SHELBY — The Whippets owned the Northern Ohio League in the 1960s.
Shelby may have won more NOL titles in the ’50s (six) than it did the following decade (five), but the Whippets’ sheer dominance in the ’60s made them the talk of Richland County.
Shelby opened the decade with its ninth NOL crown and closed it with its 13th. The Whippets were especially overpowering during the second half of the 1960s, winning four NOL titles in five seasons to close the decade. What’s more, Shelby took a 35-game unbeaten streak into Week 1 of the 1970 season. The streak ended when Toledo Bowsher blanked Shelby 14-0 at Skiles Field in the 1970 opener.
Not many of Shelby’s games in the 1960s made our list of the 10 greatest largely because the Whippets were a victim of their own success — most contests were so one-sided. The 1962 team pitched six shutouts and gave up a total of 26 points all season, but lost twice. The 1966 team scored 30 or more points six times and authored four shutouts, but finished with a 6-2-2 record.
As the 1970s dawned, Shelby’s dominance in the NOL began to wane. After winning 13 NOL titles between 1944 and 1969, the Whippets won only seven more championships in the ensuing 37 years — before the league disbanded following the 2016 season.
Here’s our second installment of the greatest games in W.W. Skiles Field history:
1960, Week 8
Shelby 16, Norwalk 12: Reserve seats for what was billed as the game of the year sold out two weeks before the Truckers visited W.W. Skiles Field in Week 8 of the 1960 season. Norwalk was still looking for its first Northern Ohio League title and put itself in position to win the crown, taking a 12-8 lead into fourth quarter.
On fourth-and-two from the Norwalk 34, Shelby running back Russ Pfahler blew threw an overloaded box and ran untouched for what proved to be the game-winning touchdown in the final minute.
Pfalher, who set Shelby’s single-season scoring record in a 56-0 win over Bucyrus in Week 6, scored on an 80-yard kickoff return for Shelby’s first score and ran in a pair of two-point conversions. The All-NOL halfback scored all 16 of Shelby’s points in the victory.
1965, Week 8
Shelby 20, Galion 8: Fans began lining up for the battle of unbeatens at 4 p.m. and by the time kickoff rolled around, a stadium-record crowd of 7,083 crammed into W.W. Skiles Field.
The Whippets didn’t disappoint.
After falling behind early, Shelby drew within 8-6 early in the second quarter on Lanny Hopkins’ 40-yard touchdown run. Denny Alfrey added a 46-yard TD run to give the Whippets the lead for good and a 7-yard TD pass from Larry Baldridge to Lynn Guerin sealed it. Shelby would go on to complete its first undefeated regular season two weeks later with a 6-0 win over Madison.
The Whippets won their 10th Northern Ohio League championship and eighth under legendary coach Bill Wilkins. Wilkins led Shelby to 13 of its 20 NOL titles while compiling a record of 169-56-14 in 23 seasons as head coach from 1948 to 1955 and 1958 to 1972.
1974, Week 9
Shelby 20, Norwalk 6: After a stunning loss to Tiffin Columbian a week earlier, the Whippets needed a win over the heavily-favored Truckers to capture a share of the NOL crown. Shelby jumped to a 12-0 halftime lead before Norwalk sliced the gap to 12-6 on John McCarty’s 6-yard touchdown run in the third period.
The Whippets iced it on their ensuing possession, going 63 yards on 12 plays. Larry McCoy brought the crowd of 5,804 to its feet with his third TD of the night, a 1-yard plunge, and Andy Thompson’s two-point conversion run put an exclamation point on the victory.
Shelby shared the NOL title with the Truckers and Tiffin Columbian and finished slightly more than a point behind Norwalk in the final Class AA, Region 6 ratings, just missing a postseason bid (only the four regional champs in each class qualified for the playoffs from 1972 to 1979).
Norwalk would rebound from the loss, knocking off Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary in the Class AA state semifinals before dispatching St. Thomas Aquinas for the state title.
This is the second in a three-part series on the history of Shelby’s W.W. Skiles Field, which will host its final game on Friday against Madison. Part I published on Monday and Part III will publish on Wednesday.