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