Upset

Dan Darragh, native of Pittsburgh, PA who played quarterback for William and Mary from 1965-1968. He led the team in the greatest upset in school history. After graduation he had a brief stint with the Buffalo Bills in the NFL.

When the news of William & Mary’s historic upset of Villanova in the first game of the 2026–27 football season hit my phone Friday a week ago, my joy quickly shifted to nostalgia. This time the Tribe had scored 13 straight points in the final 53 seconds to post a 35–32 road victory against the No. 7 Wildcats.

Suddenly, I was back at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland, on a crisp, sunny fall day in 1967. My dad had joyously slapped my back so hard that I wound up in the empty row of seats ahead of us. William and Mary had just beaten Navy in what is still ranked as one of the 10 most dramatic come-from-behind upsets in NCAA history.

And the timing could not have been better.

I had just filed my application for "Early Decision" admission to William and Mary’s freshman class for the fall of the following year.

It was October 21, 1967.

I had fallen in love with the College of William and Mary in Virginia on a family trip to Colonial Williamsburg in 1963. The first time I saw the College Yard, the Wren Building, the boxwood-lined Sunken Gardens, Crim Dell, and the old brick classroom buildings, it stamped an image of a perfect college campus on my mind that I carry to this day. Few other campuses on this side of the Atlantic Ocean have ever measured up to that vision.

So, knowing my goal and having assisted in my application process, my dear dad bought two upper-level seats in the East stands for a fall father-and-son trip to see Navy take on William and Mary.

As I have written in previous posts, many of my fondest memories of Dad are associated with attending sports events. Countless nights were shared at Memorial Stadium watching our Baltimore Orioles. He got us front-row seats for two World Series, Baltimore Colts football, and Washington Senators games at both old Griffith Stadium and District of Columbia Stadium (later named Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium after RFK’s assassination). An Old Timer’s Baseball Game at RFK was the last event I attended with Dad before he passed away just after Labor Day in 1985.

And there we were in 1967, on a perfect afternoon for college football.

The beginning of the intimidation campaign for any Navy opponent is to watch the march-on of the Corps of Midshipmen. They take the one-mile, 20-minute march from campus in full formation with the Naval Academy Band leading the way. If you are sitting high enough in the East stands (we were), you can see them in the distance with ceremonial sabers, brass instruments, and guidon finials catching the brilliant fall sun.

If that weren’t intimidation enough, Navy’s football team was ranked No. 6 nationally and No. 1 in the East, and had just beaten Michigan, Penn State, and Syracuse. William and Mary was considered a 21-to-28-point underdog. We hadn’t beaten Navy since 1942, having lost 14 and tied one against the Midshipmen in the intervening years.

The day was beautiful, the hot dogs and popcorn were delicious, and the Coke was ice cold. But we had low expectations of a good outcome for the Green and Gold.

Coach Marv Levy (yes, THAT Marv Levy) led the “Indians”* onto the field to the strains of the William and Mary Fight Song, jeers from the Middies, and cheers from two guys in the East stands surrounded by a small band of the Indian faithful. Levy has described this gig as his last chance in college coaching, having had a poor showing at Cal Berkeley the three years before. But that day, and on many days to come, he would show his football IQ.

Coach Marv Levy who came to William and Mary in 1964 credited his time in Williamsburg as the chapter that saved his coaching career. His eye for detail and an innovative mind were largely responsible for this great upset.

Navy went out to a 16-0 lead, which they carried late into the third quarter.

With a blocked punt, solid defense after the half, and some hopeful offensive drives, the Indians were still holding firm against the spread.

Near the end of the third quarter, Navy had driven to the William and Mary 13-yard line but fumbled, and the Indians recovered.

William and Mary’s starting quarterback, Mike Madden, had been injured in the VMI game, and Dan Darragh of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, had taken the job. Madden had been primarily a running QB, but Darragh’s strength was passing. Levy retooled the offensive playbook to match his skills.

Darragh led the team on an 87-yard series that culminated in a one-yard touchdown plunge. The Indians attempted a two-point conversion that failed, so the game moved to the fourth quarter with W&M trailing 16-6. I’m sure the Navy fans were still confident, but I remember my dad saying the Indian defense had shut the Middies down and could do so again.

He was right. The tribe forced a three-and-out to start the final quarter, then took the ball on another long drive culminating in a Darragh pass to lanky Jim Cavanaugh for a touchdown. A successful pass to Ted Zychowski gave us a two-point conversion, and suddenly it was 16-14 with 5:27 remaining in the game.

The W&M defense responded again and in three plays Navy gained no yards. A good punt return put the Indians in great field position, and we were on the brink of history.

In watching Navy game film, Coach Levy had noticed several “tells” from the Middie’s defense. When they thought a running play was coming, they tended to cheat toward the line of scrimmage prior to the snap. Levy had given Darragh some audibles that he could call at the line if he noticed those tells and wanted to shift to a passing play.

The time had come.

Having run around the left end on the previous play, Darragh set up the offense in the same formation. As the defensive backs stepped forward, he called an audible. On the snap, Darragh ran to his left, but stopped and lifted a pass to slot-back Steve Slotnick (great name). He had gained three steps on the defender and made an extended-arm fingertip catch. Regaining his balance, he raced 51 yards for a touchdown. The entire offense followed him for a raucous celebration in the endzone.

My dad and I were jumping up and down, obviously not in sync. Dad had clearly landed when he pounded me in the back (me still in midair). I went over the bleacher bench in front of me and bounced into the surprised fans in the next row. They fortunately broke my fall, and we all responded with raucous laughter.

An unsuccessful two-point conversion was followed by a successful onside kick and a William and Mary recovery. Levy’s call was both brilliant and brave. The execution was perfect. 

Levy and Darragh could have played it safe for the final three minutes, but with the Navy defense already on the ropes, they went for the kill. Another drive, another touchdown and a shocking 27-16 final score. William and Mary had scored 27 points in 15 minutes, 21 in the final 5:27. We not only got to hear breathless radio coverage of this historic win all the way home that day, but the film was shown on all major networks wrapping up college coverage that night.** 

I heard that I had been accepted to the College two months later and after four memorable years, graduated in 1972. For all four years and in the years that followed, Dad and I often reminisced about the greatest football game we ever saw and the perfect timing of seeing it on that crisp fall day in Annapolis.

Postscript: Marv Levy went on to a distinguished coaching career in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills. He lives in Chicago and is 101 years old. Dan Darragh played for the Buffalo Bills for a short time, but eventually went to Duquesne School of Law and had a distinguished 45-year career as an attorney in Pittsburgh. He was also a devoted leader of Catholic Charities in the city and was awarded the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great and the Benemerenti Medal. He passed away in 2025 at the age of 78 years old.

My final trip to Navy-Marine Corps Stadium with my dad was in 1984 to watch Qatar tie France 2-2 in the Olympic Games. France had been heavily favored and went on to win the soccer Gold Medal...so this too was an upset. Given the growing popularity of soccer in the US, the organizers of the 1984 Summer Olympics decided to include Harvard and Navy as east coast venues for some of the matches. Dad had never been to the Olympics and had a lifetime interest in soccer (manager on the men’s soccer squad to Dickinson College) so off we went. Dad passed away the following year at the age of 69. 

*The NCAA eventually stripped William and Mary of the name "Indians" and then our feather logo. We are now the Tribe. I'm cool with that but every time I see that fake Native American mascot ride bareback onto the field for the Florida State Seminoles, I am reminded that life is not fare. Go Tribe.

**Even a memory for nostalgia like mine does not have a recall of some of the details that I have rephrased in my own words for this post. I thank ChatGPT and the William and Mary internet resources that they mined for play by play detail.