A crowd of approximately 400 people attended the Kings Mountain Touchdown Club’s 100th anniversary celebration of Mountaineer football Thursday night at John Gamble Stadium.
Danny Ford, retired head football coach at Clemson, was the guest speaker. He was introduced by Kevin Mack, one of his star running backs on Clemson’s 1982 team which defeated Nebraska for the NCAA championship.
Mack, who still lives in Cleveland where he was Rookie of the Year and the leading rusher for the Browns in the 1980s, introduced his coach and both he and Ford recalled Mack’s adjustment time after joining the team right out of KMHS in 1980. But, after that adjustment early in his freshman season, Mack became one of the Tigers’ all-time leading rushers.
Before introducing Ford, Mack said football taught him a lot from the high school to the professional level and he thanked his high school coach, Dan Brooks who was in attendance, and Ford for molding him as a player and a man.
Speaking of Ford, he said “he drove his team to be good. The first couple of days I didn’t know if I’d make it. I had to adapt.”
Mack recalled that his freshman year at Clemson the Tigers went 6-5 but Ford was laying the groundwork for the next three years when the Tigers lost just three games and won the national championship.
“He produced some of the great teams in Clemson history,” Mack noted. “In his first game as head coach Clemson won the Gator Bowl over Woody Hayes and Ohio State.”