Witt brothers were known as ‘Twin Terrors’
Dick Witt and his deceased twin brother Bill were known as “Twin Terrors” when they played football for Connellsville High School in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
“Brother Bill and I were very competitive growing up,” Witt said. “We started playing football in the fourth grade. We had about six or eight teams and played every Tuesday night out at the stadium. Brother Bill and I also played youth baseball growing up.”
The Witt boys were on Coker football squads that posted records of 4-5 in 1959, 3-6 in 1960 and 4-6 in 1961, when the brothers both scored two touchdowns.
“I backed up Bo Scott at running back as a junior,” Dick Witt recalled. “He’s probably the best football player I’ve ever seen in a Connellsville uniform. He was unbelievable. He was a great athlete.”
The facts back up Witt’s praise. When Scott was a senior, Connellsville scored 16 touchdowns as a team and Scott scored 12.
“I played mostly defense,” Witt stated. “My junior year, as I said, I backed up Scott and I didn’t get to play much offense. I was a cornerback and outside linebacker, and brother Bill played the other corner. I lettered in 1959, but I didn’t play a whole lot. I played a lot of special teams and some defense. I saw a lot of action on defense as a junior and played both ways as a senior.
“My senior year there were only two teams that really beat us bad. We lost to Uniontown in the last 30 seconds, 12-7. Latrobe never got inside our territory, but they picked up a fumble and ran it in from 60 yards to beat us 6-3. We lost four games in the last minute or so.”
Witt had the distinction of scoring the final touchdown in the rivalry against Dunbar Township in 1961. Witt intercepted a pass and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown in a 27-6 Coker win.
“That was final game in the Dunbar series. They merged in 1966,” Witt said.
The Cokers were coached by Dan Hamill when the Witt brothers played.
“Not to say any bad about coach Hamill, let’s just say we had a lot more talent than what our record showed,” Witt said. “We had a good group of guys. Bo Scott, of course, and Russ Ravetta, Joe Tacconi, Frank and Emmy Shedlock. We were a pretty tight-knit group.”
The 5-foot-8, 170-pound Witt was named honorable mention All-Fayette County as a senior in 1961.
“That was an honor back then,” Witt offered. “It was a lot different back then than it is now. We had some great football players in the county.”
Witt also ran track at Connellsville.
“We didn’t have baseball in high school at that time,” Witt stated. “I ran the 200, 220 and 880 relay, and the sprints. Brother Bill was also on the track team. We had good track and field teams. Wilmer Burkholder did a great job with the track program.”
The Witt brothers both wound up at Denison University after graduating from Connellsville in 1962.
“One of our assistant coaches at Connellsville, Blaine Corley, was pretty good friends with the defensive coordinator at Denison, George Hill, and he recommend us,” Witt explained. “He and Tom Dolde took us out there and one thing led to the other, and we signed. Hill later became defensive coordinator under Woody Hayes at Ohio State.”
The Witts were part of Big Red teams that went 7-1-1 in 1962, 8-1 (with the only loss at the hands of Oberlin, 20-14) in 1963, 6-3 in 1964 and 6-3 in 1965.
Dick Witt played all four years at Denison, but his brother Bill was sidelined two season by knee problems.
“My whole life, looking back at it, I think God put me in the right place at the right time,” Witt said. “When we went to Denison, the coach, Keith Piper, started using the single wing formation. I think we were the last school in the country to run it. The NCAA at the time wanted to get rid of two platoons, so you had limited substitution and I ended up playing both ways.”
Witt had some memorable games on defense for the Big Red. He had two interceptions in game against Rochester. He notched his 100th win playing organized football in his last game at Denison and returned an interception 48 yards for a touchdown to provide the margin of victory in a 35-28 win over Ohio Wesleyan. He was awarded the game ball.
“Going to Denison was a great decision,” said Witt. “Everything I got was from being in the right place at the right time. The timing was great because when I graduated from Denison, that was the first year of the Dunbar-Connellsville merger. My wife was the secretary for the schools and she said something to Stan McLaughlin. I contacted him and I came back home, and everything has been good.”
Witt was a teacher for 39 years, retiring in 2005. Witt coached at the junior high for the first few years after the merger. Then, he joined McLaughlin’s high school staff and coached the sophomores for a couple of years. Witt was on the varsity staff when Dan Spanish became the head coach and remained until Spanish left.
“Athletics paved the way for everything in my life,” Witt stated. “I still do some umpiring. I started that in 1971.”
Witt, 75, resides in Connellsville with his wife of 57 years, Carol. They have six children and eight grandchildren.
“Brother Bill passed away in March 2020, at the age of 75,” lamented Witt. “We lived in a double house and the sad part is I couldn’t go see him because of COVID-19.”