BYU’s 1974 team gets royalty treatment during 50th reunion celebration

They’ve got silver hair, some with receding hairlines as happens to the distinguished mane of men in their 70s. Some carry a little more weight in the middle, a few are in wheelchairs, while others look in fighting shape. They’re grandpas, businessmen; most have retired from successful careers.

But on this day, they were remembered for their play when gasoline was 53 cents a gallon.

BYU’s 1974 football team started 0-3-1 and ended with a conference title and ranked 17th in the country. They celebrated a 50th reunion this weekend and the spotlight shone brightly on them before the kickoff of BYU’s season opener with Southern Illinois at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday.

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Gifford Nielsen, recently returned from a leadership assignment in Africa as a general authority for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was the scout team quarterback on that 1974 team. Half a century later, he salutes the bond those players developed and marveled how it felt as they reunited this past week in Provo.

“It was great to see them,” said Nielsen. “You know, I didn’t realize the impact it would have on all of us to be together. You play at BYU, you go your separate ways, and then you come back, and it’s just like a brotherhood, like you really did accomplish something very special.

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“After 1974 we had an off year and then in 1976 we began a remarkable run of quarterbacks and championships, but the foundation was that 1974 team that gave us hope to be better and establish a tradition BYU had never known before, one unlike any other.”

The 50th anniversary recognition and reunion struck an immediate chord against the drama that is the current culture in college football. With transfer portal movement, team-jumping and one-year players, will current college athletes really enjoy this kind of legacy with one another?

Maybe. But maybe not.

In BYU history books, the 1974 team is widely recognized as the foundational squad on which the legendary Edwards built a remarkable Hall of Fame career. They delivered him the first WAC championship, first bowl game and unlocked the code that led to an extraordinary string of record-setting quarterbacks.

The 1974 BYU football team stood before a packed crowd in LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday and, and as a group, symbolically ignited the ceremonial Y on the field.

Before that, they joined the 2024 team on the Cougar Walk through the stadium gate, a crowd-lined path to the field. Representatives of the Fiesta Bowl were present to give a commemorative honor to the squad that played in its third annual event. Offensive lineman Brad Oates gave the pregame stadium prayer.

On Friday night, a banquet on campus had 54 members of that team present, where athletic director Tom Holmoe officially welcomed squad members.

The program, conducted by player Doug Adams, included remarks from Patti Edwards, wife of the late head coach. Members of Edwards’ 1974 staff spoke, including Dave Kragthorpe, Dwain Painter, JD Helm and Mel Olson. Team captains WR John Betham, OL Brad Oates, LB Larry Carr and QB Gary Sheide spoke, with TE Brian Billick’s remarks closing the event.

Nielsen said seeing his former mates proved fun and rewarding. As a scout team quarterback bound to finish his freshman year playing basketball for the late Frank Arnold, Nielsen did not attend the Fiesta Bowl but he was there for a lot of the work.

Nielsen, a native of Provo, played for the Houston Oilers out of college and settled in as a popular sportscaster in Houston following his playing days.

“I was looking at Larry Carr, and Larry’s just a little guy, and I said, ‘Larry, I went from you to Jack Lambert. You prepared me for Jack Lambert, Mean Joe Green, the great Steelers Steel Curtain and the Dallas Doomsday Defense.’”

Nielsen joined 20 teammates Friday for a round of golf at Sleepy Ridge Golf Course in Lindon where owner Golden Holt provided each squad member with a 1974 silver dollar in a commemorative case.

There, Nielsen teased Billick about huddle talk back in the day. Billick was the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens following his NFL career.

“People ask me all the time what it was like being in the huddle with Billick and Todd Christensen. You had to have a different vocabulary. You just had to understand those were strong personalities. That’s what made it great. It was a choice time in our lives, so many fun memories,” said Nielsen.

“Gary started throwing the ball all around that year, hooking up with Betham and Jay Miller and showed them that this BYU thing could really work. They created the atmosphere for the rest of us that came along.”

Nielsen said back then nobody expected Edwards to become what he ended up being as a coach, mentor, friend and leader.

“He was just beginning his career. What he did, however, was make us believe that we could do more than we thought we could do, be more than we thought we were. I’ll treasure that all my life. We all will.”

Nielsen said the bond created with teammates is something that will never be broken.

“What we accomplished under one of the greatest coaches to ever coach in NCAA football made all of us privileged and blessed.”