When Walter Lonchena played football, most of us had not begun our lives.

It’s too bad.

He and his teammates were probably something to see.

Lonchena was the starting center and linebacker his senior year for the 1950 Butler team that put together a perfect season and won the WPIAL championship. He died recently at age 83.

But he left behind a legacy.

Inducted into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame in 1982, Lonchena went on to play football at Clarion University before returning to Butler for a 42-year teaching career. He taught driver’s education and ran his own driving school for 40 years.

But this man loved football.

He spoke with pride about that 1950 team, how it beat teams into submission by running the football and playing staunch defense. Six of the Golden Tornado’s nine opponents scored seven or fewer points against Butler.

The Tornado outscored the opposition by a 232-69 count that year.

Lonchena raved about the versatile skills of quarterback Dave Reed, running backs Joe Monteleone and Vince Seezox, twins Tom and Bill Pickett, among others.

He served as spokesman for the 1950 team when it became the first athletic team ever inducted into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.

That roster only had roughly 35 players. Many of them — including Lonchena — played on both sides of the ball.

Butler did not have another perfect regular season until 1963. Lonchena was an assistant coach on that team and the Tornado had 110 players on the roster.

That’s how much high school football changed in the span of 13 years. The 1963 team played for the WPIAL championship and lost to West Mifflin, 13-6. The 1950 team never actually played for the title. The WPIAL crowned its champion based on regular season performance through those years.

Butler defeated Penn Township, 12-0, in its regular season finale. The two other undefeated teams in the WPIAL lost the next day and the Tornado were handed the crown.

Though the 1963 team lost the title game, Lonchena favors the current playoff system.

“Championships should always be decided on the field,” he once said.

He quickly added of that 1950 team: “But nobody around here would have beaten us.”

Besides getting into coaching, Lonchena served on the county hall of fame’s board of directors for a number of years. He believed in athletes and teams being recognized for outstanding accomplishments.

Butler football hasn’t been anything like that 1950 team for a long time.

But the legacy is still there as is the historical significance of that era.

Walter Lonchena left Butler High School — and this community in general — plenty to take pride in.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle