Sports History
How Sweet It Was
By Anne Madarasz

New Year's is a time to reflect on the year just past and to look forward to the year ahead. This year, the day also provided the opportunity to reflect back a little further, 30 years to be exact, on a glorious season of Pitt football. The year 1976 was a magical one for the University of Pittsburgh. The team captured the national championship and Tony Dorsett received the highest honor bestowed in college football when he was awarded the Heisman Trophy.

Pitt has a storied past in football. Under the direction of coaches Pop Warner and Jock Sutherland the university established itself as a powerhouse in their early years, winning five national titles. By the 1960s and 70s, that record of success had become a distant memory, and it fell to new coach John Majors to rebuild the program.

Majors, an All-American at the University of Tennessee, served as head coach at Iowa State from 1968-1972, leading that team to its first ever bowl games in 1971 and '72 and being named Big 8 Coach of the Year in 1971.

In 1973, his first year at Pitt, he worked to increase the number of football scholarships, improve facilities by renovating the stadium, build a new team locker room, and add to training spaces. Majors also focused new efforts on recruiting; bringing a stellar class to Pitt that included heavily recruited running back Tony Dorsett.

These efforts bore fruit - Pitt went 6-4-1 in Majors' first year, earning a berth in the Fiesta Bowl. Majors captured the National Coach of the Year award, an honor he would win again in 1976. The team continued to improve and in 1975 went 7-4 and beat Kansas in the Fiesta Bowl 33-14. During this period, Tony Dorsett established himself as a preeminent player.

Western Pennsylvanians first took notice of Dorsett in high school, when he starred for Hopewell and was named an All-American by a number of sports organizations. He continued to garner honors at the University of Pittsburgh, becoming the first in NCAA history with four 1,000 yard seasons and three 1,500 yard seasons. Considered one of the finest running backs in the college game, Dorsett was named four years as an NCAA All-American, capping off his career at Pitt in 1976 when he was named the Heisman Trophy winner, and received the Walter Camp and Maxwell awards. The Panthers were winners as well; they went 12-0 during the season and were invited to play in the Sugar Bowl.

There, on January 1, 1977, Pitt soundly beat Georgia 27-3, capping a perfect year and winning the national championship. Truly a memory worth revisiting as we evaluate the old and look ahead to the new!

Anne Madarasz is Director of the Western PA Sports Museum where the story of college football and the 1976 season are told.