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The Edmonds Warriors began play as an independent team in 1962 and
struggled on both sides of the ball much of the season. The Warriors showed signs of improvement in 1963 during a 4-5 season, scoring dual victories over the Seattle Ramblers, before dropping the finale to Seattle 10-7, the Ramblers were starting to decline as players began moving over to the Warriors, and Rambler head-man Don Sprinkle had been elected King County Sheriff. Sprinkle would die of a heart attack the following August of '63 and a wholesale movement of former Rambler stars became Warriors. Head Coach Mel McCain had made the pitch for the Edmonds Jaycees organization to help sponsor the team and Edmonds was set to take off. With the acquisition of quarterback Phil Borders, a former Los Angeles Angels outfielder, former Washington Redskin and Edmonton Eskimo fullback Hugh Smith, Rambler legend Don Mann, and University of Washington alums Kermit Jorgensen and Johnny O'Brien among many others, the 1964 Warriors immediately became the dominant force in the Northwest. Opening the 1964 season with a 73-0 mauling of the Spokane Volunteers, the Warrior defense gave up double digit points only once to the Fort Lewis Rangers enroute to a 9-0 season. Borders threw 3 TDs against the Volunteers, while Mann scored three times in each game against Bellingham and the Ramblers, while Terry Spragg picked off 8 passes from his safety position. Smith was a battering ram clearing paths for Mann. A planned trip to take on a California team at the end of the season fell through and the team looked forward to defending their North Pacific Football League title. The California game was back on to open the 1965 season, and the Warriors were stronger than ever. After a 40-0 win over the Eureka Humboldt Foresters in Edmonds, the team outscored opponents 138-0 to open the season with four-straight victories. The second half of the Nor-Pac league schedule was next with similar results. Sitting at 7-0, the Warriors faced the road test of a return game in Eureka, California to take on an angry Foresters team. They stayed angry having been defeated again on their home turf 48-27. Returning home and three more league victories, the 11-0 Warriors would get a Thanksgiving game against a team of independent "all-stars" who nearly clipped Edmonds who escaped with a 13-12 victory in what players described as the "Mud Bowl" and a 21-game winning streak intact. Ted Berney kicked the extra point to give the Warriors the win. Fullback Kermit Jorgensen took home the North Pacific Football League MVP as well as the Pacific Football League Co-MVP awarded to the combined Northwest-California leagues. After the season ended, Head Coach Mel McCain announced his resignation following the win over the all-stars. Lafa Lane had purchased the contracts of the Warrior players and intended to resurrect the "Seattle Ramblers" name for one-season of play in the Pacific Football League as part of a longer strategy to place a team in the Continental Football League. That team would drop the Ramblers name in 1967 for the Seattle Rangers. The remaining Warriors players who decided to stay, would include Hall of Famer Dick Hard and Paul Mitchell among others. Defensive back Terry Spragg, a former Claremont Junior College player prior to the Warriors, headed east for a tryout with the NFL's Boston Patriots in the spring of 1966. He would be inducted into the Pacific Northwest Football Hall of Fame in 2014. But, without the stars who were now on the other side of the field as the "Ramblers", Edmonds finished 4-6-1 including two losses to their former teammates. Hard and Mitchell would be named PFL All-Stars following the 1966 season. The league would end that year and most of the top teams shut down as the Seattle Rangers, Eugene Bombers and Victoria Steelers joined the Pacific Division of the Continental Football League. Remaining teams like the Seattle Cavaliers and Monroe Reformatory Tigers would band together to form the Northwest Independent League of 1967. Mel McCain, would coach the "Ramblers" to another undefeated 11-0 season setting a then-coaching record of 32-consecutive victories over three seasons (1965-1967). He would start out 2-0 with the Rangers in the Continental League before suffering a defeat in 1968, his record streak at 34-straight. That record would stand until 2022 when Mike Jensen of the Idaho Mustangs would lead his team to 35-consecutive victories from 2019 to 2022. Kermit Jorgensen was 32-0 as a semi-pro player winning back-to-back Northwest Player of the Year honors before signing as a "pro" with the Rangers while quarterback Phil Borders shared in the winning also posting a 32-0 record as a semi-pro quarterback. Borders did not sign with the Rangers as Dick Berg took over the signal calling for Seattle in 1967. Berg was a starting quarterback for Stanford as a sophomore leading the Cardinal to its first victory over Notre Dame. Defensive Lineman Ted Berney was inducted into the Pacific Northwest Football Hall of Fame in 2015 having played for the Warriors from 1963-1965 while he was starting a 31-year coaching/teaching career in Bremerton. He was nominated by former Warrior and defensive line mate Dave Enslow who was a Warrior and Ranger from 1962-1967 and a member of the first University of Washington National Championship football team inducted into the Husky Hall of Fame in 1994 that played in the 1960 and 1961 Rose Bowls while also being a captain of the wrestling team, a 6-time Northwest Freestyle champion and later coach. Enslow was inducted into the PNW Football Hall of Fame for his career as a collegian, coach and player and served terms as it's administrator in the mid-2000's before passing away in 2023.
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| COPYRIGHT: GREATER NORTHWEST FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION, established 2006 - Washington | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
