Berks football Week 4, with Gerry Slemmer

Hello, and welcome to the weekly edition of the Mike Drago Sports Football Podcast. This is episode four, and we have a very special guest with us this week, former Wilson football coach, Jerry Slemer, who I'll be talking to in just a moment. But first, I want to tell you that Mike Drago Sports Football Podcast is brought to you each week by MikeDragoSports.com, which provides Burke's County's most comprehensive football coverage and much, much more. The podcast is presented this week and every week throughout the season by our sponsor Utilities Employees Credit Union. UECU invites you to enjoy low loan rates, competitive deposit rates, member rewards, shopping discounts, roadside assistance, and cell phone protection powered by Bazing. Utilities Employees Credit Union, a powerful new way to save money, located in why missing, or at uecu.org/checking. So we're welcome to Burke's Football Week 4. We have 12 games on tap this week. It's the start of League Play in section two, and the big game there is why I'm missing versus Hamburg. I thought it would be Saturday afternoon. At the A-Feel, both teams 3-0, why I'm missing off to a terrific start, ranked number three in the state in class 3-A after reaching the state final. Last year, Hamburg, off to its best start in seven years. Exeter has a big follow up game at Hemfield after beating Wilson for the first time, and we get a bonus game this week. Harrisburg comes to Governor Mifflin, a game that came together in a matter of minutes earlier this week, when both of their opponents had to cancel due to COVID issues. So I'll be at Mifflin Stadium Friday night to cover that one. This should be an exciting game. We'll be covering four games this week for MikeDragalSports.com. We'll have reporters at the Pope John Paul at Wilson, or Pope John Paul at Burke's Catholic game, Exeter at Hemfield, and Fleetwood at Convert Wiser. So look for game reports Friday night on each of those games on MikeDragalSports.com. And now, time for my special guest who flew in from Arizona just to be with me today. I really appreciate that Jerry Slammer. It's the name that should be familiar to any football fans in Burke's County, especially Wilson Bulldogs fans. Jerry was a former tackle for the Bulldogs, head coach, assistant coach, played on some of Wilson's greatest teams in the late 60s, selected for the big 33 game, earned a scholarship to Arizona State, played for the legendary Frank Kush, Kush. With the Bulldogs, he was a head coach for 15 years, 129 wins. Actually, I should update that Jerry, 130 because you came back two years ago, and I was there for that. You coached the alumni team, and you came out with a W there. During Jerry's 15 seasons, eight Lanxter-Lebner League Section 1 championships, two District 3 championships, coached the year three times. I could go on and on and on, Jerry, thanks for making the trip here, and welcome to the MikeDragalSports football podcast studios. We just finished the construction recently, and we're ready to go. Always enjoyed being back in Burke's County. So you're here for a number of reasons, obviously, you see family and friends, but Friday night, some special occasion at Gersky Stadium. Wilson is honoring three of its championship teams from the past, each of which you coached. 1985 was a Lanxter-Lebner League Section 1 championships. 1990 team was a District 3 champ, and the 95 team also went unbeaten in LL Section 1 play. I'm sure you're excited to see some of your former players once again. Well, I really am, and it's over a 15 year span, and each team has some unique memories to me. The 85 team, that was the first LL championship team that I coached. And the 1990 team, everybody remembers the fog ball, that's the game they played to win a District Championship, and then go on to the state's semi-finals. And the 95 team that just, it had some great players on it, and we just had a super season. So it's going to be fun to see those guys. Jerry's last season coaching, the Bulldogs was 1997, had to give it up, he didn't want to, but you became principal at Wilson High School, and then, of course, stayed in that vein, eventually moved to Arizona, where he was the principal at Red Mountain High School for 10 years, retired in 2014, and then went on to teach at Northern Arizona University. People remember obviously Jerry as a football player, but he is Dr. Jerry Slammer, and education always important to you, wasn't it? No question about it. My mom and dad really emphasized for my brother and I to get an education, and it took a little bit to sink in. We weren't stellar students in high school, but when it came down to going to college and picking a major, we knew what we wanted to do, and we went after those goals. Football and education always went hand-to-hand with you, and I'm sure you emphasized that to your players as well, correct? And also one reason why I got my doctorate, I just thought that, you know, going back to school and having that achievement while I was coaching could be a motivation for them as well. I'd say to them, "Hey, you guys got homework tonight, I got homework too." And so that was one reason why I pursued it, and others as well. But education is the ticket to do anything. You all know that, I emphasized that a great deal with all my players. And what was interesting at Wilson is one of the most proud things that I ever did as a coach was I had teams that they just were full of high achieving students. I mean, teams that I coach represent lawyers, orthopedic surgeons, military grads at one inning and got high military positions. And if I would put all of them up on a depth chart, it would be too deep in every position. And that's pretty exciting to think about that the kids that played at Wilson went on to get a great education and make a great contribution to society. Yeah, very rewarding as a coach and as a teacher and educator to see things like that. But let's talk football, so many great memories you have from Wilson football. The first thing I have to ask you is you were on the ground floor when John Gersky came to West Lawn in the early 60s. You understood there was a sense of excitement there because Wilson football was not very good at that time. You know, talking about the impact that Coach Gersky made, not only in Wilson football, but the entire school and the entire county. Well, what he brought to Wilson was a work ethic, a desire. Football was very important and he transferred that to us as players. And I remember the first time I met him, I was walking to school and he lived in Lincoln Park and he's driving to school down the whiskey ditch and how my brother were walking along and he stops the car and says, hey, you guys want to ride to school? And we said, yeah, sure. And we would actually, from that point on, we would actually time leaving for school when we knew he wouldn't be coming by. And so he just about picked us up every day and gave us ride to school and we were in like the seventh grade. And my dad, he was a big cold region fan. He would always take my brother and I to the Shimokin, Mark Carmel, Thanksgiving Day game and that kind of thing. And I'll never forget the morning he read the newspaper and saw John Gersky being hired as the football coach and he looks at both of us and he says, now you're going to have a football coach. That just always set it. And everything, you know, it just fell into place and the weightlifting, the off season, the growing practices which are legendary, the length of them and the intensity of them. He'd always say to us the games, the practices are going to be harder than the games and they absolutely were. And we just watched him develop this whole dynasty that still exists today. Now your senior season, that was 1969. That's correct. There's went 10 and 0, second time in three years, also your sophomore and you were on the first Wilson team that went on beaten, 67, that was Mike Ritz was on that team, correct. And then the quarterback on your 69 team was my guest here on the Mike Drago Sports Football Podcast a couple of weeks ago, John Yokem and I enjoyed talking old time Wilson, a football with him. You know, I don't know if I've ever asked you this now you and your brother, your twin brother Harold, both tackles for the bulldog. and you both went to Arizona State, which at the time, Frank Kush, I mean, these are legendary coach and they were a top 10 team for a long time in the 60s and 70s and throughout. How did you end up going there? Because that's, especially in those days, not a lot of players, you know, went cross-country to play. Yeah, we just got caught up in the recruiting, Arizona State. Frank Kush recruited a lot of players out of Pennsylvania. I mean, I played with the kid that he was from Harrisburg, high school, another one from Lebanon, the Allentown area. So there was about a dozen of us on the team that were from Pennsylvania. And Frank Kush was from Pennsylvania. Is he a cold region guy? No, he's Western PA. Okay. Wimber high school, he played out in the early 50s. So that's the connection. He knows Pennsylvania football. Okay, because I always wondered how did you guys end up there and did you even visit the school before you, before you committed? Yeah, and that was kind of a funny thing because our offensive line coach, he played at Springford High School down by, you know, just the Ochesmont Lane and he came to visit us at our house, you know, the whole routine. And he says, yeah, we got to have you to ASU for a visit. And we're like, look at each other and I'm thinking I'm thinking of a map of where we are and where what do you mean for a weekend? And it was the first time we were ever in an airplane and we flew out for a weekend visit to ASU. And we were kind of like real westerns and cowboys and that kind of thing. And so when we got out there, Zona, you know, just visiting the western towns and all the cactus and buttes and, you know, it just got us. It got a whole of us and we said, yeah, here's where we're going to go to school. I mean, a completely different lifestyle and environment there for anybody that's never been to the desert. I mean, it's, you know, here in the east, we grew up with trees and lush vegetation and you don't see any of that, but you appreciated that immediately. That changed. Yeah, they took us, it was interesting. It was about maybe 20 recruits in the weekend we were there and they actually took us up to the Salt River and where everybody goes tubing. They ride down this river and in inner tubes and it's about a four hour ride from one spot to the other and we did that and we just thought that was incredible. When horseback riding, they knew they knew how to approach the eastern kids and get them excited about coming out to ASU. You're listening to the Mike Drago Sports Football Podcast, my guest this week. It's former Wilson football coach Jerry Slammer. Pennsylvania athletes, families and fans, utilities, employees, credit union invites you to enjoy our low loan rates, competitive deposit rates, member rewards, shopping discounts, new roadside assistance service and cell phone protection powered by Bazing. Get started online at uecu.org or stop by our branch and why missing on Meridian Boulevard. Utilities, employees, credit union, a powerful new way to save money. Back to football and Jerry Slammer, we're talking about his days at Arizona State and for younger fans who don't remember, I mean, that was a real power in the country. Top 10 team for many years under Frank Kush. Senior year, you went to the Fiesta Bowl. You guys beat pit and Tony Dorset. Tell me about that because those pit teams in the 70s were tremendous. It was actually two years. My junior year, we played Missouri in the Fiesta Bowl and finished ranked I think eights or ninth in the country and then the next year was when pit came out, Tony Dorset was playing for him and there were a lot of games that really high-ranking teams come out and played us and I don't know if it was the jet lag or what it would be but we just really played hard and most of those games we wanted, everybody would be shocked for a while and then what would hurt us the most as far as getting the recognition I think the program deserved was our games didn't start to late 39 o'clock at night with the three-hour time difference and so if we were playing an afternoon game which weren't many because it was so hot then you know we would have more of a TV audience but we put a name, I mean it was there's some great teams. A lot of them went on and played pro football to wear very well on the pros and it was, you know, we're proud members of the Sun level football team, tremendous experience for you to play at that level and lasting Frank Kush tell me about him I know he had a reputation as being a tough customer. Yeah and everything you're hearing about him was true, that's what I tell people all the time. Well you know what he was just a hard-nosed working family he had like 11 kids in his family, they're in Wimbledon P.A. and he got into coaching and he was a great football player at Michigan State and wasn't real big, played on a defensive line and he just coached with great intensity and you know if you weren't out there going 100 percent he found out real quick and and he was he was he was a harsh man, I know how else to describe him, you know he was just a harsh man and and you had to show every show up every day and and give him your A game and and there was a lot of kids that went there and didn't like that kind of discipline and dropped out of the program and I think what helped my brother and I do well at ASU is we were already used to that with John Gersky and you know that's the way the game is taught by these you know guys like John who grew up in a tough neighborhood also and and so they just transferred that level of toughness to their coaching and and actually it was a lot easier than for other players who didn't have that kind of high school experience. Yeah after college you came back to Wilson and and and kind of job as a teacher was that sort of the plan all along you wanted to come home teaching coach at the Alma Mater. Yeah and it I graduated from ASU in 74 and there really weren't any teaching jobs in my field physical education so I did teach two years out there in coach football but then as soon as they had an opening I get a call from John and he says we got a job here or is it something that might interest you and I'm you know my wife was from back here and everything so yeah I just I'll interview for it so I basically flew back and interviewed with the the Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Air to his name was Dr. Aaron Miller and it was like a it's like they already knew what they wanted to do it was a 20 minute interview and the next day calls me back while you want this job before you fly home I says yeah I'll take it smartest move ever made smartest move ever made to come into an established program learn how to coach John Gersky style and and that's that's how it went and what was your first year teaching at Wilson 76 1976 okay see then you were on staff what seven years with John as an assistant I worked as an assistant coach for seven years and then he retired and in 1983 I was only 29 years old and I took over as the head coach in 1983 and and and I say that because I was probably the dumbest head coach in the way because you know you're you're young and you you you learn from your mistakes and we were don't give me wrong we had a nice team my third year there we won the LL but when I look back at those experiences I think well that was a dumb way to do that you know and and you just learn with that like anything else and and get and and get better now you you 29 year old head coach you were there was a veteran staff there correct I mean was that you know must have been also the succeeding John Gersky you know the guy was an icon in West Lawn and throughout Berks County what kind of pressure was there taking over for him well it's interesting you ask that he in fact when I got the job I don't even a couple of the assistants at the time says he is sure you want to do this and and you know I know it's going to be a challenge but but I never I never lost faith in that I just felt you know you hear you hear us talk about Wilson football the program and I thought if I can just stay straight to the program and there's some wrinkles we put in like the offense and whatnot but but we still we ran the football we had a good blocking fallback we were strong we lived in a weight room in the off season and and that's what John taught and that's what I continued on and so each year as you have that success you get a little more confident and before we knew it 89 we were in a state up in Hershey in a state finals and I'm standard aside line before the game you know how did this all happen now you're you're staff I think you were fortunate to coaching staff around you were veteran guys and Bernie stop by was still there Bill Morgan yep with you on staff bill. Bill Hoss was he there at the time? No, Hoss is two years, just two years older than me. Okay. Bernie stopped by with my line coach at Wilson. Bill Morgan, he had coached the JV's Ray Richie. He had coached the backfield. Bert and I, I think he was helping out with like junior high at the time though. But yeah, these coaches are not to mention the teachers. Many of the teachers were teachers that I had. And if you want to see something interesting when I became the principal in 87 and a half of my staff were teachers that I had. So, and I just got used to all that and leadership is leadership and, you know, you stand, stand up there and, and, you know, keep the success of kids in mind and that's how you do it. Your first season ended five and five record. Later, I think Norris town had the forefoot stand up six and four, but did you, did you take much heat for that? Because a couple years, you know, earlier, Wilson was 11 to know and 10 and 11 and one, you know, great records. Did you feel any of that? Well, interestingly enough, I would always tease John because he put the schedule together before retired. And we played Norris town, which had a great team. We played Williamsport, which had a great team and they just got the new coach at Hemfield by the name of Jack Yo who immediately turned that program around. So, yeah, was there pressure in that? Absolutely. We couldn't throw the ball. We were not a very good passing team and the first thing that I did along with my assistant Bill Hawes is we had to find a place to learn the passing game. I mean, John was a great coach, but passing wasn't as forte. And we went up to East Rouseburg and met the coaches up there and basically drove up there every day for half the winter months and just studied their film. And they coached, literally Mike Twilliger's name was, literally coached me how to coach a good passing game. And we came back and instituted it and the second year we won seven games and then the third year, you know, I mean, we just needed to put a passing game to the running game that we felt we did well and then everything would fall in place and it certainly did. Right. And third year, eight wins and the section one championship and that was the 85 team, which is being honored Friday night along with the 1990 and 1995 championship teams. Jerry Slemer will be at Gersky Stadium for that and get a chance to reunite with a lot of his former players and I'm sure some assistant coaches will be there as well. Jerry, you coached so many teams and had so much success. Is there one team that you had a special fondness for? Well, you know, all of them were just outstanding kids. So I got to emphasize that from the get go. They just were all hard working, dedicated kids to the game of football. But the team that I obviously became a little closer with was the team my son was on in 1990. They had just come off the all those kids were juniors on the 89 team with Collins and Brad Byrd and McCarty. Then the next year was their senior year and they were they were such a hard work and group. Not real. I mean, there was no Collins and McCarty or Brad Byrd anymore, but they were a very hard work and group of kids and set their goals high. And frankly, I think they came the closest to winning a state championship and even the 89 team from the perspective that we played readily. It was a 1614 loss to this day. The controversy of night drowsky did he score or not score? That would have put us into finals against North Allegheny who on paper, you know, we had a better football team. And but that group of kids, you know, they'd be like for other people, they would be, you know, they hang around your house and the friendship with my son and his other classmates, that that was a special group of kids. And then the 85 team was the first team that we won the LL when I was the head coach. So they were they were pretty group of kids too. Jerry's son, Jake was outstanding linebacker for the Bulldogs Hall of Fame member. And I think he was a member of our, when the Redding Eagle picked the all-century team, I think he was on there with your, you know, with a lot of his teammates. That 1990 team went 12 and 2 reached the state semifinals. Who won the, the gridley going to win the state championship the next week or? You know what, I can't remember. They played North Allegheny. I know, I went up to the game and it was a, I think maybe North Allegheny beat him. And it was like a, like a 1817 type game. And it was hard. It was hard to sit there and watch that. And no, you know, without a doubt, we could have, we were as good as or better than the two teams that were in the state finals. And I'll say that to the day I die. And I'm surprised you actually went because, like you said, that's got to be tough to watch that, you know, just a few days after your season ends and then go and watch these teams play. Well, what was even tougher was when we looked at the film after the game. And I drowsky was clearly in the end zone. We, I couldn't understand why they call it the way they did. And we would have won the game 22 16 or whatever, and we lost it 16 14. And we had a really good kicker that year. And there were a couple of times where we probably should have kicked field goals, but he had taken the SAT test that morning and got there late back to the education thing, which is more important. Well, go take your SAT test first and then get it as soon as you can. And so that, you know, we didn't have that full kicking game, which was a big part of our team at that time. His name was Jess Wally and he played soccer and then he kicked for us. And it, there was like two occasions where a field goal would have made the difference. I don't know if this will help that at all. Ridley beat you, but it took 40, I'm about 35 years later. Finally Wilson last year has passed Ridley. For years, Ridley had the longest consecutive seasons winning streak in the state. And Wilson was next. And it was something that I've been monitoring, you know, for the last 15 years, because I knew Wilson had the streak now, but it's up to 45 straight winning seasons. And I think was it 50, yeah, 45 straight winning seasons, 57 straight non-losing seasons. But Ridley for the longest time was number one in terms of that win streak. And last year they finally had a losing record and the bulldogs passed them. So now Wilson has his owner owner of the longest consecutive winning, you know, winning season streak in the state. I mean, I, you know, I find that rather incredible because I look at other programs, Carmel and Valley, which was so good, you know, for a long time. And now they've hit a rough patch. And almost every program, you know, Burwick was tremendous and they hit a rough patch. Man, I'm central last year had a losing record, you know, for the first time in decades. And, and I know it's not, not easy. People look at Wilson and just say, oh, they're going to have a winning team because they always do. But it's not automatic. I mean, when you look at an achievement like that, what, you know, what are your thoughts when you see that 45 straight years? Well, I think again, it's, it's a testament to the program, you know, and John Gersky clearly was the father of that program. And then, you know, guys like Gilchim and myself playing under him, Doug Domsenai, we came to Wilson the same year and worked together for many years. And we just, you're, you're just ingrained in that tradition and that success. It's like he has now the Wilson Traditions Club. And, and, and very smartly. So he puts that pressure on the kids. Hey, you know, just like what you said, he gives them that speech and, um, and you're expected to go out there and, and, and play hard. And I think the consistency in the coaching over it's a six since that, that all the way back to John coming to Wilson. And what isn't talked about as much anymore because other schools do it as well. The weight training program was huge in 1965 when we had he's writing barbell weights and left them in the jam and whatnot. That was huge. And that grew even more as we got a bigger facility and, and, you know, our kids were always strong. I love to tell the story of the head coach at Coatesville who when we played at Coatesville in the state semifinal game in 89. And there was a coach standing there in the end zone looking at us going, these guys are in the state semifinals. They don't look very big. And the head coach at Coatesville looks at him and says, yeah, well, you should see him when they take their shirts off. And that's, that sounds a lot right there. And, and just playing hard, you, you were a hard hitter, you were, you were a ferocious blocker. And you took them one at a time and you went out and won a lot of games. You're listening to the Mike Drago's sports football podcast. My guest is Jerry Slimmer, former Wilson head coach. We're talking about the good old days at Wilson, not the, I mean, they've all been good, good old days for decades of, you know, winning us program in Berks County, a football and 45 straight winning seasons, an incredible achievement. Only one state championship appearance, 1989, you were the head coach and, of course, the biggest name for that team is Carrie Collins. Everybody knows about Carrie went on the play at Penn State and then I think 17 or 18 years in the NFL, which is just a remarkable achievement for him. Tell me about when you first heard that Carrie was moving into the Wilson district. Did you know much about him and what was the reaction when he showed up? Well, it was really interesting. Is that I didn't know anything about him and, and I'm in a faculty room one day and Reggie Wise says, hey, you know, there's a kid coming here from Love the Night School and says, oh, yeah. And he goes, yeah, he's like six five. Well, the following Wednesday, the guidance counselor brings Carrie down to my weightlifting class and introduced me to this is Carrie Collins where he just enrolled and, and it's, it's coming to Wilson. And I always thought anybody that I looked at, I'd, I, you know, had the potential to be a pretty darn good football player. And that was Carrie and, and it was, I call it winning the coaching a lot, oh, because he just came on board. I never even seen him throw a pass until two weeks before the first game because he was so involved with baseball and basketball and summer programs that he never even got to our, you know, program until we took the pass, took the team up to East Osborne for passing camp. And I said the, my tweliger, the guy I mentioned earlier, I said, got a kid here that I think is pretty good. I want you to look at him, tell me what you think. And he stood there and watched him do seven on seven for about ten minutes and he looks at me, says, this kid's going to be playing on Sunday. That's just telling seven. And Carrie was a sophomore when he was going into his junior year. He had gotten hurt at Lebanon, his sophomore year and then his dad, you know, brought him down to Wilson for his junior and senior. I actually saw Carrie play as a sophomore for Lebanon, they were playing either, Reading Higher Mifflin. It had to be a Lancaster Lebanon game because that's why I was covering it. And, you know, as a sophomore, I mean, again, you see this big six four kid and he could really, really throw the ball around. And then, you know, a few months later, we find out he's coming to Wilson. So you didn't, you hadn't really seen him throw until you went to that camp for the first time. I never saw him throw pass until we went to passing camp. And of course, the, you know, the rumors are Wilson recruited a quarter back and all this and that. And I've stuck with this story from the time everything, you know, that I share it, that's exactly how it happened. I had no idea who he was. Maybe I should have. I wasn't, maybe I wasn't paying attention, I don't know. But that's how it all fell into place. And in fact, that winner of a sophomore year, Reggie has him in basketball. They go to like the district championship. And then in baseball, they go to the state finals with the whole cup. And that was a sophomore year. So he was busy winning those championships before he even got to us. Just a great athlete. I mean, I have all, and I don't want to take any way, anything away from, we've had some super athletes at Wilson over the years and all sports. But he was just, he was just kind of in the league of his own. I mean, he just for a big kid, 65 to 20, he was the biggest kid in our team in 1989. And just had a rifle foreign arm. And, you know, knowing, seeing how you went up the Penn State and how that played out for him and it's, it's no surprise, it's just, he was that level of an athlete. A, a, a carry has to be top five athletes of all time in Berks County. I mean, people know him football, but as you mentioned, it's tremendous. Baseball pitcher, he was drafted twice, I believe, by Major League Baseball teams. Easily could have had a career in baseball. A basketball, you know, was probably his third sport, but still, you guys had a very good basketball team, his senior year. In fact, one of the most memorable games, championship games ever, because Wilson played in Redding High, Redding High had Danielle Marshall and Carrie and Danielle went after it in that championship game, and it was a physical game, and your, your basketball team was, it was Matt Culdron and four football players, so they, they played tough. And that rivalry at that time was really bitter. Oh, it was huge. Those guys went after it and Carrie eventually fouled out, Danielle, I think Danielle was going up for a dunk, late in the game and Carrie was not going to let it happen. He fouled him, he fouled out of that game, and I'll tell you what, it was a Saturday afternoon. It was at Kutztown University, Keystone Hall was the basketball championship game. And, you know, I mean, I just, I was impressed by these two athletes going after each other, and I, I came back to the office, and of course, this is before the internet and cell phone, so nobody knew the score until I walked back in the office and they wanted to know about the game. And I said, this is one of my great predictions. As I said, both of those guys, Carrie Collins, Daniel Marshall, they're both going to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated someday, which at the time, Sports Illustrated was like the number one sports magazine, and it was a big deal to be on the cover, and that almost came true. Carrie was on the cover when Penn State went to the Rose Bowl, maybe a second time after that. And Danielle never made the cover of Sports Illustrated, but he had a tremendous career at Yukon, and they lost in the regional final, and had they won the regional final and gone to the final four, he might have been national player of the year. And, you know, so, and of course, he went on to a tremendous NBA career, so to see two guys like that, both, you know, I think Carrie was in the NFL 17, 18 years, Danielle, about the same, you know, what a memory to see. Oh, it's no question about it. And I remember when Penn State was recruiting him, the seasons, I mean, they're calling me the last month of the season, we're in playoffs, and I says, guys, just, just do me one favor, hold off until the season's over, and then we'll go from there. And Penn State did that, Joe says, you know, I was a good boy, I didn't come, you know, I left them alone in the seasons over, and now he's lining up his visits. In fact, I actually wanted to see him take a visit out there as on a state, just that, you know, it was my alum and whatnot, but Penn State was his second visit. He had visited Maryland, came home from Maryland and said, how do you like it? It's okay. Then he goes up to Penn State and comes home that Monday and says to me, well, I've made a decision. And I said, well, Kerry, you've got three more visits. If you want to take him, he goes, nope, I'm going to Penn State. And I said, well, okay, I said, well, we're going to go call Joe and let him know that. And he goes, yep, let get him on the phone. And it was funny because paternal just, they knew too what they had just gotten, you know, they know. And they were just so excited to have him come up there. And that's, and I think that deep down is where he really wanted to go. I mean, from day one, he wanted to go to Penn State. And you know, everything else is history. They played in the championship, they didn't win a national championship. They were undefeated, if you remember, I think it was '94, and they played Oregon in the Rolls-Ball, Nebraska, they gave the national championship to, and I think Penn State had probably, well, they had three first round draft picks, you know. And it was just, it was just a neat experience to watch him go through all those games. And then when he went to New York, you know, he was closer. So I got to see a number, I drive up to New York with his dad. And we saw Kerry play a number of games. And then he goes on to, you know, the play in the Super Bowl. Incredible, you know, the thing that's striking about this story about the Penn State recruiting. And I believe that happened in, after the season. So January was an official until he signed and committed. Now, I mean, that's like, you're really talking about the olden days of college football recruiting because today, no division one player even waits to a senior year to commit. A lot of them are doing it as sophomores and they're on the radar screen by the time they're in eighth or ninth grade. I remember Michael Bennett from Exeter, the tremendous center and tackle they had. The end of his freshman year is like May, May of his freshman year. He already got a division one offer, I think it was from Temple. I mean, that's incredibly, it was probably 14 or 15 years old. But that's just the way it is now, you know, the top players go to showcases and on campus things and they're offered when they're sophomores and juniors and it's just amazing to think that Joe Paterno is calling you around, you know, in December, asking about this. He was topping at the Bix, but he honored our, you know, requested this way to our season was over. And you're very right. I mean, I don't know why. the word "decomit" came from. And all of a sudden you got, "Oh, this kid is going here, but he decommitted and decided to go there." Because I said to Kerry, he says, "Look, you know, this is a very important decision." You said, "No, you're with Joe Paturno, and you say, "That's where I'm going." You know, I stand by my word, and I got a reputation to uphold with these schools as well. He says, "No, you don't have to worry, coach. That's where I want to go." And John Gilmore went through a similar situation. He never took a visit of a school in senior year. He, I'd sent some films out of him, his junior year, and Gilmore, he was a great player, no question about it. And the Penn State coaches, they know Sooner got the tape and saw him, and they called me up. And, you know, we just wanted, we want you to let him know. He has a scholarship at the Penn State. Well, when I told John that it was like Christmas morning, that's where he won the go. I said, "Don't you want to take some of your other visits?" He goes, "No, I know where I want to go." So he committed at the end of his junior year, and played his whole senior year with us, you know, knowing that he was going to go to Penn State. John Gilmore, tight-end at Wilson. Again, one of their all-time greats, and also one of the four Wilson players to make the NFL. John had a rather long career in the NFL. And I got to see all of them play in the NFL, too. When Kerry, there was a couple of times when he was at the Titans, they came out and played the Cardinals. And then Gilmore played for the Chicago Bears, the team that went to the Super Bowl. And when he was in town, Bernie stopped by. He was living up in Utah at the time because he loved skiing. I said, "Hey, you want to come down and watch John Gilmore play football?" "Yeah, I'll be there." And he got us tickets, and we sat in the middle of this Chicago bear crowd. And that was the game, if you remember, when Danny Green says, "They were who we thought they were." You remember that? "Oh, absolutely." And that was the game we saw. "Is that a Monday night game?" "It was a Monday night game." "Okay, I remember that." And it was just, it was just neat. And any high-school football coach will tell you this. You know, you talk to Wolfram, he'll tell you that any of them will, that when you get to see one of your former players in an NFL football uniform, that's like the neatest thing in the world. You know, you just love seeing that. You're listening to the Mike Drago Sports Football Podcast, brought to you by Utilities Employees Credit Union, which invites you to enjoy low loan rates, competitive deposit rates, member rewards, shopping discounts, roadside assistance, and cell phone protection powered by Bazing. Utilities Employees Credit Union, a powerful new way to save money, located in why missing, or at uecu.org. We're talking to Jerry Slammer, former Wilson football coach, and we have to talk obviously about the 1989 season. We talked about Kerry Collins, who was the quarterback of that team, but you know, a lot of other great players on that team. In August and July and August when you're, you know, getting ready to go to camp and put that team together, what kind of expectations did you have? Was anybody talking state championship that year? Well, you know, if anybody that knows me when I talk about my teams before the season, you know, I mums the word. And you know what? The reason I wouldn't play them up is simply I didn't want to target on their back. I didn't want to say to the press or, yeah, there's going to be the best team Wilson ever had. They're going to go to the state championship. We just got all these great players. And all that was true. But to put them under that kind of pressure, I just never would do that. I said, well, we'll see how it goes. You know, you're going to be another time. And it was how it goes. We got some good players. But it's going to be a long season. And they're going to, you know, that's the kind of answers that I would give. But yeah, there was a couple of teams in the 89 definitely. You know, we knew when we beat Glenn Mills, the opening game, the reform school from down around Philly and just just marched through our non league schedule. You know, we knew this was this was going to be something special now. I didn't think state finals in December, but it was going to it's going to be somewhere close to that. And that's, you know, we just knew. And it was those three players. I mean, they were surrounded by a hardworking senior group plus those great juniors that went to next year. But, you know, Bradburn Collins and McCarty that those three kids, now all of a sudden, I had the same talent as Cumberland Valley. You know, years previously, we've always run in the Cumberland Valley in the district playoffs. And it'd be like a 21 19 game or 14 7 game or something like that. But now we had a team that they had to worry about our athleticism. And these guys just came through. And the district playoffs and the state plus, they were a new thing. They came in right about what 82, 83, 83 was the first one. But it's only 14. So, in fact, the 90 team that played in the fog ball, they were the fourth seeded team at 10 and one. I mean, we were worried that they wouldn't make playoffs. Right. And in fact, there were a couple of years that we didn't make playoffs. And I would see Tim Rumpel. He's the Cumberland Valley coach back then and he'd say to me, man, I've been followed you guys the whole season, sure glad you didn't make playoffs. Because he knew that was going to, that would have been the game. Right. And but, yeah, it was only 14. One like eight. And I guess for a while, it was 16. I tease Doug all the time. I was like, hell, yeah, you can get a lot of playoff wins. You got 16 teams and you, you know, you can, the first two weeks, you better win. But it was only four. And so you had to be ready to go. What was the whole, I mean, like I said, playoffs was a new thing. And the state tournament at first, you could win your district and still not go. Only four teams made the state tournament. What was the feeling then, you know, when the playoffs are so new and nobody quite knew how it worked? Well, and that's how you, that's pretty accurate. I never forget the, the team that went to states, the first year they had state playoffs, Cedar Cliff went to states. And they were, I can't remember, I think they might have wanted. And, and I went up to watch that game. And I just thought, you know, someday we got to be here. Someday we got to get a football team and go to states. And ironically, we wound up playing Cedar Crest for the district championship, Collins, a senior year. And he goes up against Cal Brady, if you remember him. I mean, it was some great football players on that field that day. And we beat him. And, um, I'm trying to remember his name now from, from Cedar Cliff. Bob Craig, Bob Craig and John Gersky were the same age. They were, they were good buddies. And, uh, and Bob Craig, you know, came over and said, you guys are going to go far. Good luck to a great guy, just a great guy. And, and that's when we, hey, there's a state playoff and we can be in the, with anybody else, you know, or just as good as anybody else, it comes to her. So let's give it a shot. So what was it like finally 89? You've been in the playoffs several times. The first couple, or didn't go well, you lost, I think your first two or three playoff games. With finally 89, you break through, you win, you win your first district championship and then, um, advanced to the state final. That must have been just a crazy experience in the time around West. Well, and what made it crazy is, is, you know, if you ever watch the practice fields at Wilson in the fall, there's so many things going on. Soccer, philoppy, you know, the list goes on and on. And I tell our kids, when we, when we got to the district playoffs, we actually played Cumberland Valley the first round out of all by college. And we only beat them seven to three, but it was a screen pass that was throwing the McCarty and he out ran everybody on the Cumberland Valley team, which, what I said earlier, finally, we had the athletes, you know, I mean, if we lost home, we got, they just had more athletes that, but anyway, so now we come back and we're practicing Monday night under our lights and there's nobody around. It's just us. And it says, look at this. It's just us. And then the next week when we were in the district championship game, you know, and then the next week when we were in a state semi-final game against Coatesville, and it was, it was a neat feeling. And we go up the coach, we go to coachville, we played them in Miller's ville, I'll never forget this. And, and they, uh, Coatesville was fan, they were on the feet of that, on the feet of the year, just like us. And the first half, they must have went up to touchdowns on us. And it's like, oh my gosh, you know, this is going to, and we get to the locker room and Miller'sville, the locker room are the visitors and the home locker room are only separated by a wall. And Coatesville, they're already celebrating. And the first 10 minutes, first five minutes of the, a half time, I said, I want you guys just to shut up and listen to that. Listen to that. They think they've already won the game. And I just made our locker room be silent. I said, you guys want to hand your equipment in now? Here, put the shoulder pads over here, put the jersey up. And I just kind of, I just got to try to get in their head. And the second half, they go out there and they just annihilated them. And the guy that was the coach at Coatsville, another great guy, a coach in a big 33 game with him. And he said to me, "What the heck did you tell your kids?" And I said, "I didn't tell them anything. Your kids are the ones that were told." That's a great story. Talking to Jerry Slimmer here on the Mike Drago Sports football podcast, and Jerry had a reputation as being one of the great locker room inspirational speakers, both pre-game and half time. Well, what do you remember about that? And where did you learn that? Did you pick that up from Coach Gersky? Oh, Gersky Gersky could give a great talk to him. But I don't know if you remember this game. We played Reading High when they had, I said, "Jet Johnson was coaching." And they had a really good quarterback. And we played them at home. And that year we got off the slow start. And I went think we lost at least one or two games before we went in the league play. So here comes Reading High in the town. And they had a nice team. And the kids at school were like hard core fans. If you didn't play hard, they told you about it. Like being filled out the Eagle fans. And they were they were getting on our kids during the week. Yeah, you're going to get you the Wilson students. The Wilson students. You're getting on your own guys. You're getting on our Shane Stafford and Gooch Adams and that group of kids. So yeah, you're going to get killed by Reading High. You know guys don't stand a chance. And I'll never forget you have to know when to talk to them and when just to let them go. And I got them all together before the game. And you know, usually the last three or four minutes before you go out. And I looked at I looked at a couple of assistants and I said, oh that's what am I going to tell? I'm going to say a word. They just I swear they just knocked that door down. And if you remember that game, Reading High didn't have the first first down until halfway through the third quarter. I mean, it was and Jet came over after the game and shakes my hand. He guys, what he said? What was that? Well, you know, just like he was he felt he was going to come off the field with a nice wind and had the better team that year. And and we became very competitive with each other because Reading was up and down and he went there and did a great job with him. And you know, but that's that was one of the games that I just thought our kids were really, really mentally ready to play. And you had to read that. You had to read that. I'm looking I'd say the night night before. I said, I'm looking in your eyes and I'm looking at you. And I'm not sure if you're ready to go yet. And so you just they're high school kids. You know, you can get them to do anything. It's not like the pros. You could you could never motivate them like that. But for kids, you know, 16, 17 year old kids, they and like I said, John was the same way. I mean, he knew who to single out or you going to play football all the night. Are you going to play like, you know, and that's that's was the talks that we would give to the kids? Are you ready? That's what John always used to say, right? Are you ready to play? And it was, you know, and a lot of that I just I just learned from watching him. I mean the seven years as an assistant coach were very valuable years from me to learn the game to learn line play. I was very, you know, our lineman knew who to block how to do it. How to, you know, we had a lot of really good lineman. And it was it was it was a time to really learn the game that I felt like I was ready to go, except for the passing game when when I had my opportunity. So 1989 State Championship game you get there and you play upper Saint Claire games at Hershey Park Stadium. That's where all the championship games were. What do you recall about that game? Um, it was cold. It was absolutely freezing. My parents, this was kind of ironic is they lived in Arizona. They moved out the Arizona. We went there to go to school and Harold was coaching at a school called McClintock and they were playing for a state championship on Friday night. And my parents saw that championship game got an airplane the next morning and came in to see my championship game. And they weren't ready for the cold. You know, you live in Arizona, you're blood. And they just, you know, they remember just being very cold. And um, it was like, it was like surreal. I was like, you know, here, here we are. You know, we've talked about this for a couple of years now. And we're actually here. We took pride in being the first Burke's team to be in the state final. We took pride in having the longest wins in a season because we finished 14 and one. So there were just a lot of things and it kind of just happened so fast that you, you know, you think of 1989. Well, I remember the Berlin Mall going down and the football team go to the state finals and, and, you know, you just take those memories with you and every time we get together, we just like it will happen tomorrow night. It'll, you know, you just start talking about things. They tell you some stories about you that you never knew or vice versa. And it's, it was a throw. I mean, I just, like I said, I was, I was maybe 40 at that time, 38, 39. And, and I just, you know, and just was, it was a throw of a lifetime. Upper St. Clair wins that game 12 to 7 had to be a stinging loss. Can you wait your whole life to get to that, that's, that stage. How difficult was that? And, and how long did it take for that to, to go away? Well, I'll never forget they, it was 12/7. We were going down for the winning score. There's an fourth quarter. And we get down to, like, the 10 yard line. And we threw a pass to Brad Byrne. And, Todd was a character in himself, great football player, an unbelievable football player. And he was supposed to turn right, but he turned left. One of those mix up in patterns and carry through the ball. And they intercepted it. And it killed the drive. And, and there was a lot like maybe a minute and a half left in the clock. So we knew that that, you know, and one side of his a coach, you just, you were mad at the kid. But on the other side, if it wasn't for that kid, you wouldn't be here. You know, I thought, you know, when Todd made the wrong move, you know, you want to, you were supposed to turn, you know, right, that kind of, but if it wasn't for you, we never, because if you remember weeks earlier, he's the one that caused the pass against Makaski to have the Hail Mary Plaza at the end of that game. Todd's the one who caught the pass. And, and you just, that's what you had to go back to, you know, we got here and you can't tell. I mean, Western, Pennsylvania football and Tim Render still coaching. I don't know if you know that, but they had a great program. And, and, and we gained a lot of respect for each other. We, that spring then, we coached the big 33 team together. And, it was disappointing. I mean, we, it's like you're that close. You're that close to being state champs. And there's that silver runner up trophy sitting up there in the, in the, in the gym. I take a look at it every time I come in. And it, you know, it's, you, a lot was accomplished. And, you know, it was hard on them. It's hard in the kids because they, they, on ever get, they played the hard side. And it could have, he's, if he would have caught that pass, we'd have went ahead. And there, and I, you know, we, we'd have won that game. 32 years ago. And that's, that's the game. Would you, could you have imagined at that time that Wilson would not get back to a state final in, in 32 years? You know, it's interesting. You mentioned that because we had a program that we gave the kids at the end of the year at, at our football banquet. And it was, it was a program of the pictures of the kids in action shots. And I always would write a paragraph for two about the season at the end of the game. You dig up that 89 program and you'll see what I wrote to the kid. And it was like a personal letter to the kids that you basically carved away to the state championship. There's no guarantee we'll even be here again. But you did something that is, it's very hard to do in Pennsylvania. There's a lot of great schools in Pennsylvania. And, and, and to this day, just reading that, it says, you might be the only one to get to the finals or ever. And, and that's, you know, I, you don't want it to be that way. You like to rock up all kinds of state championships. But, but that also explains how special it is. And any football coach will tell you that at the high school level, the winner state championship, especially in Pennsylvania or Texas or Georgia, those kinds of states. It's, oh, I mean, that, that, it's just very special. Right. The best Wilson team I've seen and I, I didn't cover your 89 team. I just, I was too, too low on the, the totem pole there at the eagle that time. I just got in there a few years earlier. But the best Wilson team I saw was 2008. It was your nephew. It was on the team Rodney Hill. And, you know, you know, tremendous team 2008, they were 14 and 1 overall they lost in the state semi-finals in triple overtime at state college. I think it was Bethel Park again a cold day. You talk about the 89 game being cold. That was the coldest day. I've ever been to a game, but you know, they were close. They triple overtime and you know, it's difficult. Well, it's funny you say that because my brother-in-law who is Patrick's, you know, dad, he picked me up the airport yesterday and we're driving home and he brought up the story about that team. We should have been in a state finals and we were that and you know, and they had a great team they really did. And what's really funny is that he has two boys, Patrick and Christopher. Both of them were on district championship teams. Both of them received the John Gersky award, which is like the award at the end of the season. And then of course, my son did it in 1990. And I said, and I say to my mother-laws, 90 now, 91. And I said, you know, you're the, you're the queen of the mothers of the football program. No one else had three grandkids that achieved what they, you know, what they achieved playing football at Wilson. And she laughed and she said, well, tell that to Mike Tregel. Make sure you tell him that. That's great. Well, she's got a reason to be proud. No doubt about that. You mentioned your first year as an assistant coach at Wilson, Doug Domms, also his first season. Now he's the head coach. He has been for the last, I think, 15 or 16 seasons now. Any idea at that time when you guys broke it together that he'd still be there? I kind of teased him. I said, what are you taking relief factor? What exactly is the formula here? Because I got to tell you, the players work hard and the coaches are out there in the field on their feet two, three hours a night. And they work as hard. And Doug is, for him to put all these years on in is quite a feat in itself. I really, I mean, I can't say enough about that. But we did come together, same year and in the 15 years he worked with me when I was head coach. He was so loyal, so dedicated, put whatever time had to be put in. So that's even more satisfying to see him enjoy, you know, the success he's had. And I kind of wish I could return to favor, you know, and coach for him. But his wife, one time, we don't, the coaches always get together with the wives after the game. And one time his wife says that Doug was the smartest man in the world. I'll never forget this. So all she did was open up the door for all the other coaches to tease him. And I said, the Susie said this about suit suit. Doug's wife says we were having some kind of discussion. And I tell you what, it might have been like a punt block or something because Doug would do all the special teams for us and really did a great job with it like he still does now. And he says, yeah, my husband, Doug, he's the smartest man in the world. And Doug was embarrassed, you know, Susie, shut up, just shut up. And what was funny is we all hurt it. So for the rest, even to this day, yeah, like if you, my comment and beat him, you know, you had a beat, Mephan, you're the smartest man in the world. I'll come, you guys didn't figure it out. It's that kind of joking around all from that one moment when, and she would just proud of him, you know, she's proud of her husband and his Susie has. And she didn't think that we were going to be able to jump on that the way we did it, you know, guys teasing each other. And it's, yeah, Doug Downs, he's the smartest man in the world. And I'll tell you what, he's not far from it. He's all of a biology teacher and, and, you know, he coaches track. I mean, it takes the kids to Jamaica. I went to Jamaica with him one time. And that was a great experience. And he's got quite a resume. Yeah, you're going to get no argument from me, Susie, because I agree he is an incredible person, the energy and the passion he has and not just for football, but you mentioned track and for science and biology and, and as a humanitarian too, he just, he just went down in August to, he ensues you to help out. I think they built a house and, you know, just an incredible spirit with Doug. Last thing I want to ask you about and we'll bring it to the future. You got a chance to see a few weeks ago Wilson played Governor Meflin. I know, I know it was difficult for Wilson fans to watch, but you got a chance to see Nick Singleton. Tell me about your impressions about him. Herschel Walker. I, I, I just got a chance to see him on my computer. There's one, and, and I just thought, oh my gosh, this kid is amazing. And I, I literally thought of Herschel Walker when this kid's taken a pitch. He tits a tip, Paul Sweet. He's going down the sideline. He has power. He has speed. I can certainly see why Penn State, you know, recruiting him the way they did. And, and of course, you'll see my nephew and the next, not my nephew, my son-in-law's nephew in the next couple of years. He's a, well, he's a junior. Eight Martin, yeah. And I got a picture I'm one of myself on. I'll show you when we're done. This kid has a vertical jump that's out of this world. I mean, I got it on, you know, I said to, I said to his, his, his uncle Freddie. I said, you need to put that, just that picture on a highlight tape and send it out to colleges. They'll take one look at how high off the ground this kid is. And they'll offer scholarship just on that. I mean, the kid is a great athlete. He's going to be their main man next to him. There's no doubt in my, and just a good kid. I knew him from the, you know, tiny was little. And, so it's, it's, you know what, it's a rival game. And, you know, you, you, you, you have your going back and forth with meflin over the years, but you, you have to respect them and be happy for them last year, this year. You know, everybody has their turn for some glory. And, and they're enjoying theirs now. And, and you're, and you've got to be happy for them. You just, you know, that, that they have reached that pinnacle. I think they can win a state championship this year. Well, yeah, they're, they're on top. They've just, this week moved into the number one ranking in class 5a. We're going to find out Friday night when they play Harrisburg. We'll just see how, how good they are. And I think after that game, a lot of people are going to say what you just said. I mean, they, they could be a state championship team. Now, you're obviously impressed with Nick. You compare it to Herschel Walker, but I think I don't know if there are many better compliments to that, Herschel. I mean, one of the all-time great physical specimens in the game and running backs in college, college football and in the NFL. Who, last thing, who was the best player you coached against in all your years? Assistant or head coach? Assistant against. Well, that's a tough one. Um, you know, Frankie Wright was at Cedar Crest when, when, you know, they had a great team. There's no doubt about that. There was a quarterback at Lebanon. His name was John Leebo. And I thought he was just an outstanding. Did he go to Maryland? Right. I don't, I don't know what I might have been Maryland. But, uh, but he was a great one. Uh, of course, Reading had a couple. Uh, I didn't coach against him, but I always thought that Mike Miller was an outstanding player at Reading High. And he was at the, he was at Reading High at the same time Mike Ritz was at Wilson. And Tommy Miller or Tommy, Tommy Miller. And, and those were two guys that go to the top of the list of Berks County history football. Right. And they both played the same year. But, how about Cumberland Valley had a, a fullback John Richie coach against him several times? I did. And, and, and John Richie, he didn't, he didn't really hurt us. He, man, he was the fullback in their win T. And, and the kind of defense we were in with our eight man front, we could pretty well control him. And, and then it was two shorter smaller backs that were, you know, that were just really quick. That, uh, you know, because we're, we're a can John Richie. And, and that's, you know, you're investing that manpower on him. And the get and the collecting it on others. But yeah, he, he was a great player. I mean, um, Cal Brady was a great player at Cedar Club. I, I never get that district championship game. We had a fullback. His name was Jeff Stone. And this kid was as strong and powerful as any fullback we ever had. And the first player of the game, we're going to test Cal Brady and, and have a kick out block and, you know, taking off the occupy. And the kind of defense they ran, they would always put him to formation side. So Jeff Stone goes to block him. And it was like he ran in a wall. And we look at each other as a whole because we knew how good Jeff Stone was. He was a 500 pound squatter. And so he says, okay, that takes the, that takes care of that. We're running away from Cal Brady, the rest of the day. So we never run inside the whole rest of the game. You're listening to the Mike Drago sports football I cast my special guest this week, Jerry Slimmer, former Wilson Bulldogs head coach and tackle, big 33 tackle, just a sad note to pass along today. Dave Stafford, former Reading High basketball player, Wilson basketball coach, long time assistant coach, passed away this week. I just wanna send out my condolences to his family and friends on losing Dave. Dave was a good friend to me and to Burke's County sports and he will be missed. - Jerry, again, I appreciate you stopping by. This was great to reminisce again. I consider another hour to talk football with you. It's been a tremendous pleasure. Thanks again for doing this. - My pleasure, and I must say this that for any sport to be successful, they gotta have people that are gonna promote the kids and promote the program. And when you told me that you had been doing this for 42 years, and you can feel good that you've promoted these sports in Burke's County and a lot of kids have reaped the benefit of it that day. 'Cause they would look forward to reading that article and picture whatever in the paper after a big game. And you just have done a great job of promoting high school athletes. And I wanna thank you for that. - Thank you, and that's nice of you to say. A lot of great memories. We shared a lot of them today. But then we'll share some more next week on the podcast. We'll be back again next week with the Mike Drago Sports Football Podcast. Brought to you each week by Utilities Employee Credit Union. Thank you for listening.