Sports History
Cradle of Quarterbacks
By Anne Madarasz

“It goes back a long way, this tradition of quarterbacks as a natural resource in western Pennsylvania.”
-Roy McHugh, New York Times, 1991

Their numbers include Hall of Famers, a Heisman Trophy winner, record setters and barrier breakers. They all share one thing - born here, they grew up on the gridirons of the region. Shaped by a football culture centered on competitive excellence, they spent their Friday nights in front of their hometown community crowds, honing the skills that would lead them elsewhere. All of them eventually made it to the pros. They forged a legacy dating to the 1940s, when this region first began to be noted as a birthplace of greatness, the cradle of quarterbacks.

Even the Pro Football Hall of Fame is unsure about who first coined the term “cradle of quarterbacks,” but no scholar of football history can argue that it is not accurate. When the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum opened last year, we had identified 37 professional quarterbacks who played their high school ball here. Since opening, that number has swelled to over four dozen. You know the names of some of those local legends - George Blanda, Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Dan Marino, and Joe Montana.

Others might be new to you - Willie Thrower of New Kensington, the first black quarterback in the modern NFL. He broke the color barrier at quarterback in the Big Ten, playing for Michigan State, then in the NFL when he took the field for the Chicago Bears on October 18, 1953. Or Johnny Lujack, the Heisman Trophy winner in 1947 who built his reputation playing for the Irish of Notre Dame then played in the pros from 1948-51, also for the Bears.

These on-field leaders benefited from the knowledge imparted by skilled coaches and from the example set by those who went before them. Just as Dan Marino talks about watching Joe Namath play when he was a boy, so too does Penn State’s Anthony Morelli now site Marino as his inspiration. More than coaching, local players received remarkable community support. They became part of a sporting tradition that knit communities together, focusing energy on Friday night contests, some of which pit rivals that have faced off for decades. Quarterbacks became the most visible manifestation of this culture, a culture that valued football and recognized that it provided a means to escape the mill, receive an education, and achieve success.

The breeding ground for these quarterbacks spans the region. Many trace their lineage to the region’s mill towns where the ethos of high school football reflected the ethic of hard work and dedication that made this area the world’s steel capital. Boys such as Arnold Galiffa from Donora, Gus Frerotte from Ford City, Babe Parilli from Rochester, Chuck Fusina of McKees Rocks, or Charlie Batch of Homestead. Others grew up in Pittsburgh, playing for the city and Catholic schools that dot the downtown neighborhoods - Major Harris at Brashear, Johnny Unitas from little St. Justin’s, and Dan Marino and Marc Bulger from Central Catholic. Still others came from small towns, George Blanda from Youngwood and Jim Kelly from East Brady. Steel towns or downtown, all share a lineage that leads back to western Pennsylvania. Collectively, they put this region on the national football map.

Anne Madarasz is the Director of the Western PA Sports Museum, which features the story of the cradle of quarterbacks in its Friday Night Football section.