1980 PHSL Championship Walnut Hills

Walnut Hills: The 1980 PHSL Champions

Walnut Hills and the 1980 Public High School League Football Championship The Walnut Hills class of 1981 is gathering this November (2006) for its 25 Year Class Reunion. Though we know all Walnut Hills graduating classes are special and will go on to make their mark in the world, the football alumni of the class of 1981 hold a special place in our hearts. In the fall of 1980, coach John E. Campbell (known to many as "Jack" or "Bear Campbell") lead his second Walnut Hills team to the PHSL football championship. Campbell, the long-time head coach at our rival Woodward, came to Walnut Hills in 1979.

Football on Victory Parkway had languished for years; the Eagles suffered through one losing season after another in the 1970s, reaching a low-point in the fall of 1978 ending with a record of 1-9 (a team that was outscored 269-80). We know that today's Eagles are struggling, but let the 1980 season serve as a reminder that football championships can be won by Walnut Hills even when things look their worst. Signs of Life In spite of being outscored 281 - 47 in Campbell's first season in the fall of 1979, there was some hope and signs of improvement: victories over Taft and Western Hills. For the casual observer of prep football at the time, these little steps would have meant very little; a 2-8 record hardly gave any hint of what was to come. However, to the players of that era, it was clear that change was coming. Bernie Ausdenmoore, who was the starting fullback and part-time weak-side linebacker for the 1980 team, recalled recently what it was like when Campbell took over the program: Coach Campbell came right before my junior year. It was a different level of intensity compared to the year before. Coach Campbell was intense to say the least. At the first two-a-day that summer, I recall him saying that all positions were up for grabs. No position is safe. I recall him pointing out to me, Bobby Sellers and Jerry Hurst, that even though we played and started on the varsity our sophomore year, that did not even guarantee that we would make varsity that year. Talk about setting the stage early.

Certainly the word "intense" is a fitting description of Coach Campbell. I'm sure everyone who played for him recalls with mixed feelings of admiration, fear and humor, what an "intense" individual he was back then. Ask a football alumnus about Coach Campbell, and you'll hear stories of broken clipboards, bloody noses (his own) and pulled out hair (again, his own) - this was a man who didn't believe in figurative emotion - he meant it, demonstrated it. In his 50s he demonstrated blocking and tackling without equipment. In the summer of 1984 he lifted a 7-man blocking sled himself, turned it around, and drove it downfield himself for 25 yards. Now that's commitment to teaching! Some of you will recall Coach Campbell removing a whistle from his neck the hard way - by breaking the cord off on his neck. For many of you, the night he punched the roof of a school bus, leaving a sizable dent, still echoes in your memories (We sure hope the statute of limitations has passed in this case of damaging Cincinnati Public School property). Of course, Coach Campbell's use of, shall we say, "non-standard lexicon" is legendary. However, since this site represents Walnut Hills High School and is accessible by it impressionable young students, we'll have to save those memories for our reunions, just out of earshot of those who might be offended.

This is just a brief portrait of the man who took over Walnut Hills football in 1979. A Football Championship at Walnut Hills The 1980 season started with a great 38-0 win over Lemon Monroe, but things looked bad as the Eagles dropped three in a row to Hamilton Badin (10-0 regular season in 1980 and state runner-up), St. Xavier and Coach Campbell's former school - Woodward. However, the situation began to improve as Walnut Hills knocked off Taft, Hughes, Withrow and Western Hills. The PHSL championship was in reach, in spite of the earlier 18-13 loss to league rival Woodward. It all came down to the last league contest vs. Aiken. We ended up beating Aiken 16-9 in the final league game to win the PHSL Championship. I remember that it was a real big deal, Ausdenmoore recalled. Things had changed at Walnut Hills. The league doormat became the 1980 PHSL champions, outscoring its opponents 259 - 162. Several of the 1980/81 Eagles went on to play college football. As well, momentum carried on a bit as the 1981/82 team contended for the PHSL title; that team ended up in second place in the league. The 1982 and 1983 seasons were hard times, 2-8 and 1-9 respectively, but even those teams were competitive, often losing by a touchdown or less to stiff competition. Campbell's 1984 team, however, contended for the PHSL title again, eventually losing the championship to Aiken on a foggy night in "The Pit". Some consolation was the 6-0 victory over Woodward, a team Walnut Hills had not defeated since the fall of 1964. Campbell's last WHHS team finished at 6-4 with big out of league victories over Lemon Monroe and Amelia. After more than three decades of coaching, "Bear" Campbell retired after the 1984-85 school year. He never won another championship after the 1980 season, but he brought respectability and success to the long-suffering Walnut Hills program. How many of us still remember him. How many of us are still shaped by his dedication. One thing we can all agree on - Coach Campbell never walked onto the practice field or into Robert S. Marx Stadium without an intense desire to win. Ausdenmoore added these thoughts about his coach in the fall of 2006: He was tough as nails on the field, but a perfect gentleman off the field.

The 1980 Season
Eagles	38	Lemon Monroe	0
Eagles	20	Hamilton Badin	42
Eagles	15	St. Xavier	38
Eagles	13	Woodward	18
Eagles	45	Taft	0
Eagles	20	Hughes	14
Eagles	35	Withrow	14
Eagles	29	Western Hills	7
Eagles	16	Aiken	9
Eagles	8	Roger Bacon	20

The author of this text would like to express his gratitude to Bernie Ausdenmoore (WHHS class of 1981) for his help in compiling the information in this article and for sharing his memories of the 1980 championship season and coach Campbell. This article was prepared in haste so that it could be posted on the site before the WHHS class of 1981 meets in Cincinnati this November (2006) for its reunion. It is our desire to expand this article as time goes on to include more input from Mr. Ausdenmoore's team mates and from the coaching staff of that team. Please contact the site administrator if you were a member of the 1980 PHSL championship team. At the time of posting this article, efforts are underway to contact Coach Campbell. If anyone can help us contact the coach, please let us know.