Steelton  1948

By Hal Wilson

Many great teams have been produced in the old steel town on the Susquehanna south of the State Capital - unbeaten, untied 1926 with the tragic Miles Fox, 39-0 winner over Johnstown in the East-West playoff; and Mickey Minnich's perfect 1978 Pennsylvania No. 1 - but the best team of all might have been the 1948 squad, a true Steelton Steamroller.
This team featured two great senior players, Gibby Reich and Nap Holmes, and a fine cast of supporting regulars and front line reserves.
Reich was a do-everything tailback and leader who later excelled at Kansas. He was drafted in three professional sports - football, basketball and baseball. At Steelton, on the basketball court after the 1948 football season, he was named to the All-State first team.
End Holmes was a stalwart on both offense and defense. He was honored on the All-State first team and became a standout end for the famed Tennessee State Tigers.
The other end, junior Don Malinak, was an All-State first teamer the following year, starred at Penn State, and became a very successful scholastic coach. Sophomore Dick Reich, the wingback, growing to 6-2, 195, was the featured player on the 1950 All-State roster.
Captain Dan McGary at center anchored the offensive line
1948 Steelton ran over ten opponents without a close game and won the undisputed Central Penn championship. The toughest opponents may have been a good Reading team, a 35-6 victim in the season opener, Harris, beaten 20-0, and Hershey Industrial (now Milton Hershey) who went down 19-0. The final game, a 34-0 shellacking of Williamsport, was witnessed by the largest crowd in Millionaire history.
Tailback Gibby Reich ran for several long touchdowns including 73 yards against Reading, 84 in the game with Harrisburg William Penn, and 80 to help secure the 19-7 win over Lebanon's Cedars.
This powerful eleven ran from the single-wing - when most high school teams had gone to the T-formation. There was little deception. Steelton was very strong and knew it -going at the opposition with off-tackle power, reverses and sweeps.
Penn State legend Sever Toretti coached Steelton in 1946 and 1947, with Joe Shevock as his chief assistant. When Tor moved on to Williamsport, Shevock took the reins for the 1948 season, using the same system, and a juggernaut was born.
Joe Shevock was a native of the Western PA hotbed, Windber, and played his collegiate football at Lock Haven. He was head coach at Steelton for eleven years. Shevock was noted for his no-nonsense approach to the game ( and for the bushel of apples he always kept close at hand ). Practices on the Cottage Hill gridiron were thorough and intense. The well-drilled Steamrollers made few mistakes during games.
Players from that 1948 team say today that, "We had great coaching. We were confident. We never thought about losing. With Gibby and Nap and the rest of us, we believed we could do anything."

In 1949, Steelton kept rolling. Tackle Pete Alecxih was now team captain. The winning streak reached 22. Although an 8-6 loss to Harris prevented another perfect campaign, another Central Penn title was won. In the tiny backfield, led by Andy Padjen, each starter weighed less than 145 pounds.

The 1948 Steamroller starters included:

E 13 Don MALINAK 6-1 185
T 42 Pete ALECXIH 6-1 190
G 17 Bob GUSTIN 6-0 185
C 29 Dan MCGARY 5-11 180
G 35 Charles SHIPP 5-10 180
T 44 Don MCCAULEY 6-0 190
E 22 Nap HOLMES 6-0 170
Q 16 Vic DONATO 6-0 165
H 32 Gibby REICH 6-0 175
H 11 Dick REICH 6-2 180
F 34 Jake BARBUSH 5-9 160

Other key members of this outstanding team included 36 Dave ORBOCH, 13 Frank REICH, a cousin of Gibby and Dick and later starting center for Penn State, 40 Joe WATSON, 12 Andy PADJEN, 43 Bill HRESTAK, 26 Dick REIDER, and 38 Gaylor GREENE..

The superb 1948 season record:

35 READING 6
48 MT. CARMEL TOWNSHIP 12
19 HERSHEY INDUSTRIAL 0
40 HARRISBURG WILLIAM PENN 0
25 LANCASTER 6
43 SWATARA TOWNSHIP 0
26 YORK 0
20 HARRISBURG JOHN HARRIS 0
19 LEBANON 7
34 WILLIAMSPORT 0

In 1957, Steelton merged with neighboring Highspire to become Steelton-Hignspire, but remained the Steamrollers or simply "Rollers." The 1948 Highspire team also had been undefeated.
Steelton in 1948 was a former Big 15 Conference member. In retrospect, that conference might have survived if it had been divided into Central Penn and East Penn divisions, with a season ending playoff determining the overall champion.