FLAT ROCK – Mike Bousamra wasn’t allowed to play football his first three years at Flat Rock High School.
“I was the smallest kid in school,” he recalled. “My dad was a doctor in town and he wouldn’t let me play.
“On my driver’s license it said I was 5-4, 104 pounds. Before my senior year I shot up six inches to 5-10, 128. Then, he let me play.”
The timing was perfect.
Watch the 1976 title game: Flat Rock wins state football championship
Bousamra put on the pads just in time to become a member of one of the greatest teams in Monroe County Region history.
Flat Rock won the Class C state championship in 1976 – the second year of the state playoffs in Michigan.
“We had a remarkable group of athletes for a small town,” Bousamra said. “I wasn’t one of them. I was just the kicker, but we had a real juggernaut.”
Members of that team gathered on the 50th anniversary of the juggernaut to be honored during the current team’s game against Milan on Friday, Oct. 9.
“I can’t believe it’s been 50 years,” said Joe Mangin, a running back from 1976 who traveled from Plano, Texas, to reunite with his former teammates. “It’s crazy.”
“It was pretty cool,” said Gene Richards, the quarterback in 1976. “They gave us a little shout out at halftime and all the fans applauded. It was special, a great experience. It was great seeing everybody.”
The reunion brought Bousamra, Mangin, Phil Moss, Ron Gaynier, Mike Gamble, Ron Lawson, John Hill, Jay Porter, Mike Blosser, Joe Mangin, Steve Fleming, Gene Richards, Mark Balowski, Gene Schoen, Dave Steffan, Gary Boyd, Jerry Bennett and Jeff Lee back to Flat Rock along with coaches Dale Robinson and Ron Smith.
“It was a great turnout, especially because seven of us have passed away,” Bousamra said.
Bousamra downplayed his contributions to the championship season a bit.
He kicked the winning point in a 7-6 victory over Melvindale that put the Rams in the playoffs.
“But it was in the first half,” he said. “There wasn’t really any pressure on my shoulders.”
The Rams responded to every challenge in a perfect 11-0 season.
They opened with a 20-6 victory over Class C Dundee, then posted seven victories over Class B schools in the Huron League before wrapping up against Class A Melvindale.
“The playoff games against Galesburg Augusta (27-8) and Onaway (30-8) were two of our easiest games all year,” Mangin said. “We played all Class B teams in the Huron League. There were some really good players in the Huron League. I think Gibraltar Carlson won a state championship in baseball that spring.”
After watching his classmates go 6-3 in 1974 and 7-2 in 1975, Bousamra was delighted to join the fun as a senior.
“I always loved football, even though I was a small kid,” he said.
Bousamra simply had to walk across Gibraltar Rd. to get to the games.
“Our family lived in the doctor’s office, which was directly across the street from the football field,” he recalled. “I would watch my friends and want to jump the fence to play.”
Many in those days didn’t pay for tickets to the games.
“They would just bring their lawn chairs and sit along Gibraltar Rd.,” Mangin said.
That wasn’t possible when the Rams reached the state finals at the Pontiac Silverdome.
“All four games were at the Silverdome that day,” Bousamra recalled. “Farmington Harrison and Midland Dow played right before us. We were in the Detroit Lions’ locker room, which was cool. Harrison was on the other side.
“After they lost, they were all crying and their coach was telling them how much they all meant to him. I remember thinking, ‘That’s not going to happen to us.’ It was a negative type of inspiration that game me that final push.”
It was one of several locker-room moments that season forever etched in Bousamra’s memory.
“We had a big game against Tecumseh,” he said. “They were a big, strong football school and we played on their homecoming. Before the game we went into an equipment room, shut the door and shut off the lights. One by one, each guy had to tell what the games meant to them. It was a genius move by our coaches.”
Part of the genius was turning off the lights so that proud players didn’t have to see each other crying.
“I think a couple of players may have dropped tears in that room,” Richards said.
The motivation by coaches continued on game day.
“We had a silent bus ride, a silent dressing room and silent calisthenics,” Richards said. “It was a great ploy by the coaches to get us sky high and ready for the game. It was amazing when we finally got to bust out and use our voices. I think overall, we played our best game of the year that night.”
Mangin was a standout on offense and defense and was part of every special-teams unit.
“I never came off the field,” he said. “I got hurt in the last game against Melvindale. I only played defense in the semifinals, but I had two interceptions.”
Richards had a memorably moment in the finals, but it was not his finest moment.
“I tripped over myself on the astroturf coming out at halftime,” he recalled. “Everyone had to step over me. I heard my family members yelling, ‘We don’t know you!’”
There never was much doubt that Flat Rock would leave the Silverdome with the championship trophy.
“We dominated Class B teams all year, then we played undefeated Melvindale in the last game and knocked them out of the playoffs,” Richards said. “There were several fights because they were so upset about losing to a Class C school.
“We probably could have beaten the Class B champs that given the Class A champs a run.”
Richards only threw the ball three times in the title game because the Flat Rock line was so dominating.
“If you watch that game, the biggest difference in the finals was our defensive line against their offensive line,” Bousamra said.
Mangin agreed.
“It didn’t hurt to have big Dave Steffen,” he said of the football All-Stater, who also was a state wrestling champion and played minor-league baseball for the Detroit Tigers. “That was a team full of seniors. We only had one or two juniors who started.
“We had a lot of senior leadership. The coaches were fairly disciplined, but let us play. We caught magic in a bottle”
1976 FLAT ROCK FOOTBALL
Sept. 17: Flat Rock 20, Dundee 6
Sept. 24: Flat Rock 28, New Boston Huron 7
Oct. 1: Flat Rock 13, Jefferson 6
Oct. 8: Flat Rock 20, Tecumseh 6
Oct. 16: Flat Rock 16, Gibraltar Carlson 13
Oct. 22: Flat Rock 33, Grosse Ile 15
Oct. 29: Flat Rock 28, Airport 12
Nov. 5: Flat Rock 14, Monroe CC 8
Nov. 12: Flat Rock 7, Melvindale 6
Nov. 19: Flat Rock 27, Galesburg Augusta 8 (Class C semifinals)
Nov. 26: Flat Rock 30, Onaway 8 (Class C state finals)
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Flat Rock's football state champs celebrate 50th anniversary of title