Dvorchak embraced Uniontown’s football tradition
Dave Dvorchak knew about Uniontown鈥檚 great football tradition and he and his teammates embraced that tradition.
鈥淎ctually, my brother Ed played on the 1965 WPIAL championship team,鈥� Dvorchak said. 鈥淲e had football families like the McLees and the Hull brothers, the three Ostrosky brothers. There was probably a little depression when we didn鈥檛 go undefeated. We were a little dejected when we did get the perfect season.
鈥淲e kept it going pretty good. It was more on the coaches. I thought they did a terrific job with the talent they had.鈥�
Dvorchak was a two-way end on some very competitive Red Raider squads in the late 1960s. Uniontown went 6-3 in 1966, 8-2 in 1967 and 7-2 in 1968.
鈥淢t. Lebanon had our number for some reason. They really got to us,鈥� Dvorchak recalled. 鈥淭hat was probably one of the biggest rivalries that we had.鈥�
Dvorchak had a great deal of respect for his old head coach at Uniontown, Leon Kaltenbach.
鈥淭here was something about him, a kind of mysterious way of doing things,鈥� Dvorchack stated. 鈥淗e had his ways and everyone listened to him they respected him very much.
鈥淎lso, I don鈥檛 think I could ask for a better coaching staff all the way though with Jerry Zawacki, Ralph Conrad and Gene Cavalier. They were terrific. They were all in for us players and also as students. They did everything for us.鈥�
It was Kaltenbach who lit a fire under Dvorchak and helped him turn into a solid player for the Red Raiders.
鈥淚 got to attribute my success in football to him,鈥� Dvorchak offered. 鈥淗e took me aside one day and said he wanted to see me use the talent that he thought I had in me, and that just lit a fire inside of me and kept me going.鈥�
Dvorchak recalled the Red Raider offense back in the day.
鈥淚 think we probably threw the ball more my junior season because we had Billy Emmett at quarterback,鈥� Dvorchak said. 鈥淗e was a tremendous talent. I couldn鈥檛 believe what he had going for himself. My senior year Mike Carlow was the quarterback. We threw quite a bit, but Leon Kaltenbach was three yards and a cloud of dust. We had good backs; we had a lot of talent.鈥�
Dvorchak was an All-Western Conference choice and also a member of the All-County team as a senior.
鈥淚 played a lot as a sophomore,鈥� Dvorchak stated. 鈥淭he junior year is probably where it all came together and started as a senior.鈥�
When Dvorchak graduated from Uniontown in 1969 he sifted through several college scholarship offers.
鈥淚 probably had 20 or 25 letters,鈥� Dvorchak remembered. 鈥淚 visited three or four schools. Kaltenbach and the entire coaching staff were phenomenal at working to get players in college. We had 17 seniors, nine of us started and he got scholarships for 15 of us. Jerry Zawacki steered Jim Ostrosky and me toward Ohio U. He played there and knew the coaching staff. I like the atmosphere at Ohio U.鈥�
When he signed with Ohio U., Dvorchak got some high praise from Kaltenbach.
鈥淒ave played a lot of good football for us on both offense and defense. We are going to miss him,鈥� stated coach Kaltenbach. 鈥淎nd, I鈥檓 sure if be has the proper attitude, he鈥檒l play a lot of good football for Ohio University.鈥�
Dvorchak was on Bobcat teams that posted records of 4-5 in 1970, 5-5 in 1971 and 3-8 in 1972.
鈥淏ill Hess was the coach,鈥� explained Dvorchak. 鈥淲e got along except for my junior year. I kind of got a bad attitude. It was more on me then anything else. I kind of tried to get out of playing football, then I thought you better hang in there. I started out as an offensive end and then they switched me to defensive end. I was 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds.鈥�
Ohio U. played a good schedule.
鈥淭he big rival was Miami of Ohio,鈥� Dvorchak said. 鈥淭he Mid-American Conference was almost all Ohio teams, so competition for players was intense.鈥�
As he looks back he doesn鈥檛 regret the decision to go to Ohio U.
鈥淚 think I enjoyed the experience of playing football,鈥� Dvorchak offered. 鈥淚 played against some good teams and played against Franco Harris, Don Nottingham and Don Strock.鈥�
Dvorchak graduated from Ohio U. in 1973. He went to Wilmington, Del., and was a salesman for IBM. Then he went to US Industries J.W. Carroll as eastern regional sales manager. He returned to the Uniontown area in 1979 and went into construction work. He was forced into retirement after some surgeries and went on disability. He retired in 2012.
The 63-year old Dvorchak is divorced and resides in Uniontown.
鈥淎thletics was a way to get an education,鈥� Dvorchak stated. 鈥淚t was a way to find out different cultures in the country because there were people from everywhere that came to Ohio U and I learned a lot about life.鈥�