1985 Badger champs look to this year's game with excitement
By Bob Bahlmann
11-28-07

Kevin White occasionally dusts off a VHS tape and watches the game film of the Snow College 1985 national championship. Family members accuse him of being an “Uncle Rico,” a character from the movie “Napoleon Dynamite” who dreams about what might have been.
In White’s case, the dream was reality. “Not many people can say ‘I won a national championship; I played on the best team in the nation,’” he said. “It gives you a feeling of accomplishment, gratitude and satisfaction.”
“The 1985 Badgers were a great team. We had 27 players that went on to play for D1 [Division 1 NCAA] schools,” White said. “The team was solid in every facet of the game, a tribute to the coaches. They had the fullest confidence in their players.”
Winning all the marbles was a complete turnaround from the previous year. Coach Walt Criner described the 1984 season as a “disappointment.” Snow was 4-6 that year, but the 1985 team was bigger, stronger and faster.
Some of the names from the 1985 roster might be familiar to 2007 Badger fans. Chad Beck and Todd Lee were local players. Assistant coaches Gary Crowton and Paul Tidwell stayed true to the Badger blue and coached at BYU. Crowton was a head coach for the Cougars and is now offensive coordinator at LSU. Tidwell is an assistant under BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall, who was an All-American cornerback on Snow’s championship team. Ken Beazer served as athletic director for Snow College and is now athletic director at SUU.
White now serves as executive director for the Top of the Mountains Bowl. “It’s time consuming, but I love it,” he said. “It’s a way for me to get back to the place that gave me my start.”
The “TOMB” was established as a tool for junior college players to showcase their talent and improve their chance to play in the future.
“Devin Frischknecht is an excellent example,” White said. Before last year’s bowl game Devin was being recruited by Troy [University in Alabama]. After earning MVP honors with his performance at the TOMB, schools like Oklahoma and Washington State were seeking his talents.
The TOMB is played in the classiest venue of any NJCAA bowl game. “Most of the other bowls are played on high school or JC fields,” White said. Rice-Eccles stadium was selected because the organizers wanted the TOMB to be the site of the NJCAA National Championship. That goal has been accomplished and teams from across the nation have been begging to be invited.
The game has also turned into a tremendous recruiting tool for the Badgers. “We’ll probably have 20 or more major program coaches at the game,” said White. Tens of thousands of tickets have been sent out to prospective players who might be interested in playing on Snow’s 2008 team.
White recalled an early season pep rally from 1985 where a skit depicted students in the future looking back on Snow’s 1985 championship. “Back to the Future”—in 2007 the Badgers do it again.