Memory Lane
Nypaver went from player to coaching prominence Growing up in South Union, Ted Nypaver was surrounded by some outstanding athletes who had a profound affect on his athletic, and later his coaching career. “There were three Marcus brothers who lived right next to me,” Nypaver recalled. “The oldest was Pete who played with the Washington Redskins and his two brothers were Joe and Frank, and they both became co-captains of Florida State’s football team by way of Findlay College.
“They went to Findlay for a year and then went to Florida State. Joe Loncaric was my neighbor. He became captain of the St. Vincent football team, and not far away right there in Continental 1 Fran Boniar grew up and played for South Union. He later was the minor league batting champion for two years; he played at Albuquerque, N.M. When South Union beat Uniontown 9-6 in 1949 he kicked the winning field goal. I think that was the last time that South Union ever beat Uniontown.
“I also used to watch the Kelgins a semi-pro football team from South Union.”
Nypaver went on to have a fine athletic career at South Union, excelling on the gridiron and in track and field.
“We had a coaching change when I was at South Union,” Nypaver offered. “Park Glass was called back to the service in the Korean War, and not only did we lose Coach Glass, but we lost our great assistant coach Bill Everhart who was the brother of Abe Everhart. Ringy Stefancin had come on as an assistant coach when I was a sophomore. The following year coach Glass was called into the Korean War and Ringy had to take over with only a year’s experience under his belt, and he really coached by himself. Poor Ringy was pretty much by himself when Glass and Everhart left.”
South Union posted a record of 6-2-1 in Nypaver’s sophomore season in 1950. The Blue Devils went 5-4 his junior year and in his senior season in 1952 they had a record of 3-4-1. The Blue Devils posted two wins in three tries against archrival North Union during Nypaver’s playing days.
“We were unbeaten for awhile in both my sophomore and junior years,” Nypaver said. “We ended up playing Uniontown one of those two seasons, and they beat us pretty good. We were competitive. I was pleased with my high school career in a sense, but then after going into coaching and looking back, I realized that we were playing Uniontown High School up until my senior year, and Bill Power was way ahead of his time as far as coaching. He had film sessions. We never used film, plus he had his own trainer and a great staff. He had, like, a college staff there. He was so far ahead of all the other schools around here.”
“I played both ways as an end in high school, and we had some good players on our team. Eddie Dugan was a scatback who went to West Virginia. He was a senior when I was a junior. He was great in track. I ran track also. Eddie and I went down to the WPIAL meet when I was a junior.”
The North-South Union rivalry still remains fresh in Nypaver’s mind.
“They devised a SUN Trophy – N for North Union and S for South Union and the U for both. We had the dance afterwards. We went up to the roller rink on 119 and the trophy was awarded. We had big crowds for the games. South Union had such a beautiful stadium. I often wonder why they didn’t fix it up and continue to use it. It was a great field, but North Union and South Union was a great rivalry,” Nypaver said.
Nypaver garnered All-Fayette County honors and WPIAL honorable mention as a senior. He graduated in 1953.
“If it weren’t for Bill Power I would have never gone to college,” Nypaver stated. “He’s the one who helped me. It was so nice of him to recommend people other than his own players. I was fortunate enough to receive letters my senior year, and it said that you’ve been recommended by Bill Power from Uniontown High School.”
“I didn’t go to college immediately after high school because I was involved in a serious auto accident and messed my knees up. I did a year of rehabbing. I wound up going to college at North East Louisiana, and I was fortunate enough to play. I started immediately. When I went down there to play, they had three players from Uniontown starting – Tony Peccon, Dan Hoke and me. I decided to leave because I would hitchhike home and it became very difficult. I then went to Grove City for a season, and then I transferred to Salem (W.Va). I was named Salem’s Outstanding Senior Athlete in 1958-59. I got a degree in education.”
Nypaver decided to get into coaching and became an assistant at Dunbar Township under Stan McLaughlin and was there for four seasons.
“We had some good teams at Dunbar,” Nypaver said. “Stan McLaughlin was one of the finest people I have ever known.”
After four years at Dunbar Township, he took a job at Beth-Center as head coach and spent two-years there. He then went to Blairsville, where he coached the football and basketball teams to Indiana County championships in 1965. He then spent one turbulent season at Mt. Pleasant before taking over the coaching reins at Southern Huntington.
He had a remarkable record at Southern Huntington, during his 17-year career there. He posted an overall mark of 124-31-6, including a home record of 65-12-2. The highlight was a 26-0-2 stretch from 1978 to 1981 – a 28-game undefeated streak that, at the time, was the longest among Pennsylvania public schools.
He coached five undefeated squads during his tenure, and three other teams had just one loss. Southern captured six Inter-County Conference sectional championships and seven titles in nine seasons with the Mid-Penn Conference.
Nypaver was named Inter-County Conference coach of the year three times. In 1981 he was chosen as one of the top six coaches from Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio and was honored at the Coach of the Year Clinic in Pittsburgh.
“I had a great run at Southern Huntington,” Nypaver reported. “I met a lot of great people there It was an ideal coaching situation. We had a booster club second to none in Pennsylvania. They did so much for us there. It was a utopian situation for coaching. The administration was great, and the boys were hardnosed farm boys and loved football.”
Nypaver left Southern Huntington after the 1983-84 season to become head football coach at Spring-Ford high school in Royersford, Pa. His teams won eight Pac 8 championships and the Ches-Mont League in 1986 and 1987. He also coached two undefeated track teams.
From 1985 to 1996, Nypaver coached at Spring-Ford, and teams he was affiliated with, either as a head coach or assistant coach, compiled a 94-17-1 record.
“After my son graduated I wondered if the things I did in football which were quite different then – a lot of movement on defense and a multiple offense. We enjoyed a lot of success,” Nypaver said.
“I thought I would like to try a tougher league before I got out of it and maybe a larger school. I got the job at Spring-Ford and my first year was a health disaster. After the fourth game, I started passing out. I had a bleeding ulcer and lost a lot of blood. Luckily, I pulled through. I was named Southeast Coach of the Year during my tenure at Spring-Ford.”
Nypaver retired in 1987, but helped out at Great Valley with their head coach Ben Crisi, and one of his former players got the job at Reading Central Catholic, and Nypaver helped him.
“I sort of stayed in coaching,” Nypaver said. “I also worked as a junior high volunteer coach at Spring-Ford, so I stayed active and I still stay active and I’m helped out at a junior high program.”
Nypaver, 73, resides in Royersford with his wife of 51-years, Loretta. They have three children – daughter, Annette, and sons Ted Jr. and Darrell.
He still has family in the area. His mother-in-law is in a nursing home, and he never completely lost touch with his home base.
“I have great memories,” Nypaver said. “In your articles a lot of guys mentioned the playground system. We were patch boys from what I called the hill, and we walked down to Ben Franklin and other playgrounds. Bus Albright, who I worked for, was the one who put the playgrounds together. I worked at Boyle playground. It was very competitive on the playgrounds. I have great memories of Uniontown and the playgrounds.”
George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” columns appear in the Sunday editions of the Herald-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday.