Kauric, Glory finally get off schneid with 20-17 win

Ohio Glory wide receiver Deval Glover (86) is congratulated by fellow wideout Phil Logan (83) during the team's first-ever win, a 20-17 decision against the Frankfurt Galaxy at Ohio Stadium.

On May 2, 1992, the Ohio Glory won its first-ever game, a 20-17 decision over the Frankfurt Galaxy at Ohio Stadium.

It is remarkable that there are so many different angles to the game to cover. But, as has been stated many times already, the Glory wasn’t your run-of-the-mill expansion team.

·         There was yet another change to the coaching staff. In the week leading up to the game against the Galaxy, assistant head coach/defensive line coach Wally Chambers resigned due what was reported to be continued legal and financial problems in Philadelphia concerning his four-year-old son, Wally II.

Chambers’ replacement was Claude Humphrey, who was the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks’ defensive line coach in 1991 and was helping coach Team Dallas, the World League of American Football’s league-wide taxi squad, to that point in 1992.

·         The game kicked off shortly after 8 p.m., marking just the second time in venerable Ohio Stadium’s history that a night game was played there.

The other time was a good omen for the home team, too – Ohio State defeated Pittsburgh, 10-7, on September 14, 1985.

·         There would be a pregame concert by The Beach Boys, and fireworks at halftime.

The concert was of no concern for Ohio Glory Head Coach Larry Little, and he said he isn’t a fan of the storied group, but he added, “If they can help us win, I will be.”

·         The Galaxy’s starting quarterback would be Chris Cochrane, who spent the first four weeks of the season as the Glory’s practice QB. He was claimed by Frankfurt on April 17 when injuries began to decimate the Galaxy’s group of pivots - a group that included second-year starter Mike Perez, who missed the last six games of the 1992 season due to a partial rotator cuff tear.

There wasn’t much reason to think a game between teams with a six-game losing streak (Ohio) and a four-game losing streak (Frankfurt) would be very entertaining.

The opposite, actually, was true.

A crowd of 41,853 fans saw the Glory take its first lead since the early 6-0 home lead against Sacramento in Week 2 when quarterback Pat O’Hara found newly-activated wide receiver Deval Glover on a 5-yard touchdown pass just 6:31 into the game.

The Galaxy countered late in the first quarter when running back Tony “The Touchdown Maker” Baker scored on a 9-yard TD pass from Cochrane.

Ohio took a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter when cornerback Aaron Ruffin picked off Cochrane and needed just 10 yards for a touchdown. The score stayed that way until early in the third quarter, when Cochrane hit tight end Chad Fortune for a 38-yard touchdown pass to the game at 14.

The fourth quarter became a contest of field goals between Ohio’s embattled Jerry Kauric and Frankfurt’s Robbie Keen. Kauric, the former Canadian Football League and Cleveland Browns kicker who was just 2-for-6 on field goals and 0-for-1 on extra points in the season’s first six weeks, hit a 24-yarder with 4:57 to go to put the Glory ahead 17-14.

Keen, however, connected on a 45-yard field goal with just 44 seconds left in regulation to re-knot the game at 17. But Kauric got a shot at redemption for his season-long struggles (which included a missed field goal during the fourth quarter) when he lined up for a 46-yard field goal that would leave no time remaining once the play was over.

Kauric nailed the kick, ending a season’s worth of frustration for himself and his teammates.

“Thank God that last kick went through,” Kauric said after the game. “It had just enough to scrape through.”

Said Little after the game, “I figured he would kick himself out of it, and tonight, he did.”

The game-winning field goal was set up by a 15-yard personal foul penalty after Galaxy linebacker Kevin Wolfolk hit O’Hara in the head.

Glover, who suffered a stress fracture in his foot in the final scrimmage of training camp and was slated to be a starter for the Glory, caught nine passes for 90 yards and a score in his first game of the season. O’Hara was 28-for-48 for 206 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

In addition, Glory punter Tom Rouen set a new WLAF record in the victory by placing a whopping six punts inside the 20-yard line.

Ohio withstood Cochrane’s 320 passing yards in a 27-for-39 effort. He threw two touchdowns and two interceptions. Baker racked up 10 catches for 111 yards and a TD to go with 32 yards on nine carries.

The Glory defense, which had stood tall for most of the season to that point, gave up 401 yards to the Galaxy, but took the ball away five times and had a pair of sacks.

Ohio did a much better job of limiting its mistakes against Frankfurt, turning the ball over just once and committing just one 11-yard penalty.

“I felt good about our chances all week,” Little said following the victory. “Finally winning a football game, it’s a great feeling that words can’t express.”

The win was especially sweet for two members of the Glory. Backup defensive tackle Anthony Butts and Director of Public Relations Ken Einhorn each had suffered through the Skyhawks’ 0-10 season in 1991, and hasn’t won a game in 1992 until Kauric’s game-winner went through the uprights.

“I needed this so bad,” Butts said after the game. “I was on the verge of being 0-17. This cigar (received in Raleigh-Durham) here is a year-and-a-half old, and it still tastes good.”

Twenty years later, Einhorn said of the victory, "There were certain people who recognized that this was my first win after however many games it was, and I remember Larry Little saying something about that in the locker room. It was a very classy thing to do.

"Each week, we had a conference call with all the PR directors around the league. I remember the week after we won, Bob Rose and Vince Casey from the league office, and all the other guys were like, 'Congratulations.' “

Many members of the Glory still recall the win fondly – and some with information perhaps not previously known.

Little: "I was getting ready to cut him (Kauric) the next week and bring in another kicker, and he won that game. I will never forget the picture of me and Kenny (Einhorn) hugging each other."

Chris Wolfington, Assistant to the General Manager: “I remember that day as just being an awesome sense of accomplishment that the work had paid off. Even if that hadn't been the only win, it was an exciting game. We were thrilled. We had a big celebration that night."

Randy Bethel, tight end: “It was a great feeling, like this is the way we are supposed to play.”

The Glory finally had a number other than zero in the win column. Now, the team had the opportunity to go after another franchise first – a winning streak.