Always a piece of The Rock
SLIPPERY ROCK — John Krauland left The Rock once.
“Once he returned, he never left,” Slippery Rock University football coach George Mihalik said.
His presence is certainly being felt this year.
A former offensive tackle for The Rock. Krauland's memory was honored prior to the season opener against Kutztown last Saturday at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
Krauland, a 2003 Knoch graduate and subsequent SRU grad, was killed in March of this year when a school bus was hit by a pick-up truck and landed on top of Krauland's car, which was sitting at a traffic light in Hampton Township.
He was 28 and employed as a loss control coordinator for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh at the time.
“We knew he was a giving person. We never knew how much until we went to the funeral home,” SRU defensive coordinator Shawn Lutz said. “John was a very charitable individual.”
Eighteen Krauland family members and friends attended Saturday's game, all donning white T-shirts with the words “Gone, But Not Forgotten” across the front, with Krauland's name, date of birth and date of death underneath that lettering.
The back of the shirt sported Krauland's No. 77, with a cross above the number.
SRU's football team members will wear the initials J.K. on their helmets this season. Those initials are also being worn in honor of former SRU defensive coordinator Joe Kopnisky, who died earlier this year.
Krauland's father, John Sr., served as an honorary captain and did the coin toss at midfield before the game.
“John had a passion for football his entire life,” his father said. “He couldn't imagine his life without it. That's why he came back here. The thought of playing football again drove him.”
Krauland was a two-way all-conference lineman at Knoch during his senior season of 2002, one of the leaders on a 9-2 team that posted the Knights' first winning season in nine years.He planned on continuing his career at Slippery Rock, but left the football program and the university after his freshman year.“He had some issues he needed to work out, so he enrolled at CCAC,” Krauland Sr. said. “But he missed football.”A few years later, Krauland admitted that “I ran into trouble academically (at SRU). I wasn't ready for everything.”His wife, Diane, who met Krauland in 2004 and wound up attending SRU with him, wasn't surprised he decided to go back.“He never quit or gave up on anything,” she said. “He was going to finish what he started.”So after two years away from football, Krauland approached Mihalik and asked for another chance as a walk-on.“You wonder what kind of shape he was in after being away for two years, whether he'd even be able to make it back,” Mihalik admitted. “But John was willing to start at the bottom and work his way up.“He just wanted to be part of the team again.”Lutz echoed those sentiments.“He said he'd do scout team, whatever it took,” the defensive coordinator said.Krauland eventually worked his way back into the lineup, serving as a back-up to all-conference tackle Mike Butterworth before cracking the starting lineup his senior year in 2008.“That comeback was remarkable,” Mihalik said. “John was an outstanding student, such a good guy. He led by example through work ethic.“From the moment he graduated, he became a member of the Rock football scholarship foundation and contributed. He was making donations back to this program before he even had a job.”After he graduated, Krauland never missed a home Rock football game.When he played, his parents never missed one of his games.“Such fond memories I have, traveling all over the state of Pennsylvania, watching those games ... Those were fantastic times. They're burned within me,” Krauland Sr. said.“For the football program to honor John in this way ... It's very, very special. It means a lot to all of us.”Mihalik said the decision to honor Krauland's memory was an easy one.“Like I said, he never left us. We're not going to let our memories of him leave us now,” the coach said.In 2010, Krauland organized a Knoch team for an alumni game against Mars, saying that “the chance to be teammates one more time, you just can't turn that down.”John and Diane Krauland were married three and a half years.“He loved football. It's as simple as that,” his wife said.
