By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
CEDAR BLUFF – Sixty-five years ago this fall, the 1959 Cedar Bluff football team outscored its opponents 400-19 en route to the school’s first 10-0 season.
That year, head coach L.D. Bruce’s Tigers were named Class 1A District 3 state champions by The Birmingham News. There were no high school football playoffs at the time. Newspaper polls determined state championships and the sportswriters voted Bruce’s team the best in 1959.
That 1959 team was the catalyst of a dominating period in Cedar Bluff football. The Tigers won the first of two state titles in their storied football history. Cedar Bluff earned its other state title just two years later with another undefeated 10-0 season in 1961. They also went 10-0 in 1962.
On Friday, Sept. 13, the school plans on honoring the anniversary of the 1959 team. The 2024 Tigers host North Sand Mountain in a Class 2A Region 7 contest that night.
“As a former player and coach for Cedar Bluff, this team has always been a team we discuss when talking about the rich tradition of Tiger football,” Cedar Bluff principal Torey McDaniel said. “This group represents so much of what it means to be a Cedar Bluff Tiger. Now as the principal of Cedar Bluff, it is my honor and duty to make sure all our current students and players understand the significance of this group that came before them.”
Two keys to the Tigers’ successes on the field in 1959 were twin brothers Harry and Larry Tucker. Harry was an end and Larry a halfback. Both brothers were all-state selections and Bruce the 1A Coach of Year.
Back in 2012, Harry Tucker – now deceased – was selected to the Cherokee County Sports Hall of Fame. One memory he vividly recalled during the Tigers’ 1959 undefeated football season was the Gaston game on Oct. 30.
Harry Tucker said Bruce hadn’t slept much during game week, worrying how the Tigers were going to stop a bigger and deeper Bulldog team.
Fueling the Tigers’ fire was when they arrived in the parking lot at Gaston. They were met by many of the Bulldog players and cheerleaders.
“It was raining that night and we pulled in down there and started getting our gear out of the trunk. They just laughed at us,” Harry Tucker told The Cherokee County Herald in a June 4, 2012 article. “We had a little team meeting warming up and we told everybody to leave it all on the field. We were playing this one for Coach Bruce, and when it was over, it was 49-0. Needless to say, there wasn’t much laughing on their side. On defense, we held them to minus-18 yards.”
The Gaston game was one of seven shutouts posted by the Tigers that season.
As unyielding as the Tiger defense was that year, Cedar Bluff’s offense wasn’t too shabby either. Featuring the Notre Dame box, the Tigers averaged 40 points per game.
A large part of their offensive success was the Tucker twins. The duo was the Tigers’ top passing-receiving combo. Harry Tucker caught 14 touchdown passes that season.
“It was hard to defend,” Harry Tucker said. “You had so many options off that offense. Back then, we didn’t have films to trade and look at. The teams we played probably had never seen the Notre Dame box before, and that was to our advantage. I caught a lot of passes, and we had a good running game too. We could do a lot of things off of that.
“We didn’t have but 21 players, so we had to go both ways. A lot of them were eighth and ninth graders, but it was a real rewarding year and we truly enjoyed it.”