John_Roussos

'52 classmate in Hall of Fame

John Roussos wasted little time finding success on the gridiron at New Castle High School.

Roussos, who played fullback at Ben Franklin for three years and never suffered a setback, stepped right in as a sophomore for the Red Hurricane and excelled immediately.

It was Roussos' exploits on the gridiron that earned him a spot in the Lawrence County Historical Society Hall of Fame. The 21st annual banquet will be held April 25 at the New Englander.

As a sophomore in 1949, Roussos competed on a New Castle team that finished 9-0 and claimed the WPIAL championship. In the WPIAL title tilt, Roussos scored the game's lone touchdown as the 'Canes posted an 8-7 win over McKeesport. A safety by Dante DeFalco accounted for the other New Castle score.

The 'Canes established dominance prior to Roussos' arrival, posting a 9-0 campaign in 1948.

"My sophomore year was wonderful," Roussos said. "I was very apprehensive the year before because they were 9-0."

The championship game was played at Pitt Stadium and numerous 'Canes fans made the trip for the contest.

"We had a tremendous entourage of people that came down, mostly by train," Roussos said. "We had a good 15,000 from New Castle come down.

"In Pitt stadium, that seemed like nothing."

Back then, football was very basic. There were no fancy trick plays or any special ways to fool a defense. New Castle had better talent and won the title with solid players.

"It was the old single wing," Roussos said of the offensive scheme. "There was no trickery, you would just line them up and knock them over. It was three yards and a cloud of dust.

"We were a pretty good football team."

Roussos also garnered mention on the All-WPIAL (Big 33) squad, the only sophomore ever to be selected.

After leading the 'Canes to a 7-2 mark in his junior season, Roussos left high school in January of 1951 to enlist in the Marines and serve in the Korean War. He was a radio operator for the 105th Howitzer Division and was in the Marines for one year.

"I think my playing football for New Castle actually give me all the strength in the winning ways for that one year I put in in Korea," Roussos. "Every day we were subject to fire. I was just a young kid and it was kind of scary."

Roussos was discharged from the Marines in 1954 and received a football scholarship to the University of Idaho to play for coach Skip Stahley. At Idaho, Roussos played center, guard and linebacker.

"We played a pretty tough schedule at Idaho," Roussos said. "We played against teams like Utah, Utah State, Army, Oregon, Oregon State and we were lucky if we went 6-5.

"But, we played some good football."

The Vandals' best season during Roussos' career came in 1957 when the squad posted a 4-4-1 mark.

While Idaho didn't boast tremendous success during that era, that didn't mean the Vandals were short on talent.

Jerry Kramer was a teammate of Roussos' on the Idaho offensive line in college. Kramer later played for the Green Bay Packers from 1958-1968. In fact, Kramer was responsible for making the crucial block that cleared the way for quarterback Bart Starr's one-yard quarterback sneak with 13 seconds left in the famous Ice Bowl of 1967, won by the Packers over Dallas, 21-17.

"Kramer was a great football player and he wrote two books - Farewell to Football and Instant Replay - and I'm in Instant Replay," Roussos said with pride. "He (Kramer) should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

"There were so many good players for us. We had a lot of wonderful players at Idaho."

Roussos played on both sides of the ball not only in high school but college as well. It's a signal of how much the game has changed over the years.

"It's all specialists now," Roussos said. "Today, the offense doesn't even know the defense's names. They have a different field to practice on but it's still all about tackling and blocking.

"Speed and size dictates the game now."

After graduating from Idaho, Roussos began a teaching and coaching career in Idaho that spanned 30 years. In 1965, he and his wife Beverly moved overseas in 1965 to work for the U.S. government in a teaching and coaching capacity for Department of Defense Dependent Schools.

Roussos retired in 1992 and he spends his time hunting and fishing. He and his wife celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on March 27.

"I was elated when I heard I was going to be inducted," he said. "It's great. I'm really anticipating going back and seeing some old friends and having a good time."