Susquehanna Hall of Fame Taps Six
A Letter to the Editor

The Coach's Wife: Remembering Stella Stagg

By Gerald Moorhead '51
Excerpts reprinted with permission of the Altoona (Pa.)Mirror.

The new millennium has produced many historical reviews of the great sports figures of the 20th century. From personal experience, let me recall an outstanding football coach of the last century, Amos Alonzo Stagg Sr. More than that, I want to give credit to Stella Stagg, the coach's wife for 71 years.

Stella Stagg keeps score in the Crusader press box, circa 1949

I arrived on campus as a student in 1947, when Coach Stagg Sr. and Mrs. Stagg also arrived. Attending every football game, I saw the introduction of the wide receiver, or "lonely end," and the scrambling quarterback being added to Stagg's already innovative playbook.

Don Wissinger ('50) of Hollidaysburg was the kicker for Susquehanna and earned the nickname, "The Toe."

The NCAA has never credited Coach Stagg Sr. with the 21 wins while coaching Susquehanna, because they say he was only an assistant coach under his son Amos Jr.

I know differently, as do the many players who played under him. He was in full command of the football program, including every practice, at the age of 85 years when he began coaching at S.U.

In my memory, I can clearly see that white-haired coach jogging to lead the team back to the field for the second half. That example fired up our team to do their best. Character building was always a priority.

My focus in this column, however, is to put the spotlight on Mrs. Stagg. Stella was a co-ed at the University of Chicago when she met Amos Alonzo. He had just become the nation's first full-time collegiate football coach. According to her granddaughter, Barbara Stagg ('52) Eccker, a classmate of mine, the young Stella Robertson was a very fine tennis player and an accomplished pianist. They were married in 1894, a union that would last 71 years.

Stella was a co-ed at the University of Chicago when she met Amos Alonzo. He had just become the nation's first full-time collegiate football coach. According to her granddaughter, Barbara Stagg ('52) Eccker, a classmate of mine, the young Stella Robertson was a very fine tennis player and an accomplished pianist. They were married in 1894, a union that would last 71 years.

As time went on, Stella got more involved with her husband's program, and they worked almost as a unit. She kept voluminous records, handled correspondence, and was her husband's best press agent. While other ladies of her day may have knitted or crocheted or quilted, Stella learned to diagram plays and attended every practice.

She became Amos Alonzo Stagg's most dependable scout.

In the fall of 1950, I was chosen sports editor of the Susquehanna school paper. This put me in the press box for the games. During the Oct. 28 game with CCNY (City College of New York), who would come and sit down beside me but Mrs. Stagg, then 75 years old! While I made copious notes about every play, Stella Stagg was busy diagramming plays, with the Xs and Os. That day she made a play diagram the first time CCNY ran a different play. If it were a running play, she would indicate the blocking assignments where the running back would go.

At the end of the game, she handed me 12 sheets, representing the 12 basic plays which CCNY used that day. She asked me to post them in the locker room, and the players, in looking at them, could hardly believe that "Stella did the diagrams."

Amos Alonzo Stagg Sr. is the "grand old man" of football, coaching in the collegiate ranks until he was 98 years old, a football genius and legend.

His beloved wife, Stella, often the unsung hero and play designer, needs to be known, at least in this manner, as a one-of-a-kind sports personality of the pervious century.

As everybody who knew her would agree, she was "one great lady."

The Rev. Gerald Moorhead '51, a retired director of development for Allegheny Lutheran Home and Social Services, lives in Martinsburg, Pa. This column originallyappeared in the Altoona (Pa.) Mirror's Voice of the Fan section.

SU Hall of Fame Taps Six New Members

The Susquehanna Sports Hall of Fame will grow to 149 members on Saturday, October 6, with the induction of six new members at halftime of this year's Homecoming football game vs. Widener.

Jim Hall '68, a four-year member of both the baseball and football teams, was a First Team MAC All-Star second baseman as a junior. He committed just 14 errors in 317 career defensive chances for a .956 career fielding percentage. He ranks ninth all-time in career walks with 48 - helping him post a .375 career on-base percentage as primarily a lead-off or number-two hitter. In football at defensive back, he led the team in tackles during his senior season with 42 (25 solo), and was fifth as a junior with 44 (14 solo).

Baseball standout Bill Hart '78, an All-MAC catcher, holds SU record for career home runs (18) and is ranked among the leaders in career slugging percentage (.575), walks (53) and runs batted in (90). He is the only player in school history to hit five or more homers more than once in his career - and he did it three straight years (1976-78).

A four-year field hockey player, Kelly MacDonald '85 helped the 1984 squad post the school record for fewest goals allowed in a season with just five as the team posted its first winning record since 1974 by going 9-3. MacDonald had a microscopic 0.42 goals-against average and stellar .941 save percentage. Coach Connie Delbaugh called her "far and away the best goalkeeper this school has ever seen" at the time. MacDonald also had seven shutouts, a school record at the time, and made the National Field Hockey Festival in 1981, 82 and 83.

Bob O'Gara '51 set football career records for passing yards (2,229) and completions (194) from 1947-49, and still ranks in the top 10 in both categories. He led SU to a 7-7 tie in the snow against Allegheny on November 15, 1947, after tossing a touchdown pass with less than 10 seconds remaining. In that game, O'Gara completed 20 passes in 30 attempts for 234 yards to set a single-game record for completions that would stand until 1976. In 1947, O'Gara ranked fourth in the nation among small college players in passes completed.

A four-year starter in both basketball and softball, Jen Winter '92 led the women's basketball team to back-to-back MAC Northern Division championships and NCAA Division III Championship Tournament berths as its starting point guard. She finished her softball career as the school's all-time leading hitter. She presently ranks second in career hits (109), runs (93), batting average (.419) and stolen bases (56) and holds the career record for walks (40). She was a first-team MAC Northwest League All-Star as a senior in softball. In basketball, she was a captain as a senior and shared the school's Outstanding Senior Female Scholar-Athlete Award.

Rocky Rees served as head football coach from 1985 to 1989, compiling a 36-15-1 record (.701 percentage) in five seasons. He tied an NCAA Division III record for the greatest single-season improvement as he followed a 3-7 record in 1985 with an 11-1 mark in 1986 and the first trip to the Division III playoffs in school history. He was named MAC Coach of the Year and Kodak-American Football Coaches Association Regional Coach of the Year following the 1986 season. He also coached the Crusaders to one outright MAC title (1986) and two co-championships (1986 and 1989) before becoming the head coach at Division II Shippensburg University in 1990.

A Letter to the Editor

I have no idea the process that was followed to pick the top 100 Susquehanna football players of the 20th Century, but two of the best were left off the list.

I was a 1950 graduate of S.U. I saw just about every game played from 1946 through the fall of 1949. Four seasons. These were very exciting years at S.U. Amos Alonzo Stagg Senior came aboard and S.U. became a nationwide phenomena.

The three outstanding players of that four-year period were Jim Peters, Doug Arthur and Bob O'Gara. The three of them could have played on most college teams in the country.

Jim Peters has been placed on the top 100 list. Doug Arthur and Bob O'Gara have not.

Doug Arthur was the best interior lineman by far of that period. He started from day one and he never missed a down. A dominating, talented, dedicated player that didn't back down one inch.

Bob O'Gara led the entire country, repeat, the entire country in passing one year and was outstanding in every aspect. Leadership. Toughness. Smarts. He was the whole package.

I have no quarrel with the 100 players who were picked. However, I would strongly recommend making it the top 102 Susquehanna University players of the 20th Century and add Doug Arthur and Bob O'Gara to the group.

They belong. Boy, do they ever belong.

Sincerely,

Jack M. Thorp '50