Flashback: 1971 National Championship

We're building up to the 2019 NJCAA Football Championship on Dec. 5, which will pit No. 1 Gulf Coast against No. 2 Lackawanna in Pittsburg, Kansas. Today, we'll remember the second national championship at Perkinston back in 1971. This is from MGCCC Archivist Charles Sullivan's book "Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College: A History, 1911-2000."

Gulf Coast, coached by George Sekul, had narrowly missed a South Division championship in 1970 because of a 0-0 tie with Jones and a 12-0 loss to Pearl River. The 1971 season began with a 28-21 win over Itawamba and a 30-7 victory over Copiah-Lincoln, and Gulf Coast began to exact revenge against Jones at Perk. Quarterback James "Dinky" McKay scored on a 15-yard run. The Bulldogs got a touchdown catch from Eugene Ganucheau and a 24-yard scoring run by Johnny O'Brien to win 27-8.

The next game was in Biloxi, just blocks from Sekul's boyhood home, and for the first time in history, the two teams were undefeated heading into the clash. McKay put Gulf Coast in front 8-7 with a run and a two-point conversion pass. He added another touchdown run in the second half, then the Bulldogs benefited from a fortuitous bounce after Don Fredericks fumbled after making a catch at the Pearl River 48. Larry Benefield recovered and went the distance to make it 22-13. Gulf Coast went on to win 37-21 to take over sole possession of first in the South Division.

Levorne Hawthorne saved the Bulldogs' undefeated season in the next game against East Central. He caught a 7-yard pass from McKay with seven seconds left, and Jimmy Beck kicked the extra point for a 28-27 win.

The Bulldogs blitzed East Mississippi and Southwest by a combined 69-21 before demolishing Hinds 62-7 to claim the South Division crown. Gulf Coast beat Mississippi Delta 26-14 in Biloxi for the state championship, making them undefeated headed to play for the NJCAA championship in the Shrine Bowl against Fort Scott, the defending national champs.

The Greyhounds were on a 27-game winning streak and ranked No. 1 in the NJCAA poll. Gulf Coast had won 17 straight and was ranked No. 1 in the JC Gridwire poll. Jerald Thomas put the Bulldogs up with a 64-yard touchdown run, and McKay hit Thomas for a 33-yard touchdown pass to make it 13-0.

A steady freezing drizzle began to fall at the start of the second half, and Ganucheau ended the first Gulf Coast drive of the second half with a careening 40-yard touchdown reception to make it 19-7. After a Fort Scott touchdown, Beck kicked a 36-yard field goal that capped a 22-13 win for the school's second national championship. Gulf Coast finished 11-0.

Five Gulf Coast players earned All-American honors. McKay was the first-team quarterback. Defensive lineman Skipp Holland made the second team, and offensive lineman John Jalanivich and linebacker Kenny Larsen made the honorable mention list.