Lineman carved out an outstanding career
Tri-State Sports & News Service
College football coaches chased after young Bob Schilken en masse in the 1980s: Jackie Sherrill of Pitt; Joe Paterno of Penn State; Earle Bruce of Ohio State; Jerry Faust of Notre Dame. wanted me to go to Notre
These men — and many Dame. In the end, I decided others — believed the Mt. Pitt was the best fit for me.” Lebanon star possessed the Although Schilken never moxie and muscle to anchor matched his success at Mt. their defensive lines for Lebanon — where he helped years to come. the Blue Devils to two WPIAL They called. championships and an undefeated They wrote. season his senior year They visited. — he started at noseguard for Schilken, now an orthopedic a season and contributed to 25 surgeon with Allegheny Panthersvictories. Health Network, hid. And, oh by the way, he
“I would stay at my went on to earn his medical friend’s house until 11 at degree. night, because no one called “When we’d go on the after 11,” Schilken recalled road, I’d be into the books the other day from his home while some of the guys were in Mt. Lebanon, shortly after out having fun,” said finishing a shift at AHN. “I Schilken, who was coached had it down pretty good. It by Foge Fazio (Sherrill’s replacement). was overwhelming. You could only pick one school, “Guys would kid me at which meant you had to say times. I just needed to have no to a lot of people.” good time-management
A Parade All-American, skills in order to balance Schilken distilled his school and football.” choices to Pitt, Penn State, These days, Schilken can Virginia and Duke. Those be seen serving as a team institutions intrigued him doctor with the Pirates and because they offered quality the Bethel Park and Seton medical programs to go with LaSalle high school athletic Division I football. teams. Pitt eventually won out. He is also on a quest — “It was a tough decision, along with wife of 25 years, because Pitt and Penn State Dolores — to see all of daughter were really good at the Meghan’s swim meets for time,” said Schilken, who her senior season at the College was part of a freshman class of William & Mary. The that included WPIAL stars couple traveled to UNCWilmington Rich Bowen ( Serra), this past weekend, Chuckie Scales (Shady Side with a stop at Myrtle Academy), Matt Stennett Beach afterward. (Shaler) and Bob “We played miniature Buczkowski (Gateway). golf there,” Schilken said. “Also, a Priest from my “I’m no good at the real grade school, St. Bernard’s, thing. I shoot clays, we ski, but no golf for me.”
Meghan Schilken, a Mt. Lebanon grad, is planning to follow in dad’s footsteps and go to medical school. Oldest daughter Alex, a recent Penn State grad who attended Seton LaSalle, has worked with dad as a student trainer and is considering graduate school.
The two are his proudest accomplishments. “Great kids,” he said. Schilken’s journey to his current lot in life has not always been easy. At age 3, his dad died suddenly. This forced his mother, Eileen, to raise him and older sister Eileen (also deceased) on her own. Mom went back to college and earned a nursing degree, while still finding time to take care of her children.
She rarely missed a football game.
“God bless her,” Schilken said of his mother, who lives nearby in Scott Township. “She didn’t really know the game, but she did her best and that was just fine. She did everything for us.”
As Schilken moved on to high school, he found himself surrounded by top-end players at Mt. Lebanon. There was Chris Jelic, Mark Hart, Chris Eck, John Frank. Caesar Aldisert and Wayne Hunley, to name a few. Jelic and Aldisert played quarterback and linebacker, respectively, at Pitt. Frank, who also earned a medical degree, played at Ohio State and then with the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers.
“If you go through my four years there, we probably had close to 20 guys go on to play Division I football,” said Schilken, a 1982 Mt. Lebanon grad.
Under legendary coach Art Walker, the Blue Devils went 25-1 and captured backto-back WPIAL Class AAAA titles in Schilken’s final two seasons.
Asked about the one loss, Schilken answered quickly.
“Aliquippa,” he said. “I still get reminded of it by [former Quips coach] Don Yannessa.”
Schilken pointed out that Mt. Lebanon got its revenge a year later
“He always seems to forget that we beat them up pretty good my senior year,” Schilken said, laughing. “He’s selective about those things.”
Once Schilken moved on to Pitt, he said practices took on the look of all-star games, given the talent on those rosters. He played with the likes of Dan Marino, Bill Fralic, Tim Lewis, Jimbo Covert, Jim Sweeney, Tom Flynn and Chris Doleman.
One of his more striking memories was seeing Fralic and Bill Maas (each of whom became All-Pro linemen in the NFL) face each other in blocking drills.
“That’s when I got to appreciate the finer points of football,” Schilken said. “It was a thing of beauty seeing these two future NFL stars going at it with each other. It was like watching a chess match, seeing how they’d try to figure each other out.”
In some respects, Schilken said, being a surgeon parallels playing football.
“You have to be driven,” he said. “Orthopedic surgeons are hard-working men and women who are looking to achieve great things. Orthopedics is a blast, just like football. I feel lucky to have done both.” one year of midgets.”
Clementsadmitted he was more talented in basketball, “but I had more room to improve in football. When I visited Notre Dame, I thought that was exactly how college should be. There was no city. It had its own campus. But still, I was leaning toward North Carolina. But everybody in my family wanted me to go to Notre Dame, so that’s what tipped it.”
The Dean Dome wasn’t yet built at North Carolina and Clements eventually decided to play next to the Golden Dome in South Bend, Ind. In 1973, he was the standout quarterback for a Notre Dame team that beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl New Year’s Eve and won the national championship. He finished fourth in the 1974 Heisman Trophy voting.
After Notre Dame, Clements had some outstanding years in the CFL and spent a year with the Kansas City Chiefs before going back to the CFL (he is in the CFL Hall of Fame). He got a law degree from Notre Dame and practiced law for a few years after his playing days. He eventually became an NFL assistant and spent time with a handful of teams, including three years as a Steelers assistant from 2001-03. He was a Green Bay Packers assistant under Mike McCarthy, another former Pittsburgher, from 2005-16. Clements was the quarterbacks coach for a number of those years and worked with Favre and Rodgers.
Although he did great things as a player and had an excellent reputation as an NFL assistant, Clements’ days at Canevin have a special place in his heart. He played for Canevin when the school had yet to join the WPIAL and instead was part of the highly competitive Pittsburgh Catholic League. The Catholic League was loaded with talent in both football and basketball and some Catholic League teams were on par with WPIAL teams.
“I think the old Catholic League was great. We had great rivalries and a lot of fun,” said Clements. “I never missed out on anything just because I didn’t play at a WPIAL school. We played against WPIAL and City League teams.”
Clements was 6 feet tall and also an outstanding baseball player. But he gave up baseball after his sophomore year to concentrate on football and basketball. He was a lightning-quick guard with a passion for basketball.
“Basketball was what I did all summer,” said Clements. “I’d watch TV, play basketball four or five hours, eat dinner and go play some more.”
By his sophomore year at Canevin, Clements was already making a big impact. He was a starter on a terrific 1969 team that won a state