BARBERTON FOOTBALL 1964: A season of triumph, despair comes to end

ARCHIE STRIMMEL

(This is part of a weekly series that will continue through football season.)

By RANDY FORST
BGNN sports editor
NOV. 6 BARBERTON 21, CANTON LINCOLN 14

Beacon Journal Prediction: Magics win final game of season for Ken Sennett
Beacon record: 8-1

It wasn’t a masterpiece, but they still came up with the win. After fumbling on their own 6 and allowing a Lincoln touchdown, the Magics went to work. Sophomore Archie Strimmel was now the quarterback, and he put the Magics on the board with a 33-yard TD pass to Joe Suboticki, and after a John Vargo extra point it was 7-7. Archie Strimmel had the unenviable task of taking over for Ken Sennett.

Strimmel, an outstanding all-around athlete, would go on to have an exceptional career at Barberton, then at Miami of Ohio and is in the Barberton Sports Hall of Fame. After the Suboticki touchdown the Magics went to work on the ground.

Behind the running of Tom Cheatham and Strimmel’s passing, primarily to Ron Vargo, they marched down the field with Mike Gomez going the final yard for the touchdown. With a Strimmel run for the extra points the Magics took a 15-7 lead at half. A touchdown in the third quarter by Cheatham made the lead 21-7. Lincoln would score with just a couple of seconds left to make the final 21-14. Just like that the historical 1964 season was history. There had never been a season like it and probably never will be again. For the season, the Magics scored 159 points for an average of 18 points a game, but it was the defense that really stood out, allowing 54 points the entire season, and average of 6 per game.

Oddly, the Akron Beacon Journal All-District team named three Magics to the first team offense, Joe Mollric, Joe Suboticki, and Paul Walker, with Ken Sennett also on it as honorary captain. The great Magic defense only had one player, Terry Brown, named to the first team defense. But as previously stated, they had many others named to the entire All-District team.

PLAYER MEMORIES
Terry Brown: Canton Lincoln was an outstanding team, comparable to St. Vincent, but like St V they also lost to the Magics. Our final game, I think we had 22 seniors, wished it had been 23!

NOTE FROM BGNN SPORTS EDITOR RANDY FORST: Writing these articles has been both enlightening and sobering. I knew about the 1964 season and how good the Magics were, I guess I just didn’t realize how good. Even though I was a senior at Norton, I was well aware of how good the Magics were. My parents were both BHS graduates and on Saturday mornings after I got done telling them about the Panthers games the night before they would make sure I also knew about Barberton’s results.

After graduation I became great friends with many Barberton grads. I would hear story after story about the 1964 Magics, especially the great Ken Sennett! It was an honor to do these articles, I hope you’ve enjoyed them.

I have to give special thanks to those who helped me with these articles. Without the help of Russ Shreiner, Dave Kapes, Ray Todd, Paul Okolish, and the Akron Beacon Journal I doubt I could have written any of these articles. A great big thank you goes to Terry Brown, as he recapped every game to me to the best of his memory. Like I said, I only had an outsider’s perspective on what happened that fateful season. They gave me a look at many things myself and probably many others were not aware happened. I’ve said it before but the whole season could have been a documentary, and the final drive in the Garfield game was and still is legendary! They also showed me how young people had to cope with the loss of a friend, teammate, and a loved one. For many it was the first time they ever had to deal with a death. Once again thank you to everyone who contributed to this series. Look for a followup in next week’s paper with some interesting facts about Ken Sennett and his family, and more memories from fellow players about the beloved and remarkable star quarterback.