There was a reason Dave Phillips participated in the coin-toss ceremony as an honorary captain Saturday before Air Force faced Colorado State at Falcon Stadium.
Coach Troy Calhoun wants to acquaint his players with Air Force’s football heritage. Phillips was a member of Air Force’s 1958 team that put the new academy on the state and national maps. With new coach Ben Martin at the helm, the ’58 Falcons compiled the program’s only unbeaten season, 9-0-2, including a 0-0 tie with powerful TCU in the Cotton Bowl.
Bringing former players back to be honorary captains is Calhoun’s way of keeping the history alive. And what better way to remember the past than to go back 50 years, when an unknown team gained the eyes of the nation?
The 9-0-2 record included a 16-0 triumph at Stanford, a 33-29 victory at Oklahoma State, a 20-14 victory at Colorado and a 13-13 tie at Iowa that college football pundits of the day called unbelievable. So surprising was Air Force’s performance that it had to get a special waiver from the NCAA to play in a bowl game because it had not yet graduated a senior class.
Phillips found there was a two- way street to the honorary captain experience.
“Stepping out on the field like that can’t help but get the juices flowing again,” Phillips said. “You forget for a minute that you’re 71 years old and you say to yourself, ‘Just give me a couple more plays.’ ”
But thoughts of younger days were quickly swallowed up by the real purpose of his place on the field as the captains from Air Force and Colorado State met for the coin toss. Phillips was representing all of his teammates who were able to make it back for a 50th anniversary reunion of what still is considered Air Force’s greatest team.
“We’re all very supportive of Coach Calhoun’s efforts to keep us old-timers involved,” Phillips said. “What we stood for and accomplished can’t help but build pride and create heritage for this program.”
Air Force’s Cotton Bowl team has gathered together many times over the years. Through time, those stories of yesterday have been embellished. Phillips still reminisces about his playing days as a 209-pound defensive tackle, the third-largest player on the team.
“That year was special,” Phillips said. “We won some games we had no business winning. I think the defining moment of the season was the Iowa game. We had to block an extra-point kick to get the tie.”
In the Cotton Bowl, the Falcons faced a TCU team that sent seven players on to all-pro status in the NFL, including defensive lineman Bob Lilly. Phillips was selected the most valuable lineman in the game.
When Phillips played, the Air Force Academy was based at Denver’s Lowry Field. Home football games were played at DU Stadium and Washburn Field in Colorado Springs.
After graduating, Phillips was a fighter pilot for six years in the Air Force and six years in the Marine Corps. He left the military to enter the automobile agency business in California.
Phillips’ last official assignment for Air Force was in 1963-64, when he was on the coaching staff as a military assistant coach along with Army legend and 1945 Heisman Trophy winner Felix “Doc” Blanchard.
Phillips bio
Born: Jan. 15, 1937, in Glendale, Calif.
High school: Burbank (Calif.)
College: Air Force Academy
Family: Wife Phyllis, daughters Julieanne and Robin
Hobby: Golf. He has taken a 35-day playing trip.
Secret ambition: He once wanted to drive race cars.
