Coleman to be inducted into Cal U Athletic Hall of Fame
Longtime Connellsville resident Bill Coleman is one of six individuals that will comprise the 18th Athletic Hall of Fame class at California University of Pa.. The induction will take place at a dinner set for 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 11, inside the Elmo Natali Student Center on the main campus.
The honor caught Coleman by surprise.
“It was the last thing on my mind,” Coleman said. “When you play defense, you don’t really expect those things as a player. Yes, I wasn’t anticipating getting any such honor.”
Coleman was a standout quarterback at Ramsay High School in Mount Pleasant in the mid-1950s.
The Bobcats posted records of 1-7-1 in 1953, 6-2 in 1954, and 8-0-1 in 1955 (the tie was a against Scottdale, 6-6). Ramsay finished with a record of 7-2 during Coleman’s senior campaign in 1956.
“When I came out of the booster league program, I had gone a parochial school and my dad ran the booster league program,” Coleman recalled. “When I entered the ninth grade, Ramsay High coach Pete Balog took me to football camp with the senior high. When we came back from camp he sent a couple of the freshman back. We played single wing. I played with the varsity as a quarterback, but the coach would let me go back and play with the ninth grade team for defense. I was a safety, so I played all defense for ninth grade team, which went undefeated. My freshman year with the varsity we were terrible.”
During his time at Ramsay, Coleman was a captain on the Westmoreland County Football Team and earned honorable mention all-WPIAL honors, as well.
Looking back the tie with Scottdale in 1955 still sticks in Coleman’s mind as well as the two losses during the 1956 season. The Bobcats lost to Derry, 20-19, and Shaler, 19-14.
“We were big favorites coming into the Scottdale game,” Coleman said. “It rained real hard on Friday. They canceled the game and played on Saturday. They tied us and knocked us out of playoff consideration, and that was tough. The next year I got an injured hip against Scottdale, I played a little bit in the Derry game, didn’t play against Shaler and then came back against our rival Hurst.”
Looking back Coleman has high praise for his high school mentor Balog.
“The coach was unbelievable,” Coleman stated. “And he died at 44 of leukemia, but what a coach he was. He scouted the opposing teams when he could and his preparation was outstanding.”
Coleman was pleased with his football career at Ramsay.
“It was very good and the best thing was it got me a college education,” Coleman said.
Coleman also played basketball for the Bobcats on squads that in Section 10 play finished 4-6 in 1954-55, 10-2 in 55-56 and 6-6 in 56-57.
“I enjoyed playing basketball,” Coleman said. “Sam Freed was the coach and then Pete Balog, and we had fairly good teams.”
When Coleman graduated from Ramsay in 1957 he sifted through some college scholarship offers.
“Pitt had offered me a scholarship, but they wanted me to go to prep school and I didn’t want to go to a prep school,” Coleman explained. “Dave Hammond and Don Skupinsky were high school teammates and I wanted those two to come along with me. You went to each college and took a test and California said they would offer us scholarships. Once you got there you had to make the first 22 to get what they called a full scholarship. That meant you had to scrimmage. I made the first 22 and they paid my tuition, which was $72. You could pick up 18 credits if you had the quality point average. You got your books free and then you got a job. My job was the mailman, I delivered mail to the boys dorm and I got $42 a month.”
When Coleman first joined the California (Pa.) football team in 1957, he expected to be used on offense. But, instead of being an offensive standout, Coleman was switched primarily to defense.
“They started out using me at quarterback,” Coleman said. “When I got there they had nine quarterbacks that they took from high school. The started using me as a defensive end and defensive halfback, and I remained on defense my entire career.”
The Vulcans finished 2-5 in 1957, 8-0 in 1958, 6-2 in 1959 (the two losses were to Lock Haven, 6-0, and Shippensburg, 20-13). The Vulcans went 7-1 in 1960, the lone blemish was a loss to Lock Haven, 21-19.
“That freshman year we brought in 33 players,” Coleman remembered. “Then we had some transfers come in, guys like Pete Petroff from Penn State. Nineteen fifty-eight was a memorable year and we had two very good years after that.”
Coleman was a four-year letterman with the Vulcans and led the team in interceptions three times. Coleman was a key contributor on the 1958 team that went 8-0. The 1958 team allowed just 3.9 points per game and recorded four shutouts. It featured the top-ranked rushing defense in the nation.
“I had a great career and I had great coaching,” Coleman stated. “Coach Ted Nemeth was the organizer and he did all the planning. He had very good assistant coaches in Andy Sepsi, Bill Hepner, Steve Tselepis, Mitch Bailey, George Stoicovy and John Trinovich.”
After graduating from Cal U. in 1961, Coleman taught for two years at South Connellsville Elementary School before working in the Intermediate Unit at California until 1993. He still works with handicapped children in Uniontown approximately one day a week.
Coleman, 74, resides in Connellsville with his wife of 55 years Susan. They have four children and six grandchildren.