1937 Wonder Team, '45 Rams, short punt formation
Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2015 3:57 am
Are any of you familiar with the 1937 Northampton High School (Northampton, PA) 9-0 Wonder Team? They averaged 58 points per game and allowed a total of 25 points that entire season. Very scary stuff! They were invited to Chicago at season's end to play against Austin High led by Bill DeCorrevont. They weren't able to make it there, however, by lack of school funds. Some of the players threatened to 'strike' but it just so happened that the football HC, Woody Ludwig, was also the high school's basketball coach and threatened anyone who didn't get back in line to not be able to play on their basketball team; and they all wanted to play b-ball so they all abided (the core of that football team, in addition to being the core basketball players, were also the core baseball players - all three great squads).
Three players from that Wonder football team went on to play pro ball, two of them for the '45 World Champion Cleveland Rams team. One of them was starting WR Steve Pritko who's still alive at 94. Before the Rams, he played for the Giants and after the Rams, went on to play for the Boston Yanks/NY Bulldogs before finishing things off as a Packer in '50. His Northampton High teammate, Walt Ziriniski, was with him on that championship Rams team in '45 but chose not to move to LA with him the next year instead staying in that area. Walt would end up playing for the Bethlehem (Chuck Bednarik's hometown) Bulldogs of the American Association. The other member of that Wonder Team from Northampton High would be Pete Schneider (grandfather of MLB's recently retired, Brian Schneider) who would also play for the Bethlehem Bulldogs. There was a Paul Onkotz on that high school squad but not sure if he was related to Dennis Onkotz (also from Northampton) who, of course, would go on to basically give Penn St its "Linebacker-U" name by leading the Nittany Lions to back-to-back undefeated seasons in '68 & '69 and then get drafted by the Jets only to, unfortunately, suffer a career-ending injury his rookie year in '70.
The formation that was Northampton's 'trademark' in that '37 season was the 'short punt'. It was originally made popular by Michigan U earlier on, Northampton High was known all-too-well for it in the decades after to much success but in the pros it apparently was used for the very last time in the 'second' 'Sneakers' game by Driscoll's Bears in the '56 Title Game in attempt to rally vs the Giants. Was the short punt ever applied in the NFL again after that, and do you think that in today's game that any coach would dare re-experiment with it as was the case a few years back with the 'wildcat'?
Three players from that Wonder football team went on to play pro ball, two of them for the '45 World Champion Cleveland Rams team. One of them was starting WR Steve Pritko who's still alive at 94. Before the Rams, he played for the Giants and after the Rams, went on to play for the Boston Yanks/NY Bulldogs before finishing things off as a Packer in '50. His Northampton High teammate, Walt Ziriniski, was with him on that championship Rams team in '45 but chose not to move to LA with him the next year instead staying in that area. Walt would end up playing for the Bethlehem (Chuck Bednarik's hometown) Bulldogs of the American Association. The other member of that Wonder Team from Northampton High would be Pete Schneider (grandfather of MLB's recently retired, Brian Schneider) who would also play for the Bethlehem Bulldogs. There was a Paul Onkotz on that high school squad but not sure if he was related to Dennis Onkotz (also from Northampton) who, of course, would go on to basically give Penn St its "Linebacker-U" name by leading the Nittany Lions to back-to-back undefeated seasons in '68 & '69 and then get drafted by the Jets only to, unfortunately, suffer a career-ending injury his rookie year in '70.
The formation that was Northampton's 'trademark' in that '37 season was the 'short punt'. It was originally made popular by Michigan U earlier on, Northampton High was known all-too-well for it in the decades after to much success but in the pros it apparently was used for the very last time in the 'second' 'Sneakers' game by Driscoll's Bears in the '56 Title Game in attempt to rally vs the Giants. Was the short punt ever applied in the NFL again after that, and do you think that in today's game that any coach would dare re-experiment with it as was the case a few years back with the 'wildcat'?