Part 1
– The fall of 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of Beggs High School’s 1975 football team winning the Class A state championship. It was the first sports state championship in the school’s history. It still stands as the only state championship in football.
On Oct. 24, the team will celebrate the anniversary with the school, the community, former classmates, friends and family. Let’s take the next few weeks to look back at that season because Beggs certainly did not start the season favored to win it all.
Sure, in the early to mid-70’s, the Beggs Demons had been recognized for their prowess as the press dubbed them the “Demon Machine.” It had even become difficult to fill the schedule because teams just flat out didn’t want to play Beggs. (Apparently, this is still the case.)
Despite coming off a losing season in 1974, Beggs found themselves playing Catoosa at Catoosa in the first game of the ‘75 season. Catoosa was ranked #1 preseason in Class 2A. Beggs won 148. Coach Raymond Jordan would later cite that win as the moment he knew the season could be special.
The win over Catoosa propelled Beggs to a ranking in Class A’s top ten. It knocked Catoosa out of the top spot in Class 2A and moved Bristow to the number one seed. And, who was next on Beggs’ schedule? That’s right – Bristow.
Bristow handed Beggs their first loss of the season with a score of 16-0. At the time, the Demons didn’t know Bristow would end their season as 2A State Champs. As a side note, Okmulgee finished the 1975 season as 3A State Champs. Yes, this little section of Oklahoma had three state champions in 1975. It almost had a fourth in the Dewar Dragons who were favored the majority of the season to win Class B.
Locust Grove was the next team to face Beggs and the Demons won handily 29-8. It was a sweet victory considering Locust Grove had beat Beggs 3-0 in their previous match-up. But, the road was not to get any easier immediately.
In the fourth game of the season, Beggs found themselves facing defending Class A state champ, Stroud. In the ‘74 season, Stroud had handed Beggs its biggest loss at 36-0. As well, the execution of that victory had left a very sour taste in Beggs’ mouths.
Though they led the game into the third quarter, Beggs did lose the game late by a margin of only one point. Some memories fade in 50 years while others remain sharp. The football’s nose relative to the goal line on several different plays remains fresh in many of the Demon players’ memories. In hindsight, those memories served a purpose later in the season.
Beggs was now 2-2 on the season. But, they had already faced topranked teams in two classes. They didn’t realize it yet but there was benefit to these games regardless of the losses. The experiences had seasoned and sharpened their sophomore quarterback and backfield.
In the remaining six games of the regular season, Beggs won five by a margin of at least 20 points and by an average of 38+ points. The only loss was to Cascia Hall at Cascia Hall. Oddly, some would even say suspiciously, Cascia Hall would end their season as the only team able to claim they had “beaten” two state champions – Beggs and Bristow. There’s more to that story and there’s long been a joking rumor that some Beggs fathers might be credited with why there are police escorts for referees after games now.
Going into the play-offs, Beggs did not have the worst record in the 32team field at 7-3. But, they did have the worst record of the top 8. In fact, three were undefeated – Oklahoma City Millwood, Roland and Fox.
-Stay tuned to Part 2 of this look back to 1975. If you’re interested in celebrating with the team and hearing these stories, you can catch up on all the details on the Facebook page, Beggs High School 50th Anniversary 1975 Football State Champs.
