Surlas credits athletic gene pool with success
The athletic gene pool in the Surlas family is off the charts.
The patriarch, Tom, has already been profile with a Memory Lane. He played football at Southmoreland High School and Alabama. Sons John and Jason played at Mt. Pleasant and played college football. His daughter, Jen, played basketball at Geibel Catholic and in college.
“Mom and dad gave us some phenomenal genes,” Surlas said. “We were all phenomenal athletes.”
This Memory Lane is going to focus on son J.J. Surlas, who was a standout in football and basketball at Mt. Pleasant High School.
The Vikings were a football power when Surlas played, posting records of 9-1 in 1985, 13-0 with a WPIAL Class AAA title, and 10-1 in 1987, with a loss to Aliquippa in the WPIAL quarterfinals. That loss snapped a 23-game Mt. Pleasant winning streak.
“We had a loaded team,” Surlas said. “We had two guys go to Pitt, Dean El-Attrache and Pete Moore. We probably had 10 kids off that team got to schools like Edinboro and Slippery Rock. We were very talented to say the least. We were so loaded at that time that we expected to win every game.”
In 1986, Mt. Pleasant had a magical playoff run that included a close win over Knoch, 14-12, and a squeaker against Kiski Area in the WPIAL championship game, 14-13.
“I can remember playing on a frozen field against Knoch,” Surlas recalled. “Basically we tried to play on ice skates. Those are good memories.”
Surlas was involved in the biggest play of the game when Kiski Area went for the two-point conversion and the win. But running back John Vida was stopped short of the goal line on a hit by Surlas.
“I play against a Navy signee who was a big offensive lineman,” Surlas explained. “I talked to my linebacker coach and I spoke to my dad briefly. I can remember thinking he’s coming right at me, but I hit him so hard I knocked him back into the running back and he ended up fumbling and we recovered if I’m not mistaken. It was unbelievable, it was a heck of a game and a great memory for sure.”
Surlas says the loss to Aliquippa in 1987 was a bitter pill to swallow.
“You have no idea,” Surlas stated. “Sean Gilbert was their middle linebacker and we were undersized, I was playing fullback also at that point and I was 200 pounds maybe. Our lineman were 180 and we probably had a 160 pounder in there, too. They gave me the ball and I was getting hit before I got started. We were down, 21-0, and there weren’t even two minutes gone in the game. It hurt bad.”
Surlas was All-Keystone Conference for a couple of seasons and was named Associated Press first team All-State as a senior.
“You’ve got the best football in America in Pennsylvania,” Surlas said. “So being All-State in Pennsylvania is a true honor.”
Surlas played basketball at Mt. Pleasant on teams that went 1-20 in 1985-86, 4-16 in 1986-87 and 9-11 in 1987-88.
“Mt. Pleasant wasn’t a basketball school at that time,” Surlas offered. “I just enjoyed basketball, I played a lot of playground basketball.”
Surlas has fond memories of his high school football coach Bill Elder.
“That coaching staff with coach Elder, coach Barton, coach Tepper, those guys are legends,” Surlas opined. “They were tremendous, you expected to win, it was a great program.”
When Surlas graduated from Mt. Pleasant in 1987 he was headed to Pitt, but he wound up at Tennessee.
“I originally committed to play at Pitt, but they wanted to play me at fullback,” Surlas said. “I was supposed to replace Craig “Ironhead” Heyward. But, I wanted to play defense so I came to Tennessee.”
When Surlas left high school, he was 6-foot-1, 200 pounds. By the time he left Tennessee, he was 6-4 and 318 pounds.
“We had a number of guys on our defense who were converted from linebackers to defensive lineman,” Surlas stated.
Surlas was a part of some outstanding teams at Tennessee. He was on teams that went 11-1 in 1989 with a 31-27 win over Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl.
During his sophomore year, Surlas suffered a knee injury that sidelined him the entire season. That Volunteer team went 9-2-2 and defeated Virginia in the Sugar Bowl, 23-22.
“I was hurt against Colorado State my sophomore year,” Surlas said. “I hit a gap when my knee was taken out. I remember telling the trainers I was OK. I wasn’t, I had surgery to repair every ligament in my knee, they were all gone,”
Surlas came back for the 1991 season and Tennessee finished 9-3 with a 42-17 loss to Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl.
In Surlas’ senior campaign in 1992, the Vols posted a 9-3 mark and beat Boston College, 39-23, in the Hall of Fame Bowl. Surlas played three years under Johnny Majors and one season under Phil Fullmar.
“Coach Majors, he is a blast,” Surlas stated. “He is an awesome man.”
The choice to attend Tennessee was a good one.
“To get out of Mt. Pleasant and come down here where football is a way of life,” Surlas said. “The alumni loved me right away and I earned a great living here.”
Surlas got into sales and traveled a bit. He then opened up several mattress stores called The Bed Store. He is with a company that sells security alarms called SafeT Systems. He has been with that company 16 years. Surlas also coached high school football at Knoxville Catholic for six years. He returned after some time off and coached again two years ago before knee problems forced him to give up coaching last year.
Surlas, 45, resides in Knoxville with his wife of 20 years, Allison. They have a daughter, Jaryn, who is 16. They also have a son they took in, Nick, who was one of his players that had some family issues and he moved in with the Surlas family in 2003 before his junior year in school.
George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” column appears in the Monday editions of the Herald-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.