For many local football fans, the Oak Harbor High School team of 2006, the winner of the state 4A championship, is the greatest in school history.

The OHHS football program’s success over the past 15 years, highlighted by the state crown, earned it a spot among the area’s elite. But none of those teams, not even the state title winners, can match the record of the 1966 team.

Fifty years ago this fall, the Wildcats went undefeated and untied; only the 1943 squad can equal that claim.

State playoffs in high school football didn’t exist until 1973; therefore, the 1966 squad did not have the opportunity to decide the state championship on the field.

It should be noted that now, with the playoffs, only the state champion can finish a year without a loss. In 2007, Oak Harbor won 11 games before falling in the state quarterfinals.

Oak Harbor dropped a regular season game before marching to the 2006 title.

Polls pick champs

In the pre-playoff days, the state champion was the team which finished atop the state polls provided by the Associated Press and United Press International — the same system used until several years ago to crown the national college champion.

In 1966, Oak Harbor finished ranked third in the UPI poll and fifth in the AP. Seattle Prep, a perennial power at the time, took top honors.

Surprise team

Coming off a 4-4 league record in 1965, Oak Harbor wasn’t considered one of the preseason favorites.

The Wildcats, coached by Will McGillivary, opened with a 33-0 win over Mount Vernon, then beat Lynden 19-0. That set up a showdown with one of the league’s traditional powers, Burlington-Edison, which was 3-0.

Before a crowd of over 3,000, believed to be the largest crowd in Oak Harbor history, the Wildcats topped the Tigers 19-6.

The following week they beat another undefeated team, Sedro-Woolley, 13-7.

Oak Harbor clipped Snohomish 19-7, and a week later the Wildcats worked their way in the top-10 polls when they handled second-place Ferndale 20-7.

That win also set up the most exciting game of the season, homecoming against Anacortes.

Comeback win

Oak Harbor was hoping lightning wouldn’t strike twice. Three seasons earlier, Oak Harbor entered its homecoming game, also against Anacortes, with a 6-0 record. The Seahawks were winless but stunned the Wildcats with a 6-6 tie (no tie-breaking system was used in those days), producing the only blot on Oak Harbor’s otherwise clean season record.

This time around, Anacortes, which came in with a .500 record, led 21-6 going into the fourth quarter. Oak Harbor’s Mike Tennis recovered a fumble at the Anacortes 16, and Oak Harbor quickly scored. On their next possession, the Wildcats scored again, trimming the gap to 21-20. The teams traded punts, then Oak Harbor took over at its own 47 with 1:39 remaining. A pass from Jeff Short to George Johnson set up a scoring sneak by Short in the final seconds, and the Wildcats rallied for a 26-21 win.

Running the table

Next, Oak Harbor defeated Arlington 20-12 and then wrapped up the season by handing Marysville its 33-straight loss, 65-0.

The lopsided win set a Northwest League scoring record, topping Burlington-Edison’s mark of 57 points set in 1952.

Oak Harbor finished the season with 215 points for and 60 against, both conference records.

Longtime sports editor of the Skagit Valley Herald, Royal Gunn, said at the conclusion of the 1966 season that “this team should indeed rate right up there with the very few unbeaten, untied teams in the history of Northwest football.”

All stars

Keith Hoffman was a two-way, first-team selection as a back; he also finished the year with 118 points, breaking Jim Cope’s school record of 80.

Todd Oldenburg, a lineman, was also a two-way, all-league choice.

Other first-teamers where Short (quarterback), Carl Peterson (end) and Mel Elvebak (linebacker). Elvebak produced the statistical oddity of intercepting three passes in one game and blocking three punts in another.

Earning second team honors were Tim Rowand, Tim Nelson and Tennis. Honorable mention went to Dave Boon, Mark Haddock and Scott Hornung.

Hoffman and Elevak went on to play for Washington State University, and Short received a scholarship to the University of Washington, but later transferred to Central Washington where he set several passing records.

One of the reserves was sophomore end John Brady, who established receiving records at the University of Washington and was selected in the third round of the National Football League draft by Detroit.

The senior football players formed the nucleus of the most successful athletic class in Oak Harbor history. In addition to winning the football title, the Wildcats were first in baseball, wrestling, track and tennis; third in cross country; and fifth in basketball.

Elvebak said winning the football title “was cool, and it became cooler over time.”

He also had high praise for his coach: “I love McGillivary. He was a tough guy, but if he liked you, you were in good shape.”

Old-school coach

McGillivary coached in the mold of the time’s successful coaches, like the University of Washington’s Jim Owens and Alabama’s Bear Bryant.

Hornung, the starting center on the Wildcats’ 1966 team, said the mentality that led to the comeback win over Anacortes was ingrained by McGillivary long before that game.

“This was drilled into us when we were sophomores,” Hornung said. “We had lost a sophomore game against Bellingham. We had not taken the game seriously. After all, it was only a sophomore game. Well, when the bus arrived back in Oak Harbor, McGillivray was there to meet us.

“It was probably about 6:15 p.m. and getting dark, but instead of allowing us to go home for dinner, McGillivray started running us through football conditioning drills. We ran drills well into the night.”

McGillivary left Oak Harbor to coach at Everett Community College in 1968. In 2010, he was inducted into the EvCC Hall of Fame.

Happy memories

“Although the significance of the memories related to that 1966 season have shifted in importance when compared with other life events, those memories always make me smile.” Hornung said. “I am grateful to my coaches (McGillivary, Clint West, Jim Cole and Gene Verburg) and teammates for their roles in providing me those good memories.”