Remembering Rich Novak: South Union great, Maryland star died March 25 at age 80
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Rich Novak is shown during an ACC Legend ceremony honoring him as Maryland鈥檚 football representative in 2011.
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Rich Novak (11) is shown during his playing days at Maryland.
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Rich Novak is shown during his football playing days at South Union High School.
The Fayette County sports community is mourning the loss of one of the county鈥檚 all-time great athletes with the passing of former South Union High School standout Rich Novak at the age of 80 on March 25.
Reaction from former teammates and family was swift.
鈥淗e was absolutely the best athlete I was ever associated with,鈥� brother Fran Novak, a former South Union stalwart, said. 鈥淗e was about two-and-a-half years older than I was. He was an inspiration for me. I remember back when we were about eight and 10 years old and we would go out and play, just the two of us, head on head, and we鈥檇 have a football and we would scrimmage against each other. We would kill each other and I was about the same size because I was always a little bit bigger. We would laugh and just have a wonderful time.
鈥淚n all the sports he could do it all. He could kick field goals and punt. He was a great quarterback in high school. He could really throw the ball. In basketball we played one on one. He was an incredible basketball player and he ran track and was great in the broad jump, and then go play baseball and would lead the team in home runs and batting average.
鈥淩ich was an all-star football player, basketball player, baseball player and outstanding track athlete,鈥� former South Union teammate Bob Sica said. 鈥淗e was extraordinary. He was not a big guy, he was a heady competitor and he never lost control. He was the best all-around athlete that I have ever known.鈥�
Rich Novak was profiled in a Memory Lane on July 21, 2007. Following are some excerpts from that article.
Former South Union High School star Rich Novak was only 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds, but he was a giant on the football field and the basketball court for the Blue Devils in the late 1950s.
Novak looks back on his high school days with great pride.
鈥淲e were very competitive. In fact my senior year we lost one game,鈥� Novak recalled. 鈥淲e lost the last game at German, so we were undefeated until then. I don鈥檛 recall the records my sophomore and junior years, but we had very good teams. We had a nice grouping of African-American and different kinds of nationalities and ethnic groups. It was a fun time.鈥�
Novak had a good supporting cast on the football field.
鈥淲e had Tommy Rae who went on to Maryland with me,鈥� Novak. 鈥淚 remember Melvin Henderson who was a halfback and Bill Ramsey and Bill Wydo who went on to play for Saint Vincent. We had some very good players.鈥�
The head football coach at South Union was Park Glass.
鈥淗e was a terrific guy, a great coach and a good motivator,鈥� Novak said. 鈥淚 think he was a military guy from the Navy and he had good assistant coaches. I have pleasant memories of Park Glass.鈥�
Novak ranks high on the basketball scoring list at South Union. The top five Blue Devil scorers are Chuck Davis, Rip Haley, Novak, Ron Fudala and Fran Boniar.
鈥淚 loved the game of basketball,鈥� Novak explained. 鈥淚 was a little guy and we had a small gymnasium. Chuck Davis was a great athlete. To me he was the absolute best high school basketball player I鈥檇 ever seen. I was a sophomore when he was a senior.鈥�
Novak also tallied a school-record 54 points in a game.
鈥淭hat was a home game against Georges,鈥� Novak remembered. 鈥淚 had 25 field goals and four free throws.鈥�
Novak also excelled at track and field and at one time he held the school and county record for the broad jump, 21-8录, and was the WPIAL broad jump champion.
鈥淲e called it the broad jump at that time and now it鈥檚 called the long jump,鈥� Novak said. 鈥淚 loved all the sports. In fact, a highlight of my high school career was when the coaches scheduled a baseball game and a track meet on the same day and the idea was that a couple of us who played both sports could participate in both. I won the discus in one dual meet and had never picked up a discus before. I enjoyed competing in all sports.鈥�
Novak was selected to the All-Class A team and the All-County 11. He was honorable mention All-State and honorable mention All-America on the Wigwam-Wiseman selection and was named most valuable football player at South Union and MVP in Fayette County. He was voted the most valuable in his basketball section and honorable mention All-State in basketball. Novak was also vice-president of his junior and senior class.
He graduated in 1958 and started sifting through college offers.
鈥淢ost of the offers I had were for smaller schools with the exception of Arizona State,鈥� Novak said. 鈥淎SU at that time was a fledgling football program and the beginnings of a baseball program. I was headed to Arizona State to play baseball and football. Somewhere early in 1958 one of the South Union coaches told me Maryland was interested in me. I visited and, of course, Maryland was a powerhouse in 1952,,53 and 54 and the campus was beautiful and I chose Maryland.鈥�
At Maryland, Novak split time with Dale Beatty at quarterback, but saved some of his best performances for the West Virginia Mountaineers.
He had a fine sophomore year as he hit 32 of 72 passes for 486 yards and four touchdowns. Three were thrown in his first game and the opening game against the Mountaineers. He had a 3.8 rushing mark and a 5.7 total offense average. As a junior, Novak hit on 22 of 46 for 289 yards and one touchdown and threw four conversion passes.
鈥淲e went 5-5, 6-4 and 7-3 when I played for the Terps,鈥� Novak recalled. 鈥淲e had really good players and very good teams. I wanted to go to West Virginia, Pitt or Penn State, but all three schools said no, I was too small. Fortunately we played West Virginia three times in my career, and it was Maryland 3, WVU 0. I鈥檓 told, and I don鈥檛 know if it鈥檚 true, that Art 鈥淧appy鈥� Lewis, who was the West Virginia coach, said he made a mistake in not recruiting Novak.鈥�
Novak, who earned honorable mention All-ACC honors by United Press International in 1960, led the Terps to an 18-12 record in his three-year career. Under head coach Tom Nugent, Novak threw for 1,262 yards and 10 TDs while also rushing for 550 yards in his career.
The Fayette County Five 鈥� Novak, Tom Sankovich, Tom Rae, Murnis Banner and Joe Hrezo 鈥� all played at Maryland at the same time.
鈥淩ich and I were roommates for the first year at Maryland,鈥� Sankovich said. 鈥淭hen the other three guys came to Maryland the next year. When Rich and I were sophomores they were all freshmen. Hard to believe the other four are gone. Great friends and great memories.鈥�
After earning his degree from Maryland in 1962, Novak began a very successful business career as COO at LabCorp, a Bio-Medical firm in North Carolina. He later joined Linden Capital Partners, where he served as chairman of Hycor Bio-Medical and Strata Pathology. He also served on the board of Sera Prognostics.
Novak was a tremendous supporter of Maryland Athletics, loyal Terrapin Club member and a lifetime member of the M Club. The football locker room at the Gossett Football Team House is named for him and the new locker room in Cole Field House will also be named in his honor. In 2019, Rich and his wife Laura were honored with the Heise Spirit Award which recognizes Terrapin Club members who best exemplify the Terrapin Spirit.
In 2011, Novak was honored as Maryland Football鈥檚 ACC Legend at the conference鈥檚 championship game.
Novak, who was inducted into the Fayette County 缅北禁地 Hall of Fame in 2010, passed away Thursday, March 25 after a lengthy illness.
鈥淲e lost a good man,鈥� former South Union teammate Wydo said. 鈥淗e was unbelievable what he did for the University of Maryland. He did so much for so many. He picked up the check for everything when we had our class reunions. He never forgot where he came from. Same with Maryland, he was so appreciative of the scholarship he got. We didn鈥檛 come from wealthy families and Rich was so appreciative of what Maryland did for him.鈥�
We give the last word on Novak to the late South Union football coach Park Glass. He offered this assessment in a Memory Lane in 2009.
Asked to name a favorite player during his South Union days, Glass looked at his old quarterback Novak.
鈥淗e was a tremendous athlete,鈥� Glass opined. 鈥淗e was just fantastic. He was good in everything. Novak and Rae and the fellows on that team were favorites of mine.鈥�
George Von Benko鈥檚 鈥淢emory Lane鈥� column appears in the Sunday editions of the 缅北禁地. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.