Only piece missing for 1961 Wash High team was a championship
The 1961 Wash High football team was much like the 1976 Pittsburgh Steelers in one regard. It was a great team that didn’t win a championship.
Art Rooney Sr., called the ’76 Steelers the best team he’s ever seen. After beating Baltimore in a playoff game that year, the Steelers played the Raiders in Oakland in the AFC title game. The Steelers were without running backs Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier, who were injured in the game against the Colts. The Raiders defeated the injury depleted Steelers and went on to win Super Bowl XI.
The 1961 Wash High team might have been the most talented team in the state. That team produced two NFL players, Bobby Riggle and Ted Vactor. It was a team that could beat you on the ground and through the air.
That Wash High squad lost to a lesser-talented Uniontown team, 14-12, which meant no playoffs and no WPIAL championship for the Prexies.
Riggle, who spent 1966 and ’67 with the Atlanta Falcons, hurt his knee in 1968. His playing days were over but Riggle worked for several teams (Atlanta and the Green Bay Packers among them) as a scout.
“During summer workouts, guys lifting weights and working together, we had the feeling that 1961 was going to be a special year,” Riggle said.
Riggle, like many on that Wash High team, was a two-way player. He played tailback on offense and defensive back.
Bob Stock was another talented two-way player.
“I was a left end when we had the ball. On defense, I played outside linebacker,” Stock recalled. “Teddy(Vactor) was very talented and could play anywhere. He was dangerous as a wingback, and along with (Riggle) we had a great set of defensive backs.”
Playing in the Western Conference was always a challenge for the Prexies.
“The conference was tough,” Stock said. “Trinity was good, Mt.Lebanon was solid, Baldwin had talent, Canon-McMillan always played us tough and then there’s Uniontown – they were very good.”
We played close games with Baldwin and Canon-Mac. It was tough playing them at their place. We won both.”
Then there was the matchup everybody was looking forward to: Wash High at Uniontown.
“We were the better team, no doubt,” said Norris Vactor, who was a sophomore on the ’61 team.
“They had the talent but they were young. We had the experience. Back in the 1960s, it took a perfect game by the visitors to beat Uniontown on its home turf.”
“They definitely had the home-surface advantage,” Stock said. “It hadn’t rained for a while, so they watered down the field, thinking they could stop our running game. The waterlogged field didn’t bother us, couldn’t stop our running game led by Teddy. We scored four touchdowns but two of them were called back (because of penalties).”
It was not a good game for Wash High’s Jerry Sandusky.
“Jerry was perfect all year kicking extra points, but he missed two extra-points against the Red Raiders in that loss,” Riggle recalled.
That young Uniontown team won a WPIAL championship the next year, in 1962.
Many of the seniors on the Wash High team in 1961 continued their football careers. Riggle and Sandusky played for coach Joe Paterno at Penn State. Stock went to Ohio State. Ted Vactor played at Nebraska. In the NFL, he played for the Washington Redskins and played in Super Bowl VII.
What was the best memory of that season?
“We crushed Mt. Lebanon at home,” Stock said proudly.
“Being part of Teddy’s great runs,” Riggle said. “Remember, as the single wing fullback, I could run with the ball, hand it off or pass it.”
Norris Vactor, who played on the unbeaten 1963 Wash High team, said, “The experience of playing with those great guys on the ’61 team made me a better player. Coach Dave Johnston was a big influence on all of us. We couldn’t afford to pay for college so we worked hard in football to earn scholarships. That was our ticket.”
Could the 1963 Wash High team beat the ’61 squad?
“I’ll say this: they were bigger but we had the speed,” Norris Vactor said. “I give them a slight advantage. Both teams were great.”
Bill DiFabio writes a bi-weekly Sunday column for the Observer-Reporter.