Wally Bullington sits in his office in the Teague Special Events Center with a giant grin on his face as he reminisces about the old days with his former roommate and football teammate, Bob Davidson. Davidson and Bullington played in the only undefeated, untied season in ACU history (11-0 in 1950).
The 1950 undefeated team traveled to Evansville, Ind., and won the only Refrigerator Bowl in college history.
Nearly 63 years after coming to Abilene to play football, Coach Bullington, 81, now serves as director of athletics emeritus. He has been a player, assistant coach, head coach and an athletics director during his time with ACU. In his current role, Bullington can be found sitting in his office nearly every day talking on the phone or sending emails.
On Bullington’s wall hang two pictures. One is of all-pro running back Wilbert Montgomery at his 1996 College Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Indiana; the other is the world record field goal, 69 yards, kicked by Sweden-born Ove Johansson in 1976. Both players are former Wildcats coached by Bullington during his nine years as head football coach (1968-76). Bullington still keeps in touch with both ex-standouts.
Johansson played soccer before he kicked for the ACU football team.
“One of my players told me I should take a look at Ove,” Bullington said. “I told him to show up at practice one day and he did. Later, he told me in his Swedish accent ‘Coach I will break field goal record,’ sure enough he did.”
Montgomery went on to play for the Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions in the National Football League and he is currently the running backs coach for the Baltimore Ravens.
Jared Mosley, director of athletics, said Bullington spends much of his time building relationships.
“He maintains good contact with former players, donors and people of interest in our program,” Mosley said. “Wally really helps us raise the money to get certain projects off the ground.”
As a player, Bullington was a four-year letterman and was named all-Texas Conference in 1950, 1951 and 1952. The Athens, Ala., native was a 210-pound all-American center, a linebacker, punter and kicker.
“The 1950s was a good time for ACU athletics,” Bullington said. “The football team won 11 games in 1950. Basketball and track were also both doing well during that time period. We had outstanding coaches. We didn’t have many women’s sports then although over the past few years we’ve grown a bunch in that area.”
Women’s athletics began to emerge at ACU in the 1970s and 80s after Title IX was enacted.
The athletes themselves have also changed since Bullington played ball.
“In those days players were smaller,” he said. “A 240-pound guy was a big player back then. Now that’s nearly a running back.”
This season’s football roster features 23 players weighing over 240 pounds.
The Wildcats played in the Texas Conference, part of both the NAIA and NCAA divisions, while Bullington attended school. They became independent in 1954-55 then moved to the Gulf Coast Conference in 1955-57.
“We had some outstanding players,” Bullington said. “We had a few of the World War II veterans coming back to school. Our running back, Bailey Woods, doubled in track as a sprinter. We had one of the best quarterbacks in the southwest, Ted Sitton. He was a threat running the option as well as throwing the ball.”
Sitton went on to become an ACU assistant and head coach.
“A Division I school could play anyone in those days,” Bullington said. “Over the years we played Florida State, Fresno State, Arizona State and Texas Tech.”
“I loved coaching,” he said. “If I was going to change anything looking back, I would have kept coaching.”
Bullington led ACU to its first NAIA Division I national championship and coached six first team all-America players including Montgomery. In 1969, Bullington became athletic director for ACU and oversaw one of the biggest transitions in Wildcat athletic history, the move from NAIA to NCAA Division II. The school made the jump from the Southland Conference to where it is now, the Lone Star Conference.
“The Southland was a good conference,” he said. “We felt like the NCAA was a better fit for ACU athletically and academically than the NAIA was.”
Much of the same thought process went into the recent decision to move to Division I.
Bullington said the academic standards are much higher in Div. I, a major reason the University decided to act on this opportunity.
“There has always been a desire to keep our athletic mission and identity aligned with the greater institution,” Mosley said.
Mosley said Bullington was not directly involved in the decision. However, Bullington fully supported the jump after studying the effects it would have. He weighed the decision from both an athletic standpoint and the effect on the school as a whole. He thinks it is possibly the biggest athletic move in ACU’s history.
“He’ll certainly be utilized moving forward to help build bridges and raise money,” Mosley said.
Ten years from now, Bullington hopes the university will have an on-campus stadium for the football team. Shotwell will never exclusively be ACU’s stadium since it is owned by the Abilene school district.
“My dream is that by then we will be competitive in all sports,” Bullington said. “I can see us winning championships because we’ve competed with some of these teams in the past.”
After pausing for a moment, he laughs, “I’d like to see some banners in Moody saying ‘Southland Conference Championship’ and I’d love to be wearing a ring from a national championship or two.”
“There’s no way to capture everything he’s done for ACU or our athletic program,” Mosley said. “I look at him like the godfather of ACU athletics. His wisdom and insight has been invaluable to us.”
