Former WCU coach Rudisill to join Pa. Aquatics Hall of Fame

From the late 1980s until his retirement a year ago, Jamie Rudisill worked relentlessly to construct and maintain one of the most dominant college swimming programs in the country.

In June, the Pennsylvania Aquatics Hall of Fame announced that the former West Chester swimming and diving head coach will be part of its next class of inductees.

“This is a huge honor,” Rudisill said. “There are some heavyweight names on the list of inductees – Olympians and head coaches that have accomplished great things in their careers. I feel humbled. This was unexpected.”

In 29 seasons at the helm of both the men’s and women’s programs, Rudisill built the WCU men’s and women’s teams into consistent NCAA Division II superpowers. The Golden Rams finished among the top-four programs in the country 10 times during his reign.

In all, West Chester won 34 combined conference championships, and Rudisill mentored dozens of All Americans. He was named the PSAC Coach of the Year 16 times, and under his guidance, WCU authored a combined record of 331136 (.709) in dual meets.

“This honor is a testament to the staff that I had while at West Chester,” Rudisill pointed out. “All of them -from Scott Elliott to Henny Hiemenz to Steve Mazurek -- could have been head coaches anywhere in the PSAC. But they chose to stay at West Chester.”

Rudisill tutored five female national champions, who accumulated 18 NCAA titles, and four male national champions, who accumulated eight, along with three relay victories. Four of Rudisill’s lady swimmers broke national records, and one male won five individual national championships in five different events.

“The 10 top-four placement teams is something that I will always remember,” said Rudisill when asked about his most treasured moments coaching. “But, the swim lessons program is really that which I am most proud. We taught roughly 650,000 swim lessons in 29 years.”

Rudisill will be inducted next winter along with eight others at the Pennsylvania Swimming Championships at Bucknell University. The Hall of Fame is located in McCoy Natatorium Building at Penn State.

HALE, KILLINGER, HESS ON BALLOT

Former West Chester football greats Danny Hale, Billy Hess and W. Glenn Killinger are in the running for the sport’s greatest honor. The trio is among the 214 former players and coaches who are on the 2019 National Football Foundation ballot for the College Football Hall of Fame.

“It’s an enormous honor to just be on the ballot when you think that more than 5.26 million people have played college football and only 997 players have been inducted,” said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell.

Hale was a star player and head coach at WCU, and later became the winningest coach in Bloomsburg history. He was a threeyear letterwinner (1965-67) and led the Golden Rams to the 1967 State Championship and back-to-back appearances in the Tangerine Bowl. As head coach of his alma mater from 198488, Hale authored a 40-13 record in five seasons.

In 20 seasons at Bloomsburg, Hale’s teams won at a .754 clip. In a quarter century as a head coach Hale went 213-69-1 and ranked among the top-25 active coaches in NCAA Division II history when he retired in 2012.

Hess was a first team All American and Harlon Hill Trophy finalist in 1988. A four-time All-PSAC receiver, Hess also earned all-conference honors as a defensive back as a senior, and was named the PSAC East Player of the Year.

With a 147-41-12 record, Killinger has more wins than any WCU head football coach in 23 seasons (193441; 1945-59). As a player, Killinger was a star at Penn State and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1971.

The announcement of the 2019 class will be made on Jan. 17, 2019. Less than two one-hundredths of a percent of college football players over the last 149 seasons have been enshrined. And from the coaching ranks, 217 individuals have achieved Hall of Fame distinction.