Montco Coaches HoF inducts 2018 Class
North Penn’s Beck, Swanker among inductees honored at banquet
EAST NORRITON >> Bruce Williams received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Montgomery County Coaches Hall of Fame 17th annual induction banquet at Presidential Caterers Tuesday night.
“It must mean that I’ve been around for a long time,” Williams joked, reflecting on the honor. “Maybe I’m at the end of my career or near it. It’s an honor. I’m thrilled.”
Williams, a Springfield (Montco) native, has been a football official for 44 years.
“My brother-in-law was officiating little kids football games,” he said of how he got started. “I was out of high school, maybe a year or so, not really knowing what I wanted to do with myself. He grabbed me and said, ‘Hey, why don’t you start reffing these kids games with me?’ I said, ‘What do you have to do?’ ‘Buy a uniform.’ That’s how I got started.”
He started in his early 20s, officiating pee-wee football. He moved up to junior high and high school before settling in at the college level.
Williams has spent the last 28 years officiating college football and returned this season after a brief retirement at the end of last year.
He handled the Atlantic 10 Conference for three years before being promoted to the Big East. He also worked for the American Athletic Conference.
He has been on the field for some big games over the course of his career. He’s done plenty of bowl games — including a National Championship — and marquee matchups like Southern Cal against Notre Dame, but it was other assignments that stand out the most.
“The biggest thrills for me that I can tell people is that I’ve worked at Army, I’ve worked at Navy and I’ve worked at the Air Force Academy,” he said. “Not the biggest programs or top 25 programs in the country, but for me it was a thrill to work for schools
where you have the future leaders of our country going through their academies and dedicated their life to our country. That was a thrill for me.”
Williams, a Hatboro resident, played offensive line in high school for Springfield (Montco). They went 10-0 and won the Suburban One League his senior year.
In addition to Williams, four others were inducted into the Hall of Fame — Dick Beck, Bob Lorence, Jim Romano and Richard Swanker.
Dick Beck
Beck began coaching football at North Penn in 2002. In 17 years he’s gone 189-40, won 14 league championships, seven District 1 championships and one state championship while reaching the state playoffs 11 times. His Knights face Coatesville for the District 1 Class 6A championship Friday night at Pennridge’s Helman Field.
“When they called me I was surprised,” Beck said. “I came to the ceremony when Mike Pettine was inducted, so I was familiar with it. I think it’s a great honor. It’s something I’m very proud of. My whole family is going to be here tonight. I think it’s more of a team honor and my coaching staff — it’s not just an individual honor for me I don’t think.”
Bob Lorence
Lorence became an assistant wrestling coach at Bensalem in 1965. He also coached wrestling and football at William Tennent. He was named head wrestling coach at Springfield (Montco) in 1970 and spent five years in that position. He moved on to Plymouth Whitemarsh, where he built a 357-180-6 overall match record with 10 Suburban One titles and 23 Holiday and post-season team championships. Lorence was the Suburban One Coach of the Year nine times. He produced 33 AllState wrestlers and two PIAA individual champions. In 2006 he was named to the Pennsylvania State Wrestling Hall of Fame. In 1975 he created the Greater Norristown Wrestling Club.
“You’re selected to be a representative of the Montgomery County Coaches Hall of Fame and a wrestling person within that organization,” Lorence said. “That’s really special to me. I’m able to represent the community of wrestling. It’s big. It’s huge.”
Jim Romano
Romano has coached girls basketball at Jenkintown for 36 years, compiling a 630-333 record. His teams have won 10 Bicentennial League Constitution championships and 15 District 1 Class A championships. Last season he lead Jenkintown to a 31-1 record and his first PIAA State Class A title. Romano founded the Youth Basketball Program in Jenkintown, allowing 4th-to-6th graders to play basketball on Saturdays from December through February. He started the program 27 years ago.
“It’s just unbelievable, really,” Romano said. “I’m at a loss for words probably for the first time in a long time. To be recognized and to be with all these other award winners — for me to be mentioned with the rest of the coaches and Bob Schaefer, people who have won it in the past — it’s just unbelievable. To be able to represent Jenkintown is really, really cool. I still can’t believe it. I was never in coaching to receive honors like this. I loved the game. I loved to be with the kids.”
Richard Swanker
Richard Swanker was a standout track star at North Penn and returned to become the boys track coach in 1982. From 1982 through 2005 his teams compiled a 176-9-1 dual meet record, including an 77-dual meet winning streak. His teams won 18 Suburban One and Bux-Mont League championships and posted 16 undefeated seasons. They won four District 1 titles and captured the state championship in 2002. He was voted the Pennsylvania Track & Field Association Coach of the Year five times. He has served as an assistant coach for the girls track program, indoor and outdoor, since 2005. He also serves as executive director of the Track & Field Coaches’ Association of the Greater Delaware Valley. He was elected to the Pennsylvania High School Track & Field Hall of Fame.
“It’s great,” Swanker said. “Anytime you get an honor like this, it’s awesome. Very unexpected. At this stage of my career, I didn’t expect it at all. It was very nice.”
Honor Roll
Elise Baker (girls softball organizer), Ken Constable (Nor-Gwyn baseball coach), Ed Molnar (Harleysville baseball coach) and Mark Siefer (St. Margaret’s CYO football and baseball coach) were honored as members of the Community Coaches Honor Roll.
Dick Vermeil
Vermeil, the Philadelphia Eagles head coach from 1976-1982, was the guest speaker at the induction ceremony.
“I was a coach and I respect the profession,” Vermeil said. “I respect 99 percent of the guys who do it and have done it for a living and have retired. (Being the guest speaker) gives me a chance to meet a lot of nice people I haven’t met before and also say thank you to coaches.”