Thirty years ago, the Wittenberg University football team set a new standard for all other small colleges to follow. The Tigers won the first NCAA Division III Playoff championship by defeating Juniata 41-0 in Phenix City, Ala., site of the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.

The 1973 edition of the football Tigers posted the best record in school history (12-0), and it remains the last Wittenberg football team to finish the regular season and NCAA Division III Playoffs undefeated.

On Sept. 26-27, the first football team in NCAA Division III history to win a national championship decided not by votes cast in a poll, but by outstanding performance on the field, reunited on campus.

Among those in attendance were Head Coach Dave Maurer, Assistant Coaches Ron Murphy and Dick Fahrney, and Sports Information Director Don Perkins. Randy DeMont, the 1973 Hank Critchfield Award recipient, and Steve Drongowski, the 1973 Mike Gregory Award winner, organized the event.

“It’s a very special time for us,” said DeMont, who now lives in Colorado.

“When you look at our team 30 years ago, we were coming off back-to-back 5-4 seasons. That 1973 team came together in a very special way. We weren’t necessarily the best athletes, but we were the best team. It was a special time in our lives.”