By Dave Krider
MaxPreps.com
It probably would not be stretching the facts to say that George Curry’s legendary high school football coaching career began when he was in sixth grade.
The nation’s No. 4 winner (413-91-5 in 42 years) told MaxPreps, “From the time I could walk, I was into football. At age five, I was the water boy and team mascot. I put the game uniform on and used to run out in front of the team (on game nights). When they took the team picture I was right with them.
“Our back yard was next to the high school (Larksville, Pa.) practice field. I was there every day and I loved it. In sixth grade, if somebody made a mistake, I’d yell and tell him who to block. I was always into the game (and the coach encouraged him).”
From that humble – but extremely dedicated and intense beginning – Curry guided his teams to six state championships against rugged Pennsylvania competition and three times fielded national champions. He sent two quarterbacks – Bo Orlando and Ron Powlus – to the National Football League. Powlus, in fact, was the National High School Offensive Player of the Year as a senior.
The former National Coach of the Year estimates that he has sent over 600 players into college football, more than 100 of them to Division I schools. “We had a lot of tough kids,” he says with satisfaction. “They’d run into a Mack Truck. They had the attitude ‘You’ve got to kill me to beat me.’ I’m very fortunate; these kids gave me everything they had. My biggest thrill has been to see a kid get a scholarship and graduate from college.”
As a player, Curry was used at every position at one time or another during his four-year career at Larksville High. His freshman year was rather amazing because he played three games a week. Each Monday he quarterbacked the freshman team. On Friday he started at center for the varsity and on Saturday he was a halfback for the junior varsity. His best varsity position ended up being linebacker, but he often was inserted at fullback to get the tough third-down yardage.
At a shade over 5-foot-9 and weighing a solid 200 pounds, the competitive Curry was a second-team UPI All-State linebacker as a senior. Until his final year he also stood out as a point guard in basketball (“I could shoot, buddy!”) and as a catcher in baseball (“I was a good hitter.”).
After graduation in 1962, Curry received a full football scholarship to Temple University where he played linebacker and nose guard over a four-year career. “When I went to college, I seriously thought about being a dentist,” he revealed. “They had a good dental school and I was a good student. But I didn’t want to look into somebody’s mouth every day.”
Even though he majored in social studies, Curry was not about to turn his back on destiny. Football always would be in the forefront of his life. He graduated in 1966 and coached Temple’s freshman team during the 1967 spring drills. In the fall of 1967 he took the head coaching job at Lake-Lehman (Pa.).
“It was a job that no one wanted,” Curry confessed. “It was a little country school. We had to play a lot of bigger schools. Everybody thought it was suicide. They used to get 22 out. I got 70 and we got a lot of kids excited about football.” Curry’s team surprisingly won three and tied one in its first four games and he compiled an excellent 23-10-1 record in four years.
He got married to his wife of 41 years, Jackie, that first year at Lake-Lehman. The wedding was set for the Saturday after Thursday’s traditional Thanksgiving Day game against arch rival Dallas. Curry recalled, “It snowed like you would not believe. I called the principal about cancelling the game. We played the game. He let me know it was because he was afraid I would change my wedding plans (if the game was postponed until Saturday).”
Though Curry swears he would only have changed the time of his wedding, he does admit that on his wedding night he (with Jackie’s blessings) invited some total strangers to come to their Mount Airy Resort room and watch a game film. He quickly admitted, “I never could have done what I did if I didn’t have a woman like that. She knew what she was getting into (from Day One).”
Curry’s solid reputation really grew when he took the Berwick (Pa.) head coaching position in 1971. The program had split 56 games during the previous four years, but the young coach was encouraged by a friend, Joe Martini, who insisted that “The kids (talent) are there and they love football.”
Now retired, the 64-year-old Curry emphasizes, “I’m glad I did (take the Berwick job). It was a great experience. It was 35 great years (during which he won 364 games, six state titles and became Pennsylvania’s all-time winner). The first year we won our league. The second year we went 10-1. We had one bad year, 1974, when we had a teachers’ strike. We had to forfeit two games and everybody lost their heart. After that they (opponents) couldn’t touch us.”
In 1976 Curry was named dean of students, then assistant principal at Berwick Junior High and gave up his teaching duties. He explained, “They wanted some discipline, so they put me down there. You better believe I got it done! I had them marching single-file in the halls. It looked like West Point.” In later years he moved into administration at the high school.
Curry’s 1983 team posted a 13-0 record, but there was no state championship yet available. Bo Orlando, who later spent 10 years in the NFL, took care of the offense and the defense yielded only 18 points all year. He still calls Orlando the best athlete he ever coached.
Curry’s son, Cosmas, was a freshman member of that 1983 team. He played four years for his dad as a running back and nose guard, topping out at 5-11, 205 as a senior. He was talented enough to make All-State and play in the Big 33 All-Star Game.
“He was always my dad and I always looked at him as a leader,” Cosmas said. “I was treated a little bit harsher (to show that there was no favoritism). He was very clear about that when we got home at night. The pressure, practice and intensity (of Berwick football) prepared me to deal with the pressures now (he will become superintendent of schools at Bloomsburg, Pa., in January).”
Jake Kelchner quarterbacked the Bulldogs to their first Class AAA state championship with a perfect 15-0 record in 1988. They throttled Gilbert – with 14 Division I players – by a 13-0 margin in the title game. “It was unbelievable!” Curry exclaimed. “They were averaging close to 50 points and got only two first downs. Back then the triple-A teams were better (than the 4A teams).”
Curry developed many top quarterbacks over the years, but his crown jewel was Ron Powlus, who led the Bulldogs to a 15-0 record and the national championship in 1992. He was rewarded with national player of the year honors. “That team could score at any time,” Curry believes.
Powlus recalled, “Every young football player growing up in Berwick looked forward to playing for coach Curry. It always was a thrill to think that you could be a Berwick Bulldog. He was a thrill to play for. He was an excitable guy who loved what he was doing. His enthusiasm was so contagious that it made it fun to play for him.”
Scott Dudinskie began covering Berwick in 1995 for the Bloomsburg Press Enterprise and he’ll never forget that year’s state championship game. Trailing powerful Manheim, 17-0, at halftime, Curry told his players if there was anyone present who didn’t believe they could still win the game, he should leave the locker room. No one left and the Bulldogs pulled out a miraculous 18-17 victory.
An instant Curry fan, Dudinskie noted, “Berwick was always a must-visit for college recruiters, an oasis for them in an area of football-crazy Pa. surrounded by miles of smaller schools with unknown talent. Curry, wielding his considerable credibility as a talent evaluator, would point the recruiters where he saw fit. His recommendations secured many thousands of dollars in scholarships for kids who may have had to settle for less (or nothing at all) without him.”
Dudinskie also long ago became impressed with Curry’s teaching as his annual quarterback camp, which drew between 300 and 400 boys of all ages. He was more relaxed, less driven as he tutored youngsters from midget to high school age.
“He’ll grab a kid (“Where’s my man, Marcus?”) and spend 40 minutes manipulating his live QB mannequin through the proper ball position from snap to release for a group of 100 of so rapt high school-age kids AND mesmerized fellow coaches. That typically gorgeous day … just might be Curry’s idea of Heaven.”
After his long relationship with Berwick ebbed, Curry spent his last three years at Wyoming Valley West (Plymouth, Pa.) where he compiled a 26-8 record.
Now, with more time on his hands than ever before, he is searching for the first hobby of his life. “I may try hunting (deer),” he says. “My wife said I should try fishing, but I don’t know if I have the patience. I power walk four miles every day.”
Curry is very involved with his church, Berwick St. Mary’s, where he is a Eucharistic minister and helps with fish fries and makes his famous potato pancakes. He also has helped coach his grandson, C.J. Curry, who is a seventh grade quarterback, wide receiver and safety, since he was four years old. That relationship will continue to grow.
When the 2009 football season rolls around, “It’s going to be very tough,” Curry readily concedes. “I don’t even want to think about it. I might be a colorman (on locally televised games) or do a radio talk show on Saturday mornings. That way it would ease the pain.”
