Among the defensive starters, left cornerback Chuck Braswell and right cornerback Johnny Schell are no longer with us. Braswell died in 2009 near his native Clairton, Pennsylvania, while Schell died in Athens, Georgia, in 2020.
Right linebacker Ray Marshall, the Peach Bowl’s defensive MVP whose big sack of Wolfpack quarterback Dave Buckey late in the game helped preserve West Virginia’s three-point victory, was among the handful of players whose whereabouts remain unknown.
The last people heard, Marshall was an attorney working and living somewhere in North Carolina.
Right tackle Rich Lukowski is said to be living in Las Vegas, while free safety Mark Burke is believed to be back in his native Marietta, Ohio.
Left defensive end Andy Peters earns the award for the longest distance traveled for the team reunion. A 2015 inductee into the John Chambers College of Business and Economics Roll of Distinguished Alumni, Peters has enjoyed a distinguished career in safety management that has taken him to different parts of the country, most recently to Huntington Beach, California.
Through the years, Andy has remained connected with his alma mater and frequently returns for practices and games, as does right defensive end Gary Lombard, who came back to the area a few years ago and now lives on a farm outside of Morgantown.
Dunlap, WVU’s starting left linebacker, wrapped up a distinguished coaching career in 2012 after stops at Navy, West Virginia, Syracuse, North Carolina State, Marshall and back to WVU.
These days, he splits time between Morgantown and his fishing cabin in Canada.
We always enjoy reading left tackle Chuck Smith’s periodic Facebook posts as a retiree living in the Monongahela, Pennsylvania, area where he grew up, and he managed to make the short drive down Route 119 to Morgantown to visit with old teammates.
Chuck once told me a great story about finding a pair of broken glasses on the field during the melee that ensued following the Pitt victory, and how he interrupted celebrating to reach down and pick up the glasses to give them back to an inebriated student.
“Thank you! This is the greatest day of my life,” the drunk kid told Smith.
Teammates always gave Chuck the side-eye at reunions whenever he would tell this story until someone produced a highlight video that clearly showed a big No. 78 bending down to pick up something on the field while everyone else was celebrating hysterically.
“I gave the kid his glasses!” Smith would tell them.
Middle guards Ken Culbertson and Joe Jelich were also part of the Peach Bowl reunion. Culbertson was the team’s starter until breaking his leg in the Richmond victory, giving way to Jelich, then a freshman.
Culbertson is now residing in Frisco, Texas, while Jelich has spent many years working for the state forestry service while living on a farm in Procious, West Virginia, on the other side of I-79, east of Clendenin.
The word is strong safety Tommy Pridemore was another popular figure at Kegler’s. Now living in Gainesville, Georgia, Pridemore parlayed a successful playing career with the Atlanta Falcons into an equally successful career in residential real estate and timber properties.
His teammates still recall with awe Pridemore, then just a sophomore, catching California speedster Wesley Walker from behind during West Virginia’s memorable 28-10 upset victory at Cal, and Klausing once described to me how fast Pridemore was while watching him run at the West Virginia state track meet.
“He didn’t clear a single hurdle, and he still blew away the entire field!” the late coach marveled.
Now that’s fast!
Punter Jeff Fette came in from New Jersey, while McKenzie is now living in Scottsdale, Arizona. Bill, sporting a WVU rifle cap at the reunion, has been a generous contributor to the Mountaineer Athletic Club through the years, and his donation for the mobile rifle range in 2019 has enabled the school to host two NCAA Championship events since.
McKenzie, a recent summer guest on the popular “3 Guys Before The Game” podcast, has remained a beloved figure in the Mountain State. His game-winning field goal against Pitt 50 years ago has meant a free-drink-for-life ticket anywhere he goes in West Virginia.
Among the assistant coaches and staffers present at the reunion were defensive line coach Duke Henshaw, now living in Tallahassee, Florida, wide receivers coach Paul Moran, residing in Lewisburg, West Virginia, and longtime WVU athletic trainer John Spiker, now retired.
Defensive secondary coach Greg Williams resides in the Wilmington, North Carolina, area near his daughter, offensive line coach Mike Working is living in Memphis, Tennessee. Running backs coach Garrett Ford passed away Dec. 14, 2025. He was living near his son Garrett Jr. and family in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Among the athletic training staff members, Bud Tice is living in Omaha, Nebraska, and Sam Kegerreis is residing in Indianapolis.
Bowden’s offensive line coach, Jerry Bruner, died several years ago. Klausing passed away in Indiana, Pennsylvania, in 2018, linebackers coach Donnie Young died in Morgantown in 2020, and offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti died in McCandless, Pennsylvania, in 2022.
Bowden passed away in Tallahassee, Florida, on Aug. 9, 2021, at age 91.
The late Van Halanger, who later worked for Bowden as his strength coach at Florida State, summed up his coach this way in 2010: “Whenever people would say he’s great or whatever, he would just laugh and rub his little tummy and go on. He loves football, he loves his family, and he loves God.
“That’s the way Bobby Bowden works.”