Saginaw Valley State University Athletics will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its first varsity football team as approximately 20 players from the 1975 Fighting Cardinals return to campus for SVSU's 2025 season opener against Northeastern State on Thursday, Aug. 28 at 6 p.m. in Wickes Memorial Stadium. Returning members from the 1975 team will be introduced at the beginning of halftime.

To fully appreciate this historic milestone, consider the genesis of Saginaw Valley football.

On Dec. 17, 1973, the Saginaw County Board of Control authorized the administration to introduce a varsity football program "as soon as possible," with the hopes of having its first team ready to play for the 1974-75 academic year.

Eight weeks later, Frank "Muddy" Waters, who combined a 138-46-5 record in 20 seasons at Hillsdale College, was introduced as the first head football coach at Saginaw Valley State College by Acting President William Capitan on Feb. 25, 1974.

In March 1974, Waters began recruiting and assembling a roster for a junior varsity schedule in the fall.

Six months later, on Monday, Sept. 15, 1974, SVSC opened its junior varsity schedule with a 20-16 win over Northwood Institute under the lights at Arthur Hill Memorial Stadium.

SVSC concluded its 10-game JV schedule with an 8-2 record following its 27-13 win over Northeastern Illinois on Oct. 26, 1974.

"Our journey really began in 1974," offensive guard and captain Paul Binkowski said. "I remember getting in the car and heading to pick my friend and high school teammate, Bob Wicke, over in Brant (Michigan) before heading to school. I was both excited and scared, but most importantly, I was prepared.

"I was very prepared strength wise. To be honest, I felt like I could run cross country. There was nothing but excitement, along with butterflies to no end. We were looking forward to starting a program, really from the ground up, at a school that gave us all an opportunity to play college football.

"When we made the transition from playing a JV schedule to a varsity season, that's when it hit all of us because every game really counted now. We became a football team, and it was a big deal.

"We knew that the football program was going to last for many, many years," Binkowski continued. "We were at the ground level, hoping to help build something special. And look at where the football program is today. We could never really have dreamed of this moment. It's truly amazing when you think about the transformation of the program. I have so much respect for the foundation 'Muddy' Waters built. He was Hillsdale football, and that icon left to come here and start the program at Saginaw Valley. He was almost a bigger than life figure. I looked up to him and had nothing but respect for him. I'm in awe of what has transpired over the last 50 years."

"Obviously, 'Muddy' Waters was well respected by the team and his staff," former safety Dave Pettyplace said. "'Muddy' knew football and he knew how to coach.

"It was all 'Muddy' to get the thing going. He was fought a little bit initially because change is difficult. In his mind, he had a vision for what it could be, what it could mean to the growth of the university."

"It all started to come together when we played a JV schedule in 1974, and like 90 percent of the guys on the roster were freshmen," former quarterback and captain Dan Terrasi said. "We all redshirted and a lot of us bonded that JV year. We played pretty good too against some tough teams. We were very competitive.

"'Muddy' was even keeled. We were always prepared, and he focused on consistency in performance. He made us feel like a legitimate team, not a random, up-and-coming team. He was able to secure a new stadium. We had equipment and uniforms and access to a gym. He brought our program immediate credibility because of what he had accomplished at Hillsdale. He started building a foundation that first year with the JV schedule, and by the second year – our first varsity season – we felt like we belonged."

On Aug. 20, 1975, Waters welcomed nearly 150 players to its new home field for its first preseason meeting and Media/Picture Day and told his squad, "Ten years from now, you'll be saying to yourselves that you and I were part of Saginaw Valley football history."

Waters also addressed the 1975 Great Lakes Intercollege Athletic Conference Preseason Poll, as the Fighting Cardinals were picked to finish last in the 6-team standings. "That will be the last time you'll hear Saginaw Valley connected with the word last," he said. "You can't go into a season thinking that you're going to lose a game. You have to believe that you can win them all."

A week prior to the 1975 season and home opener, Waters expressed some concerns about his team's preseason preparation, "All of the rain we've had has hampered our practices and our timing is way off. We might not know what to do with a dry ball.

"We'll be green, and we'll probably make a lot of mistakes because of nervousness," Waters said. "We'll be presentable on offense, and we hope to sustain a good running attack."

A little more than 18 months after accepting the SVSC head coaching position, Waters and the Fighting Cardinals took the field for the 1975 opener against Adrian College on Sept. 13 as a near capacity crowd of 1,900 witnessed the historic inaugural first varsity game in new Saginaw Valley Stadium (permanent structure opened for the 1977 season).

Under mostly cloudy skies and temperatures in the low-50s, with wind gusts from 17-24 miles per hour, SVSC halfback John Waters rushed 17 times for 200 yards and one touchdown while his brother Bill carried 17 times for 54 yards and scored three rushing TDs as the Fighting Cardinals defeated Adrian, 29-14.

"All in all, I'm pleased – not ecstatic, not exuberant, but pleased," Coach Waters said. "We have a long way to go. We made some mistakes but corrected them in the second half. It's kind of hard to tell because it was our first game, but I thought we were just about where we might be."

Trailing 7-0, John Waters raced 76 yards to set up his own 1-yard scoring plunge for SVSC's first varsity touchdown, but the conversion attempt failed.

Late in the first quarter, John Waters took a lateral from Roger Mason on a "flea-flicker" and gained 44 yards to help set brother Bill's 1-yard TD run, but conversion attempt again failed as SVSC took a 12-7 lead into the second quarter.

Joe Fuline's interception – Adrian's second takeaway of the game – led to Derrick Biggs' second rushing TD an 18-yard scamper around left end as the Bulldogs reclaimed the lead at 14-12.

SVSC responded with a 60-yard scoring drive. John Waters broke a 30-yard run to the Bulldog 15-yard line, and a few plays later, Bill Waters slammed in from the 1-yard line and Tim Stalker added the extra point as the Fighting Cardinals took the lead for good at 19-14.

Bill Waters took a screen pass from Dan Terrasi and turned it into a 50-yard gain and scored his third 1-yard rushing TD of the afternoon. Stalker converted a 37-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring.

SVSC rolled up 403 yards total offense, including 309 yards on the ground, while the Fighting Cardinals' defense limited Adrian to 152 total yards. Pete Tifhof recorded four unassisted sacks against the Bulldogs.

"Our whole line did much better than you can expect from freshmen," Coach Waters said. "They really should be playing junior varsity ball, but they will learn fast this way. I thought Terrasi had some good moments out there at quarterback.

"The defense did a magnificent job coming back, plugging holes in the second half.

"I'm not jumping through hoops. We have a lot of work to do, but this team has a lot of potential."

"We won the first game," Pettyplace said. "As a team, we were so young … Steve Vernet and I were the oldest guys on the team.

"The other thing that stood out about the first game was looking at the facial expressions of some of the freshmen when we got out on the field. It was almost spooky. You could see the fear in some of the younger guys."

"We won the very first game, and it was a big deal, playing in a brand new stadium and in front of the home crowd," Terrasi said.

"Johnny Waters ripped of a 70-yard run in the first quarter to set up our first score and the crowd was loud. There was an excitement and an electricity in the crowd. Everyone in the community felt proud about starting the football program."

"Any time you're part of a first of something, it's special," Binkowski said. "What I recall is all the butterflies I had while suiting up for the first game of the 1975 season. To be honest with you, I couldn't wait to get out there and hit somebody. With the offseason workouts and preseason practices, you spend so much time getting ready for the season opener that it's almost a relief to get things in motion. There was tremendous excitement heading into the home opener and first varsity game, and then to pull out a victory made things even more exciting.

"I really don't think any of us could have imagined the lasting impact of what that first varsity game meant 50 years ago, but I feel a tremendous amount of pride in what we did."

SVSC improved to 2-0 on the season with a shutout victory over Northeastern Illinois, 20-0. The Fighting Cardinals held the Golden Eagles to six first downs, minus 39 yards rushing and 36 yards total offense. SVSU also forced seven turnovers (2 interceptions, 5 fumbles recovered).

The Fighting Cardinals forced fumbles on the opening play of Northeastern Illinois' first two possessions. The second fumble was recovered in the end zone for a defensive score by Brad Weeler as SVSC jumped out to a 7-0 lead with 11:09 left in the first quarter.

All the scoring came in the first half. Bill Waters finished off a 10-play, 49-yard drive with a 1-yard TD run as the Fighting Cardinals took a 14-0 lead with more than 5 minutes left in the opening period. John Waters scored on an 11-yard run around left end as SVSC built a 20-0 advantage with 10:49 remaining in the first half.

"Our defensive ends and middle linebacker played especially well," Coach Waters said. "It is a pretty tough defensive unit, period. That (Lynn) Conway and (Peter) Tifhof – those two guys are as tough a pair of defensive ends as you'll find anywhere.

"We'll be in some ballgames pretty soon that we'll be hanging on for dear life. We just don't have the experience yet.

"We should have broken this game wide open, but … we won. You can't knock that."

In Week 4, the Waters brothers combined to rush for 250 yards and four touchdowns while the SVSC defense recorded seven takeaways as the Fighting Cardinals claimed their first-ever GLIAC victory at Ferris State, 31-28. SVSC improved its record to 3-1.

John Waters carried 34 times for 145 yards, including TD runs of 3, 6 and 25 yards, while Bill gained 105 yards on 25 attempts, including a 1-yard TD plunge.

"We played well when we had to, but we made way too many mistakes," Coach Waters said. "We've got a long way to go, and we have to play better if we're to win any more games with the kind of schedule we have to face the rest of the season."

The Fighting Cardinals dropped the last six games of the season, including two losses by a combined total of nine points, and finished with a 3-7 record.

"We lost a couple of close games and were competitive in nearly every one of them," Binkowski said. "It was unfortunate that youth and inexperience factored into the outcome of those games, but we weren't able to figure out how to close out a game in the last few minutes. Those losses were pretty frustrating. Our final record didn't indicate what kind of team we really had."

In Week 7, SVSC led No. 9 Northern Michigan for more than three quarters before the Wildcats scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to earn a 20-15 win.

John Waters, who finished with 101 rushing yards, gave the Fighting Cardinals a 7-0 lead on a 37-yard TD run in the second quarter.

Northern Michigan pulled to within 7-6 on Steve Mariucci's 4-yard scoring toss to Tony Fowler with :06 left in the first half.

After scoreless third period, SVSC scored early in the fourth quarter on Terassi's 1-yard keeper for a 13-6 lead. Mark Guimond's 2-point conversion run pushed the Fighting Cardinals' lead to 15-6.

A SVSC turnover helped set up NMU's second touchdown as Stu Betts scored on a 1-yard run as the Wildcats cut their deficit to 15-13 with 6:27 remaining.

Northern Michigan got the ball back with under four minutes remaining and put together a game-winning drive.

The Wildcats outgained SVSU in total yards, 458-228, but the Fighting Cardinals limited NMU to just 1-of-8 in fourth-and-1 situations.

"I'm extremely proud of my team," Coach Waters said. "We played a good game against the best team on our schedule. I can't ask for more."

After a 30-13 loss at Akron, Northern Michigan reeled off eight consecutive victories to finish 13-1 and claimed the NCAA Division II National Championship.

"By the end of the year, we had become a football team," Pettyplace said. "Talent wise and experience wise, we had gained a whole year of that and that was really important. We had a lot of freshmen on the field – 18-year-old kids who were gaining valuable experience playing against opposing guys who had been playing for four years. So, whenever we played well, that was a big deal.

"There were some teams on the 1975 schedule that just beat us because they were better, but there were a handful of games that we could have won."

"The Northern Michigan game has been a sore on my backside for probably the last 50 years," Binkowski said. "That season, Northern won the Division II National Championship. They beat both Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan on the road that season. Frankly, we had them beat in the fourth quarter. We had a costly fumble and gave up a late scoring drive and lost in the final minutes."

"The other big event was a loss," Terrasi said. "We played a Top-10 Northern Michigan team to the hilt up in Marquette. We had the lead in the fourth quarter but lost a fumble late that Northern turned into a touchdown. They got the ball back and scored again late in the closing minutes to win the game. That was like a victory for us because we played Northern Michigan down to the wire and that team went on to win the NCAA Division II National Championship. Northern also beat Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan on the road that same season. Despite the outcome, it was a season highlight for sure."

SVSC's rushing attack accounted for nearly 80 percent of the team's offensive production (1,812 of 2,272 yards). John Waters led the Fighting Cardinals in rushing yards (1,013) and rushing TDs (7) while Bill Waters contributed 475 yards and six scores.

"The running game was our bread and butter," Binkowski said. "As a 205-pound offensive guard, I had to really dig down deep. I loved playing offensive line. It was one of the best positions on a football field.

"As a unit, our offensive line was fast, strong and quick. We did a lot of tracking, so the other guard, Kevin Bell, and I did a lot of pulling around, pulling in, trapping inside game, and we took a lot of pride in doing things right. Dan Terrasi was our quarterback, and he did a tremendous job coming out an executing the offense. We took a lot of pride in what we did as an offensive line together, and I look back on the days and treasured them.

"Johnny was a great, very versatile running back, who had great speed," Binkowski continued. "As a line, we took a lot of pride in blocking for him. Johnny was a little thin (170 pounds) for tailback, but he was tough and elusive. He could take a hit; he continued to push the envelope, so he was a constant threat to break a long run.

"His brother, Billy, was a tough, inside runner. I always thought Billy had the right mentality to be an offensive lineman. He did a great job at fullback as the lead blocker, and when he got the ball, he was serious about gaining those tough yards."

"We were a hard-nosed, grind-it-out football team," Terrasi said. "We really pounded the football. We were run left, run right. We didn't really have a consistent air attack and some of that was on me. I just never got into a passing rhythm that year.

"We were a tough-nosed football team on both sides of the line. We played good, solid fundamental football, which is what 'Muddy' and the coaches drilled into us. Our offensive coordinator Jim Larkin wanted to control the line of scrimmage, so we were built to pound the football. That was our offensive identity.

"The offensive line was solid because they all played together on the JV team. They had built up a chemistry along with tight end Scott Skinner, who has another outstanding run-blocker.

"Billy and Johnny Waters had vastly different running styles," Terrasi continued. "Bill was built like a fire hydrant and was very productive running between the tackles. Johnny was just amazing. When you thought he was about to go down or there wasn't an opening, he'd find a little space and boom, he was off. Johnny just surprised you with his ability to maneuver in tight space, find an opening and when he had daylight, no one was running him down. He had another gear. Johnny produced big runs when we needed it. The combination of the line play and Johnny's ability to find a crease really gave us an explosive running game."

"John Waters came in here from Hillsdale and put up 1,000 yards that first year," Pettyplace said. "John was a really good football player. He was tough and he could run. He was another guy that ran track. He was faster than grease, so he didn't need a lot of space. He was fast, but he also was well conditioned. He could play the whole game and take the hits because he was a smaller guy. He was pretty thin and looked more like a track guy than a running back in college. We played some good teams, and we didn't have a lot of weapons.

"We did have a good offensive line, and all Johnny needed was a small crack in the line. That group up front – Paul Fulmer, Paul Binkowski, Kevin Bell, Mike Kushion and Dirk Love – could dominate."

"I was so impressed on how 'Muddy' handled his boys," Pettyplace continued. "There was never anybody in the background, whispering about favoritism. His son, John, played as a freshman at Hillsdale, but when he got over here, 'Muddy' treated him just like everybody else. The whole team saw that too, so that was pretty cool."

The hallmark of the SVSC defense became the relentless pursuit of the quarterback and creating turnovers (38 takeaways: 29 fumbles recovered, 9 interceptions).

"Well, it had a lot to do with the two guys playing the 9-technique," Pettyplace said. "Those two guys – Lynn Conway and Peter Tithof – were big and nasty. I don't know how 'Muddy" got them to Saginaw Valley, but those were Division-I kids."

"At the end of the year, we were allowing 83 passing yards per game, which is a ridiculously low total. The reason why was because of these two bandits, Conway and Tithof coming off the edge and smashing the quarterback. A lot of the pass attempts looked like punts coming out of the quarterback's hand because they were just trying to survive against our pass rush. They had opposing quarterbacks on the run, scrambling out of the pocket and looking for a way to simply get rid of the football. That was cool watching those guys do their thing, chasing down quarterbacks."

"When I think about scrimmaging and getting prepared to go live against our defensive line, Steve Vernet is one guy who always stood out to me," Binkowski said. "Steve made me a better player. He was absolutely a menace to play across from because of his toughness and tenacity. As a defensive lineman, his quickness and toughness were second to none. I had to do everything within my power to try and prevent him from getting to the quarterback. In five years, I never played against a more tenacious athlete."

"We had some playmakers on the defensive side of the football too," Terrasi said. "Our base defense was a 5-3, and we had a big, legitimate tackle, in Steve Vernet, and a terror at defensive end, in Lynn Conway. We also had some big-time linebackers, in Josh Solberg, Steve Conley and Mike Finney. Back in those days, the majority of offensive teams were run first, run second, then pass. And that approach was going to struggle against the strength of our defense.

"The only red shirt I wore was when we put on our red uniform, so I never had a pinny on for practice. Those guys were relentless in practice and never took it easy on me when making a tackle. Again, that was just part of our defensive identity: tough, hard-nose guys that rallied to the football."

Throughout the 2025 season, SVSU also will celebrate its first 50 years of competition.

"There's no comparison between where this program is right now and where we were at in 1975," Pettyplace said. "And I don't mean just the facilities. I'm talking about the guys that were buckling up their helmets, going out on the field and playing. The kids Coach (Ryan) Brady has brought into the program are way different than what we had on the roster 50 years ago. Think about it, Johnny might not even have started for this year's team. The guys now are just a different breed of cat that's coming onto this campus. This school has been able to attract some pretty good coaches over the years. Despite changes within the administration, Saginaw Valley has made some really good hiring decisions, like Jerry Kill. It was a monumental hire for this program.

"I know what kind of player Ryan Brady was in high school and college, and we're lucky to have him out there recruiting for us. He knows how to identify talent and he's done a great job of bringing good athletes into this program."

"We're all humbled and feel honored by the gratitude the school is showing toward this 1975 team and the memories it created," Terrasi said. "Look how far the school has come over the last 50 years, both from an educational and athletic perspective. We're proud of what we did, helping put the school on the national map. We're not talking about Alabama or Ohio State football, but that was a big deal for SVSC."