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ABILENE - Ted Sitton, who was the driving force behind an ACU football program that churned out great offensive playmakers for more than 25 years, passed away early Friday afternoon at the age of 84 after a lengthy illness.
Funeral arrangements are still pending with a local funeral home.
Sitton was the quarterback on ACU's only undefeated, untied football team (11-0) in 1950, and he was the offensive coordinator for Wildcat teams in 1973 and 1977, which won NAIA Division I national championships. He was the Wildcats' head coach from 1979-84, and was the Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year in 1981 after directing the Wildcats to an 8-2 season.
He joined the ACU football staff in 1967 under then-head coach Les Wheeler and stayed on as offensive coordinator when his former ACU teammate, Wally Bullington, took over as the head coach in 1968. That partnership - along with other assistant coaches like Don Smith, K.Y. Owens and Jerry Wilson - formed the backbone of some of the best teams in ACU football history.
It was also Bullington and Sitton who turned the Wildcats from a three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust offense into a potent force that unleashed a vertical passing game on opponents from across the country.
"It was after our first spring training together (1968) that we found out our running game was lacking and we decided we had to do something different," Bullington said Friday afternoon. "We went down to Houston and looked at what the University of Houston was doing and then visited with (head coach) Sid Gillman with the San Diego Chargers, and it was after those visits that we knew we had to throw the football. It turned out to be a good decision because we could recruit quarterbacks and receivers who could thrive in that style of offense."
Good decision indeed.
From 1968-94 - serving as offensive coordinator from 1968-78, 1985-86 and 1993-94 and head coach from 1979-84 - Sitton coached six quarterbacks who threw for at least 2,000 yards in 15 different seasons. He coached the first ACU quarterback to throw for 3,000 yards in a season (3,167 by Clint Longley in 1973), and he helped four quarterbacks earn first team all-conference honors and one earn first team all-America honors.
Of course, the revolution of the Wildcats' offense didn't happen until a lanky, mop-haired blonde kid from Sweeny, Texas, showed up in Abilene and helped speed up the program's transformation. Jim Lindsey became the first quarterback in ACU history to earn first team all-America honors (1970), and when his playing days were finished he was the all-time leading passer in both ACU and Southland Conference history with 8,521 yards. That mark stood as ACU's career record until 2008 until it was broken by Billy Malone and subsequently by Mitchell Gale.
"Ted was the best quarterbacks coach I've ever been around," said Bullington, whose friendship with Sitton dated back to the beginning of their playing days together at ACU in the late 1940s. "He didn't just teach fundamentals; he taught leadership qualities. He wanted those quarterbacks to be leaders off the field and in the classroom as much as on the field and in the huddle."
Aside from Lindsey and Longley, Sitton also tutored John Mayes (1974-77), Loyal Proffitt (1981-84) and Rex Lamberti (1993). In the 16 years ACU was in the Lone Star Conference while Sitton coached at ACU, Wildcat quarterbacks led the league in passing 10 times.
"Coach Sitton believed in me and that made me want to live up to his expectations," Lamberti said. "He was such a Godly example to anyone who knew him. He taught me so much about being a good person first, and a lot about being a quarterback. I am proud to have known him. The world, and especially the ACU community, has lost a very good man. My prayers and heart go out to his family."
After Bullington retired as the head coach following the 1976 season and Dewitt Jones' two-year run as the head coach (1977-78 that included a 1977 national championship powered by Sitton's offense), Sitton became the 13 th head coach of the program prior to the 1979 season.
He compiled a six-year record of 33-28-1 as the Wildcats' leader before resigning after the 1984 season. He then worked as the university's director of quality control and safety from 1987-93 before joining Dr. Bob Strader's staff as the offensive coordinator one final time from 1993-94.
Sitton graduated from Stamford High School in 1949 before moving on to Abilene Christian where he led the 1950 team to that unblemished record with Bullington as his center. He graduated from ACU in 1954 and went to coach at Graham High School and Abilene High School before joining the ACU staff. He coached Abilene High to the 1961 state track and field championship.
He was inducted into the ACU Sports Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Big Country Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.
Survivors include his son, Gary Sitton and wife Gwen; his daughter, Cara Sue Sitton, all of Abilene, and his daughter, Jani Freeman and husband Steve. His grandchildren are Kellie Sherwood and husband Austin, Abbey Sitton and Lindsey Sitton, Colby Freeman and wife Courtney, Kelsi Freeman, and Kirby Freeman and wife Andrea. Her great-granddaughters are Averie, Gracie, Kennadie and Jersie Freeman.
Sitton was preceded in death by his wife, Gloria, and their son, Chuck Sitton.
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