Louis Verhaert came into power, leading his club to the national divisions for the first time in 1949, winning the league in an away game against Herzele. 1949–1967 Rise to the highest division SK Beveren-Waes needed little time to adapt to life in the national divisions. It took the club only three years to eventually promote from the Belgian Fourth Division to the Belgian Third Division predominantly using local players and often counting on the heroics of their goalkeeper Walter De Winter. In the second game of the playoffs for promotion Beveren had already enough with a 2–1 win against Willebroek to secure their rise to a higher division. Between 1952 and 1960 the club stayed in the Belgian Third Division, regularly battling against relegation and at the end losing the battle by only reaching 15th place in the 1959–1960 season. However, SK Beveren would come back stronger than ever before. During its three-year stay in the Belgian Fourth Division the club started to give chances to a group of local players who would become known as the golden generation of SK Beveren. Most of them learned playing the game on a local playing field, nicknamed 't Congoken due to its sandy pitch, similar to the local public image of playing fields in Africa at that time and referring to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a former colony of Belgium. The former site now serves as a parking lot, but is still remembered with two sculptures representing goals. Amongst the players were prolific striker Robert Rogiers, playmaker Omer Janssens, winger Jean Janssens, centre back Freddy Buyl and central midfielder Wilfried Van Moer. In 1963 an unstoppable Beveren won the Belgian Fourth Division with 16 points (in the old 2 point system) in front of second-placed Brasschaat, without losing a single match and scoring 111 goals along the way. In 1964 the club reached the last 16 of the Belgian Cup for the first time, eventually losing as a third division club to first division club Cercle Brugge K.S.V. After two 3rd-place finishes, SK Beveren became champion in the Belgian Third Division in 1966. The title was won in an away game in Zwevegem, where Beveren obtained a 2–2 draw after a late goal from Robert Rogiers. The rise of the club, with especially the attacking type of play in mind, didn't go unnoticed in the rest of Belgium, with