Naming of Pottios Stadium caps whirlwind couple of weeks for Charleroi
Christopher Buckley | Herald-Standard
Myron Pottios, a Charleroi and Notre Dame graduate who went on to star in the NFL, is shown next to a photo of himself that hangs in the Charleroi Alumni Building at the high school. The Cougars’ stadium will be officially named after Pottios during a ceremony before Friday night’s game against Washington.
Charleroi Area School District will officially rename its football field for former Cougar and NFL star Myron Pottios on Friday night.
Forgive Charleroi football coach Donnie Militzer and his Cougars if they might be feeling a big dizzy right now.
After all, it’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks for a team that renewed its rivalry against Monessen with a 23-21 victory last week and now will take part in honoring Charleroi graduate and former NFL player Myron Pottios as the school district officially names the stadium after him before Friday’s game against Washington.
“I’m excited to be part of this,” Militzer said. “It’s an honor for me. I’ve been fortunate enough to have been around some great people but these past two weeks have been really special for me: one, being involved in the Monessen-Charleroi rivalry which is one of the biggest in the area and the 100th game, and two, to be part of the planning and part of the process that’s going on to rename the stadium is a big deal, that doesn’t happen every day.”
Pottios was a two-way player at Charleroi, a fullback and linebacker who played on the Cougars’ 1956 team that fashioned a perfect regular season and advanced to the WPIAL Class AA final.
Pottios was also a two-way player in college at Notre Dame at offensive lineman and linebacker before making his name in the NFL at the latter position. He played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Los Angeles Rams and started in Super Bowl VII as a member of the Washington Redskins, who lost to the Miami Dolphins, 14-7, on Jan. 14, 1973.
Militzer’s players may not all have known of Pottios before but they’re learning about him now.
“We’ve been talking more and more about him as the game gets closer,” Militzer said. “Luckily, Myron was in toward the end of last school year and four of my senior football players got to go to a lunch that he was at with some alumni right around when the decision had been made to name the stadium after him.
“Myron talked to the kids and really spent a lot of time with them, talked about what it takes to win and what it means to be a teammate and just great stories. The kids were just in awe and they were trying to relay to the other kids what a special guy he is.”
After a reception at the school’s Alumni Room at 5 p.m., festivities will begin at the field at 6 p.m. with the unveiling of a new Cougar statue at the stadium’s main entrance.
“It’s sort of like the Nittany Lion they have at Penn State where people can get their picture taken with it,” Militzer said. “It’ll be a nice addition to the stadium.”
The on-field dedication will take place at midfield at 6:40 p.m. Kickoff for the game is scheduled for 7 p.m.
That’s right, there is a game, too, which is something that Militzer has to keep his players focused on despite the afterglow of the win over the Greyhounds and this week’s pregame event.
“It was such a huge win,” Militzer said of the victory at Monessen. “Charleroi hadn’t started off winning the opener in like seven years. The recent history against Monessen wasn’t great. All-around it was an exciting, big win. When we came in here Monday the kids definitely were on an emotional high, which is great, but I also had to bring them back down to reality.
“They have a very good football team, one of the best in the WPIAL, coming here on Friday night. We can’t go thinking we won the Super Bowl just yet. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”
Even so, Militzer admits his mood is upbeat right now, too.
“I feel really fortunate the past two weeks to be part of some special things,” he said. “We want it to be a special season, too, though.”