SLIPPERY ROCK — For years, MiamiUniversity in Oxford, Ohio, was known as the cradle of coaches because so many successful ones came from the school.

But the 1947 Slippery Rock State College football team also can claim that title, as nearly all of the 24 players on that squad wound up coaching high school football and winning league championships.

A few players, most notably Paul Uram and Chuck Klausing, went on to coach at levels beyond high school.

"I can't tell you how many WPIALtitles we all wound up winning,"Klausing said. "They were numerous."

Klausing and Uram were roommates in college and became best friends. Uram, a former Butler High School and Pittsburgh Steelers coach, still lives in Butler.

"I was best man at Chuck's wedding and went to his 40th anniversary party,"Uram said. "We've stayed close friends all our lives."

The only three seniors on that 1947 Slippery Rock team, guard Klausing, center Ray Nedwidek and Blair Hildebrand, became coaches.

Hildebrand coached at Oil City High for years. Nedwidek won a WPIALtitle at Snowden Township, which was in the South Park area of Allegheny County, and became a physical education director at the University of Rhode Island.

Klausing won six WPIALtitles as football coach at Braddock High and was a member of the Rutgers University staff when the Scarlet Knights posted the lone undefeated season in the school's history.

Klausing went on to become head coach at Indiana (Pa.)University and won six Presidents' Athletic Conference titles in 10 years at Carnegie Mellon. He coached on Bobby Bowden's staff at West Virginia University as well.

"He could have had a job as a pro scout with the Steelers,"Uram said. "He was offered the position, but Chuck would never have been satisfied being out of coaching."

Uram was the quarterback of the 1947 Slippery Rock team. Bobby Philips, the team's halfback, won WPIALtitles as a coach at Montour and went on to serve as an assistant on Joe Paterno's staff at Penn State for 20 years.

"Bobby coached at Penn State beginning around 1970, when Paterno only had four or five assistants,"Klausing said. "He was Joe's top assistant for a while and was a big part of their success."

Philips also was Slippery Rock's punter and had one of the longest punts in college football history.

"We were facing a third-and-25 from our 9-yard line and I called a quick kick in the huddle,"Uram said. "Bobby said we didn't have a quick kick in the playbook. I said,'We do now.' And his punt went 92 yards, the longest in college football that year."

Other players on that Slippery Rock team went on to coach at such schools as Mount Lebanon, New Castle, Penn Hills and Millvale.

Even team manager Ray Firroni wound up winning WPIALchampionships as a head coach at Avella High.

Slippery Rock finished 4-2-1 in 1947, winning its first four games while allowing only six points. Bill Storer was the team's coach.

"A lot of G.I.'s were coming back from the war,"Klausing recalled. "There were 50 players going out for the team and there were only 22 uniforms.

"We did a drill where you'd stand at attention, then fall forward, right on your chest, not using your hands at all. I was the first guy to do it, so I got the first uniform.

"We were an intense group. All of us wanted to become physical education teachers or coaches. We'd fill up a car and travel to Cleveland or Cincinnati to attend coaching clinics,"Klausing added.

Because there were only 22 to 24 spots on the team, the players had to play offense, defense and special teams.

"It was a fun time,"Uram said. "The fact we had to learn so many positions probably helped us to become coaches later on."