He holds a college basketball record. He started a high school football program. He was a football, basketball and baseball official for more than 30 years.

Bill Beatty is just a sports guy.

Soon, the 1952 Slippery Rock High School graduate will be a member of the Slippery Rock University Athletic Hall of Fame.

A 1956 SRU graduate, Beatty will be inducted during a banquet at 7 p.m. April 17 in the Multi-Purpose Room of the University Union.

"I definitely bleed green," Beatty said. "I've been a Slippery Rock guy pretty much my whole life."

Beatty still holds the SRU record with 32 rebounds in a game against The College of Wooster (Ohio) in 1954-55. He ranks eighth on The Rock's all-time rebounding list with 814, good for an average of 13.3 per game.

A team co-captain his senior year, Beatty ranked 17th in the nation in rebounding.

"I received a scholarship offer to St. Bonaventure when I was in high school, but my parents didn't want me to go that far away," he said.

"That single-game rebounding record is pretty safe, I think," he added. "Teams use a lot of players these days. Starters pretty much played the whole game back then."

Despite Slippery Rock High School not having football when he was there, Beatty wound up playing offensive and defensive end for SRU's football squad.

The Rock lost 11 of 15 games his final two years with the football team.

"It was a unique team in that there was a bunch of inexperienced guys like me and a bunch of older guys who were veterans coming back from overseas," Beatty said. "(Former Butler coach and athletic director) Ed Hepe was a teammate of mine."

After leaving the school, Beatty became heavily involved with the SRU Alumni Association and is a two-time past president of that organization's board of directors.

He coached and taught at Ridgway and Moniteau high schools before joining the staff of his high school alma mater, where he coached baseball, golf and junior high basketball.

When SRHS began its football program in 1965, Beatty became its first head coach.

"We began that program at a controlled rate," Beatty said. "We bought new equipment for the varsity team and rented equipment for the JVs.

"We only played a couple of junior varsity opponents that first year, but we slowly began to win after that. We were sending players to schools like Westminster and Grove City before long," he added.

Beatty said some members of his early Slippery Rock football teams went on to become doctors, lawyers and sports broadcasters.

"Slippery Rock has always been blessed with athletic kids with strong academics," he said.

Beatty later served as principal and athletic director at the school before retiring in 1991. He remains affiliated with the SRHS football program as its public address announcer at home games.

"Watching them go as far as they did in the playoffs last year was a lot of fun for me," Beatty said. "I remember the way things were when we started the program."

A PIAA football, basketball and baseball official for more than 30 years, Beatty served as secretary of the Slippery Rock Chapter of Basketball Officials and Butler Chapter of Football Officials.

"I used to work junior varsity games to keep my license up while I was in coaching," he said. "Catholic basketball games were played on Sundays and I worked a lot of those.

"I've always enjoyed being around sports. I'll always be involved in some way," he added.

Beatty served a combined 31 years in the U.S. Army and Pennsylvania National Guard and was discharged in 1989 with the rank of colonel.

"I value what the military has meant to my life and some of that has rubbed off on kids I've coached," he said. "I coached a young man at Moniteau who went to Vietnam and was killed.

"I lost three boys from Slippery Rock that way. I think of those kids often. I feel for their families and admire their courage.

"I was fortunate enough to live a full life. They sacrificed theirs. I know all of us are truly proud we supported our country," Beatty added.