Revised edition

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The late Jack Mays, former sports editor of The News-Herald, was asked in 1973 how many Franklin graduates were playing college football.

Mays responded with a column about it -- remember "May I Say"? -- and reported it was 13. The list did not include any Division I All-Americans from the Knights' juggernauts of the late 1960s and into the 1970s, but the year before future All-Pro defensive back Bay (Rolland) Lawrence and his brother Curt (Roland) both were in their final seasons at tiny Tabor College in Kansas.

Still there were others who were quite good at "the next level," including Larry Turner, who will soon be inducted into the Franklin High School Hall of Fame. (And thanks to Dave Smith for providing much of this material and unwittingly giving me the idea for this piece.)

Three former Knights were playing at Geneva in 1973: Turner and freshmen Tom Mason and Steve Eakin.

Turner, junior co-captain, patroled the secondary for the Golden Tornado. Mason was a regular on the offensive line, and Eakin started at safety.

Turner would receive first team NAIA District 18 first team recognition as a senior, but as a junior in 1973, he was forced to play offense for a game due to an injury. So all he did was toss an 8-yard TD pass. He played 58 of the 60 minutes of that game against W&J.

Mason was a little older since he spent four years in the Navy before enrolling at Geneva. He wasn't a big star at Franklin, but grew to 6-31/2, 245 and started as a college freshman.

The year before, in 1972, four-year letterman Lyn "Dutch" Sturdevant was one of the co-captains for the Golden Tornado, who, by the way, were coached by former Franklin assistant Max Holm. Sturdevant, who would later become a high school math teacher, anchored a defense that held Lycoming to minus 2 yards on the ground and four opponents to 25.8 yards rushing per game. 

Turner had a couple of moments of glory in his first year as a starter. In the opener against Frostburg his 63-yard Pick 6 clinched the 12-3 victory. He also had an interception against Lyncoming to set up a touchdown.

Three at Thiel, too

Franklin also had three players at Thiel in 1973, including Bob Witherup, offensive co-captain under former Franklin mentor Jim McCullough. Witherup is still No. 10 on Thiel's all-time rushing list with 1,760 yards.

Freshmen Turtle Baughman and Jim McNamara completed the Thiel trio.

The year before former Knight Steve Grace was a starting DB for the Tomcats. He had three interceptions going into their Nov. 11 game with Carnegie Mellon in which the PAC championship was at stake. Grace finished his career as one of the school's top return men, No. 2 in punt returns (10.2 avg.) and No. 5 in KO returns (24.3).

Two Ivy Leaguers and two Dave Hassons

Hard to believe, but Dave Hasson was one of TWO Dave Hassons at Westminster in 1973, but Franklin's Hasson wasn't the one who was the star that year. He sustained two shoulder injuries and was done for the season. His time would come, though.

The Knights had two grads playing in the Ivy League, Bill Harris at Penn and Bob Wagner at Harvard. Harris, a senior co-captain, was a starting defensive tackle after lettering two years at linebacker. Wagner, a sophomore, had seen action in six games at offensive tackle for Harvard. That's where he had played on the freshmen team in 1972.

But, wait, there's more!

Brad Crawshaw and Otis Law, the two star running backs on the back-to-back unbeaten teams of 1971 and 1972, were on college rosters. Law had just become a regular late in the season at Mansfield State in Ohio and Crawshaw had seen action in every game at Edinboro, but was playing behind a senior.

Corby Allen, whose school discus record was broken just last spring, was a freshman at Richmond where he was an offensive lineman. He eventually worked his way into the starting lineup.

And, finally, Alan Gibson, who ran for 188 yards on 20 carries against Meadville in 1970, was a reserve at Slippery Rock.

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