John Flowers was a tackling machine from 1973-76
- Tom Weber
- Aug 1
- 9 min read
Updated: Aug 15
MARION, Ill. — Sitting at a Krispy Kreme on a hot summer morning in southern Illinois, John Flowers’ voice is filled with excitement. He’s come up from Memphis to reconnect with some old friends at a golf outing. It’s been nearly 50 years since he played football at SIU, but the memories of his career as a Saluki come pouring out rapid-fire.
Flowers was a tackling machine for Southern from 1973-76. If not for the fact that all defensive stats from his sophomore season were lost, his career mark of 208 tackles would be much higher. Not included in that total is his record-setting 19-tackle performance at Central Michigan in 1974.
Here’s the story of a small-town kid who left farming to play football at Southern and went on to have not just an amazing on-field career, but a highly successful coaching and administrative career afterward. It’s a story of resiliency, self-confidence and determination.
How did you end up at SIU from Fillmore, Illinois, population currently 298?
I was a farm boy. My dad was a Baptist preacher, but he got paid $8 a month to preach at the Baptist Church. We made our living farming. It was the spring of my junior year and we'd had a frost and the last chore I had to do that day was milk that stupid cow. Every morning, I felt like I was in the Olympics for milking. I got my hat on backwards and I'm sitting in that stool, that bucket of milk had steam rolling out. I'm squeezing like crazy, and I guess I squeezed too hard because she hit me with her tail with all that manure in it right between my hat and my coat. I hit her in the gut as hard as I could, and she stuck her foot in the bucket and got me with two and a half gallons of milk. And so that was when I decided I'm going to college somewhere. I'm going to play football, and I'm going to do something other than farming.
I had a visit-offer to Colorado State, which was way too far from home. And I went on the trip to Monmouth, and the coach met with me and he said, “we don't play freshman ever.” I said, “well, I ain't coming here. I'm going play.” When (SIU’s) Bill Dodd called and said he wanted me to come down and visit, man, I was so excited. It was two and a half hours from my house, and I'd be close to my girlfriend, my high school sweetheart, who I'm still married to. I came down, met with Dick Towers, and he told me however good they thought I was, is whether or not I would get a scholarship.
What was your first training camp like?
I'm not absolutely sure of how many freshmen were there, but there was over 100. We had three halls filled in Snyder Hall. I remember the first night I didn't sleep all night because people were sliding suitcases down the hallway. We practiced three times a day. Forty people left the first day. Forty more left after the second day. And I was one of 15 or so that made it. It was not easy.
You started your career as a linebacker, moved to safety and then ended up at defensive end?
I ate like crazy, but I couldn't gain weight. My summer job was welding, and it was 120 degrees in that place every day, and we didn't really have a true weight program then. And so I worked on the farm and worked in a welding shop. And I did play as a freshman at safety. We played a JV game at Purdue and I had two tackles on kickoff. The next week was my first varsity game at Oklahoma State and I made two tackles on kickoffs in that game. So that's how I started on special teams. My sophomore year, I was the starting safety.
Your media guide bio says “likes to hit and enjoys an aggressive game.” You set the school record for tackles in a game with 19 at Central Michigan in 1974. What do you remember about that game and was that description of you accurate?
Rey Dempsey said when John Flowers hit you, you got hit, and you stayed hit. And I enjoyed hitting. I love the physical aspect of football, and as a safety, I didn't get to hit anybody every time. But as a defensive end, I hit somebody every time.
At Central Michigan, it was minus-12 wind chill. It was freezing. But yeah, I had 19 tackles in that game, and I think I had an interception. So Doug Weaver decided that since I'm making a lot of tackles, let's move him up the line of scrimmage so he can make them sooner. So that's how I got moved. He told me I had a choice, because we ran the wishbone. He said, "I'm either gonna move you to quarterback or a defensive end.” And I said, "Well, I can’t do quarterback, and I'd rather be on defense.”
Rich Solomon was my position coach and he taught me the cha cha, and everybody looks at me just like you did. Cha, cha, cha. Those are the steps that he taught us to play defensive end and not to get knocked off the line of scrimmage and to play with leverage. Just three short steps, cha cha, you use your hands and forearms, always keep your outside free and never let them get the corner. You got the quarterback until they pitch it to the running back, and then you gotta race to the sideline. I could handle that. No problem. I was six-foot in my junior year about 198 pounds. I'm against a lot of guys a lot bigger than I was.
What was it like playing for the legendary Rey Dempsey and winning seven games your senior year in 1976?
They fired Doug Weaver and Rey came in and put the fear of God in everybody, literally. I'll never forget that first meeting. Everybody was kind of sitting in there, kicked back in the auditorium. Doug introduced him, and Rey said, “you can leave now." He kicked Doug out of the room.
I can't tell you what he told us. You talk about a football team setting up in their chairs. This ain't gonna be easy, boys. We're gonna be like our freshman year again. They're gonna kill us. In the spring, they told me I had a separated shoulder, and Rey said, “I thought I could count on you to be my team leader.” I went and told Doc (Spackman), “wrap it up, I'm practicing. I'll show him.”
I wanted to win. I was sick and tired of losing. And we had some great guys that were sick and tired of losing — Tommy Ippolito and Rodney Sherrill and Carlton Spain, Joe Hosman and Matt Bailey. I mean, on defense, we just said, that's it. No more.
