They opened the campaign with a shutout loss at New Hampshire which would later advance to the Division II semi-finals. The 1975 season was a tough one for the Golden Rams. That year, the conference didn't select separate teams for each division nor was a second team identified. Providing senior leadership was end Dan Ferguson who was the only Golden Ram named to the All-PSAC team. Both are members of the Killinger Football Hall of Fame. Sophomore Roger Grove was the team's leading rusher and classmate Jim Haynie threw for 1,120 yards and seven touchdowns. The team was very young - 24 sophomores and 18 upperclassmen. Under new Head Coach Bob Mitten, the Golden Rams would sweep the remainder of the PSAC East division games - Bloomsburg, Kutztown, Mansfield and Cheyney - losing only at Villanova for a final record of 5-3. 813 winning percentage, the highest ever among Golden Ram coaches with at least ten games coached. In a little over five seasons at the helm at West Chester, Bonder amassed a record of 39-9 for an. West Chester would go on to win the game 33-6, but then learned in the locker room that their head coach had died of an apparent heart attack at the age of 51. The game was stopped for several minutes while medical staff attended to him and ultimately rushed him to the hospital. With West Chester leading the visiting Millersville Marauders by a score of 6-0 early in the second quarter, Head Coach Jim Bonder collapsed on the sidelines. For the second year in a row, the Golden Rams opened the season 0-2 with losses to East Carolina and East Stroudsburg. No one word can better summarize the 1965 West Chester football season. The game of football was quite different that long ago.ĭevastating. Wendland was the leading rusher with 521 yards and Harrington completed 32 of his 107 pass attempts for 346 yards and four touchdowns that season. Future Killinger Hall of Famers Jack Wendland and John Harrington paced the offense. For his effort, he was named to the All-PSAC team which consisted of eleven players: a center, two guards, two tackles, two ends, and four backs. As an end, Crozier was West Chester's leading receiver that season, hauling in 13 catches for 195 yards. The 1955 team was led by captains Bill Crozier and Ron Gatski. So besides West Chester's current annual division foes, their 1955 opponents are now an FBS team, an FCS team, a Division III team, a defunct football team and a closed Army base. The season ended with a loss at Pennsylvania State Teacher's College Champions Bloomsburg. The Golden Rams won their next two road games at Lock Haven and East Stroudsburg, before winning their two final home games over Kings's and Millersville. West Chester then lost to Youngstown in the second and last meeting between the two schools. Drexel, which discontinued football after the 1973 season, went undefeated in 1955 and their defense held all eight of their opponents to no more than 14 points. After that, West Chester was shutout by a score of 7-0 to Drexel. Back then, there were many military service teams including Fort Eustis, Fort Dix, Fort Belvoir, Fort Lee, and Quantico. The season opened with two home wins over East Carolina and the Fort Monmouth Signaleers. Killinger never had a losing season as head football coach at West Chester, and the 1955 squad finished 6-3. As in more wins than any other head football coach at West Chester. But really, how long ago was it? How about the head coach was a gentleman named W. How long ago was 1955? That's easy - 60 years.