The 1960s era of Heber Springs football saw the game change with more liberal substitution rules and the Panthers coming close to pair of conference championships.
Bill Rosa took over coaching duties from Cecil Alexander for the 1960 season and the Panthers finished with a 1-7 mark, defeating Newport “B” in week 6.
James Staggs would take over in 1961 with a young assistant coach Isaac Witt helping out. After starting the season 0-3, the Panthers would close out the season by winning five in a row and finishing their first winning season since 1952. Heber Springs would down Carlisle, Harding Academy in 2B action, Searcy “B”, Cotton Plant and Beebe.
The next season, 1962, would see another new coach on the sidelines for the Panthers as former Arkansas Razorback fullback Darrell Williams (whose twin brother Jarrell would win 261 games and four state championships as a head coach at Springdale) took over the coaching duties, with Witt remaining as an assistant. The 1962 season also saw the opening of the current Panther Stadium as McCrory won the first game at the new field, 7-6. After downing Clinton, 13-7 on the road, the Panthers returned home for a week 3 contest with the coach Harold Horton-led Bald Knob Bulldogs. The match-up of former Razorback teammates would go to the Bulldogs but the Panthers would four out of their last six to finish with a winning record.
The Panthers fifth coach in as many seasons, Russell Sims, took over in 1963 — with Witt still in an assistant’s role. Heber Springs finished the season with a 3-7-1 mark, tying McCrory in the opener and downing Newport “B”, Beebe and Batesville “B”.
Sims and Witt stayed together in 1964 and led the Panthers to an historic 9-win season (the most wins in school history until 1979). The Panthers would meet Hazen in the next to last week of the season in match-up of ranked teams to determine the champion for district 2B. The Hornets would claim a 13-12 victory to earn the title.
With the success, Sims and Witt both left with Sims taking over the Mountain Home program. Richard Whybrew and former Clinton standout Stanley Stanton would lead the program for the 1965 and 1966 seasons. The Panthers would manager only two wins in each season, downing Clinton and Cotton Plant in 1965 and Cotton Plant and DeValls Bluff in 1966.
Witt would return for the 1967 season, this time as head coach, as Heber Springs would finish 1-9-1, downing Marshall in week two and tying Hazen in week 9.
Jim Patchell would join Witt’s staff for the 1968 and 1969 seasons as the Panthers would close out the decade by going 7-2 in 1968 and 7-3 in 1969. The 1968 squad lost a heartbreaker to Hazen, 12-7, in the final game of the season that would have earned the Panthers their second conference title.
After two decades in the 2B, Heber Springs moved up a classification as the school begin to grow in the late 1960s. The 1969 team was placed in the 2A-South but did not play a conference schedule. Instead, many newer programs that would later be conference rivals began football programs, including Mountain View, Vilonia, Highland, Marshall and Greenbrier; and the Panthers feasted on those programs going 9-0 against those schools.
The 1960s HSHS All-Decade Football Team
(Position, Player and Last Season Played)
OFFENSE
WR – Dennis DeBusk (1965)
WR – Dwight Olmstead (1968)
OL – Verlon Abram (1969)
OL – Wayne Bailey (1964)
OL – Charles Bradford (1960)
OL – John Cunningham (1965)
OL – James Robert DeBusk (1967)
QB – Rickey Pilkington (1968)
RB – Ronnie Lewellyn (1968)
RB – Bubba Ramsey (1961)
RB – Ernie Longing (1963)
K/AP – Jim Patchell (1962)
AP – Freddie Clayton (1964)
AP – Larry Robinson (1968)
DEFENSE
DL – Thurman Clark (1964)
DL – Joe Paul Daves (1962)
DL – Eddie Lacy (1968)
DL – Robert Walters (1966)
LB – David Lay (1968)
LB – Don Lucy (1964)
LB – Bill Cook (1961)
DB/P – Jerry Todd (1964)
DB – Wain Westerman (1968)
DB – Dan Verser (1963)
DB – Jeff Long (1964)
AP – Whit Birdsong (1969)
AP – Terry Lynn (1969)
AP – Gene McFarland (1962)
PREVIOUS DECADES
The 1950s HSHS All-Decade Team
The 1940s HSHS All-Decade Team
