1962 & 1963 Teams

When 31-year-old Charles Gorman took over the Grand Ledge football program in 1962, GL had only won 2 conference titles in school history, under Coach Szasz in 1940 and 1941. In fact, the previous 20 seasons, from 1942- 1961, GL only achieved a winning record 6 times, and only finished runner-up in the conference twice in those 6 winning seasons, otherwise they finished 3rd or worse in the conference. Often times, finishing near or at the bottom of the league. Long story short: GL was NOT a "football school" prior to Coach Gorman taking over the program fall of 1962.

Coach Gorman had already been successful for 2 years as the Head Varsity Baseball Coach, and he had started the GL Wrestling program in 1959 with further success achieved in 4 seasons as the Head Varsity Wrestling Coach. Therefore, it is no surprise that Coach Gorman would be the man to finally bring / establish success to the GL Comets football program.

In his first 2 seasons (1962-1963) as the Head Varsity Football Coach, he would win back-to-back league titles in the WCC, matching the program's total titles up to that point (a program that dates back to 1911). Coach Gorman led the program to runner-up finishes the next 2 seasons and a 3rd place finish in 1966.

Coach Gorman's tenure as varsity head coach was short lived (1962-1966), as he was tragically killed winter of 1966 in a car accident at the age of 36. His predecessor, John Krupa, coached under Gorman for those 5 seasons, and Coach Krupa would use the success and culture built by Coach Gorman to lead GL to 6 straight league titles from 1969-1974, a stretch of success still unmatched more than 50 years later. Coach Gorman WAS and IS GL football.

1962-1963 Teams

12-3-1

(9-1-1 WCC)

Back-To-Back WCC champs

Head Coach Charles Gorman (1st & 2nd seasons)

1962

6-1-1

(5-0-1 WCC)

*Conference Champs

*First team to score more than 200 total points in a season (230)

*5th fewest total points allowed in school history (43)

*Grand Ledge officially classified “Class A”