The very first Post-Gazette Fabulous 22 all-star high school football team was published in 1980, with a full-page spread that featured the cream of the crop in the WPIAL and City League. A quarterback from Seton-LaSalle was on that first team, and his picture was right next to legendary Bill Fralic of Penn Hills.
During his days at Seton-LaSalle, Rich Ingold was a star QB, mentioned with the best players in Western Pennsylvania. Just about everywhere Mr. Ingold went in football, success was his companion. He won two WPIAL titles at Seton-LaSalle and played for a coach (Tom Donahoe) who went on to become a general manager in the NFL. Mr. Ingold earned a scholarship to the University of South Carolina, eventually starred at Indiana University of Pa., and won championships as a player and coach in indoor (arena) football.
Mr. Ingold died Wednesday of at his home in Beechview of pneumonia, according to his father. Rich Ingold was 53.
“If he was 3 or 4 inches taller, he’d be in Canton in the Hall of Fame. He was that good,” said Ingold’s father, Roy.
Rich Ingold is remembered as a talented athlete (also starred in baseball), a terrific quarterback who lived life in the fast lane.
“When I look at my life at who are the characters in it, he had to be one of the biggest characters I ever knew,” said Greg Gattuso, a football teammate of Ingold’s at Seton-LaSalle who is now the coach of University at Albany. “You either loved him or hated him. His competitive nature was unbelievable. I played with him from Little League baseball to high school football and I wanted to kill him every day in practice.
“But he just had that competitive nature. It was like he was on fire all the time. He was charismatic and we eventually became great friends.”
When Seton-LaSalle won its second consecutive WPIAL title in 1980 under Donahoe, Ingold and a few teammates smoked victory cigars with their uniforms on just outside the locker room.
Over the past few decades, Seton-LaSalle has produced a number of talented quarterbacks who went on to play in college. One of them, Bruce Gradkowski, made it to the NFL.
“I think Richie was the first to start that run,” said Mr. Gattuso.
As a senior in 1980, Ingold completed almost 70 percent of his passes and threw for 1,500 yards, a total that was huge for high school football back then.
The 1979 Seton-LaSalle team was powerful and memorable, with major-college talent throughout the team. Mr. Gattuso played at Penn State, lineman Jim Sweeney was an All-American at Pitt and lineman Glenn Streno played at Tennessee. Nick Merrick was a standout junior receiver who signed the following year with Virginia.
Then there was Mr. Ingold, who left South Carolina after one year and transferred to IUP. At IUP in 1985, Mr. Ingold was the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Player of the Year.
“I’ve been processing this the last 24 hours,” said Mr. Streno, a close friend of Mr. Ingold since their childhood days. “They say this about the great ones: He made his teams and other players better.
Mr. Streno laughed and said, “He had no filter. Whatever was in his head, he said. He held you accountable, too, and not always in a nice way. God forbid if you were a lineman and you let him get hit or sacked. He would kill you.”
After his playing days at IUP, Mr. Ingold quarterbacked the Detroit Drive to the 1988 Arena Bowl championship. He eventually became a coach at IUP and also coached under Mr. Gattuso for a few years at Duquesne University. In 1989, Mr. Ingold was the offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Gladiators arena team.
Mr. Ingold coached other arena teams and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers to two appearances in the Arena Cup championship games in 2007 and 2009.
Mr. Gattuso said, “As a player, he wasn’t the biggest or fastest, but he could play. People don’t realize how good of a coach he was, either.”
Mr. Ingold is survived by his parents, Roy Ingold, and Eva “Tickie” (John) D’Alessando Dotson of Beechview; and a daughter, Alex, and son, Richie Jr., of Robinson. He is the former husband of Kristina Ingold of Robinson. Visitation is Sunday from 2 p.m. until an 8 p.m. service at Brusco-Napier Funeral Service, 2201 Bensonia Ave., Pittsburgh, 15216. Interment is private.
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh
First Published: February 16, 2017, 9:46 p.m.
