Interesting Facts about the Savages

• Broken Bow's high school football team hasn't always been called the Savages. Prior to the 1924 season, Broken Bow was known as the "Scouts."

• The "Little River Rumble" football rivalry between the Broken Bow Savages and the Idabel Warriors is the oldest continuous rivalry in the state of Oklahoma in all classes of high school football. The Rumble has been played for roughly 95 years, with the Savages holding a slim advantage over the Warriors in the number of wins. Broken Bow is currently on a 8-game winning streak against Idabel in the annual series.

• Broken Bow Memorial Stadium is one of the oldest and largest football stadiums in Class 4A. Thanks to the contributions of the community, much of the stadium has been renovated, including the home-side press box and the new scoreboard (updated in 2003). The classic "Home of the Savages" banner that crowned the old scoreboard has now been re-painted and added to the home-side press box. Due to the large support of the community for the football team, roughly half of the north stands is used for additional seating for Broken Bow fans.

• Broken Bow has one of the most tradition-rich football programs in Class 4A, behind the traditional powers of Ada and Clinton with 4 state championships and a host of playoff appearances. Currently, Ada has won 19 state championships since 1951 and Clinton has won 12 state championships since 1965.

• During the 1980's & 90's, the Savages won 13-straight district championships.

• Broken Bow's 1994 State Championship loss to the Woodward Boomers came in the longest State Championship game ever played in Oklahoma, lasting 3 overtime periods before the Boomers prevailed 35-28.

• On October 1, 2004, before the annual game with Idabel, the Savages made their entrance onto the field of Memorial Stadium by going underneath the home stands through the central tunnel. This marked the first time since 1972 that the Savages entered through the tunnel.

• The last time the Savages made a major change to the style of their football helmets was in the early 90's when Broken Bow changed from a white helmet with a black facemasks to a metallic gold helmet. An example of the two helmets can be seen at the bottom of this page in the "Championship Tradition" banner. The classic "BB" arrowhead logo has remained unchanged for decades, however the arrowhead logo was changed from 1999-2001 when the Indian logo was put inside the arrowhead. The interlocking BB was put back in the helmet logo in 2002.

1924 was the first year of the Broken Bow Savages. In the years leading up to that season, the Broken Bow High School football club was known as the "Scouts." Eddie Wilson, a member of the 1924 Savages, came up with idea of the original Indian logo to identify the Savages. The coach for the 1924 squad was Loyd Powers, who later went on to coach the Durant Lions. After Powers, P.W. Shelton coached the Savages.

Class A State Championship

Broken Bow: 14
Clinton: 34

Class A State Championship

Broken Bow: 6
Clinton: 34

1972 was the first of four state championships that the Broken Bow Savages have won up till this date. The Savages completed an unblemished season by defeating the Pauls Valley Panthers 12-7 in the Class 2A State Championship Game. The '72 Broken Bow squad launched an impressive 2-year campaign, where the Savages won 25 of 26 games. Coach Hall's ballclub ended the season perfectly, going 13-0 to grab the Beast of the Southeast's first state title.

1973

On November 30, 1973 the Broken Bow Savages captured their second-straight State Championship. The Savages only loss of the season came to the rival Idabel Warriors, losing 7-0 to the Highway 259 foe, and thus stopping the longest current winning streak in the state. The Savages won the district title in a torrential downpour against Antlers, and then went on to defeat Elk City 28-8 to claim their second straight 2A State title. Coaches: Ray Hall, Doug Walden, Mark Willis, and Granville Chandler.

Class 4A State Championship

Duncan: 21
Broken Bow: 0

Unbelievable! That is what everybody all over the state was saying. Who would have guessed it? The Broken Bow Savages, the smallest school in the entire class of 4A Oklahoma football, finish the season on top of 4A as the State Champions! No one gave them a chance or a hope. They said Broken Bow lacked speed, size, and overall talent; but the naysayers overlooked the key ingredients; heart, desire, and determination. As was evident all year long, those ingredients were what brought home the 4A State Championship Trophy to Kiamichi Country after the Savages defeated Northeast Academy (OKC) 10-7.

In 1988 Coach Rich Jones took over the reins of the Savages from former Coach Tom Condict.  He inherited a team that from what the papers and all the polls read would pretty much finish last in the rankings in their district.  This was a rebuilding year for the Savages.  The Savages had all new coaches except Coach Dean and Coach Willis.  There were three new coaches:  Rich Jones - head coach, Eddie Barnwell, and coach Longadon.  They were all from Jay High School.  The first three games were against the DeQueen Leopards, McAlester Buffalos and Tulsa Memorial.  McAlester won class 4A State Championship that year.  Tulsa Memorial were semi-finalist in 5A football that year.  The Savages came out of pre-season with a 1-2 record with loses to Tulsa Memorial and McAlester.  They won the game against DeQueen. The Savages looked like they were going to make all of the papers look like they were right.  The regular season kicked off without a hitch.  The Savages did not let up once they got started.  That year the Idabel Warriors, the Savages long time rival were making a name for themselves.  The day came to see who would prevail.  As a player and a senior that year this was as close to glory as you could get.  Idabel ranked #1 and the Savages ranked #5.  Idabel was picked to beat us, but that did not happen.  We finished with our fourth string getting playing time.  The final score was 42-8 in favor of the Savages.  This is the same year that the Savages was dubbed "The Beast of the Southeast".  We went all to way to the state championship in Stillwater.  The Savage season came to an end as state runner-up.  The team that was not suppose to even finish with a winning season ended up with a 12-3 record, with 12 seniors on the roster.

This is also the year that the Savage emblem in the middle of the football field appeared.  I asked Coach Willis one day after practice if we could paint a Savage emblem in the middle of the field.  He told me that I would have to check with Coach Jones.   Coach Jones thought that it would be a good idea.  So, Coach Willis' wife made a stencil for the first emblem.  We painted it one Thursday before a Friday game.  The people involved in this were:  Coach Willis, Brent Willis, Mrs. Willis, Marvin Bray and myself.

These are fond memories send to our website from SSG Billy Honey - Savage #31.

Class 3A State Championship

Ada: 35
Broken Bow: 6

The newspaper called it a "Dream Season" and that's exactly what is was. Rated a unanimous #1 in every pre-season poll in August, the Savages maintained that rating by running the table through 15 consecutive games and emerged in December as the class 3A State Champions, defeating the Seminole Chieftains 24-14 in the title game. This 15-0 season set a school record for the most wins in a single season. Coaches: Rich Jones, Eddie Barnwell, Mark Willis, Jerry Dean, and Doug Londgain.

On a cool December day at Lewis Field in Stillwater, the Savages faced off with the Woodward Boomers for the 5A State Championship. The two teams went back and forth the entire game, and needed 3 overtimes to decide a winner. Ultimately, the Boomers prevailed 35-28 over the Savages, in the longest State Championship game ever played in Oklahoma.

In 2002, Greg Werner, the former coach of the Nowata Ironmen took over the reigns of a struggling Savage football team. Werner made it his mission to restore Broken Bow Savage football to the "Beast of the Southeast" that dominated teams in the 80's & early 90's. Many polls predicted the Savages would finish around 5th or 6th in District 4A-4 that year, but an impressive 27-0 shutout at then 3A #3 Hugo got the team and the fans thinking that the Savages just might be back on track. Reeling off win after win, the Savages knocked off Sallisaw, Ft. Gibson, and Poteau to capture the district championship and securing an undefeated regular season, going 10-0 into the playoffs. The district title earned the Savages a #1 seed in the playoffs, but the Grove Ridgerunners came into Memorial Stadium and upset the Savages, knocking Broken Bow out of the playoffs. In 2003, were out to take care of some "Unfinished Business," but a loss at Sallisaw (the only district loss of the season) ended Broken Bow's hopes of back-to-back District Championships. In the first round of the playoffs, the Skiatook Bulldogs were crushed 29-7 by the Savages which led to a showdown between Broken Bow and the Clinton Red Tornadoes. Clinton defeated the Savages by a large margin, but the 2nd playoff trip for Werner's team cemented the Savages return to being a perennial contender.

The Broken Bow Savages 2004 season came in a heartbreaking loss to the Clinton Red Tornadoes in the 4A State Championship game (Broken Bow's 10th championship game appearance), 28-0. The loss gave the Savages their only loss of the season, giving them a final record of 13-1 after an undefeated regular season that saw Broken Bow wrapping up another district title. Through the course of the year, Broken Bow held opponents scoreless for almost 4 straight games, surrendering just one score to Okmulgee after shutting out Hilldale, Poteau, and Stilwell.

• Got a story about a historic Broken Bow football team, or care to add to one of the accounts above? E-mail your story here!