Throwback Thursday - 1955

How long ago was 1955? That's easy - 60 years. But really, how long ago was it? How about the head coach was a gentleman named W. Glenn Killinger. As in Killinger Hall. As in the Killinger Foundation. As in more wins than any other head football coach at West Chester. Killinger never had a losing season as head football coach at West Chester, and the 1955 squad finished 6-3.

The season opened with two home wins over East Carolina and the Fort Monmouth Signaleers. Back then, there were many military service teams including Fort Eustis, Fort Dix, Fort Belvoir, Fort Lee, and Quantico. After that, West Chester was shutout by a score of 7-0 to Drexel. Drexel, which discontinued football after the 1973 season, went undefeated in 1955 and their defense held all eight of their opponents to no more than 14 points. West Chester then lost to Youngstown in the second and last meeting between the two schools.

The Golden Rams won their next two road games at Lock Haven and East Stroudsburg, before winning their two final home games over Kings's and Millersville. The season ended with a loss at Pennsylvania State Teacher's College Champions Bloomsburg. So besides West Chester's current annual division foes, their 1955 opponents are now an FBS team, an FCS team, a Division III team, a defunct football team and a closed Army base.

The 1955 team was led by captains Bill Crozier and Ron Gatski. As an end, Crozier was West Chester's leading receiver that season, hauling in 13 catches for 195 yards. For his effort, he was named to the All-PSAC team which consisted of eleven players: a center, two guards, two tackles, two ends, and four backs. Future Killinger Hall of Famers Jack Wendland and John Harrington paced the offense. Wendland was the leading rusher with 521 yards and Harrington completed 32 of his 107 pass attempts for 346 yards and four touchdowns that season. The game of football was quite different that long ago.

Gatski, Killinger, Crozier

Jack Wendland