Vallina to retire at Burgettstown

Jon Vallina worked by a simple rule: Do the best job you can to create the best results.
In his 39 years as a teacher in Burgettstown Area School District, including 28 years as athletic director, 16 yeas as assistant wrestling coach, eight years as assistant football coach and 28 as varsity golf coach, Vallina used that formula for some marvelous achievements.
He inspired students in the classroom, motivated them on the wrestling mats and on the golf courses, and fought for them in his associations with the WPIAL and PIAA.
It was a job well done because it was job done right.
Vallina will finally get a well-deserved break Aug. 1, when he will retire.
Terry Havelka, who already is the varsity head coach in wrestling and football, will replace Vallina and continue on in those other two positions, for now.
“I enjoyed all my jobs,” said the 62-year-old Vallina. “I enjoyed going to work every day. If I didn’t enjoy it, I would have gotten out sooner. I put a lot of 12-hour days in, getting to school at 6 a.m. and not leaving until 6 p.m. It took a lot of time to do the job right. If it took 12 hours, then that’s what I would do.”
As golf coach, Vallina led the Blue Devils to a 352-82 record and five WPIAL Team Tournament titles and coached three WPIAL individual champions and one PIAA champion.
Vallina got the teaching position at his alma mater shortly after graduating from Slippery Rock University in 1972.
“Wrestling was really my area coming out of college, but the job was taken,” said Vallina.
Vallina spent part of his school day teaching health and physical education and used the remaining part of the day to tend to his athletic director duties. He said the responsibilities of an AD have grown tremendously over the years.
“They seem to put more and more on the athletic director’s plate,” said Vallina. “The job has become huge now. Most small schools have part-time ADs. People don’t understand the amount of time it takes to do this job.”
Vallina helped raise more than $12,000 to replace the scoreboard at the baseball field, more than $60,000 to renovate defective light poles at the school’s football field and established the Burgettstown Area Scholarship Foundation, which has raised more than $120,000 to fund scholarships for high school seniors. The foundation awards scholarships to 17 students an on annual basis.
Vallina has run the Southwest Pennsylvania Junior Golf Tour, which is attended by approximately 240 golfers each summer. He has been an instructor at Ponderosa Golf Course, conducting summer clinics for the past 26 years.
“The kids are about the same as when I started at Burgettstown,” he said. “We have some great kids here.”
Vallina has held prominent positions in the WPIAL and PIAA, serving as treasurer and vice president in the former and the board of control on the latter. He was president of the Tri-County Athletic Directors’ Association and has run the organization’s main fundraiser golf tournament for the past eight years.
“I have no real plans after retirement,” he said. “I’ll travel. The 12-hour days I put in at work will be 12 hours I can put into retirement now.”