Worrell had opponents seeing Red
The late Robert “Red” Worrell was a four-year letterman in four sports and a scholastic All-American as a senior.
The late Robert “Red” Worrell was a four-year letterman in four sports and a scholastic All-American as a senior.
The late Robert “Red” Worrell of Centerville was an outstanding athlete. He was a four-year letterman in four sports and a scholastic All-American as a senior.
Were he alive today, Robert Taylor “Red” Worrell would be preparing for his 78th birthday – most likely surrounded by his family and friends and regaling them with stories about his life and exploits as a successful all-around athlete.
But he never received the opportunity to fully pursue his passion for sports – particularly football – and he didn’t even enjoy the festivities of a 20th birthday.
Worrell, a 1957 graduate of the former Centerville High School, which became part of the Bethlehem-Center system in 1958, and arguably the best football player in Western Pennsylvania in the 1950s, died Dec. 22, 1957, in an accident at his home of his parents, Thomas Eli “Woody” and Helen Bilpuch Worrell, in Denbo. He was helping his father put up a television antenna when the tragedy occurred.
He was just 19.
The legacy of ‘Red’ Worrell, who was born March 8, 1938, in Denbo, is one of the most distinguished in WPIAL and Pennsylvania sports history.
To wit: As a senior in 1956, he was the only player from Pennsylvania to be named first team on the 10th annual Wigwam Wisemen National High School All-American football team. Myron Pottios, Charleroi High’s fullback-linebacker, and tackle Nick Maravich of Clark High (Scott Township) were second-team selections, while tackle Ted Zets of Centerville, halfback Gene Virgili of Jefferson, guard Eugene Nopwaskey of Carmichaels and QB Charlie Packan and end William (Jay) Olsavsky of Redstone received honorable mention.
Worrell also was one of eight fullbacks named to the Scholastic Magazine All-America squad that season.
Also in 1956, Worrell was selected as the outstanding player in the WPIAL (all classifications) for the second successive year. It was the first time since the award was started by the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph and the Thom McAn shoe company that a player won the award twice. Worrell edged Myron Pottios of Charleroi for the ’56 honor, garnering 139 points in the voting of coaches in the WPIAL to 128 for Pottios. Jeannette quarterback Dick Hoak, who would later become Worrell’s teammate at Penn State, was third in the balloting. Worrell received a gold medallion and again had one of his football shoes encased in bronze.
Worrell, Pottios and Charleroi’s Fred Yuss, a junior guard, were the only area players, and three of just five WPIAL players, selected to the initial Pennsylvania Big 33 all-star team chosen by the Harrisburg Sunday Patriot-News in balloting by sportswriters from across the state.
Worrell scored 125 points as a senior on 18 touchdowns and 17 extra points to finish second in the WPIAL to Maurice Mathieu of Monessen, who tallied 132 points. It was noted, however, that Mathieu participated in 10 games, while Worrell scored in seven contests and did not run the ball against West Bethlehem in the final game of the season. Worrell’s career total at Centerville was 376 points. He also rushed for nearly 3,000 yards.
During his four years at Centerville, Worrell was named to the WPIAL Class B team every season. It was the first time that a player was awarded All-WPIAL honors four straight years.
As a junior in the spring of 1956, Worrell established a new shot put record in the PIAA track and field championships at Penn State University. He tossed the iron ball 55 feet, 5½ inches to win the shot put crown for the second straight year. He also had won the discus title as a sophomore but finished second in the 1956 competition. In the WPIAL Class B championships at Connellsville in 1956, Worrell was the individual champion with 14 points after he set records in the shot put (53 feet, 6 inches) and discuss (145 feet, three inches) and finished second in the javelin. As Uniontown sports editor (Evening Standard) Todd Trent reported, “It took a special meeting of the coaches to permit Worrell to participate in the event at Connellsville. He was Centerville’s lone representative and brought his school, singlehandedly, a tie for seventh place in the final team standings.”
Worrell was recruited in football by some 135 colleges. He initially chose the University of North Carolina and was working in Chapel Hill in the summer of 1957 before changing his mind because he was homesick. He returned to Pennsylvania and transferred to Penn State.
Worrell broke all of the Penn State freshman rushing records (freshmen were not eligible to play varsity ball at the time) and helped the Nittany Lion Cubs post an undefeated (6-0-0) record in the fall of 1957. In the season finale against Navy, he overcame a muddy, rain-drenched field for runs of 40, 37 and 35 yards on his way to gaining 236 yards as PSU won 23-13. Joe Bellino, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1960, was Navy’s star that season.
In an earlier game, Penn State, whose quarterback was Dick Hoak, defeated a Pitt team that included such outstanding players as Mike Ditka, Ron Delfine, Fred Cox and Jim Cunningham. Not long after Worrell’s death, Penn State introduced the Red Worrell Memorial Award that is given to an offensive player for “exemplary conduct, loyalty, interest, attitude and improvement” during spring practice. Andy Stynchula, a 6-2, 220-pound tackle from Latrobe, was the initial recipient in 1958.
Worrell, who also lettered four years in basketball and baseball at Centerville, was posthumously inducted into the Washington/Greene County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame on May 22, 1998; into the Mid Mon Valley All Sports Hall of Fame on June 13, 2008, and into the WPIAL Hall of Fame on June 11, 2012.
Bethlehem-Center High School perpetuates the Worrell legacy by presenting the Robert “Red” Worrell Award to the top senior scholar-athlete at the end of the school year. Coaches in all sports participate in the balloting for the honor.
“It is a very prestigious honor and the recipients epitomize all of the qualities that are at the heart of the award,” said Beth-Center athletic director Barry Niemiec. “Red Worrell wrote a special chapter in the history of our schools. That this honor is given in his memory and name speaks volumes for how he is revered here.”