Post by TheShadow on Aug 19, 2008 19:31:34 GMT -5
www.towntalknews.com
Sports Flashback
By Rich Pagano
With the recent passing of John Rauch, I thought it would be appropriate to run the six-part article I wrote about him five years ago. John was a real Delaware County sports legend and the only Delco native to become an NFL head coach and take his team to the Super Bowl. Besides all of his athletic accomplishments, he was a real gentleman and one of the nicest people I have ever interviewed. The following column is the first part of the series which appeared in Town Talk Newspaper on Oct. 22, 2003.The temperature was 65 degrees when the Green Bay Packers, who were 14 point favorites, met the Oakland Raiders at the Orange Bowl in Miami in the second NFL vs. AFL World Championship Game. The name "Super Bowl" was still a year away from being used.
With a record 75,546 fans watching, Green Bay defeated Oakland, 33-14. Don Chandler kicked four field goals for the Packers and quarterback Bart Starr directed an offensive attack that ran up 325 yards against the Raiders.
Coaching Green Bay was Vince Lombardi, who would retire after that game, while the coach of Oakland was Delaware County's own John Rauch.
"We played a good game except for three situations," Rauch recalled. "Twice the Packers had short-yardage situations on us, and they had play action passes. One they threw to Boyd Dowler for a touchdown. They threw another touchdown pass off a play-action pass, on which we messed up our coverage. The third thing was, the score was 13-7 with less than a minute to go in the half. They were punting near their own end zone. Donny Anderson was the punter, a left-footed punter, and we didn't have anybody left-footed to practice against. Rodger Bird was our return man, and had handled 40-something punt returns during the season. We tried to get left-handers to throw the ball out there with a left-handed twist. Rodger was going to field that thing about our 45-yard line. I thought if we could make a first down or two, we could get a field goal. Unfortunately, he fumbled, they recovered and Chandler kicked another field goal. Then we gambled in the second half, had a pass interception that they ran back for a touchdown. We just didn't have the moxie, if you want to put it that way, that they had. We made the key mistakes, and they cost us the game. We were kind of immature for that game."
Rauch, one of four children, was born on Aug. 20, 1927 in Philadelphia. Later, his family moved to the Overbrook section and then to Yeadon. His father had been an athlete growing up in West Philadelphia, playing baseball and boxing; and his older brother Walter had been a good football player at Yeadon.
"I played a lot of basketball as a kid on Penn Street in Yeadon," recalled Rauch. "Al Cairns, who was a year older than me and a good friend, used to pick an All-Penn street basketball team, and he put me on it."
When John entered Yeadon High as a freshman in 1941, he was disappointed to hear the school doctor tell him he could not play sports because of a heart murmur.
"My football coach, Ed Kirscher, told me that I should get a second opinion and my parents agreed," Rauch said. The doctor was a physician for the Pennsylvania State Boxing Commission and after examining John, he approved him for athletic competition. However, it was not until eleventh grade that he was permitted to play.
As a junior, John made the varsity football team and played half-back where he registered seven touchdowns.
In basketball, he teamed up with Al Cairns at forward and led Yeadon to the Section Five Championship. However, in the District I playoffs at Villanova, the Eagles, in spite of Rauch's 20 points, lost to Pottstown, 42-35.
During that season, the Chester Times reported, "John Rauch, the youth with unerring eye, has stamped himself one of the greatest offensive players in Yeadon High School basketball history with a pair of brilliant scoring performances in the last two games.
"The school record for scoring in one game was snapped by Rauch as Yeadon swamped Sharon Hill, 61-28. Rauch flipped 22 points through the hoops to surpass the mark set by Herb Ramey, who was credited with 20 in a single contest.
"Then to prove he's a star by the consistency of his work. Rauch improved his mark Tuesday night on the local court by chalking up 29 points as Nether Providence was defeated, 59-21."
John finished the 1943-44 season with 198 points, finishing second in the Suburban Section Five scoring race to Clifton Height's Ted Dorosh, who would later earn a football scholarship to Notre Dame and then lose his life in World War II.
Sportswriter Dave Trostel wrote the following about Yeadon's 1944 baseball season: "During the baseball season Rauch played well and it was through Al Cairns, Ozzie Meneses and Rauch's timely hitting that landed Yeadon on top of Section Four."
In his senior year, John scored six touchdowns and was one of the best runners and blockers in the area. However, Yeadon scored only 38 points for the season, while John accounted for 36 of those points.
Sportswriter Bill Hagerty wrote: "Like many really great gridders who have been denied recognition because of attending small colleges, John Rauch, Yeadon High moleskin luminary, has not received the proper attention on the sports pages this past season.
"Despite a severe knee injury which plagued him all season, the good-natured kid gave a brilliant all-around performance in every game in which the Eagles played. Although Yeadon only won two games, never were they outclassed, a fact which Blue and Gold rooters realize was due largely to the scrappy kid named Rauch.
"The 17-year old lad can pass, punt, and hammer the line equally well. In every game it was Rauch who carried the brunt of the attack. When the featherweight Yeadon forward failed to open up a hole for him, he usually managed to pick up yardage regardless.
"On aerial defense, the triple-threat performer was tops and when it came to tackling he had few equals in the suburbs."
NEXT WEEK: Rauch becomes an All-American at Georgia.
Sports Flashback
By Rich Pagano
With the recent passing of John Rauch, I thought it would be appropriate to run the six-part article I wrote about him five years ago. John was a real Delaware County sports legend and the only Delco native to become an NFL head coach and take his team to the Super Bowl. Besides all of his athletic accomplishments, he was a real gentleman and one of the nicest people I have ever interviewed. The following column is the first part of the series which appeared in Town Talk Newspaper on Oct. 22, 2003.The temperature was 65 degrees when the Green Bay Packers, who were 14 point favorites, met the Oakland Raiders at the Orange Bowl in Miami in the second NFL vs. AFL World Championship Game. The name "Super Bowl" was still a year away from being used.
With a record 75,546 fans watching, Green Bay defeated Oakland, 33-14. Don Chandler kicked four field goals for the Packers and quarterback Bart Starr directed an offensive attack that ran up 325 yards against the Raiders.
Coaching Green Bay was Vince Lombardi, who would retire after that game, while the coach of Oakland was Delaware County's own John Rauch.
"We played a good game except for three situations," Rauch recalled. "Twice the Packers had short-yardage situations on us, and they had play action passes. One they threw to Boyd Dowler for a touchdown. They threw another touchdown pass off a play-action pass, on which we messed up our coverage. The third thing was, the score was 13-7 with less than a minute to go in the half. They were punting near their own end zone. Donny Anderson was the punter, a left-footed punter, and we didn't have anybody left-footed to practice against. Rodger Bird was our return man, and had handled 40-something punt returns during the season. We tried to get left-handers to throw the ball out there with a left-handed twist. Rodger was going to field that thing about our 45-yard line. I thought if we could make a first down or two, we could get a field goal. Unfortunately, he fumbled, they recovered and Chandler kicked another field goal. Then we gambled in the second half, had a pass interception that they ran back for a touchdown. We just didn't have the moxie, if you want to put it that way, that they had. We made the key mistakes, and they cost us the game. We were kind of immature for that game."
Rauch, one of four children, was born on Aug. 20, 1927 in Philadelphia. Later, his family moved to the Overbrook section and then to Yeadon. His father had been an athlete growing up in West Philadelphia, playing baseball and boxing; and his older brother Walter had been a good football player at Yeadon.
"I played a lot of basketball as a kid on Penn Street in Yeadon," recalled Rauch. "Al Cairns, who was a year older than me and a good friend, used to pick an All-Penn street basketball team, and he put me on it."
When John entered Yeadon High as a freshman in 1941, he was disappointed to hear the school doctor tell him he could not play sports because of a heart murmur.
"My football coach, Ed Kirscher, told me that I should get a second opinion and my parents agreed," Rauch said. The doctor was a physician for the Pennsylvania State Boxing Commission and after examining John, he approved him for athletic competition. However, it was not until eleventh grade that he was permitted to play.
As a junior, John made the varsity football team and played half-back where he registered seven touchdowns.
In basketball, he teamed up with Al Cairns at forward and led Yeadon to the Section Five Championship. However, in the District I playoffs at Villanova, the Eagles, in spite of Rauch's 20 points, lost to Pottstown, 42-35.
During that season, the Chester Times reported, "John Rauch, the youth with unerring eye, has stamped himself one of the greatest offensive players in Yeadon High School basketball history with a pair of brilliant scoring performances in the last two games.
"The school record for scoring in one game was snapped by Rauch as Yeadon swamped Sharon Hill, 61-28. Rauch flipped 22 points through the hoops to surpass the mark set by Herb Ramey, who was credited with 20 in a single contest.
"Then to prove he's a star by the consistency of his work. Rauch improved his mark Tuesday night on the local court by chalking up 29 points as Nether Providence was defeated, 59-21."
John finished the 1943-44 season with 198 points, finishing second in the Suburban Section Five scoring race to Clifton Height's Ted Dorosh, who would later earn a football scholarship to Notre Dame and then lose his life in World War II.
Sportswriter Dave Trostel wrote the following about Yeadon's 1944 baseball season: "During the baseball season Rauch played well and it was through Al Cairns, Ozzie Meneses and Rauch's timely hitting that landed Yeadon on top of Section Four."
In his senior year, John scored six touchdowns and was one of the best runners and blockers in the area. However, Yeadon scored only 38 points for the season, while John accounted for 36 of those points.
Sportswriter Bill Hagerty wrote: "Like many really great gridders who have been denied recognition because of attending small colleges, John Rauch, Yeadon High moleskin luminary, has not received the proper attention on the sports pages this past season.
"Despite a severe knee injury which plagued him all season, the good-natured kid gave a brilliant all-around performance in every game in which the Eagles played. Although Yeadon only won two games, never were they outclassed, a fact which Blue and Gold rooters realize was due largely to the scrappy kid named Rauch.
"The 17-year old lad can pass, punt, and hammer the line equally well. In every game it was Rauch who carried the brunt of the attack. When the featherweight Yeadon forward failed to open up a hole for him, he usually managed to pick up yardage regardless.
"On aerial defense, the triple-threat performer was tops and when it came to tackling he had few equals in the suburbs."
NEXT WEEK: Rauch becomes an All-American at Georgia.