Memory Lane
Bobby Hlodan made the most of his second chances Second chances often lead to great things.
Bob Hlodan received a couple of second chances during his football career and made the most of them.
Early in his high school career, Hlodan quit the football team. He realized he made a mistake and was welcomed back to the team by his coach. He went on to star on the gridiron and also played basketball at Point Marion High School and then at Albert Gallatin High School after the merger of Point Marion and Masontown.
“There were a lot of great individuals that I had an opportunity to play with,” Hlodan recalled. “I think growing up and coming from the part of the town where we didn’t have much at that time gave me an opportunity to play football and get a scholarship.
My dad was a coal miner for 40 years, and my mother was just a housewife. It’s always great to get a football scholarship, and I was so thankful that I had the opportunity and the speed to play football.”
Hlodan was a comet on the football field and played on some great teams at Albert Gallatin under John Lozar. His teams won 20 straight games and a WPIAL Championship over a two-year span. They missed the playoffs because of the Gardner Points System his junior year.
“Coach Lozar was tough, but he was fair. He ran a good system – the single wing – and I was the tailback,” Hlodan said. “Everybody respected him and he respected his players. He worked us hard, and that’s probably why we won. We worked hard and we never wanted to lose and we didn’t the last two years.”
The high school rivalries were intense, according to Hlodan.
“German Township was a big rivalry,” he said. “Fairchance Georges and Carmichaels, they were all local, and then we had to play South Union and North Union, but the local rivalries like German, Carmichaels and Waynesburg they were always great games to play.
“There were a lot of great players in Fayette County at that time. I played against some great athletes and it brings back fond memories.”
Hlodan was an All-County selection in High School and led Fayette County in scoring as a senior when he tallied 22 touchdowns in 11 games. Ten of those touchdowns came on runs of 45 yards or longer. He also ran for five extra points for a total of 137 points for the season.
He rushed for 1,434 yards for the Colonials as a senior on 158 carries – an average of better than nine yards per carry. He received honorable mention on The Sporting News High School All-America team and was picked to play in the Big 33 Game, which he chose not to do.
“I didn’t play in the Big 33 because I felt like I had gotten my scholarship and I figured if I played and I got hurt then I wouldn’t have a scholarship,” Hlodan said. “So I didn’t play in that game.”
Albert Gallatin had a great championship run in 1961 as it went 11-0 and captured the WPIAL Class A title with a 19-6 win over Penn Joint.
“We had some tight games along the way. We beat North Union, 12-9. We were down 9-0 and had to come back and win that game,” Hlodan said. “Another tight game was Waynesburg. We were playing in the rain, and it could have gone either way. We won, 12-7.”
Hlodan has great memories of the WPIAL championship game, which was played at Connellsville.
“We beat our rival German to go undefeated,” Hlodan said. “We played Penn Joint, and we ended up winning that game, 19-6. We led at halftime, 6-0, and they scored to tie it on the first possession of the second half. We came right back and scored and then stopped them as we ate up the clock, scoring a TD on the final play of the game.
“You couldn’t ask for better teammates – Red Barrish and Ross Brown, just to name a couple. It was just an honor to play with those guys.”
Hlodan rushed for 191 yards in the title game and scored on runs of 19 and 25 yards.
Basketball was not Hlodan’s best sport, but he was on a section winner as a junior, and in his senior season the team posted an 8-6 record and clinched third place in Section 10.
“I played basketball for two years and played with Buddy Quertinmont who was an all-around basketball player. When I was a junior we did get to go to the Pitt Field House, and we lost in the first round of the playoffs,” Hlodan said. “We only had two sports in high school. I also played a year of American Legion baseball, and that’s the one sport, maybe, I should have stuck with, but I played football and that’s where I ended up.”
When Hlodan graduated from high school in 1962 a lot of colleges sought his services.
“I probably had about 50 offers to go to different schools,” Hlodan said. “I had offers to go to Michigan, and West Virginia wanted me. I got a scholarship offer from Tennessee. I thought that might be a pretty good school to go to because they ran a single wing,” Hlodan explained.
“But then I sort of messed up my freshman year and I had to transfer to Middle Tennessee State University. The coach at Tennessee Bowden Wyatt asked me if I wanted to continue my education and I said yes. I made a mistake, so I transferred and sat out a year. Then I had three great years at Middle Tennessee.”
That was another second chance and Hlodan fit in well at Middle Tennessee under coach Bubba Murphy.
The Blue Raiders captured two straight Ohio Valley Conference Titles.
In 1964 they posted an 8-2-1 record and beat Muskingum in the first Grantland Rice Bowl. Hlodan was the MVP in the game. In 1965 MTSU posted an undefeated season at 10-0. Hlodan captured first team All-Conference honors in his senior season in 1966 as the Blue Raiders finished with a 7-3 record.
During his career at Middle Tennessee State, Hlodan rushed for 1,368 yards.
When he graduated, Hlodan had an opportunity to try pro football, but chose not to pursue that chance.
“I had an opportunity through one of the coaches who recruited me at Tennessee who wanted me to try out for the Dallas Cowboys,” Hlodan recalled. “I was married with three children at the time and decided not to do it. You always wonder what would have happened.”
Hlodan decided to become a teacher.
“My first teaching position was down in Florida. I was there a couple of years,” Hlodan said. “Then I went to Gordon Military College for a year. Then I was the head football coach at Harriman High School in Tennessee for two years.
“I came back to teach and coach at Waynesburg High School. I was there for four years. Then I helped Hayden Buckley at Waynesburg College for two years. Then I got out of teaching and bought West Point Marion Lumber Company. I had it for four years and then I got rid of it.
“Then after being married for 20 years I got a divorce.
“Then I had an opportunity to go to California. I’ve been out there for about 25 years.
“I remarried and started my life over. I have three children – Linda, Bob Jr. and Beth.”
Hlodan works for Active Supply Company. He has been with them for 17 years. He is in sales and travels all over the United States.
He also works as a high school basketball official. He started officiating in Greene County and has been an official for 37 years.
He still has deep roots in Fayette County and returns home two or three times a year.
“I love to come back and see my friends here in Masontown,” Hlodan said. “It’s always good to come back here – I’m in sales now and I go all over the United States and I usually try to spend a week over here and I work in this area. It’s always fond memories of coming back and staying with my friends. I grew up here in Point Marion and it’s worked out great for me and I can’t go back and pin point one thing that I’d do better except maybe trying out for the pros.”
Hlodan’s one regret is that he does not have any film footage from his playing days in high school. If anyone has Albert Gallatin game film from 1961, please contact Hlodan through this newspapers sports department.
George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” columns appear in the Saturday editions of the Herald-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.