Emotions overflow as Lehigh Valley chapter inducts six into Hall of Fame
In the movie “A League Of Their Own,” Tom Hanks, playing the character of irascible manager Jimmy Dugan, said, “There’s no crying in baseball.”
But no one ever said there’s no crying in football.
Football is a game of passion, raw emotion and is often filled with blood, sweat, and tears.
On Sunday night at the Northampton Banquet and Event Center, six men were inducted into the National Football Foundation Lehigh Valley Chapter’s Hall of Fame and there were a few tears, along with great stories told and memories shared as the inductees, or those represented them, went down memory lane and talked about the most influential people in their lives.
The inductees were Jeff Bleamer, John Blick, Bill Brong, Jim Corpora, Brock Holland, and the late Ed Hudak.
Several of the men honored were offensive linemen in their playing days, and while it was noted that offensive linemen usually are noticed only when they do something wrong, these guys did plenty right.
The honorees were supposed to be inducted in May of 2020, but the ceremony was pushed back for more than a year due to COVID-19.
Here’s a brief look at each honoree:
JEFF BLEAMER
A 1971 Dieruff High graduate, Bleamer was an all-state and Big 33 selection. He received a scholarship to Penn State and graduated from PSU in 1975 after being an all-Big East selection and Red Worrell Award winner. He was an 8th-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles and played two seasons in Philly before finishing his career in 1977 with the Jets.
Bleamer fought back tears in telling the audience how influential Dieruff coaches John “Jeep” Bednarik and Bruce Trotter and Penn State coach Joe Paterno and Eagles coach Dick Vermeil were in his career and how they shaped his life.
He stayed involved in football as a college coach with stints at The Citadel, East Tennessee State, Ohio University, and Colorado and also coached in the CFL. He has spent the last 10 years coaching high school football at Cane Bay in Summersville, South Carolina.
JOHN BLICK
Blick helped Pleasant Valley reach the 1994 District 11 finals while earning all-state and all-American honors as an offensive lineman. He thanked his Bears coaches Tony Caracio and Mike Falcone for his development. He was a Big 33 selection and earned a scholarship from Penn State. In 1998 he received the Red Worrell award as most improved player in the spring and a year later, he received the Richard Maginnis Memorial Award for best senior offensive lineman and the 1999 Quarterback Club Award.
In 1999, he got a shot in Tampa Bay’s training camp and spent the 2000 season on the Kansas City practice squad before starting every game in 2001 with the Rhein Fire in the NFL Europe League.
After a knee injury ended his career, Blick got into coaching and was on Denny Douds’ East Stroudsburg
University staff in 2003 and 2004. He was then hired by Northampton as a teacher and coached the Konkrete Kids in 2008 when they won an Eastern Conference crown. He no longer is involved with football but coaches the shot put and discus for the Northampton track and field team.
BILL BRONG
Brong began his career at Lehighton High School in 1987, working as an offensive line coach and defensive coordinator for 22 years. While with the Indians, the program won five league titles and made four district playoff appearances, and won a district gold in 1987.
He was named Lehighton’s head coach in 2001 and in his seven seasons, his teams won two league titles and one district crown.
In that time, he was also an assistant coach in the McDonald’s Lehigh Valley All-Star Classic three times and the head coach once.
He was an assistant coach at Nazareth from 2008-2013 on Rob Melosky’s staff and was the defensive coordinator for the Blue Eagles’ 2011 district champs.
From 2013-17, he coached at King’s College and spent 2018 and 2019 with Melosky at Pocono Mountain East before returning to King’s College where he currently coaches the defensive line.
JIM CORPORA
A 1973 Easton High and 1977 Kutztown University graduate, Corpora became one of the area’s most prominent softball umpires and football officials.
He began as a PIAA official in 1974 while a student at Kutztown
and worked his first varsity game in 1976. He credited Jim Flowers, Mike Symons, and Rosie Amato as being the most influential in his career. In 1982, he was elected interpreter for the Eastern Pennsylvania Football Officials.
Corpora worked his first college game in 1983, his first Division I game in 1995 and he became an ACC official in 2001. In his time in the ACC, he has worked 274 games, 11 postseason games, three ACC title games, and five bowl games. He was also hired to officiate in the Arena League in 2011.
He talked about getting to meet many of the game’s greatest college coaches, including Bobby Bowden, Lou Holtz, and Sam Rutigliano, and talked about the thrill of working an ArmyNavy game. He also shared memories of working games featuring high school legends such as George Curry, Jazz Diminick and Bob Stem.
“When it’s all said and done, I hope people think I respected the game, I never cheated the game and I hope I was a keeper of the game,” he said.
BROCK HOLLAND
A three-sport athlete at Bangor, Holland played four years of football to go along with three seasons of track and field and two basketball seasons. As a senior, he was the captain of the Slaters football team and was nominated for the Big 33 Classic.
He received a scholarship to Lackawanna College where he helped coach Mark Duda win 19 games while being voted a Junior College All-American.
He then spent three years at West Virginia University where he played offensive tackle for Don Nehlen. He was twice voted the team’s outstanding lineman and helped the Mountaineers record 23 wins and play in three bowl games.
He is currently a teacher in the Pottsville School District.
ED HUDAK JR.
A 1946 Liberty High graduate, Hudak earned nine varsity letters and was a two-time all-state selection in football. He received a scholarship to the University of Notre Dame where he played on four undefeated teams and won three national championships with legendary coach Frank Leahy.
He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers after his senior year at Notre Dame but instead opted to work as an industrial engineer for the Bethlehem Steel where he spent 44 years before retiring in 1993.
He stayed involved with football as an assistant coach at Lehigh for 29 seasons and helped the program win five Lambert Cup titles and the 1977 national championship.
He also coached at Bethlehem Catholic for 17 seasons and helped the Golden Hawks win five District 11 championships and state crowns in 1988 and 1990.
In 2000, he moved to Fort Myers, Florida, and died in 2015 at the age of 86.
“My dad was a pragmatic person who chose not to revel in past success, but always looked ahead to the next challenge,” said his daughter Melissa Wilson. “He operated with quiet confidence and an ardent approach to the science of football. Colleagues described him as a candid, direct, and effective communicator who had a way of breaking things down into simple and effective terms. It was his combination of confidence, grit, accountability, and humility that contributed to his success under Hall of Fame coaches Fred Dunlap, Bob Stem, and John Whitehead.”