It was one of the most bizarre moments in college football history.
William & Mary quarterback Tom Rozantz took off on an option run and appeared headed for the game-winning touchdown against East Carolina late in the third quarter of the 1977 Oyster Bowl. When Rozantz got to the 2-yard line, Jim Johnson seemed to come out of nowhere and pounded him in the stomach with a jarring, shoulder-first tackle.
“I hit him low and I hit him a good one,” Johnson said at the time.
But Johnson wasn’t an ECU defender. He was a 65-year-old Virginia Beach resident who was walking the sidelines as a spectator.