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| Ed Dougherty '92 is the sixth Lycoming Warrior to earn induction into the MAC Hall of Fame. (Photo Courtesy of Lycoming Athletics) |
“It is a great honor,” Dougherty said. “I attribute it to the era I played in at Lycoming. It was one of the greatest stretches of teams we’ve ever had. I think my predecessor in the MAC Hall of Fame Rick Bealer coming from the same era speaks volumes for the talent we had on those teams. I look fondly back on my years at Lycoming. It is hard to believe that time has passed that quickly.”
In his four years with the Warriors, the Philadelphia, Pa., native racked up a career record of 39-7, including a regular-season record of 34-4. He led the team to three MAC titles and three NCAA Division III Tournaments, including a run to the national title game in 1990.
“He was just so instrumental on those football teams,” his former head coach, College Football Hall of Famer Frank Girardi said. “He was a great quarterback and leader. The entire team respected and looked up to him.”
Lycoming College head football coach Mike Clark ’93 said, “I actually played against Ed in high school and knew he was a great player, but seeing it up close with him as a teammate was special. My first year, he was a sophomore and everyone knew he was in charge of the offense. We never felt like we were out of any game with Doc at quarterback.”
After passing for more than 3,000 yards and 30 touchdowns in his first two years, including picking up Honorable Mention Pizza Hut All-American honors as a sophomore, he never lost a regular season game again, reeling off 18 straight wins to cap his career.
“I walked into a very good situation,” Dougherty said. “As a freshman, it was there for the taking. I wasn’t given anything, but in early goings, I got the opportunity and just ran with it. We were all young. There were a few receivers and running backs that got a lot of time as freshman. Folks like Dave Bodmer, Joe DeSimone, Troy Erdman, Paul Holloman. As sophomores, they were all starters. That made it a lot easier. I didn’t have to get used to a new group around me each year.”
Dougherty was at the helm during three straight playoff runs, including the run to the national title game in 1990. In his last win in 1991, he led the Warriors on a 76-yard drive, tossing a 15-yard touchdown pass to Cory Sheridan with 50 seconds left to give the team an 18-16 NCAA playoff win over Washington & Jefferson.
“He was the kind of guy that when the game was on the line, you wanted the ball in his hands and he wanted it in his hands,” Girardi said. “He was amazing that way. He was able to take over a game and not a lot of quarterbacks can do that.”
As a junior in 1990, he won his first of two straight MAC Player of the Year awards while passing for 2,706 yards and 22 touchdowns. He set a school-record with 226 completions and earned Honorable Mention Champion USA All-American honors.
As a senior, he passed for 2,642 records and completed 57.6 percent of his passes while earning Third Team Champion USA All-American honors.
Twenty-four years after the end of his career, Dougherty still holds no less than nine school career and single-season records, including the career records for wins (39), completions (720), passing yards (8,850) and touchdowns responsible for (95).
Dougherty was elected into the Lycoming College Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997. He is the sixth Warrior to earn induction into the MAC Hall of Fame, joining longtime coaches Girardi (football) and Budd Whitehill (wrestling), who were a part of the inaugural class in 2012, Bill Bachardy '67 (wrestling), the school's only Division I All-American, who was inducted in 2013, Bealer '91 (football), a three-time All-American at cornerback was inducted in 2014 and Denise (Zimmerman) Null ’85 (women’s swimming), a six-time All-American swimmer who was inducted in 2015.
