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<\/p>\nFARGO \u2014 Jacksonville State for the first time in program history will travel from Alabama to the state of North Dakota on Friday, with the season opener set for Saturday at North Dakota State. The Gamecocks would be wise to not let anybody from the 1977 Bison team be part of food preparation.<\/p>\n
It was almost 50 years ago, but those NDSU players will never forget the Division II semifinal game played in Anniston, Alabama, when the Bison had to deal with more than Jacksonville State\u2019s speed. An unexpected opponent hit harder than any football player: food poisoning.<\/p>\n
Former players don\u2019t think it was by accident, either.<\/p>\n
\u201cConspiracy theories abound,\u201d said Jerry Rosburg, a star linebacker on that team and future NFL assistant coach. \u201cThere\u2019s no question we were poisoned somehow. There\u2019s no question in my mind. Everybody was sick.\u201d<\/p>\n
The problem is there is no Zapruder-like film to fan the conspiracy flames in the 31-7 loss. Unless somebody who was part of the NDSU meal plan comes forward, the case is closed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was kind of the random rumor,\u201d said quarterback Mark Speral of the conspiracy. \u201cI don\u2019t think anything was ever proven but it sounds good. There were guys throwing up on the sidelines and behind the bench and it was pretty miserable. Obviously we didn\u2019t play well but I\u2019m sure it was a pretty good contributor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speral, a freshman from Fargo North at the time, was one of the few who was spared from the virus. The Forum reported that 37 players fell ill but that didn\u2019t include coaches and support staff like equipment managers and trainers. NDSU played like it, a game where second-leading rusher Ross Baglien did not play and top receiver Mike McTague played about half the game.<\/p>\n
Center Lew Curry gutted it out, snapping the ball despite being ill. After returning to Fargo, strong safety Mike Soukup was admitted to St. Luke\u2019s Hospital while sophomore quarterback Mark Rudrud temporarily joined him.<\/p>\n
Rosburg is part of a text message thread with \u201877 teammates, a bond that includes an annual fishing trip in the spring. He reached out to some of them asking about the food poisoning issue, although that experience was so miserable only a couple responded.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody wants to think about it,\u201d Rosburg said.<\/p>\n
For instance, nose tackle Mark Zelenski, the team\u2019s fourth-leading tackler, relayed a story of pregame introductions when the players stood in a line and a camera would shoot each player when they were introduced. Just as Zelenski heard his name, the food virus forced a bowel movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe stands next to me, he grits his teeth and goes, \u2018Jerry, I just crapped my pants on national television,\u201d Rosburg said.<\/p>\n
The Bison ate all but one meal at the Ramada Inn\u2019s Iron Gate restaurant in Oxford, Alabama, with the servings being buffet style. The other meal was at a playoff banquet on Thursday at a venue called Battle House and the Jacksonville players had the same meal, although former Bison offensive lineman Jon Walter has a theory that there were two separate lines and the salad on the Bison side could have been tainted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like salads, I\u2019m a meat-and-potatoes guy, I don\u2019t do the mayo-based stuff,\u201d Walter said. \u201cI remember the rest of the team being in way worse shape than I was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter didn\u2019t get sick.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jon Walter, a North Dakota State offensive lineman on the 1977 team, with his wife Stephanie before a Bison football game at the Fargodome.<\/p>\n
Submitted photo<\/p>\n
A story from the Anniston Star newspaper three days after the game said the Calhoun County Health Department was unable to determine the cause of the food poisoning. John Screws, an official with the Calhoun Health Department, told a local newspaper that some NDSU players were seen going to a fast-food restaurant near the Ramada Inn while a few other players were seen at a concession stand at a Globetrotters event at Jacksonville State on Thursday.<\/p>\n
But that probably wouldn\u2019t explain an entire team being inflicted. A North Dakota Health Department official, who interviewed Bison players like Walter when the team returned to Fargo, said it could have been enterovirus, which tends to hit people during a spring thaw.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said they had an investigation, well, good luck with that,\u201d Rosburg said. \u201cTalk about home cooking, that\u2019s what I would say. I have great love for the South. I know so many people that have been coaching in the SEC and all through Alabama, I have no ill will toward the people. But what happened there was not right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Initial signs came in the middle of the night before the game and by the time the team boarded the bus for the stadium, it was obvious something wasn\u2019t right.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bus leaving the hotel, it was unlike anything I\u2019ve ever seen, it was a nightmare,\u201d Rosburg said. \u201cI mean, just unbelievable. The smells. The sounds. It was the worst movie you ever watched.\u201d<\/p>\n
Players were getting IVs in the locker room to address dehydration. It turned into a national story with the Associated Press picking up the story and newspapers across the country running it.<\/p>\n
NDSU\u2019s only touchdown came in the fourth quarter on a two-yard run by Gordy Sprattler. Speral was 10 of 22 passing with two interceptions. He started the game, was replaced by Steve Campbell, but came back in the game after Campbell got hurt after getting blindsided on a tackle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t sick, I just played like it,\u201d Speral said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a little bit sick but not nearly enough to make me play as bad as I did,\u201d Rosburg said.<\/p>\n
The flight home was not pretty, either, with players still vomiting and suffering from diarrhea. Walter felt bad for the flight attendants who had to deal with it.<\/p>\n
The Bison didn\u2019t appear to dwell on the poisoning to the media, with no mention of the illnesses in the Sunday Forum. When contacted by a reporter two days later, head coach Jim Wacker downplayed it, blamed himself saying his team got whooped fair and square and if he wasn\u2019t ready the coaches shouldn\u2019t expect the players to be ready.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wasn\u2019t the kind of guy to make up excuses and we did get our butts kicked,\u201d Speral said.<\/p>\n
With Soukup in the hospital, Wacker gathered the team on Sunday and at one point told everybody but the seniors to leave the room. It was a teachable moment Walter will never forget.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said if you think this is the worst thing that will ever happen to you in your life, you\u2019ve got a lot of learning to do,\u201d Walter said. \u201cIt was the transition from motivation to play to the real world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adding to NDSU\u2019s bad experience was the site. The game was played at a high school field because Jacksonville State was building a new stadium. The field was painted green because the grass had gone dormant for the winter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were ranked higher but we have to go down and play a lesser-ranked team in a high school stadium,\u201d Rosburg said. \u201cReally? How does that happen? Somebody should explain that to begin with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacksonville was led by defensive end Jesse Baker, who was a second-round draft pick of the Houston Oilers and went on to have a nine-year NFL career. He was the MVP of the game against the Bison.<\/p>\n
Forgive Walter if he still has nightmares from trying to block Baker. It didn\u2019t help that Walter\u2019s knees were so banged up he had trouble warming up before the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest thing I remember had zero to do with food poisoning,\u201d Walter said. \u201cIt had everything to do with my buddy Jesse Baker. He was my opponent and that dude was the reason I didn\u2019t have any NFL aspirations. We tried everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it helped that Baker did not have food poisoning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a championship team, that\u2019s easy to say but we never got a chance to play,\u201d Rosburg said. \u201cWe had a great team and a great bunch of guys and I wouldn\u2019t have shared that misery with anybody other than those men. It\u2019s a long time ago but for those of us who experienced it, it\u2019s hard to forgive that moment because you want to be national champions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FARGO \u2014 Jacksonville State for the first time in program history will travel from Alabama to the state…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[154175,154176,86849,153252,116,118,117,153255,154177,154178,154179,154180,154181],"class_list":["post-384719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-bison-1977-food-poisoning-game","tag-bison-fbs-opener","tag-bison-football","tag-bison-football-news","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jeff-kolpack-news","tag-jerry-rosburg","tag-jim-wacker","tag-jon-walter","tag-lew-curry","tag-mark-speral"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}