Tensions ran high in Mesa, Colo. as the Hillsdale Charger football team took the field against Mesa State. The Chargers had travelled for more than 15 hours by airplane and bus from Hillsdale to Colorado. They were exhausted and not acclimated to the thin Mesa air, a by-product of rocky mountain altitude.
The Chargers lost that game 9-18, just one win away from playing in the NAIA National Championship.The loss, however, marked the end of a triumphant season; one of the best in Hillsdale’s history both on and off field.
The ’82 team will be honored for their accomplishments at the homecoming football game on sat., October 27 at halftime.
The 1982 team won every game during the regular season, won the GLIAC title outright, and advanced to the semifinals of the NAIA championship.
In the quarterfinals game Hillsdale faced Carson-Newman College. Dave Mehalas, a 1983 graduate and center, remembered the game as the Chargers matched up against Boyce Green. Carson Newman’s star running back went on to have a five-year career in NFL, with the Cleveland Browns, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Kansas City Chiefs.
“They had some darn good players, but we beat them,” Mehalas remembered.
Unfortunately Mehalas was unable to play in the ’82 season due to a knee injury in ’81. This didn’t stop him from helping the team and staying close to his friends and coaches. He found an important role on the sidelines as the offensive scout-team coach.
Mehalas, a Detroit native, chose Hillsdale over Wayne State University in order to avoid living at home freshman year. It did not take Mehalas long to learn to love Hillsdale. He double- majored in English and Business Administration .
“I came to Hillsdale not really knowing or caring about philosophy, but I got into it,” Mehalas said. “I really got into my education while I was there – great professors, small class sizes. I enjoyed the education as much as I did the football.”
Mehalas came to like Hillsdale so much that he stayed another year after graduation working in the admissions department before leaving to work for General Motors where he has worked for 28 years.
“I never had a job as important to GM as that one role I played for that one year [in admissions],” Mehalas said. “We went out and did a great job. We brought in a freshman class of 340 kids which was a big freshman class back then. ”
If escaping his parents’ house and studying the liberals arts wasn’t reason enough to leave Detroit, Mehalas got the opportunity to reunite with one of his high school teammates, Colin Haffey .
During their freshman year at Hillsdae, Haffey remembers, the team losing twice as many games as he and Dave lost in their entire high school career. Hillsdale had a record of three wins and eight losses in 1979.
But the team made vast improvement over the next four years at Hillsdale. In 1980, Dick Lowry became the head coach. Lowry began to turn the program around and by ‘82 the team played a perfect regular season.
“We had a lot of really good players and a really great coaching staff. We were prepared and motivated and very well-led,” Mehalas said.
Haffey remembers how well the team bonded together. Not only were they teammates, but they were friends, he said.
Haffey introduced teammate and friend Tony Iorio to the woman who became Iorio’s wife.
Iorio came to Hillsdale from New York City. Like Haffey and Mehalas he developed a special bond with his teammates, particularly the ‘82 team.
“The guys that I played with that year were an outstanding group. Not only good athletes, but also good guys. Just good people to be around.” Iorio said.
After graduating, Haffey went to work for Morgan Stanley in Toledo and is still with them today. Iorio went on to work on Wall Street for some time, and then to the construction business where he is currently in project management.
With homecoming weekend marking the return of numerous student athletes many old teammates will be reuniting at tailgates and the tent party It is safe to say that few of the athletes will be looking back on their careers with as much fondness as members of that last undefeated team.
“I learned a lot from them,” Iorio said. “I hope they learned something from me.”
