DON RAABE: After a half-century of watching football at all
levels, Joe Bennett of West Lafayette, Ind., still marvels at some
of the things Don Raabe did as a coach in Bradford.
Joe wrote to us recently as a follow-up to the items we’ve
carried about those legendary St. Bernard teams of the late
1950s.
Joe tells us he was on that stellar 1958 team but wasn’t a
starter until the next year when he was a senior.
He writes, “Raabe constantly adjusted his offenses and defenses
to meet new situations. As good as the 1958 team was, I think he
did his best coaching in 1959.”
“Only two lettermen returned from that undefeated team, and one
local journalist said publicly that St. Bernard would not win a
game in 1959. The season opened against a Smethport team that had
lost to the Ramblers 6-0 the year before and returned virtually
every player. The Ramblers were fortunate to be down only 12-0 at
halftime.
“This was when Raabe did something remarkable. During the
20-minute halftime break, he installed a new offense that used
double-team blocking schemes to neutralize Smethport’s superior
size and athleticism. St. Bernard dominated for most of the second
half and led 14-12 with less than a minute to play when Smethport
broke a long touchdown run to win the game.
“The Hubbers went on to an undefeated season, and the Ramblers
lost only one other game – also on a late touchdown – to St.
Michael’s of Greenville.
“I don’t know how Raabe had the nerve to teach a group of
inexperienced kids a new set of plays in the middle of a game. I
also don’t know how he made us believe we could compete with a team
that had been beating us up pretty thoroughly for two quarters.
Years later, I told him how much I admired the coaching he did that
year. He just said, ‘A coach can’t win unless he has good
players.’
“His teams in 1960 and 1961 also had excellent records.”
“Raabe was a tough and very competitive guy, but always fair and
reasonable. He left a lasting impression on a lot of people who
were lucky enough to play for him,” Joe writes us.
We have a bit more of Don Raabe’s story tomorrow.
