PITTSBURGH — When it comes to football, Rodger Puz knows talent.

He played with it and against it.

The 1979 Butler graduate lined up opposite eventual longtime NFL players Tom Flynn and Bill Fralic in WPIAL championship games. He took on Heisman Trophy winners Marcus Allen and Herschel Walker in successive bowl games.

Puz wasn't a bad linebacker himself, being named all-state and Butler's Defensive Player of the Year in 1978 and becoming a two-year letterwinner at Penn State University.

All of that has landed him an induction into the Butler Area School District Athltic Hall of Fame. Puz will be one of nine inducted Friday evening.

“I am doubly honored by this,” Puz said. “Just going into the Hall of Fame is honor enough. To be part of the second induction class, given how many great athletes have gone through that school, is truly amazing.”

Puz started as an inside linebacker for the Golden Tornado from 1976-78. Butler lost in the WPIAL finals in 1976, became co-champion in 1977 and bowed out in the semifinals in 1978 — against Penn Hills each time.

“That was our nemesis,” Puz said. “Butler was the second biggest school in the WPIAL at the time. My graduating class had about 950, Penn Hills had about 1,200. And they had six players going both ways on the football field.

“That team had so many Division I football players. Flynn and Fralic went on to the NFL, Joel Coles joined me at Penn State, Dave Johnson was a lineman at West Virginia. ... You could go on and on.”

Art Bernardi was Butler's coach and Puz played during the years of the Tornado's two-platoon system. He only started on defense, but was a backup at tackle and tight end offensively.

“Our coaches were smart, though,” Puz said. “Guys get hurt in football and he had everybody ready to step in if needed. I practiced defense 60 percent of the time, offense 40 percent.”

Puz said Butler's program was formatted after Penn State's, which made his transition to college ball easier.

“That was no coincidence. Our coaches knew their coaches,” he said.

The Nittany Lions were 4-0 in bowl games during Puz's career there. The team lost four games his freshman year despite having the likes of Matt Millen, Bruce Clark and Lance Mehl on the squad.

“We won the Liberty Bowl that year, but that was a disappointing season,” he admitted.

Two Fiesta Bowl victories followed — the second against Allen's USC team — before Penn State won the national championship in 1982 by defeating Walker and Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

“That was my last game. I couldn't have timed it better,” Puz said.

After spending five years in the oil business, Puz decided to go to law school. He's been a trial lawyer since 1992 and lives in Pittsburgh.

He was inducted into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.

“Football has helped me in a lot of ways in life,” Puz said. “There's preparation, discipline and pushing oneself mentally, and expecting a good result.

“It gave me the right frame of mind to succeed in life.”

All nine inductees will be honored at a reception at 5 p.m. Friday in the high school cafeteria. The inductees will also be recognized on the field prior to the 7:30 p.m. kickoff vs. Canon McMillan.