Western Colorado University Athletics

Dalton took Western State football to an elite level during his tenure as head coach. Dalton led the Mountaineers from 1961 to 1965 and during those years his teams were affectionately known as “The Dalton Gang”. During his first two years, Dalton worked on fine tuning his football machine and the Mountaineers came away with 4-5 and 5-4 season. In 1963, the Mountaineers took over as one of the top programs in the country. The Mountaineers went 8-1 overall and 4-0 in RMAC play to claim the program’s second conference title ever. Western’s lone setback in 1963 was to Arizona State. The 1964 team could go down as the best ever in Western State history. Western won its second straight RMAC title with a perfect 3-0 conference title. It also finished the regular season with a 9-0 record. The result was a trip to the Mineral Bowl. The Mineral Bowl was known as the Small College National Championship and the Mountaineers just missed out on a National Title with a 14-13 setback to North Dakota State. In 1965, the Mountaineers continued to roll, winning its third straight RMAC Championship and finishing the season with a 7-1 overall record. The lone setback in 1965 was a 14-7 setback to Weber State. During the 1963, 1964 and 1965 campaigns, the three losses came by a total of 15 points. Dalton left Western following the 1965 season to coach in the Canadian Football League. During Dalton’s five years, the Mountaineers won three RMAC Championships, went 33-12 overall and 15-5 in RMAC play. Dalton ranks fourth all-time at Western State in wins with 33.