Quaker Valley to induct dominant 1968 football team into hall of fame

By: Ray Fisher
Sunday, August 11, 2024 | 11:01 AM

The 1967 football team was inducted into the Quaker Valley Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.

It is only appropriate for the 1968 squad to also receive HOF recognition.

Quaker Valley’s talented 1968 football team will be honored for its achievements and inducted into the HOF. The QV Sports HOF weekend is set for Oct. 25-27.

Four former QV athletes, one current coach and two teams will be inducted this year.

The Quakers finished 8-1 in 1968 and were led by all-conference players Jim Roolf, a 6-foot, 186-pound end, Ken Alvania, a 5-11, 185-pound quarterback, and Bill Gosnell, a 5-8, 161-pound guard.

Roolf, a team leader on defense with nine interceptions, was lauded as all-state and played in the Big 33 Classic. Offensively, he had 19 receptions for 589 yards.

Alvania passed for 793 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also rushed for 443 yards and seven TDs on 96 carries, giving him 1,236 total offensive yards and 17 scores for the season.

Roolf and Alvania also were all-conference selections in 1967.

QV steamrolled through the 1968 season, racking up seven consecutive wins that included six shutouts.

“If I had to say one thing about the 1968 team it’s just that it was a team,” Roolf said. “We averaged 21 points a game and held our opponents to 2.4 points a game, suggesting that we could score points offensively but we also played great defense.”

Roolf, who continued his football career at Notre Dame, played multiple positions for the Quakers ranging from split end and defensive back to punter, kickoff returner and PAT kicker.

He led QV in scoring in ‘68 with 64 points — eight touchdown catches, one TD on a return, seven PATs and one field goal.

“Having a great quarterback and playing with some strong teammates, I was fortunate to continue in college and I thank them when I see them,” Roolf said. “And we had great coaches at Quaker Valley.”

He finished his three-year career at QV as one of the leading point-producers in program history with 17 touchdown receptions, two TDs on returns, 15 PATs and one field goal. He also received all-WPIAL accolades.

Roolf lives in Joliet, Ill., and has been a senior vice president at Old National Bank since 1974. He was inducted into the QV HOF in the “athlete” category in its initial class in 1997, along with Fred Brandt Jr. (basketball, golf), Jeff Gaca (basketball), Robert “Bones” Hamilton (football), G. Herbert McCracken (football), Ken Pryor (soccer), Keith Starr (basketball) and football coach Chuck Knox.

Alvania averaged close to 90 yards passing per game and 4.6 yards per carry in 1968. He was named to the Black Hills all-conference team and continued his career for one year after high school.

“We had some great talent at most of the positions,” Alvania said. “Our ends had hands of glue, it seemed like. Many school records were made that year. Some stood for 40-45 years before they were broken or tied.”

Alvania ended his highly prolific three-year career as the program’s all-time leader in offensive production with 23 touchdown passes, 13 TDs on the ground, one via a reception and one on a return.

Alvania and Roolf accounted for one of the longest plays in team history — an 89-yard TD toss and catch — against Fort Cherry. The near-unstoppable duo also hooked up on a 94-yard scoring pass play a year earlier.

Alvania, like Roolf, has been inducted into the QV HOF as an athlete.

Other starters and/or key players at the skill positions on offense included Barry Emmert, Dennis Gerle, Steve Miller and Alan Miles at running back, Nick Papinchak at fullback and Tim Scheib, Jay Kruezer, Walter Tates and Alan Edmunds in the receiving corps.

The offensive line was stacked with Doug Veshio and Larry Sye at center; Eric Gibb, Gosnell, Dave Shaltz, Bill Wood, Jerry Ordonis and Bruce Poninsky at guard and Tom Brunson, Bill Roolf, Richard Russo, Albert Sacco, Bill Grapski, Bill Pifer and John O’Neill at tackle.

Papinchak (6-0, 190) accounted for five touchdowns from his fullback position, rushing for 406 yards and four scores on 78 carries and catching seven passes for 96 yards and a touchdown.

QV started out with five shutouts that season — against Bellevue (25-0), Western Beaver (19-0), Fort Cherry (16-0), Center (54-0) and Moon (8-0) — held West Allegheny and Hampton to 6 and 3 points, respectively, and tacked on another whitewash against Carnegie (20-0).

“Our defense didn’t allow a score for the first seven games,” Alvania said.

But the Quakers suffered a disappointing one-point to Freedom, 13-12, in its eighth game of the season.

“The teams of 1967 and 1968 were among the best in QVHS football history,” Roolf said. “The playoffs were very restrictive, so with one loss, we were eliminated from playing in any postseason games. It is different today where teams with two or three loses might make the playoffs.

“Importantly, I think the ’67 and ’68 teams ignited a sense of pride within the school and throughout the Quaker Valley community.”

On defense, the team’s leading tacklers were linebacker Mike Duzicky (38 tackles, 63 assists, 101 total tackles), Brunson (50-37-87) and Gibb (44-50-94).

Other leading defensive players included Denny Mason, Les Powner, Gosnell, Veshio, Rick Grapski, Curtis Branch, Jim and Bill Roolf.

The Quakers were coached by QV Hall of Famer John Nusskern. His assistants were Vince Cortese, Ray Bergman, Andy Shulick, Ken Johns and Bill Och.

“John Nusskern was a true gentleman and was very strong physically. He was a HOF inductee a few years back,” Roolf said. “It was just a great coaching staff, for sure.”

The QV team roster consisted of 71 players, including 19 seniors, 31 juniors and 21 sophomores.

Returning senior lettermen included Alvania, Bill Roolf, Gosnell, Papinchak, Dan Challis (G), Duzicky (FB), Gerle (RB), Gibb (G), Drew Hrenkevich (HB), Miller (RB), Ordonis (G), Powner (E), Jim Roolf (T), Sacco (T), Scheib (E), Frank Smith (RB) and Veshio (C). Scheib is a retired Navy Admiral.

There were 15 other returning lettermen — 32 in all — in 1968 including juniors Brunson (T), Edmunds (E), Emmert (RB), Kruezer (E), Denny Mason (B), Alan Miles (B), Russo (T), Shaltz (G), Sye (C), Tates (E), Wood (G) and sophomores Tom Polk (RB), Bill Grapski (T), Poninsky (E) and Mike Whitmore (HB).

Along with an abundance of talent at the skill positions, the Quakers also had awesome size with Roolf (6-0, 250), Brunson (6-2, 278), Russo (5-8, 241) and Veshio (6-0, 218) in the trenches.

“I’m very happy for the team,” said Alvania, a retired 145 Boilermaker who lives in Bell Acres Borough. “We worked very hard to get this honor.”

Tags: Quaker Valley