Out & About KY Style: Western vs. the Russians

As crazy as college athletics seems to be today, they will still have to go some to top a zany period at Western Kentucky University back in 1992.

Gary West is an author and News Journal columnist.

Because of drastic budget cuts at the University, the board of regents was pre-paring to vote on eliminating the schools football program as part of a state mandated $6.1 million cut.

Football had been a staple at Western since 1913, but always playing second fiddle to basketball. Here it is now 30 years later from when the program was close to being tossed over the cliff.

Under Coach Jack Harbaugh and athletic director Lou Marciani, a “Save the Program” campaign was initiated.

A $900,000 budget the year before was now cut in half. Fewer scholarships, fewer coaches, decreased travel costs, and rumors that the entire season would be suspended, caused opposing teams on the schedule to cancel. Anyone who cared about football at Western stepped up, almost to the point of looking under couch cushions for loose change.

It became imperative for Marciani to put together as much of a schedule as possible, and since Western then was not in a conference and playing as a Division II independent, scheduling was tough. After all, ticket sales were a huge part of the budget and without them, football at Western perhaps would inch closer to becoming just a club sport.

By fall of 1992, Western was committed to a 10 game schedule with a pair of open dates, October 3 and October 17. Still, an open date meant zero income.

In the meantime, Marciano had read someplace about a Russian team that played American football was touring the US and looking for games. Although exhibition games in football, especially during the middle of the season, were rare, it mattered little to Marciano and Harbaugh.

What could be better to promote than “Western vs. the Russians?”

Marciano contacted Russian Czar coach Eldon Cunningham about coming to Bowling Green. Bingo!

As former sports information director Paul Just described it back then, “That’s when the circus began.” And the ringmaster was Eldon Cunningham, the Czar’s 41-year-old coach who had supposedly played quarterback at McNeese State in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He had, it was said, gone to Russia in order to get away from an ex-wife and girlfriend.

Cunningham had coached the Moscow Bears a couple of years before and while playing a game in upstate New York, 21 of his players defected to Canada. Now he found himself trying to assemble enough players to be competitive in his US tour.

When the Czars arrived in Bowling Green on October 12, 1992, in preparation for their October 17 game on the Western campus, they were coming off of a 35-0 defeat by Team USA, a group of semi-pros and amateurs in Chicago.

The visitors team was made up, although, not verified, of several Olympian sprinters, wrestlers, rugby players, and sprinkled in with some Americans.

The Czar’s were housed in Keen Hall, the dorm, where the WKU football team lived.  With them they had brought cases of vodka, old Russian army uniforms and hats, all to barter with.  It was blue jeans they wanted.

Jimmy Clark, an intern in the athletic department at the time and now an associate AD, remembers all of the chaos surrounding the team.

“It was a busy five or six days,” he said.  “Arranging tours, food, practices, meetings, and then I recall they got into some trouble with vodka in the dorms.”

The Russians visited Mammoth Cave, Greenwood Mall and the Corvette Museum.  They were especially proud when they learned that Zora Arkus Duntov, a Russian, designed the Corvette.

It seemed like something was going on all the time. Selling tickets, promoting the game as an international football game, and suddenly on Wednesday before the Saturday game the Russian players decided to boycott practices because of the food. They had had all of the fast food they could take. “McDonald’s for breakfast, Wendy’s for lunch and Taco Bell for dinner,” said one of their players.

It was reported that Harry Rosen, the 68-year-old team owner from Las Vegas, flew to Bowling Green to settle the matter.

But nothing had happened to compare with what happened next.

Thursday afternoon Coach Harbaugh and the Russian coach Cunningham held a joint practice on the Smith Stadium field. Primarily as a media event, writers and TV cameras were there filing stories about the upcoming game, hoping to hype ticket sales from not just Bowling Green, but Louisville, Nashville and Owensboro.

Just when you didn’t think it couldn’t get any crazier, it did.

A Warren County Sheriff’s car pulled through the gate at the end of the stadium and drove onto the track surrounding the field. Driving to near the 30-yard line, two men in trench coats got out.  One of them said, “Eldon Cunningham?” He replied, “I’m Eldon Cunningham.  I’m head coach of the Russian Czars.”

Jack Harbaugh was right there, taking it all in. And so were the cameras, all of them recording. “Well, your under arrest Mr. Cunningham, and we’re taking you into custody,” Harbaugh remembers.

Cunningham was handcuffed, placed in the Sheriff’s car and taken downtown to jail.

The Russian coach had been tracked down because of all the publicity his team had generated, and with a non-support warrant issued for his arrest, it didn’t take long to figure out where he was.

But the show must go on. And it did.

Former Western football coaches Lee Murray and Butch Gilbert were brought on board to keep the team organized and communicate where they could.

On October 17, 1992, at 7 p.m., the Hilltoppers and Czar’s made history. Leading at halftime 45-7, Western went on to win 45-14, as Harbaugh played everybody on his team while avoiding an avalanche of touchdowns on top of his new friends from Russia.

Lou Marciano, the AD had hoped to draw at least 6,000 fans and raise $30,000. The announced gate was 3,500, but the College Heights Herald, the student newspaper, reported only 1,500 actually bought tickets, with $7,700 being raised. Paying $5,000 to the Russians left very little. However, perhaps not realizing it at the time, publicity of Western’s plight and the near death of the football program, drew much needed attention.

Roy Kidd, Eastern Kentucky University’s Hall of Fame football coach, sent a check, and supposedly so did Howard Schnellenberger, who was then coaching at Louisville.

Jack Harbaugh withstood the storm and with the help of his sons, John and Jim and a group of hardcore former players and fans righted the sinking ship. In 2002, the Hilltoppers won the 1-AA national title.

In the end, when the Russians came to Bowling Green it turned out to be not so much about the money.  It was about the people. Just before boarding their bus to leave town on Sunday after the game, one of the Russian players said to one of the Western players, “If you ever come to Russia, look me up.”

There’s no excuse, get up, get out and get going! Gary P. West can be reached at westgarypdeb@gmail.com.