From Rocket Ismail to Ron Powlus. Add in Jake Kelchner and Tim Ruddy. Lou Holtz left a lasting impression on high school football across District 2.
Holtz, the College Football Hall of Fame who won 249 games over 33 seasons at William & Mary, North Carolina State, Arkansas, Minnesota, South Carolina and, most notably, Notre Dame, died Wednesday in Orlando, Florida. He was 89.
Ismail was one of the most electrifying college football players in the country during his time at Notre Dame. Powlus and Kelchner were the hot-shot quarterbacks coming out of Berwick High School when the Bulldogs were running the state of Pennsylvania. Ruddy was as steadying a force on the offensive line as one could be at Dunmore High School and only got better once he stepped on the campus in South Bend.
As legend had it, the more top high school football players Holtz could get to come to Notre Dame, it only infuriated former Penn State coach Joe Paterno. Ask any coach during that time and they will tell you if a player elected to not go to Penn State but stayed in Pennsylvania, Paterno really didn’t mind it. Leave for Notre Dame? That really got under his skin.
“To me, the most amazing thing about Lou Holtz is how much he defied convention,” Ruddy said in a text message to the Scranton Times-Tribune’s Joby Fawcett. “He was born to a poor family in West Virginia, raised in poverty, finished in the bottom third of his high school class, was undersized, had a speech impediment, and was not particularly good looking. How does that go go on to become one of the greatest coaches, broadcasters and motivational speakers of all time? That’s the real magic of Lou Holtz.”
Ismail played for the 1988 Notre Dame team that won the National Championship. Ruddy was a four-year letterman and two-year starter at center from 1990 to 1994. Kelchner spent one year at Notre Dame before transferring to West Virginia, and Powlus was the most sought-after quarterback in the country before committing to the Irish.
Berwick football radio play-by-play man Jim Doyle and his partner, analyst Andy Ulicny, annually used to attend Notre Dame media day when Powlus was at the school.
Doyle recalled one time they were on campus walking into the Joyce Center where the media event was being held. The closer they got to the entrance they saw numbered parking spots. The spot closest to the door was empty. Ulicny wondered out loud whose spot that is. Not long after a car pulled up and Holtz exited the vehicle.
“As soon as Andy sees Lou Holtz, he asks what you have to do to get that spot,” Doyle recalled. “Holtz response was ‘Put up with 365 days of second guessing.’”
On another trip the pair took to Notre Dame, Doyle and Ulicny were sitting at a table with one empty seat. Holtz came in and walked through the buffet line. Spotting the empty seat he sat down next to Doyle and Ulicny. Doyle told him that they came all the way from Berwick. Holtz responded by telling them, “They came a long way just to hear nothing.”
In 11 seasons at Notre Dame, Holtz had a record of 100-30-2. His overall collegiate coaching mark was 249-132-7. He also spent 13 games with the NFL’s New York Jets in 1976, but resigned with one game left after going 3-10.