A $250,000 project was finalized this summer to construct a new scoreboard that will honor the 1959 Bisons and their head coach Carl Allison, the first football team Harding had fielded in 28 years. It will also honor campus icon, chancellor emeritus Clifton Ganus, who was instrumental in reviving the athletic department at Harding after it was cut in 1931.
The new scoreboard, which will have replay capabilities on its 32-foot by 10-foot big-screen, will feature a dedication to Allison, Ganus and the 1959 team on the back. According to Liz Howell, Harding’s assistant to the president for alumni and parent relations, the entire project was taken care of by the 1959 team.
“This team and their families funded the entire project,” Howell said. “It wasn’t part of our strategic plan. It was an amazing team effort because this team dearly loves Dr. Ganus and coach Carl Allison. It was one of those things that from the moment I heard about it I knew God would provide.”
The majority of the fundraising efforts were headed up by Bill Thrasher, Jim Citty and Lathan Garnett, who were teammates and played for Allison in 1959 — a year thats remembered fondly as “The Year the Bisons Came Back.” What few may know, is that the Bisons may never have come back had it not been for Ganus hiring Allison to rebuild the program.
When he took the task of coaching a team that had not played in 28 years, Allison was a recent graduate of the University of Oklahoma where he had been a four year starter, captain, and Big Seven scholar athlete of the year.
His Sooners teams won a still-standing NCAA record 47 consecutive games and also went undefeated in 1954. He coached the football team at Harding until 1963 and served as head baseball coach for several years.
Allison’s impact, however, went far beyond the playing field.
“Coach Allison was amazing,” Howell said. “He lived his life like he felt Jesus would, and he had such a great influence on these football players. And that’s what makes Harding so special — it’s these relationships.”
As for the Bisons of today, the new scoreboard came as a huge, and greatly appreciated, surprise.
“The biggest thing for us was that it really came out of nowhere,” current head football coach Ronnie Huckeba said. “That was not something we were expecting at all for this season, but thanks to the hard work of people like Liz Howell, the alumni office, and the members of that 1959 team, it’s turned out to be a special project that we are the beneficiaries of.”
The scoreboard is scheduled for completion and dedication on Oct. 18 when the Bisons play Ouachita Baptist University. When it comes to the story behind the newest and brightest addition to Harding’s facilities, Howell explained that it represents something much bigger than just football.
“It’s part of the legacy,” Howell said. “It’s the legacy of Bison football, but it’s also the legacy of the Harding experience.”
