Two-sport star chose football

championship in the Pennsylvania Catholic Interscholastic Athletic Association. In the title game, Clements scored 14 points and Canevin beat Allentown Central Catholic, 80-57, in front of a packed house of 5,750 at Pitt’s Fitzgerald Field House.

Canevin finished 24-0 that season, but what really tells the talent level of that Crusader team is the fact that it had six players who played Division I college athletics. Besides Clements, five others played major-college basketball — Jack Wojdowski at Duquesne, Jim Bolla at Pitt, Tom Pipich at Fordham, Bob Shanta and Tom Rosepink both at George Washington.

After his senior season, Clements played for the Pennsylvania team in the prestigious Dapper Dan Roundball Classic in front of 13,952 fans at the Civic Arena. Two of his Pennsylvania teammates were Maurice Lucas of Schenley and Dwight Clay of Fifth Avenue. Clay also went to Notre Dame, but for basketball.

In football, Clements became Canevin’s starter late in his freshman year, which was unheard of for a ninthgrader back then. As a junior in the fall of 1969, he quarterbacked Canevin to a Pittsburgh Catholic League championship. That season, the Crusaders also beat WPIAL teams Uniontown, Baldwin, Beaver, Chartiers Valley and Catholic League foe Central Catholic.

For certain, Clements’ athletic ability makes him a Western Pa. great who should never be forgotten. The WPIAL currently has another football-basketball standout who, like Clements, will play quarterback at Notre Dame. Phil Jurkovec has created a lofty reputation at Pine-Richland High School and Clements said he knows of Jurkovec, all the way in California.

Clements works for a real estate company (Cal Coast Development) in the Los Angeles area for Ed Miller, a football teammate at Canevin. Clements’ two children also live on the West Coast. Clements grew up in Stowe Township, next to McKees Rocks and he hasn’t forgotten his days in “The Rocks.” Part of his email address includes the word “rocks.” Clements seems happy, watching football some and enjoying life. He doesn’t miss coaching all that much.

“A lot of people ask me if I miss coaching. I miss the games,” said Clements. “Everything else Monday through Saturday, I don’t miss too much. The season is a grind. Night games are a pain, especially when you play away. There are a lot of things you have to work through. But I enjoyed it, too. I spent 20 years in the NFL. It was a lot of fun.”

So were his days as one of Western Pennsylvania’s best athletes ever.