Illinois' 1983 Team Reunion: Veteran Media Recall Historic Football Season

By Mike Pearson 

FightingIllini.com 

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Forty years after their momentous season, Coach Mike White and members of the University of Illinois' 1983 football team will gather for a reunion in Champaign-Urbana the weekend of Sept. 1-2, when the Fighting Illini take on Toledo in their season opener. Following is the final story of a four-part series that recounts the details about the men who had a role in that incomparable season. Veteran Champaign-Urbana media Loren Tate and Steve Kelly offered their thoughts and memories from that unforgettable 1983 campaign. 

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Very few media members who are still active today are more tuned into the exploits of the University of Illinois' 1983 Big Ten Championship football team than Champaign-Urbana community semi-retirees Loren Tate and Steve Kelly. 

Tate, a Monticello native and the author of "Tatelines" for Champaign's News-Gazette since 1966, is clearly the dean of Illini media members. Kelly arrived from his native Dayton, Ohio, in the fall of 1981, working at WCIA-TV until mid-1989, handling play-by-play duties for Raycom Sports for five additional years, then entering local radio airwaves at WDWS/WHMS in July of 2000. 

The pair was quizzed about their memories of the Fighting Illini's 1983 football season.

On Mike White:

TATE: "In that era, I knew the coaches really well. I was close to Mike. He confided in me about things that maybe I couldn't print, about recruiting and other things. Sometimes, he was pretty rough on the players, but he could change quickly with them. Every so often, Mike and I would get together away from the practice field and have a drink." 

KELLY: "Mike was a very charismatic guy. I liked his personality and the way he treated the media. In those early years, he needed the media, and he allowed us to see some practice. That changed over time, as it does with coaches. I don't think any of us dreamed that success would happen that quickly." 

On the coaching staff:

TATE: "Mike had those three 'C' guys on his staff: (Bill) Callahan, (Kevin) Cosgrove, and (Brad) Childress. They were top recruiters, and they really recruited the state of California. Mike had lots of contacts out there, so there were times when he would take guys on the word of somebody who had seen them play in junior college or high school." 

On Jack Trudeau stepping in for Tony Eason:

KELLY: I was a big Tony Eason fan. I thought Tony was really an outstanding quarterback who put up some outstanding numbers, so his shoes would be big ones to fill. Jack was an outstanding game manager, and he got a little better each game. A quarterback has to use the weapons that are around him, and I thought he did that early on. The great ones adjust, and Jack did that." 

TATE: "Trudeau followed (Dave) Wilson and Eason, and I think everybody had high expectations for him, too. I think Trudeau was the key to everything, but you don't have receivers like (David) Williams very often, and they combined for some really big plays. Trudeau fit perfectly with the offense that Mike White presented. With that skill set of his, he brought an offense that the Big Ten was unaccustomed to." 

On Don Thorp and Illinois' defensive unit:

TATE: "Well, it all started with (Don) Thorp and (Mark) Butkus. I had no idea that Thorp ever would wind up as the Big Ten's most valuable player. He had 11 tackles against Ohio State, but that game wasn't on TV. We only had three games on television that year—Michigan State, Michigan and then UCLA in the bowl game. But, the word got out on Thorp, and Mike pushed him as the leader of the defense." 

KELLY: "I don't remember some of the other defensive guys in the Big Ten, but Thorp was clearly an All-American. He was really an outstanding football player." 

On the turning point of the 1983 season:

KELLY: "For me, I think it was probably the Iowa game. They beat the No. 4 team in the country 33-nothing. That Iowa game made you stop and think, 'Oh, we might be onto something,' because that was a total domination of a top-five team." 

TATE: "The win over Wisconsin in Madison was a good one, but we were still skeptical heading into the sixth game against Ohio State. Everybody was wondering if we could beat Ohio State because they were better than Illinois. But, when they beat Ohio State, that was the turning point for me." 

On the final Illini drive against Ohio State:

TATE: "When we got the ball back with less than two minutes to go (trailing 13-10), I remember saying to someone something like, 'If we could just get a field goal here, we could tie this game.' I wasn't even thinking about a touchdown because time was running out. On Rooks' final run, when he went to the right side and started down that right sideline, I thought he'd stepped out of bounds. Then, all of a sudden, he cut back from the sideline and went all the way. It was a stunner, so that gave Illinois a four-point lead and the game."

On Illinois' 16-6 victory over Michigan: 

KELLY: "Illinois had never beaten Bo (Schembechler). A couple of years before at Michigan (1981), Illinois actually led 21-nothing and was going in for a fourth touchdown, but it fumbled the ball. Michigan got the momentum, and I think the final score was 70-21. Bo was still mad about the Gary Moeller situation, and he poured it on. But, that day in '83 was a madhouse. I was working at Channel 3 at that point and was on the field at the end of the game. I was carrying the recording deck while the camera guy was shooting. Well, when the crowd rushed the field at the end of the game, we kind of got crushed there a little bit. It was crazy. Oh boy, that was a wonderful game."  

On comparing the 1983 team with other Illini squads of the last 40 years: 

KELLY: "Well, in my opinion, I'd put the '83 team right there at the top, just based on the fact of what they were able to accomplish in beating every other Big Ten team. Of course, now, unless they start playing a 17-game (conference) schedule, that's never going to happen again. So, I put 1983 right at the top of all of Illinois' other best teams." 

TATE: "Well, if you go through the regular season, they might've been the best team. But, if you go through the bowl game, you have to include that 45-9 loss to UCLA."