Since the ad below from the September 28th, 1975, Selma Times-Journal provided some brief biographical info on Vulcans running back Johnny Musso, I thought it would be worth sharing. You rarely get images of that quality from newspaper archives.
The summary below is an abbreviated version of one written by RJ Young for Fox Sports. The full article can be found here.
The photography was copied from social media and uncredited.
Bo Scarbrough ran down the Michigan Panthers in the Birmingham Stallions' 33-17 win at Protective Stadium on Saturday night.
Scarbrough ended up with 105 rushing yards on 16 carries on a night when the Stallions' best running back, CJ Marable, was out due to injury. The Stallions were also missing starting linebacker Scooby Wright for a second consecutive game.
...the Stallions' passing offense regressed. Former Louisiana Tech quarterback J’Mar Smith got the hook in the third quarter after starting the game 12 of 25 for just 135 yards — though he did throw two TDs.
Former Florida International quarterback and Stallions No. 1 pick Alex McGough came on in relief, completing his only pass attempt for 40 yards.
It was a game in which the Stallions' defense picked things up by coming up with two important takeaways, and Stallions safety JoJo Tillery notched nine tackles — all solo — including a sack.
Panthers kicker Cole Murphy smashed a 56-yard kick through the uprights to put Michigan ahead 3-0 in the first quarter — the longest kick of the inaugural USFL season.
Stallions kicker Brandon Aubrey responded with a 22-yard field goal on its opening drive with 2:07 left in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, though, wideout Osirus Mitchell picked up the offense when he turned a quick hitch into a 30-yard TD that put the Stallions up 10-3 with 11:28 left to play in the half.
Following a 40-minute lightning delay, the Panthers turned a defensive stop into their first TD of the evening with quarterback Shea Patterson sneaking into the Stallions' end zone. Murphy’s extra point tied the game at 10-10 with 4:11 left to play in the half.
As halftime drew near, the Birmingham defense recovered a fumble at the Michigan 18-yard line and turned it into a field goal — and 13-10 lead — with 1:42 left in the half.
Out of the locker room, the Stallions managed to put together another scoring drive as Smith threw his first TD pass of the night to running back Tony Brooks-James, who was moved to wide receiver last week, then back to running back with the injury to Marable.
But Aubrey missed the extra point to keep the score 19-10 — a one-score game in the USFL. However, after Patterson threw a TD pass to wideout Devin Ross, Michigan coach Jeff Fisher elected to kick the traditional extra point, and the Stallions kept a 19-17 lead with 1:36 left in the third.
That was the last time the Panthers would be within striking distance, as the Stallions held running back Reggie Corbin to 71 rush yards on 16 carries, and the Panthers to 91 as a team.
Smith’s shaky play through the third quarter was enough for Holtz to try McGough at quarterback with just over a minute left in the third quarter. However, Holtz said the plan was always to play McGough.
McGough proved to be good enough with his legs, and even better with his hand-offs to Scarbrough, who punched in his first career USFL TD from 28 yards out with 11:20 left to play. That gave the Stallions a 26-17 lead.
On the ensuing drive, a Patterson pass attempt was batted down by defensive tackle Willie Yarbary, and defensive end Johnny Newsome snatched it out of the air for the interception. It was the Stallions' 11th takeaway through six games.
McGough converted a third-and-26 to wide receiver Peyton Ramzy, which gave McGough a chance to punch it in himself with what would be the icing TD of the game.
News late in the week that Birmingham-Southern would remain open, at least for the time being, was welcomed. It inspires this post in which we look back at their return in 2007 through the article below from the Montgomery Advertiser. Hopefully the school and its program continue to persist.
Panthers' defense forces late turnover to nip Sewanee, 35-33
The Birmingham-Southern defense was tested throughout the second half but during crunch time the Panthers forced a turnover late in the fourth quarter to help seal a 35-33 win over the University of the South...Saturday at McGee Field-Harris Stadium.
BSC's Matt Laird recovered a Patrick Shelton fumble at the Sewanee-34 to record the defense's fourth turnover of the afternoon. BSC intercepted two passes and recovered two fumbles to improve to 3-6 on the season while Sewanee fell to 1-7.
Sewanee struck first after a blocked punt set the Tigers offense up in BSC territory. Patrick Shelton hit Chris Murphy who broke several tackles en route to the end zone for a 42-yard touchdown. The PAT gave the Tigers a 7-0 lead with 12:45 left in the first quarter.
The Panthers answer came late in the first quarter on an eight-play, 65 yard drive. Erik Harris scored his first career touchdown from two yards out to cap the drive. (Jonah) Fryfogle's extra point tied the game 7-7 with 3:38 left in the first quarter.
Sewanee's bid to take the lead failed when Andrew Gould's 32-yard field goal went wide left to keep the score tied with :10 left in the opening period. The Tigers would take a 9-7 lead early in the second quarter when Dustin Armstrong's snap sailed over the head of BSC punter Drew Jackson out the end zone for a safety.
BSC gained its first lead of the game on a 31-yard field goal by Jonah Fryfogle with 9:18 to go in the second quarter.
The BSC special teams set up the next score. Punter Geoff Marolda bobbled the snap that was recovered by Sewanee's Lewis Dawson at the four-yard line, turning the ball over on downs. BSC took just two plays to score on an Anthony Mostella two-yard run with :59 to go in the second. Chalankis Brown tipped the extra-point forcing the kick wide left to keep the BSC lead at 16-9 at halftime.
Brad Stockdale intercepted a Shelton pass at the BSC 48 on Sewanee's first possession of the third quarter. The drive stalled at the Sewanee-24 setting up a Fryfogle 41-yard field goal for a 19-9 lead with 11:25 left in the third quarter.
Chris Murphy returned the ensuing kickoff 71-yards to put the Sewanee offense deep in BSC territory. Blake Mears' eight-yard touchdown run cut the deficit to 19-16 with 10:54 left in the third quarter.
The Panthers answered on its next possession when Joe Thigpen tossed a 60-yard touchdown pass to Walter Arrington. Fryfogle's PAT pushed the Panthers lead to 26-16.
Sewanee continued to keep within striking distance after recovering a fumbled punt deep in BSC territory. Gould nailed a season-long 32-yard field goal drawing the Tigers to within seven with 5:10 to play in the third.
A 68-yard pass from Thigpen to Alex Streetman set up the next Panther score. Thigpen capped the drive on a one-yard out for his ninth rushing touchdown of the season The extra-point try failed keeping BSC's lead at 31-19 with 4:44 to play in the third.
The Tigers answered once again on the their next drive. A Shelton to Bruce Bentley 64-yard pass set up a Trey Reliford three-yard touchdown run. The PAT cut the lead to 32-26 with 2:14 remaining in the third quarter.
BSC added to the lead with 6:06 left in the fourth quarter. Fryfogle connected on his third field goal of the afternoon from 35-yards out for a 35-26 lead.
Sewanee's counter came in the form of a 33-yard halfback pass from Mears to David Craig that cut the lead to 35-33 with 5:32 to go in the fourth quarter.
The 1-7 record did not prevent BSC from landing some post-season honours. Walter Arrington was named the Conference's newcomer of the year.
A new honor was added this year to the SCAC postseason awards menu and it is fitting that a player from a first-year program is its first recipient. Walter Arrington, a 5-7, 175-pound receiver from Bessemer, Ala., was voted as the SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year.
Arrington finished the season ranked in the Top 10 in the SCAC in several categories, including all-purpose yards (120.9 per game - second), kick return yardage (21.8 per return - third), receiving yards per game (51.9 - eighth) and receptions per game (4.75 - sixth). He had 33 receptions for 380 yards and two scores for the Panthers and also rushed the ball 30 times for 72 yards and another TD.
Arrington received four votes in the NOTY balloting to nose out Alex Koors of DePauw, who received three votes. Chalankis Brown of Sewanee-University of the South picked up the remaining two votes.
Arrington would also be named to the SCAC's 30th anniversary team in January of 2021 and BSC's Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019.
