Oct 9, 2012 6 min read

Only one local small college football team has won a national championship. That was Waynesburg’s NAIA title in 1966. The Yellow Jackets defeated Wisconsin-Whitewater, 42-21, in the title game in Tulsa, Okla.

Carl DePasqua, who would go on to coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers and at Pitt, was Waynesburg’s first-year head coach in 1966 and was given credit for bringing a more offensive-minded philosophy to an already solid and tough-minded Yellow Jackets program.

DePasqua, however, was coaching a team that was built by former Waynesburg coach Michael “Mo” Scarry, a former Waynesburg player who returned to his alma mater and coached the Yellow Jackets for three seasons (1963-65). Scarry won two West Penn titles, had a 17-8-1 record and his recruiting laid the foundation for a championship team. He left Waynesburg in April 1966 for an assistant coaching job with the Washington Redskins and stayed in the NFL until his retirement after the 1985 season.

In many ways, DePasqua was coaching Scarry’s team.

Scarry died Sunday morning in his Fort Myers, Fla., home. He was 92.

“I was only coached by him for my freshman year, but he had such a great impact on me as a player and young man,” said Joe Righetti, a defensive lineman on Waynesburg’s championship team.

Righetti was recruited by Scarry out of Beth-Center High School.

“I would say that Mo recruited 90 percent of that (1966) team. That’s not to take anything away from Carl DePasqua, who was a great coach, too,” Righetti said.

Righetti was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the sixth round of the 1969 draft and spent two years in the NFL. He credits much of his success to Scarry, whose specialty was coaching defensive linemen.

“Mo could chew you out like no other human on earth, and we all feared that, but there was a gentle side to Mo that was not often seen,” Righetti said. “He was a taskmaster, hard-nosed and the man who made me the best football player I could have ever been. He gave me confidence and taught me a great deal about how to play the game.

“I have a very fond memory of the type of man he was. At that time, Waynesburg had the worst practice field, maybe in the nation. We walked to practice from the gym, about a half-mile down a very steep hill. At the bottom of the hill was a small creek. One day, after the second session during summer camp, I laid down in the creek to cool myself and had no intention of moving. Mo walked over to me – maybe to see if I was still breathing – grabbed my arm, and he and I ran up the hill to the locker room. He didn’t say a word, just helped me out.”

A native of Duquesne, Scarry became defensive line coach of the Miami Dolphins under coach Don Shula in 1970. He spent 15 years with Miami, helping the Dolphins to two Super Bowl championships.

“I’ve been blessed with some great assistant coaches, and he has to be considered one of them,” Shula told the Fort Myers News-Press. “He has to be considered one of the best. He was like a father figure to me.”

After his playing days at Waynesburg and a stint in the U.S. Army in World War II, Scarry was a lineman for the Cleveland Rams in 1945 and helped them win the NFL championship. The next year, Scarry joined the Cleveland Browns of the All-American Football Conference and played on league championship teams in 1946 and ’47. While with the Browns, Scarry struck up a friendship with teammate and Hall of Fame quarterback Otto Graham. It was Graham, who as head coach of the Redskins, that lured Scarry away from Waynesburg.

“Mo loved Waynesburg,” Righetti said. “I recall he broke down when he told the team he was going to the Redskins. He loved all the players he ever coached, and we all knew that. Every player there was special to him. We were as proud of him and his accomplishments with the Dolphins as he ever was of us.”

While at Waynesburg, Scarry performed double duty, serving as the Yellow Jackets’ basketball coach for three years.

Scarry is still revered in Waynesburg. The skybox at Waynesburg’s John F. Wiley Stadium is named after him. Scarry was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame and NAIA Hall of Fame.

N If you drove along Tyler Avenue past Wash High Stadium Monday, here’s hoping you said happy birthday. The venerable multi-purpose stadium hosted its first football game 75 years ago, Sept. 10, 1937.

Washington and crosstown rival Trinity played in that first game. It also marked the first time a football game was played at night in Washington.

Prior to 1937, the Little Prexies and Hillers shared College Field on Park Avenue with Washington & Jefferson College.

According to reports in the Washington Observer, about 5,000 fans jammed Wash High Stadium for that first game and witnessed the heavier and more experienced Little Prexies defeat Trinity, 25-0, as Keith Ross scored three touchdowns. It was the first game for Wash High under coach Bill Amos, and the first at Trinity for new coach Milt Decker.

Wash High Stadium has hosted numerous WPIAL football playoff games, track meets, was home to the Washington Redbirds, a St. Louis Cardinals farm team, from 1939-42 and was the original home for the Pony League World Series.

N The Steelers announced they will wear their ridiculous striped throwback uniforms from 1934 for the Nov. 18 game against Baltimore. Haven’t seen the uniforms? Imagine black and gold horizontal stripes with highway speed limit signs for numbers. With the game against Baltimore possibly being the most important of the year in the AFC North, this could be smart strategy by the Steelers. The Ravens might be too overcome with laughter to tackle to the Steelers.

Sports editor Chris Dugan can be reached at dugan@observer-reporter.com.