Uprising: David played key role in Uniontown’s football turnaround under Power
Submitted photo
Fred David was one of the key components to Uniontown鈥檚 football turnaround that began when Bill Power took over as head coach in 1948. David played under Power from 1949-51 when the Red Raiders had a combined record of 26-4.
Fred 鈥淗awk鈥� David played right halfback for Uniontown in the 1950s as part of 鈥淭he Pony Backfield.鈥� The Red Raiders went 9-1 in 1950 and 10-0 in 1951.
Submitted photo
When Bill Power took over the football program at Uniontown High School in 1948 the Red Raiders began a transformation into a WPIAL football power.
One of the key components in the early days of the transformation was four-sport standout Fred 鈥淗awk鈥� David.
One of the changes Power made was to the Uniontown offense in 1951 which propelled the Red Raiders to an undefeated season.
鈥淜entucky had an offense that was brand new down there,鈥� David recalled. 鈥淗e copied that offense and we used it. That was the first time that we had ever seen it, and everything worked right and the other key was we had the right players on defense. We had some really good players, Machinsky and Manning and that bunch, those guys could play.
鈥淧ower was a good coach and he had good assistants: Max Zane, John Kruper and Bill Barron, they were good.鈥�
David was on a Red Raider squad that went 7-3, and were Fayette County Double A champs in 1949. In 1950, Uniontown went 9-1. The lone loss was 20-7 at Latrobe in the final game of the season in front of 7,000 fans. The Red Raiders bounced back in David鈥檚 senior campaign in 1951 to post the first undefeated season in school history at 10-0. They avenged the Latrobe loss from the previous year, swamping the Wildcats 46-0. Uniontown didn鈥檛 win the WPIAL title because of the Gardner points system. Monessen beat the Red Raiders out by a few points.
鈥淭he loss to Latrobe in 1950, we played that game on a Saturday and we had never played on Saturday,鈥� David remembered. 鈥淭he grass was high and wet. They were good, I鈥檓 not making any excuses, they were good. The next year we played them in the last game and beat them handily.
鈥淣ormally Coach Power would take us out if we were beating a team pretty good. He never took any of us out of that game.鈥�
Uniontown finished the season with 127 Gardner points, Farrell had 128 and Munhall 135. Farrell defeated Munhall in front of 5,600 fans in the rain at Ambridge High School 15-0 to capture the WPIAL title. It was a bitter pill for the Red Raiders to swallow.
Indeed Monessen had a chance to put the Raiders in the playoffs with a win against Duquesne, but the Greyhounds were defeated 7-0.
鈥淚t boiled down to Duquesne and Monessen,鈥� David explained. 鈥淚f Monessen had won we would have played for the championship.鈥�
Uniontown steamrolled through that 1951 season, downing Georges Township 44-6, Dunbar Township 32-13, Monessen 35-6, Redstone 14-0, Monongahela 20-0, South Union 32-6, Mt. Lebanon 39-12, Connellsville 32-0 and Latrobe 46-0.
David had some big moments during the season, tallying three touchdown against Monessen and coming up with key interceptions against Redstone and Monongahela.
鈥淢onessen was supposed to be our really tough game and we knocked them out early,鈥� David said.
The Raiders backfield in the 1950s was nicknamed 鈥淭he Pony Backfield!鈥� The Red Raiders were a senior-laden ball club in 1951 with 21 seniors and the explosive backfield, sparked by 5-foot-9, 168-pound fullback Ronnie Manning. Ed Santoro started at quarterback after Manning switched to fullback. It was a move Manning took in stride. Frankie Henderson was left halfback and David right halfback.
鈥淢anning was the biggest back at maybe 168 pounds,鈥� David stated. 鈥淗enderson was small, but he could run, and I weighed about 140 pounds.
鈥淲e had some great lineman. Moose Machinsky, Bob Hodinko, Gerry Boyd and the two big ends, Mike Pizzichetti and Billy Hunt.鈥�
Uniontown dominated the All County teams in 1950 and 1951, placing six players on the squad in 1950 and seven, including Henderson, on the squad in 1951. David was special mention All County in 1951. Uniontown notched three consecutive Fayette County Class AA titles.
The 5-foot-9, 140-pound David was part of some very competitive Uniontown basketball teams. In 1949-50 the Red Raiders went 14-0 in Section 10 and 19-4 overall. They lost to Rankin 40-36 in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs. In David鈥檚 junior campaign in 1950-51, Uniontown was 11-3 in section play and 14-9 overall. Uniontown was beaten by North Union in a playoff for the Section 10 title at the Pitt Fieldhouse 37-29. In 1951-52 the Raiders were Section 10 champs and were knocked off by Duquesne 45-37 in the WPIAL playoffs.
鈥淚 played for Abe Everhart and he was great,鈥� David stated. 鈥淚 was lucky to play for two great coaches in Power and Everhart. I played guard in basketball, I enjoyed basketball, but I liked football better. I really liked track.鈥�
David ran track and cross country for the Red Raiders.
鈥淚 ran distance events in track the half mile relay and sometimes the mile relay,鈥� David explained. 鈥淲e had some great track athletes, like Manning and Henderson. I ran cross country, I hated that the damn dogs were always chasing you.鈥�
Family circumstances prevented David from going on to play college football.
鈥淢y family was broke,鈥� David lamented 鈥淲e worked at a food chain stacking the shelves and polishing the floor.鈥�
David did have an opportunity to play football at Richmond.
鈥淓d Santoro went to Richmond and I was supposed to go with him,鈥� David explained. 鈥淭hey asked me to go, but I told them I was tired of being broke and went to work.鈥�
David worked as a laborer, but found his niche selling insurance and became a very success agent for 33 years at American General Insurance.
Now 89, David has overcome some recent health issues and still resides in Uniontown. He was married to his wife Elsie for 58 years, she passed away eight years ago. They had five children: Denise, Fred Jr., Ronald (deceased), Daniel and Brian. David is blessed with 10 grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
Still sharp as a tack, Fred 鈥淗awk鈥� David is a living link to the Uniontown Red Raiders glorious athletic history.
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.