Alumni News - Warren Harding Lowans Passes Away at 97

Former West Chester football captain and U.S. Navy captain Warren Lowans has passed away. He was 97.

Lowans played football at West Chester in 1941 and 1942 and then entered the Navy during World War II. After the war, he returned to West Chester to finish his degree and played his final two seasons in 1946 and 1947. Lowans was the sole captain of the 1947 team which finished the regular season 9-0 and outscored opponents 214-32. The 1947 team then defeated Carson-Newman in the Burley Bowl in Johnson City, TN before falling to Missouri Valley in the Cigar Bowl on New Year's Day in Tampa, FL.

After West Chester, Lowans remained in the Naval Reserves as he earned his master's degree from Columbia. He was recalled to the Navy during the Korean Conflict and returned to the regular Navy in 1955 until his retirement as a captain in 1974 after 32 years of active service. Lowans was inducted into the Killinger Hall of Fame in 1995.

South Whidbey Record - Warren Harding Lowans: December 3, 1922 – July 9, 2020

Throwback Thursday - 1920

Extracted from the 1920-1921 Serpentine:

The first football team that old Normal ever had was organized and developed this season by Coach Hall and Professor Mathers. The standing that the team made in athletic circles is conclusive evidence that football is here to stay, and we trust that its endeavor will be carried on with still more spirit and ability than was shown this year.

Much of the success of the team is due to the efforts of Bert Hall, whose coaching throughout the entire season was absolutely unquestionable. He took a group of awkward inexperienced men and made them into a real fighting unit that could really be called a football team.

Due to the fact that we did not get organized until the season began, we were unable to get the most desirable schedule, most of the schools having their football program all made out. However, by persistent effort, a schedule of games that any team would be proud to win was obtained and we managed to win all but two of them.

West Chester Normal shut out West Chester High, Swarthmore Prep, Phoenixville High, and Villanova Frosh and held Swarthmore Prep to just three points in their second win over them one month later. Losses came in the final two games of the season to Ursinus Reserves and Williamson Trade to finish the year 5-2. Left halfback Robert Von Bulow served as the team captain.

West Chester State Normal School's First Football Team

Team News - No Golden Ram Football This Fall

On Tuesday evening the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference voted to suspend all mandated conference athletic events and championships through the fall semester in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that there will be no Golden Ram football this fall.

The PSAC becomes the third Division II football conference to suspend fall athletics joining the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) which both made their announcement on July 9. Non-football playing Division II conferences that previously reached similar conclusions are the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) and the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC).

PSAC Site - PSAC Suspends NCAA Competition for Fall 2020

West Chester Athletic Site - West Chester University Athletics' Reaction To The PSAC's Announcement

Daily Local News - West Chester football coach Bill Zwaan not surprised by PSAC announcement to suspend fall sports season

The Philadelphia Inquirer - As PSAC fall sports shut down, West Chester football coach Bill Zwaan looks for optimism

Throwback Thursday - 1930

The 1930 season opened with a trip to Philadelphia to take on Drexel. Although the team came away with a 13-0 win, they lost team captain Motz Singer for the remainder of the season due to an injury. In their only home game of the year, West Chester effectively used the "forward pass attack" to trounce Beckley 46-0. The contest was costly as the team incurred more injuries that prevented a handful of players from participating for the remainder of the season. In West Chester's second trip of the season to Philadelphia, it tied St. Joseph's 6-6.

West Chester could have scored more in their 19-0 win at Trenton, but Coach Conover substituted liberally due to previous injuries and future opponents. West Chester then handled Millersville by a score of 6-0 before falling at Slippery Rock 14-2.

Coach Conover's 1930 team finished 4-1-1

Morris "Motz" Singer
Captain
C. Van Dyke Conover
Head Coach

Throwback Thursday - 1940

The 1940 season opened with a 19-0 win over Blue Ridge College. It would be the only meeting between the two schools as the small college in New Windsor, MD would close three years later due to financial difficulties. The next game marked the final meeting between West Chester and LaSalle. In ten meetings, LaSalle won nine of them, eight of them by shutout, including a 13-0 blanking of West Chester in 1940. The Rams would then top Pennsylvania Military College, now Widener, by a score of 9-0. The game against the Ithaca Blue Devils resulted in a 7-7 tie.

Fifty-five hundred watched a battle between the Albright Lions and the Purple and Gold. And it wasn't until the waning minutes of the contest when defensive end Dick Wisneski returned an interception to set up the game's lone touchdown. Edward Twardowski's PAT capped the 7-0 win. The Rams then got shut out at Waynesburg 20-0 in a muddy game in southwestern Pennsylvania. The following week, George "Butch" Clark and his classmates celebrated their final home game with an 18-0 shutout over Lock Haven. In the final game of the season, West Chester traveled to East Stroudsburg to hand the Warriors their only loss of the season by a score of 18-0.

Only one team scored in seven games as West Chester finished 5-2-1.

W. Glenn Killinger
Head Coach
Inside the locker room

Throwback Thursday - 1950

Over five thousand people witnessed West Chester be ungracious hosts to Pennsylvania Military College on a Saturday night as the Rams won 20-0. That gave coach Killinger a record of 38-4-1 since football resumed after World War II, but 0-2-1 against Delaware. This season would be no different as West Chester fell to Delaware by a score of 16-13. Delaware converted a pair of West Chester turnovers into 14 points. Later in the first half, quarterback Ray Spafford connected with Harry West on a couple of touchdown passes, but a failed PAT kept Delaware ahead 14-13. When Spafford was sacked in the end zone late in the game, the final score was set.

Earl Hersh and Fred Pender each scored three touchdowns as West Chester downed Lock Haven in a 39-21 shootout on Wayne Field. West Chester then traveled to Cortland, NY and defeated SUNY-Cortland in their second ever and final meeting by a score of 26-0. Against East Stroudsburg, the Rams scored 25 second half points en route to a 27-0 shutout victory paced by their "freshman flash" Fred Pender. After tossing Millersville 26-7, West Chester traveled to Bethlehem and shut out Moravian for their sixth consecutive victory over the Greyhounds.

West Chester welcomed Bloomsburg to Wayne Field for the informal State Teachers College Championship. The Huskies were riding a 15-game winning streak, but the underdog Rams scored three times in the first quarter en route to a 31-6 thrashing of the visitors. The Golden Rams' 20-game home wining streak ended the following week as they completed only five of 20 passes, turned over the ball four times on fumbles and missed a PAT as Drexel nipped West Chester 7-6.

1950 Pennsylvania Conference Champions

Head Coach W. Glenn Killinger instructs Co-Captains Elwood McKenzie and Norman Waldman

Team News - 23 Golden Rams Named PSAC Scholar-Athletes

Twenty-three members of the Golden Ram football team have been named PSAC Scholar-Athletes for the 2019-2020 academic year. In order to qualify for the honor, athletes must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 or better. There were 3,763 athletes from all 18 PSAC institutions of which 324 represented West Chester University.

Representing the football team are:

• freshman defensive back Micheal Alexander
• freshman kicker/punter Chris Barbera
• redshirt junior tight end Cody Boozel
• freshman offensive lineman Tom Burns
• redshirt freshman linebacker Nick Chapman*
• freshman defensive back Matt Checchia
• sophomore offensive lineman Jacob Colby*
• junior offensive lineman Patrick Ferry*
• redshirt freshman defensive lineman Michael Gobora*
• freshman linebacker Mason Griffiths
• freshman defenisve lineman Jake Hendershot
• freshman linebacker Sean Hopkins
• freshman tight end Stone Huffman
• redshirt freshman defensive lineman Joe Janick*
• freshman kicker/punter Derek Krug
• redshirt freshman offensive lineman Jonathan Miller
• freshman wide receiver Matt Moody
• freshman offensive lineman Logan O'Grady
• redshirt freshman running back Marcus Owens
• freshman wide receiver Jahmair Rider
• sophomore offensive lineman Brendan Ruskowski*
• freshman defensive back Nick Westburg
• sophomore defensive back Cole Zapf*

* Student-athletes who were also recognized as a PSAC Scholar-Athlete for the 2018-2019 academic year.

PSAC Site - PSAC Impresses with New Scholar-Athlete Record of 3,763

West Chester Athletic Site - West Chester Among The Leaders In PSAC Scholar-Athletes

Throwback Thursday - 1960

For the first time in almost three decades, West Chester was being coached by someone other then W. Glenn Killinger. Jim Bonder, a line coach under Killinger since he was discharged from the Navy in 1946, made his debut at the helm. And what a debut it was. After dispatching non-conference opponents Fort Eustis and Ithaca College, the Golden Rams ripped through Pennsylvania State College Athletic Conference opponents East Stroudsburg, Millersville, Clarion, and Kutztown by a combined score of 172-14.

After a trip to Springfield, MA in late October to shut out American International, West Chester returned home to face Bloomsburg. This Huskies team gave the Golden Rams their only loss of the previous season, so besides a division championship, West Chester had revenge on their minds. They got that revenge with a 42-13 "romping victory". The Golden Rams completed the perfect season with a 35-6 win over Lock Haven in the PSCAC Championship Game.

Bonder would go on to a 39-9 career record. Backs Joe Iacone and Jim Pribula were both named All-PSAC that season, in a year when only eleven players were recognized from the 14 state schools. All three men would later end up in the Killinger Foundation Football Hall of Fame.

The 1960 PSCAC Champions

Captains Lou Caparro
and Carl "Chick" Kane
Coach Jim Bonder is carried off the field
after the victory over Bloomsburg

Team News - Hale, Killinger, Hess Nominated to College Football HOF

West Chester alumnus Danny Hale and legendary Golden Ram head coach Dr. W. Glenn Killinger appear on the 2021 ballot of the College Football Hall of Fame as divisional (non-FBS) coaches. Also, former Golden Ram two-way player Bill Hess has been nominated as a player.

Hale in '66

Hale played end for the Golden Rams from 1965-67 when West Chester advanced to the conference championship and the Tangerine Bowl in both 1966 and 1967. West Chester won the conference championship in 1967 with Hale being named MVP of the game. He was later head coach at West Chester from 1984-88, posting a record of 40-13, including the Golden Rams' first ever NCAA playoff appearance in 1988. He then went on to be the head coach of Bloomsburg University from 1993-2012, posting a record of 173-56-1. In his 25 years of coaching at the two schools, Hale won 13 PSAC East titles and advanced to the NCAA playoffs nine times, including guiding the Huskies to the national championship game in 2000. He is already a member of the Killinger Hall of Fame

Killinger

Dr. Killinger is already a member of the College Football Hall of Fame as a player at Penn State where he was a three sport star, winning nine varsity letters. As a halfback/quarterback, he led the Nittany Lions to undefeated seasons in 1920 and 1921, serving as captain his senior year and named a consensus All-American. He also captained the basketball team his senior year and won 30 games as a pitcher for the baseball team. He is West Chester's all-time winningest head coach with a record of 147-41-12 (.765) over 23 seasons from 1934-1959. Killinger served in the United States Navy from 1942-1945. During his tenure at the helm of the Golden Rams, he never suffered a losing season and led the team to three bowl victories: Burley Bowl in 1947 and 1948 and the Pretzel Bowl in 1951. West Chester also participated in the Cigar Bowl in 1947. In addition to West Chester, Killinger was the head football coach at Dickinson (1922), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1927-1931), and Moravian (1933), compiling a career record of 176-72-16. He served as an assistant coach at Penn State from 1923-1926. He also served as the head coach of West Chester's men's basketball team from 1935-1940 and 1945-1946 and the baseball team from 1967-1970.

Bill Hess

Hess played for the Golden Rams from 1985-88 and finished his career with 3,821 all-purpose yards. He had 182 receptions for 2,866 yards and 30 touchdowns in his West Chester career. He also amassed 58 yards rushing and 897 return yards. Hess captained the Golden Rams in both his junior and senior seasons. He was named second team All-PSAC East at wide receiver after his freshman year, and first team All-PSAC East at wide receiver after both his second and third seasons. After his senior season, he was named PSAC East Athlete of the Year, first team PSAC East at both wide receiver and defensive back, and was named a first team AFCA All-American. After graduating from West Chester, he spent time with the Philadelphia Eagles and Phoenix Cardinals of the NFL. Hess was drafted by the San Antonio Riders of the WLAF where he played a season. He then played with the San Antonio Texans and Ottawa Rough Riders of the CFL. He is already a member of the Killinger Hall of Fame

The 2021 Class will be announced in early 2021 with details being announced at a later date.

2021 College Football Hall of Fame Ballot Released

Throwback Thursday - 1970

1970 marked the opening of John A. Farrell Stadium and the Golden Rams did not disappoint the home crowd as they went 4-0 in the new stadium. Unfortunately, they did not fare as well on the road and finished the season 7-4 overall. The season started with a road loss to Delaware, which would finish the season 9-2. After throttling Ithaca College 56-0, West Chester blanked PSCAC foes East Stroudsburg, Millersville and Bloomsburg. The Golden Rams dropped a contest when they traveled to Long Island to take on Hofstra.

West Chester secured a trip to the PSCAC championship game after knocking off Kutztown and Mansfield. Their final home game marked West Chester's only win ever over Lenior-Rhyne by a 38-21 tally. In mid-November, West Chester traveled to Edinboro for the PSCAC title game, but fell by a score of 14-6. The Fighting Scots would go on to lose in the NAIA national semi-finals for their only loss of the season. West Chester then traveled to nearby Villanova, but fell to a Wildcat team that finished 9-2, with their losses coming to Boston College and at Virginia Tech.

Named to the All-PSAC East Offensive team were end Barry Stout, tackle Bob Cleary, guard Jack Chambers, guard Marty Pavelic, and fullback Rocky Rees. Named to the All-PSAC East Defensive team were tackle Joe Carroll and linebacker Bruce Udovich.

The 1970 team advanced to the PSCAC Championship Game

1970 Captains Barry Stout and Tony Costello

Coach John Furlow running a drill