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DOVER, Del. -Forty years ago, Delaware State University football made history under first-year head coach Bill Collick. He led the Hornets to their first MEAC championship. That 1985 season, remembered for its triumphs, friendships, and heartbreak, is being celebrated on Oct. 10 with a reunion in Dover.
From 1981-1984, Collick was Delaware State’s defensive coordinator. When his head coach Joe Purzycki accepted the position at James Madison University. Collick nearly joined him. " He really wanted to take all of us with him and it sound exciting, Collick said. "However, I was married and my wife was expecting with our second child. She said to me one day, ‘you know, this football thing can be fleeting.”
Cool Spring’s Tim Gray, was a standout from Cape Henlopen High School’s 1979 state championship team. Collick was his defensive coordinator that season with the Vikings. After Collick joined the Hornets staff, Gray was preparing to go active duty in the Army. “Coach said, ‘you know, Timmy Gray, you would be the first in your family to go to college, first generation,” Gray recalled the recruiting process.
The Hornets’ roster also featured John Taylor, future San Francisco 49ers star and Super Bowl champion. His talent raised the level of competition in practice, pushing teammates like defensive back Willie Sheppard and others to improve. “He went by me so fast, I'm like, well, I have to get better and he got me to play better at cornerback,” Sheppard said.
John Taylor (#82) caught 13 touchdown passes in 1985. A record that stood for 15 years (Delaware State University).
The team’s defining moment came with a nationally televised game against Southern University in Baton Rouge. In front of the largest crowd that they would play in front of all season (22,500), Delaware State stunned the HBCU powerhouse 46-8. “We just basically destroyed them,” Gray said, adding that by the third quarter, Southern’s famous band seemed to be playing for the Hornets instead.
Bill Collick (center) celebrating after a win during the 1985 season (Delaware State University).
Delaware State finished the regular season 9-2, ranked 12th in the nation, and captured the MEAC championship. But despite their record, the Hornets were left out of the Division I-AA playoffs, a disappointment that still lingers. “It still bothers me because our kids worked hard and did all the things they were supposed to do,” Collick said.
“It took a while for us to be able to let that go and really get back and enjoy and embrace the MEAC championship," recalled linebacker Dr. Marvin Bright.
On Friday, Bright, Collick, Sheppard, Gray, and other members of the 1985 team will gather in Dover to celebrate that season. “Whenever you get the chance to see them, you cherish that moment,” Gray said. “Forty years, we’ve all been blessed.”
The banquet brunch is scheduled for noon at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Student Center on the Delaware State University campus.