by Louis Bonnette
It’s Homecoming for McNeese State this week and former Cowboy running back Theron McClendon remembers the homecoming games he participated in.
There were four and what McClendon remembers the most is,”we won all four of them.”
The former Cowboy standout never had a real outstanding game in any of the four homecoming tilts he participated in, but he did put many a standout contest into the books during his four year career from 1978 to 1981.
Perhaps the game he remembers the most came about one cool November night in Cowboy Stadium. It was November 10, 1979. A crowd of 19,000 had packed the stadium to see the Cowboys host Louisiana Tech.
McNeese was undefeated through nine games and on its way to the Southland Conference title, an 11-0 record and an appearance in the Independence Bowl game. Louisiana Tech was having one of its down years but the Bulldogs did have a quarterback by the name of Matt Dunnigan who would go on to hall of fame status in the Canadian Football League.
McClendon, a 5-7, 165 pounder didn’t know it at the time but he would be setting a school, conference and state record that night.
He carried the football an amazing 46 times, chalking up 212 yards.
He said that he knew he would have to handle the football a few times but didn’t figure on anything like that.
“Artie (Shankle) had broken his jaw in the game before and earlier in the season our other tailback (Harry Price) had been moved to wide receiver,” he recalled.
“I remember that we beat Tech by a pretty good score that night (it was 41-6) but I didn’t know that I had carried the ball that many times until after the game was over and they told me,” he said.
The first drive the Cowboys had should have told him something.
McNeese won the coin toss and unlike most teams now, the Cowboys elected to receive.
The kickoff went out of the end zone and they put the ball in play on the 20.
McClendon drew the carry the first five times of the drive and 10 of the 13 plays in the drive. His yardage was 55 yards and the Cowboys got on the scoreboard on a 29 yard field goal by Don Stump.
The tailback had 14 of the Cowboys 24 plays and 82 of their 139 yards in the first quarter.
At halftime McClendon had rushed for 156 yards, had scored twice and had carried the ball 32 times.
By then the Cowboys held a 24-0 lead.
It must have been late in the third quarter when McClendon asked for a breather.
“I remember that each time we changed possession I would come over the bench and just sit. Didn’t move. Just sat right there. One time I told Coach Dup (head coach Ernie Duplechin) that he had to put someone else in.
“He did. He sent Harry in but then I was back in on the next possession.”
After three quarters McClendon’s total was 204 yards rushing on 44 carries. He would go on to carry the football two more times to give him 46 rips on the night for 212 yards.
The score at the end of three quarters had the Cowboys up 34-0.
After two more rushes in the final period, the DeRidder native got to stay on the bench with fullback Gerald Polaski and backup tailback Freddie Polk getting the carries the rest of the way.
His 46 carries remains the McNeese State and Southland Conference record. No other Cowboy has ever carried the football for even 40 times. And, the most carries by a McNeese player since then has been the 38 trips by Jessie Burton against Southwest Missouri in 2000.
McClendon now shares the SLC record with former Texas State standout Claude Mathis who ran 46 times against Jacksonville State in 1997.
And, the Louisiana record is now in the hands of former Louisiana Tech running back Jason Davis who carried the ball 47 times against Louisiana-Lafayette in 1990.
The 212 yards that McClendon mounted against Tech back in 1979 is the 9th highest single game total in McNeese history. He would have 257 carries that year, also a school record. The Cowboy tailback went on to produce 2,920 yards in his career and that puts him 5th on the all-time list.
He was also a sprinter on the Cowboy track and field team and at one time had been a member of the school’s 4x400 meter record holding relay team. Stephen Starring, Verril Young and Robert Gaines were the other members who posted a 40.42 effort.
Now, only two weeks shy of his 50th birthday (Nov. 8), McClendon, who is a member of the McNeese Hall of Fame, said that he had some good memories to look back on from his college career but that the game against Louisiana Tech in 1979 when he carried the football 46 times, is one memory he will never forget.
His effort in that contest not only set a school record but the victory gave the Cowboys the league title and put them into a post season bowl game.
And, his 46 trips will probably be in the books for a long time to come.
