Late Bobcat/Elker Coaching Legend Norm Zwald Named To PSFCA State Coaches Hall Of Fame Along With Rover Great Ray Reckner (03/26/14)

The Pennsylvania State Football Coaches Association (PSFCA) has announced The 2014 “Honor Our Own” Hall of Fame Class and among those selected for induction is late Clarion Area and Ridgway Area coaching great, Norman (Norm) Zwald.

Coach Zwald is joined in the Class of 2014 by former Brockway Coach Ray Reckner; William (Muzzy) Colosimo, from Greensburg Central Catholic, who was recently named the head coach at Valley; Joe DeAntona from West Scranton; and Joe Walsh from Henderson High School in West Chester.

The official Induction Ceremony will take place at the Harrisburg East Holiday Inn, on Saturday, June 14th at 1:00 P.M. Then that evening, the inductees will be introduced at halftime of the Big 33 Game (PA vs MD), at Hershey Park Stadium.

(Photo provided by Drew Zwald) Coach Zwald and Bobcat Quarterback Drew Zwald in the late 1960’s

Zwald is the third Clarion Area coach to be selected to the Hall of Fame, joining Robert Moore (Class of 1988) and current Bobcat Coach, Larry Wiser (Class of 2011). Moore also coached at Punxsutawney, Coudersport, Franklin and Philipsburg-Osceola.

He is also the second Elker coach named, joining Mike Dominick (Class of 2007) who coached at Ridgway and Coatsville.

Coach Reckner is the third Brockway coach named, joining Charles Zoffuto (Class of 1989) and Sever (Tor) Torretti (Class of 1996). Torretti also coached at Steelton and Williamsport.

In twenty seasons as a head coach, Zwald was 118-48-6. He was 85-45-6, in sixteen seasons at Clarion (1952-61, 63-68) and in four seasons (1973-76) at Ridgway, he went 33-3.

Coach Zwald’s Clarion teams won numerous championships: 1953 – Clarion County Champions; 1954 – Clarion County and  Little Seven Conference Champions (the ‘54 Squad was also considered the “Mythical” District Nine Champions); 1955 – Clarion County Champions; 1956 – Clarion County County and Little Seven Conference Champions; 1961 – Clarion County and Little Eight Conference Champions; 1968 – Clarion County and Little Nine Conference Champions.

His 1954 and 1961 teams were undefeated and his 1953, 56, 67 and 68 teams lost only one game each. Under Zwald’s leadership, Clarion had ten seasons with at least 6 wins, seven seasons with at least 7 wins and five seasons with 8 wins.

A major factor in Coach Zwald’s success was that he went against conventional wisdom, thinking outside the box in preparing his teams. His son Drew, who teaches ‘Coaching Education,’ at Georgia Southern University said, “Dad was way ahead of his time and we, as players, just thought that’s how everyone coaches. He wanted his players to enjoy football and improve.

“We had no two a day practices and only practiced once in the evening. We hardly ever had full contact sessions in practice because he said, ‘Why get people hurt in practice?’ Most tackling was taught with equipment, not live tackling. During this era, when coaches believed you had to be tough and not drink water, he furnished water whenever needed and often times provided oranges and popsicles. We hardly ever ran wind sprints, but conditioning was integrated in drills. We did competitive Ranger Drills and the winners were rewarded.

“We always had the latest equipment and uniforms because he believed in safety first and ‘Look Sharp, Play Sharp’. He emphasized nutrition in our mandatory pre-game meals. In addition, he wanted to dress and play as many players as possible, so we ran mostly two platoon football, placed many other players on the special teams, and we used an audible system. These concepts were definitely not the trend of the times.”

In a four year stretch, from 1953 through 1956, Clarion had only 4 losses. And during a seven season span, 1961 and 1963 through 1968, Coach Zwald’s charges lost only 13 games. He was on sabbatical in 1962, to further his education at Southern Illinois University, where he coached the Freshman Team. The late David Bevevino was the Bobcats’ head coach during Coach Zwald’s absence.

He had twelve winning seasons and only four losing seasons. During Coach Zwald’s tenure, Clarion registered 25 shutouts and had sixty-three games where they gave up 7 points or less. His Bobcats scored 200 or more points, six times; 250 or more, five times; and 300 or more, three times. They gave up 100 or less points, three times. Clarion’s scoring offense was ranked 8th in the state in 1954; 3rd in 1961; 7th in 1967 and 6th in 1968. The 1954 squad outscored its opponents 274-71.

Coach Zwald was named Little Eight Conference Coach of the Year, in 1961 and Little Nine Coach of the Year in 1968.

He coached one ‘Coach and Athlete’ magazine All-American Honorable Mention Selectee, Dave Wyncoop, who went on to be a starter in the backfield at the University of Virginia, and numerous All-State players (Second Team and Honorable Mention).  At least six more of Coach Zwald’s Bobcats went on to play major college ball, including his son Drew, who played at William and Mary, along with CHS teammate Kevin Moore.

Wyncoop, who rushed for over 1500 yards as a Bobcat senior in 1963, had this to say about Coach Zwald, “My first recollection of Norm Zwald was as a young boy of about 8 years old.  My older brother, Howard, played on his 1954 undefeated Bobcat squad. Coach Z impressed me with his toughness and composure on the sideline during games…  He was a no nonsense, demanding and well prepared leader… Coach Z expected us to play the game to win but within the rules…  He was always firm but fair…

“After I finished playing in Division I college football I came to view Coach Z as a Vince Lombardi type and when God made Vince Lombardi he threw away the mold. There was only one other coach in my entire football career that reminded me of Coach Z and that was Al Verdel who coached Bordentown Military Institute where I played one year as a post graduate before finishing my playing days at the University of Virgina. I’ll never forget the three above named coaches as long as I live or am able to watch my favorite sport. They expected excellence on the field and off and they played to win always.”

Coach Zwald authored a book entitled “Clarion High School Football.” there was a 1953 edition and a 1954 edition.

After taking a break in coaching, from 1969-72, so he could attend Drew’s games at William and Mary, he became the head coach at Ridgway.

In 1973, his first season at Ridgway, Coach Zwald went 6-3. Then he had three undefeated seasons, going 9-0, in 1974, 75 and 76. He coached the Elkers to a 30 game winning streak. In Zwald’s four seasons, the Elkers had 13 shutouts and gave up 7 points or less in 28 games. Between Clarion and Ridgway Zwald’s teams gave up 7 points or less in over 50 percent of their games – 91 out of 162.

His Ridgway squads scored 200 or more points, three times; 250 or more points, two times; and 300 or more points, two times. They gave up 100 or less points, 3 times. The 1976 Elkers gave up only 13 points, with seven shutouts and one game giving up six points and another game giving up seven points. Ridgway was the Elk County Champions, Bucktail Conference Champions and the Alkin League Champions in 1974, 75 and 76. The 1976 team was ranked 2nd in the state in Class-AA.

Two players from the 1976 team were named All-State, including Ken Streich, who went on to play at Temple.

Coach Zwald was selected Pennsylvania Class-AA Coach of the Year by Kellogg’s ‘Coach of the Year’ Clinics in January 1977.

To put Coach Zwald’s records and statistics in context – during his entire high school head coaching career, his teams played in seasons of only 8 or 9 games. There were no District or State playoffs then. How many more wins could possibly be added to his already fine totals, if he coached under today’s playoff structure?

A reason for Zwald’s success was his innovative and forward thinking style of coaching. Former Bobcat Head Coach, Ray Austin, who was a long-time assistant to Coach Zwald mentioned, “Coach Ray Austin, “I started coaching with Coach Zwald in the school year 1959-1960. He was extremely impressive as far as his knowledge about football, how to present it to the young men. That was the thing that stuck with me for an awful long time.

“Secondly Coach Zwald had a fantastic memory. He could remember things that happened two, three, four, five years ago in ball games. I think those combination of things made him an outstanding high school football coach… one of the smartest football coaches that I had been around in my years of coaching.”

Long time line coach Alex Arth said, “I remember one year, he told us to pick out our guys on offense, the offensive coaching staff. And he would take the players that were left over and he would make a defense out of them. He went to one end of the field and we all went to the other end of the field. We worked on offense and he worked on the defensive kids; and it ended up being one of the best defensive teams that Clarion ever had.”

Current Clarion Head Coach Larry Wiser commented,  “When I first came to Clarion, in 1973, Norm had obviously had such a great reputation at the school, producing winning teams. But I got the chance to work with Norm one year before he went to Ridgway. I had the opportunity to sit down and listen to some of his words of wisdom. And I was also fortunate enough to coach with one of his disciples, Ray Austin, who taught me a lot about organization and so forth, that he and Norm had established when he was coaching with Norm all those years.

“The one thing that I think really stands out, is that you talk about players who played for Norm, the experience that he gave them, such a positive experience. The impact that he had on them was immense. In college, one of my fraternity brothers, Rick Stokes had played for Norm. And of course, Norm to him was a god.”

Coach Zwald taught at Bluefield State (WV) from 1982 until his retirement in 1993. He was an assistant coach for several years, as they resurrected their football program. They discontinued the program, again though, as they weren’t able to be competitive in their conference. Lack of dorm facilities was an issue, which would be a deterrent to recruits.

Drew Zwald, who held the CHS Single Season and Career Passing Yardage records, for well over 40 years, had this to say about his father getting this honor, “Dad would be very honored with this special award and the family wants to thank Coach Wiser and Dave McClaine for supporting and nominating him. Dad would say this award is a culmination of efforts of many people: his wife Mary Lou, family, players, coaches, support staff, administration, boosters, and friends.”

Coach Austin said, “I think that was a tribute that should have been done years, years ago. There were some other people that possibly from the last four, five, six, seven years, that were honored with that particular honor. I think that Norm was, with all those previous coaches (and) should have been in the Hall of Fame, much, much earlier than this.”

Now retired, Coach Reckner was at the helm of the Rovers for twenty-two seasons (1985-2006) compiling a record of 131-90-3.

(Photo courtesy of  The Courier Express) Brockway Coach Ray Reckner

He had this to say about his being accepted into the Hall of Fame, “It was totally unexpected. It’s an honor to go in. I sat down and I started thinking, this isn’t just an honor for me. It’s an honor to all the coaches who have coached with me, the school itself, the administration.”

The recipient of the 2006, D9Sports.com  – Special Contributor Award, Coach Reckner served in other capacities over the years, including: Athletic Director; wrestling coach; baseball coach; and golf coach. He said, “The big thing would be my family because without their support, my wife and my kids, being that I coached football, wrestling, golf for a while, and baseball for about eight years. I was going year round and I really enjoyed it. You need the support of your family and without that I wouldn’t be able to do this. My wife is very understanding. She’s sports oriented too. She’s the activities and sports secretary at the school. So she was a big help along the way.”

Reckner had eleven seasons with 7 or more wins; eight seasons with 8 or more wins; 4 seasons with 9 or more wins; two seasons with 10 or more wins; and an 11 win season.

His Brockway teams scored 200 or more points, in fourteen seasons and 300 or more points, in seven seasons. The Rovers held their opponents under 100 points, three times under Reckner.

Coach Wiser stated, “Ray and I started coaching about the same time, as an assistant coach, both in wrestling and football for the longest time. He became head coach probably about the same time I did. I think there was a period of time when Ray was like the defensive coordinator (at Brockway) and I was the defensive coordinator at Clarion.

“I think there was like three years, neither one of us scored a point against each other. And those games all ended up zero-zero. So it was always great competition.”

The Rovers won two Little Twelve Conference, Eastern Division Titles (1986, 87), one Allegheny Mountain League, Southern Division Title (2003) and four District Nine Class-AA Championships (1987 2002, 03, 05) under Reckner. They were District Nine Class-AA Runners-up, three times (1998, 2000 and 2001). They had one State Playoff win (2002).

Coach Wiser had this to say about his competitor and friend, “I think Ray always got the best out of his kids and he was a real fundamental technician. That’s one of the things I always admired about his teams. They played as a team and they were always very sound defensively. And he produced many big winners over the years at Brockway, as an assistant and then obviously as a head coach.”

Coach Reckner feels it is pretty special joining his friend, Coach Wiser in the hall. He said, “Larry and I go back a long ways…. He called me today and congratulated me. It was good to hear from him. We both served as Athletic Directors. Larry and I go back a long ways.”

Two of Reckner’s players went on to play major college football.

With their selections, Coach Zwald and Coach Reckner bring the number of Little 7-12/KSAC coaches in the Hall of Fame to eight: Zwald; Reckner; Wiser; Zoffuto; Clyde Conte, Clarion-Limestone (Class of 2005); Rich Vidunas, Union (Class of 2003); Bernard L. McQuown, East Brady (Class of 1993); and Harry E. Clarke, Reynoldsville, Renoldsville/Sykesville (Innaugural Class of 1986). Also in the Hall is Bob Pflug who coached at Little 7-12/KSAC pre-cursor school Knox (Class of 1987). Some of these coaches also coached at other schools.

On the sense of pride he has with Coach Zwald and Coach Reckner joining him in the Hall of Fame, Coach Wiser said, “I wear my ring with great pride. And for them to join me is pretty special. I can’t say enough about (being part of the Hall of Fame fraternity). I don’t think it has given me a big head, but it is kind of unique to be recognized by your peers throughout the state.

“Unfortunately for Norm, he was not alive to receive this award and like I said to Drew, ‘I’m sure he’s looking down from heaven and he gets a great opportunity and Drew will represent him well (at the induction ceremony and half-time recognition).

“And Ray is fortunate enough (to be alive to receive his award). District Nine is represented well.”

CONGRATULATIONS TO COACH ZWALD’S FAMILY FOR THIS GREAT AWARD FOR THEIR FATHER!!!! AND CONGRATULATIONS TO COACH RECKNER AND HIS FAMILY  FOR THIS GREAT AWARD ALSO!!!!