Wake Forest Athletics
Peahead Has Been Equaled
10/21/2013 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 21, 2013
By Brad O'Neil, WakeForestSports.com
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Jim Grobe tied a legend for the Wake Forest football coaching victory record on Saturday, but the perpetually self-effacing front man of the Demon Deacons probably looks at it another way: He finally pulled even with a Peahead.
"Did he?" asked quarterback Tanner Price, honestly unaware that Grobe's 77th Demon Deacon victory, a 34-10 triumph over Maryland, equaled the standard held since 1950 by Douglas Clyde "Peahead" Walker.
Never mind the drizzle. Homecoming could scarcely have been better for the Deacons, who ran onto the field after Arnold Palmer opened the gate, ran out to a three-touchdown lead at halftime and defeated the Terrapins of the ACC's Atlantic Division with relative ease.
"It was a special day for us," said Grobe, 77-77 in 13 years on the job. "Special to beat Maryland, but obviously special to have Arnold Palmer here for it."
You could also forget about Grobe discussing the significance of tying a record at a school that began playing the sport in 1888. When the final gun sounded, there was no mention of the achievement on the scoreboard or the public-address system. As he always does -- win or lose -- the coach joined his players in front of their fellow students as the band played the alma mater. And that was that.
"I'm proud of what we've done, but obviously, I haven't won any games without a great coaching staff or great groups of kids," he said. "Primarily the kids."
As for the previously solo record-holder, 63 years can't fully explain the length of Walker's ownership. In 1950, when Peahead took off for an assistant's job at Yale, this place was known as Wake Forest College, and it was planning a 100-mile westward migration from its original home to the current locale. It was essentially overseen by the Baptist church and was vastly different in student demographics from today's national university.
Walker's career provides an even better view of the times. From 1937-39, his first three seasons as the Demon Deacons' head football coach, he had a side job: manager of the Snow Hill (N.C.) Billies, a minor-league baseball team. At least the Billies were relatively close at 60 miles from Wake Forest. In his first six years of football coaching, he split time between two North Carolina colleges and playing gigs for minor-league outfits as distant as York, Pa., and Bloomington, Ill.
Grobe hasn't had to be so divided, but his job has been no less difficult. He assumed control of a struggling program that nearly everybody counted as a win on the schedule. In his fifth season, he built it into an ACC champion.
Successive bowl trips followed, providing the program with its longest period of sustained and rewarded success in its history. While this season is just past its halfway mark, getting to postseason again would represent one of the most satisfying accomplishments of the Grobe administration.
The Deacons lost to Louisiana-Monroe at home and absorbed a 56-7 loss to Clemson before September was out. Even Grobe sounded downhearted.
But in the past two games, they have dispatched NC State 24-10 and earned the most lopsided win over the Terps since a 38-14 verdict on Nov. 2, 1968. Now they're 4-3 overall.
"I think as a team, we understood that we had we were down, but we knew we had a ton of potential," Price said. "The season was far from over."
The rest of the Deacs' schedule includes top-10 foes Miami and Florida State as well as bowl-chasing clubs from Syracuse, Duke and Vanderbilt. So there's nothing sure here. But each victory figures to have significance beyond a record affixed to coaches.
"You give me five more wins (this season) and I'll give you the record back," Grobe said.
