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- Title:
- 1975
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- Sports Played:
- National Championship Team
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- Induction Year:
- 2023
Bio
It’s a team that had no equal in 1975. The 1963 Orange Coast College football team helped put the college on the national radar when the Pirates won their first national championship with a Junior Rose Bowl win. But, the 1975 team showed all of California Community College athletics that there was a new sports powerhouse on the horizon and it’s a feeling that’s helped Coast capture 96 state and national championships throughout our 24 sports programs, the most of any California Community College. OCC’s 1975 squad went a perfect 11-0, including a 38-14 win in the Avocado Bowl against Rio Hondo to win its second national title. Coast was led by running back Tony Accomando (1,155 rushing yards, 29 touchdowns) and tackle and fellow OCC Hall of Famer, Jack Clark, who were both JC All-Americans. Six other Pirates from the ’75 squad were All-America honorable mention selections, nine were first-team All-South Coast Conference and two were conference co-players of the year. In addition, 12 Pirates earned a spot on the All-Orange County squad, while Accomando was named the county player of the year. Coast outscored its opponents by an average score of 40-13 that season and still managed to set individual records, even though most staters were pulled well before the completion of each game. At least 23 different Pirate players moved on to compete at the four-year level from that squad, including fellow hall of famers Accomando (Texas Christian University) and Clark (UC Berkeley). HOF coach, the late, great Dick Tucker, in an article written by fellow HOFer Jim Carnett had this to say about his ’75 team … “We were a complete team. During my years in coaching, I always wanted my teams to be balanced in their attack. We didn’t have a close game all season, but we never intentionally ran up a score. We pulled our starters in the third quarter.”
