Seneca Valley's football team was winning early in the 1989 season, but the offense needed a spark.
In the third game that year against Highlands, head coach Terry Henry put junior Sean O'Shea in at quarterback and the rest, as they say, is history.
“That’s what lit the fuse for us the rest of the season,” said Larry Wendereusz, currently the head football coach at Slippery Rock Area High School who was a sophomore running back for the Raiders that year.
Henry guided SV to its first-ever playoff berth that season and the Raiders reached the WPIAL Class 3A championship game before falling to Aliquippa at Three Rivers Stadium.
Prior to arriving at Seneca Valley, Henry was head football coach at East Brady High, where he mentored future Buffalo Bills quarterback and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Jim Kelly in the mid-1970s.
Henry died Sunday morning after a brief illness. He was 75.
Wendereusz remembers Henry “putting us in position to succeed on offense.
“He implemented a spread aspect to our Wing-T scheme. He called it the Wing-T H and the 'H' stood for Henry. He was adapting to the changing times.”
Henry was inducted into several athletic halls of fame, including Seneca Valley (2013), Butler County (2014) and Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches (2017).
After stepping down as SV head coach following the 1995 season, Henry remained the district's athletic director until 2004. Former Raiders varsity softball coach George Trew recalls Henry as a steady presence supporting SV athletics.
“He worked to improve all sports at Seneca and was always there, always willing to help,” he said.
The bond Kelly had with Henry was so strong that the former coach attended Kelly's induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002. During his speech, Kelly recognized Henry, saying, “He was a Jack of all Trades. He was our trainer, equipment manager, teacher, counselor and father all rolled up into one. Terry, the fact that you remain so close to my family to this day speaks volumes. You will always be a key ingredient to why I made it as far as I did.”
