach Bill Jones.

But on the east side, Rose Poly (now known as Rose-Hulman) was rolling over its gridiron opponents at an alarming rate.

Coming off a 7-1 campaign in 1957, the Fightin’ Engineers figured they’d have another good team in what ended up being Phil Brown’s final year as coach. (The institute’s football field would later be named in honor of Brown, who had served as its coach since 1928.)

Little did anyone know, the 1958 season would go down in Rose history for its 8-0 record, 270-31 scoring margin and the nation-high 168 points racked up by senior halfback/linebacker/defensive back/placekicker/kick returner Carl “Rocky” Herakovich. The versatile Herakovich used his 5-foot-7 1/2, 152-pound frame to slip through holes and sprint away from defenders in earning Associated Press Little College honorable-mention status.

The Engineers opened with two convincing road victories — 42-0 at St. Procopius and 21-6 at North Park — before returning home to rout Eureka 78-6, a game in which Herakovich scored more than half the team’s points (40).

That doesn’t mean Herakovich took more than half the credit, because he knew he couldn’t accomplish what he did without top-notch blocking from Rose’s offensive line.

“It was fantastic,” reflected the 71-year-old Herakovich, one of 12 players from the 1958 team who showed up Saturday to be honored at halftime of Rose-Hulman’s homecoming game against Manchester at Cook Stadium. “Those guys were smart and they were able to change plays on the fly.”

“It was fun to block for them all, including Rocky,” mentioned 70-year-old Don Scott, a two-way guard who accompanied Herakovich during many of his runs in 1958 as well as during Saturday’s interview.

The Engineers followed with back-to-back shutouts — 26-0 over Concordia (Ill.) for homecoming and 12-0 at Franklin — before allowing a rare touchdown in a 40-7 home victory over Illinois College.

Rose Poly’s final two triumphs were 24-0 at home over Principia amidst rainy conditions and 27-12 on a muddy field at Earlham as it claimed the Prairie Conference championship.

For the season, Rose’s defense allowed only 24 completed passes, a number that is frequently exceeded in one game nowadays.

“We were smart and we were good,” Herakovich pointed out, explaining in simple terms why the Engineers were so dominant.

“We didn’t talk [during the season] about being undefeated,” Scott added. “We just played our hardest every game.”

Herakovich, who graduated in 1959 and lives in Charlottesville, Va., and Scott, who graduated in 1960 and lives in Brownsburg, praised the guidance of Brown, who died in 1990.

“He was an exceptional coach,” said Herakovich, a Rose Athletic Hall of Famer who finished his college career with 48 touchdowns (25 in 1958) and still looks like he’s in good enough shape to take a few carries out of the backfield. “I think he knew how to take advantage of our intelligence. On offense, we used all sorts of formations.”

“He did a good job of motivating each guy in a different way,” Scott noted.

Although Brown isn’t around to offer his memories of the ’58 season, he obviously enjoyed coaching this group.

“This team was the most loyal to each other and the most cooperating team I think I ever had,” Brown said after the season, according to quotes provided by Rose-Hulman on Saturday.

“They were not only pulling for Rocky to score when he got up in the scoring list, but they were also determined that he wasn’t going to get hit hard. And whenever they called his signal, the blocking was out of this world. During the last game, I overheard one fan say, ‘I’ve seen football games all my life, but I have never seen such murderous blocking.’

“We not only beat teams to death, but we outsmarted them defensively. They had a wonderful spirit and wonderful determination with great loyalty to each other. It was just a cohesive, cooperating, experienced and very hard-working football team.”

Although neither Herakovich nor Scott went on to a pro football career — Herakovich did receive letters of interest from two NFL teams, although he admits it would have been difficult to play in the NFL at his size — both transitioned smoothly from their Rose athletic success to successful careers.

Herakovich served as a college professor at Virginia Tech and Virginia, retiring in 1998. He also worked 20 years as an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) football official.

Scott worked as an engineer for the state of Indiana.

Despite their eventful lives, they’re not likely to forget the 1958 Rose football season.

“It was special because it was so much fun,” Scott said.

“I can’t talk about it without getting choked up,” Herakovich admitted.

Other 1958 Rose players who attended Saturday’s festivities were Joe Andel, Chuck Gilbert, Bart Gronberg, Tom Hormuth, Dan Kingery, Ed Kostra, Bill Kuchar, Dick Pike, Al Raquet and Jack Schreiner. Rose officials said at least three members of the team are deceased.