November 12, 2025 • 9 mins
On this episode of Daily Sports History, we dive into the legendary winning streak of the Mount Union Purple Raiders. Discover how this Division III football powerhouse built a 112-game winning streak, set records, and became a dynasty in college football. Learn about the key players, coaching strategies, and lasting legacy of one of the most dominant teams in sports history.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
On November twelfth, twenty sixteen, Division III powerhouse Mount Union,
part of the Ohio Athletic Conference, loses its first conference
game in over eleven years, ending their streak of one
hundred and twelve conference wins, showing how dominant they were
(00:21):
as a football team at just any level of competition. Today,
we're going to dive into that football team how they
got to their greatness in such consistent domination today on
Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese,
(00:45):
your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history
every day. And today's tribute question is what Mount Union
alum led the NFL in receptions in twenty thirteen. Now
Union is a private liberal arts university in Alliance, Ohio,
and the school was founded in eighteen forty six and
(01:08):
they actually preached equality for men and women, which was
unusual at the time, and of course, as football grew,
they decided to jump in on the action and started
their first football program in eighteen ninety three, where their
first season they went one and two and wouldn't have
their first winning season until eighteen ninety nine, and in
(01:30):
nineteen fourteen they would join the Ohio Athletic Conference, the
conference they would go on to dominate in the early
two thousands, but they didn't always dominate, and it wouldn't
be till nineteen eighty five when they would win their
very first conference title and the first birth into the
Division three INTAA College football playoffs. Now, if you don't know,
(01:52):
the actual Division IIE college playoffs started in nineteen seventy three,
which might seem crazy to all you that paid attention
to only Vision one where they haven't had the playoffs
till more recently. And to get into this and to
get in you need to win your conference, and they were.
This team was led by Ken Wable, who was also
(02:12):
in that same year named Ohio Athletic Conference Coach of
the Year, but he would retire after twenty four years
with Mount Union having a one hundred and twenty three
and ninety five record with two ties, and his dedication
helped lead them to their new coach who would take
them over the top. And their new head coach that
(02:33):
took over was Larry Carris, and Larry worked his way
up and Larry was an alum of Mount Union and
actually played there from sixty seven to seventy where he
was a quarterback and set the school record for a
ninety five yard touchdown pass. Then he would go on
to coach at Bowling Green Johnston High School, and then
he would become the offensive coordinator at Mount Union before
(02:55):
taking over the head coaching job. So how did they
get good? Well, it helped at the program had turned
itself around to be a consistent winner when Larry was
in oc under the previous head coach. But it was
also just Larry's coaching style. He'd be tough on the players,
but also be encouraging as well. He wouldn't let you
just dwell on the negatives. He'd give you a word
(03:17):
of encouragement. Even if he'd just debt at you in
front of the team, he would motivate you and make
sure that everything ran to perfection. Now, one thing that
also helped them is their strategy as a Division III school.
That meant they had no scholarships to offer At Division three,
players play to play And I coached at a Division
(03:37):
III school near Mount Union, and we lost a lot
of recruits to Mount Union because what they really like
to do is they want to get numbers. The more
players you have on the team, the more chances, you
have to have success, and it breeds competition and you
get the best of the best. So they would regularly
start the season with over two hundred on the roster. Now,
(04:00):
if you don't know, most Division three schools have between
eighty and one hundred players on their team, some less,
some more, but they usually average around that Mount and
to have two hundred is a large number, especially since
the school has just over two thousand students in attendance,
which meant ten percent of the entire school played on
(04:20):
the football team. It meant the school bought into football
and it returned the favor. So Mount Union would regularly
have over one hundred freshmen on their team, and they
would have these unique practices where not everyone would practice
together and they would separate them have freshmen practice alone.
In all these different ways they would do things, and
it helped breed a culture and a want to grow
(04:41):
with the team. The more you wanted to move up,
the more you wanted to stay. And it also meant
that when they had juniors and seniors playing on Saturday,
they had their best players playing. Because as a Division three,
when you were relying on freshmen to play, it's a
challenge It's something that my team that I coached had
to rely on multiple times as we had coaching turnovers,
(05:03):
then we had player turnovers, so freshmen played a lot
and we struggled because of that, because an eighteen year
old going against twenty two year old is a huge
gap not only in strength but also mentality. It's a struggle.
But also Larry was able to adjust the greatest. Longtime
coaches are able to adjust. The game changes over time,
(05:25):
as we've seen more recently, changes really quick. So defensive
styles change, offensive styles change. You got change whether you
run heavy, whether you're pass heavy, and what fits your
team the best. And Larry won his first national title
against Rowan in nineteen ninety three to win the Stag
Bowl thirty four to twenty four. It was the first
(05:47):
national championship in school history. And they were able to
come back three years later face Rowing again and again
win and this was the start. This season was the
start of an historic time as this season they started
their fifty four game win streak and they lost in
the nineteen ninety nine playoffs, and they came back in
the two thousand seasons and started another win streak, breaking
(06:09):
their previous record, winning fifty five games, they won one
hundred and nine games out of one hundred and ten,
winning six national titles, and in two thousand and five
they would start a win streak versus their conference where
they would not lose a game in conference for eleven years,
meaning they won one hundred and twelve games in a row,
(06:32):
and from nineteen ninety four to two thousand and five
they had won one hundred games in conference in a row.
They destroyed their conference for over twenty years, basically the
entire Larry Carris tenure. This allowed them to win twenty
three conferences in his twenty seven seasons, and in twenty thirteen,
Karris would retire and become the athletic director for Mount Union,
(06:56):
but he left it in good hands as his son
Vince Kars took over, won six conference titles and two
national championships in the seven years he was their head coach,
and in twenty twenty he decided to leave the program
head on to Toledo, and then Jeff Dart took over
the team, where he has a record of forty two
and three with four conference titles and as it's twenty
(07:18):
twenty four, Mount Union has the most national titles by
any Division three team, and they have more than double
of the number two team in Wisconsin Whitewater, who's become
an arch rival of them, as between two thousand and
twenty seventeen, either Mount Union or Wisconsin Whitewater has won
the national championship fifteen out of seventeen years. There have
(07:41):
been a little bit more transparency in recent years, but
is still a huge margin towards Mount Union in Wisconsin
Whitewater and Mount Union is still dominating their conference to
this day. And the team actually has sent many players,
but even more coaches to higher levels, including Pierre Garson,
who actually led the NFL in receptions in twenty thirteen
(08:05):
where he played for the Colts and the Washington team.
And they've had many other players and they've had others
make it as coaches, including Don Capers who actually became
a head coach of the Carolina Panthers and the Houston Texans.
And even though they're Division three, they play with such
quality that you wouldn't know that none of these players
(08:26):
are skinting scholarships and to play college football, which is
shows they have a love of the game. And if
you want to learn more about Division three football. Checkout
in the D three FB Huddle where hosts Frank and
James recap all that's going on in Eastern regional football,
(08:47):
so you can check out what's Mount Union so you
know what is going on in Division three football, which
continues to grow in popularity more and more. And if
you like today's episode, make sure you're subscribed wherever you're
listening so you don't miss an episode. And we'll see
you tomorrow for more daily sports history and the answer
(09:10):
to today's trivia question, what Union alum led the NFL
and receptions in twenty thirteen And the answer is Pierre
Garson and had one hundred and thirteen receptions for the
Washington team in twenty and thirteen.
On November twelfth, twenty sixteen, Division III powerhouse Mount Union,
part of the Ohio Athletic Conference, loses its first conference
game in over eleven years, ending their streak of one
hundred and twelve conference wins, showing how dominant they were
(00:21):
as a football team at just any level of competition. Today,
we're going to dive into that football team how they
got to their greatness in such consistent domination today on
Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese,
(00:45):
your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history
every day. And today's tribute question is what Mount Union
alum led the NFL in receptions in twenty thirteen. Now
Union is a private liberal arts university in Alliance, Ohio,
and the school was founded in eighteen forty six and
(01:08):
they actually preached equality for men and women, which was
unusual at the time, and of course, as football grew,
they decided to jump in on the action and started
their first football program in eighteen ninety three, where their
first season they went one and two and wouldn't have
their first winning season until eighteen ninety nine, and in
(01:30):
nineteen fourteen they would join the Ohio Athletic Conference, the
conference they would go on to dominate in the early
two thousands, but they didn't always dominate, and it wouldn't
be till nineteen eighty five when they would win their
very first conference title and the first birth into the
Division three INTAA College football playoffs. Now, if you don't know,
(01:52):
the actual Division IIE college playoffs started in nineteen seventy three,
which might seem crazy to all you that paid attention
to only Vision one where they haven't had the playoffs
till more recently. And to get into this and to
get in you need to win your conference, and they were.
This team was led by Ken Wable, who was also
(02:12):
in that same year named Ohio Athletic Conference Coach of
the Year, but he would retire after twenty four years
with Mount Union having a one hundred and twenty three
and ninety five record with two ties, and his dedication
helped lead them to their new coach who would take
them over the top. And their new head coach that
(02:33):
took over was Larry Carris, and Larry worked his way
up and Larry was an alum of Mount Union and
actually played there from sixty seven to seventy where he
was a quarterback and set the school record for a
ninety five yard touchdown pass. Then he would go on
to coach at Bowling Green Johnston High School, and then
he would become the offensive coordinator at Mount Union before
(02:55):
taking over the head coaching job. So how did they
get good? Well, it helped at the program had turned
itself around to be a consistent winner when Larry was
in oc under the previous head coach. But it was
also just Larry's coaching style. He'd be tough on the players,
but also be encouraging as well. He wouldn't let you
just dwell on the negatives. He'd give you a word
(03:17):
of encouragement. Even if he'd just debt at you in
front of the team, he would motivate you and make
sure that everything ran to perfection. Now, one thing that
also helped them is their strategy as a Division III school.
That meant they had no scholarships to offer At Division three,
players play to play And I coached at a Division
(03:37):
III school near Mount Union, and we lost a lot
of recruits to Mount Union because what they really like
to do is they want to get numbers. The more
players you have on the team, the more chances, you
have to have success, and it breeds competition and you
get the best of the best. So they would regularly
start the season with over two hundred on the roster. Now,
(04:00):
if you don't know, most Division three schools have between
eighty and one hundred players on their team, some less,
some more, but they usually average around that Mount and
to have two hundred is a large number, especially since
the school has just over two thousand students in attendance,
which meant ten percent of the entire school played on
(04:20):
the football team. It meant the school bought into football
and it returned the favor. So Mount Union would regularly
have over one hundred freshmen on their team, and they
would have these unique practices where not everyone would practice
together and they would separate them have freshmen practice alone.
In all these different ways they would do things, and
it helped breed a culture and a want to grow
(04:41):
with the team. The more you wanted to move up,
the more you wanted to stay. And it also meant
that when they had juniors and seniors playing on Saturday,
they had their best players playing. Because as a Division three,
when you were relying on freshmen to play, it's a
challenge It's something that my team that I coached had
to rely on multiple times as we had coaching turnovers,
(05:03):
then we had player turnovers, so freshmen played a lot
and we struggled because of that, because an eighteen year
old going against twenty two year old is a huge
gap not only in strength but also mentality. It's a struggle.
But also Larry was able to adjust the greatest. Longtime
coaches are able to adjust. The game changes over time,
(05:25):
as we've seen more recently, changes really quick. So defensive
styles change, offensive styles change. You got change whether you
run heavy, whether you're pass heavy, and what fits your
team the best. And Larry won his first national title
against Rowan in nineteen ninety three to win the Stag
Bowl thirty four to twenty four. It was the first
(05:47):
national championship in school history. And they were able to
come back three years later face Rowing again and again
win and this was the start. This season was the
start of an historic time as this season they started
their fifty four game win streak and they lost in
the nineteen ninety nine playoffs, and they came back in
the two thousand seasons and started another win streak, breaking
(06:09):
their previous record, winning fifty five games, they won one
hundred and nine games out of one hundred and ten,
winning six national titles, and in two thousand and five
they would start a win streak versus their conference where
they would not lose a game in conference for eleven years,
meaning they won one hundred and twelve games in a row,
(06:32):
and from nineteen ninety four to two thousand and five
they had won one hundred games in conference in a row.
They destroyed their conference for over twenty years, basically the
entire Larry Carris tenure. This allowed them to win twenty
three conferences in his twenty seven seasons, and in twenty thirteen,
Karris would retire and become the athletic director for Mount Union,
(06:56):
but he left it in good hands as his son
Vince Kars took over, won six conference titles and two
national championships in the seven years he was their head coach,
and in twenty twenty he decided to leave the program
head on to Toledo, and then Jeff Dart took over
the team, where he has a record of forty two
and three with four conference titles and as it's twenty
(07:18):
twenty four, Mount Union has the most national titles by
any Division three team, and they have more than double
of the number two team in Wisconsin Whitewater, who's become
an arch rival of them, as between two thousand and
twenty seventeen, either Mount Union or Wisconsin Whitewater has won
the national championship fifteen out of seventeen years. There have
(07:41):
been a little bit more transparency in recent years, but
is still a huge margin towards Mount Union in Wisconsin
Whitewater and Mount Union is still dominating their conference to
this day. And the team actually has sent many players,
but even more coaches to higher levels, including Pierre Garson,
who actually led the NFL in receptions in twenty thirteen
(08:05):
where he played for the Colts and the Washington team.
And they've had many other players and they've had others
make it as coaches, including Don Capers who actually became
a head coach of the Carolina Panthers and the Houston Texans.
And even though they're Division three, they play with such
quality that you wouldn't know that none of these players
(08:26):
are skinting scholarships and to play college football, which is
shows they have a love of the game. And if
you want to learn more about Division three football. Checkout
in the D three FB Huddle where hosts Frank and
James recap all that's going on in Eastern regional football,
(08:47):
so you can check out what's Mount Union so you
know what is going on in Division three football, which
continues to grow in popularity more and more. And if
you like today's episode, make sure you're subscribed wherever you're
listening so you don't miss an episode. And we'll see
you tomorrow for more daily sports history and the answer
(09:10):
to today's trivia question, what Union alum led the NFL
and receptions in twenty thirteen And the answer is Pierre
Garson and had one hundred and thirteen receptions for the
Washington team in twenty and thirteen.
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