FEATURE
LOOKING
BACK
WRITTEN BY CHRISTOPHER MORRIS
Legendary Charlestown football coach John Mastin knew at a young age the seniors on the 1975 Mid-Southern Conference championship team were going to be a special group. He saw their potential as eighth-graders.
When Charlestown High School started its football program in 1971, Mastin was a first-year assistant coach and teacher at the school. He was asked to coach the eighth-grade team.
“ I showed up the first day of practice and we had 55 seventh- and eighth-graders out for football,” he said.“ I did not have an assistant coach. I coached them by myself. After a couple of weeks of workouts, we got that number down to 38. We practiced for three weeks without helmets. We got helmets at 3 p. m. on the day of our first game. They had never played a live football game. We went down and beat Wilson 14-0. That was the beginning.”
The beginning of one of the great teams in Charlestown history. When those eighth-graders became seniors, the Pirates won the conference in just their
TOP: The 75’ seniors in their freshman team photo where they went 6-1 in 1972. BOTTOM: Photo with the players from 1975 team from a recent game who were in attendance. From left, Coach John Mastin, Billy James, Tim Hutchinson, Randy Henderson, Bob Kendrick, Mike Doss, Jim Worley, Keith Fischer, Kim Martin, Ken Lemons, and Coach Harry Long.
PAGE NO. 28 NEWS AND TRIBUNE SPORTS MAGAZINE JAN / FEB 2026