Player of the year awards in football most often go to the guys who get the glory, the touchdowns, the statistics. But starting this season, one player in the trenches will be recognized in the name of arguably the greatest lineman to ever play high school football in the WPIAL.
It’s a way to remember Bill Fralic and to give the jumbo guys some recognition.
The Bill Fralic Memorial Award will be given to one interior lineman in the WPIAL. The award is named after Fralic, a superstar lineman at Penn Hills High School who went on to become an all-everything offensive tackle at Pitt and an All-Pro in the NFL. Fralic, a 1981 graduate of Penn Hills, died of cancer in December, just one week after Penn Hills won a PIAA championship. Fralic, who was always generous to Penn Hills, paid for the team’s hotel rooms in Hershey.
The winner of the award will be announced in December and the winner will get a sculpture of Fralic that is 7.9 inches high. Fralic wore No. 79 at Penn Hills, Pitt and in the NFL.
The board of trustees of the William P. Fralic Foundation, founded in 1992, came up with the idea of the award. Actually, some board members had this idea before.
“We used to joke many years ago that we wanted to give an award for Bill, but Bill wanted no part of it. He was a humble servant. Anything he did with donations, he always wanted to do anonymously,” said Dan Miller, a Fralic teammate at Penn Hills and a member of the Fralic Foundation’s board. “When he passed, we thought we ought to re-visit this thing.”
Miller said he approached Fralic’s wife, Susan, about the idea at her husband’s viewing. The WPIAL will have nothing to do with the selection of the award, but Miller said the WPIAL gave its blessing to the award.
“I’m biased, but I think Bill is the greatest lineman ever in the WPIAL,” Miller said. “The funny thing is Bill would be upset for us doing this, but now he doesn’t have a say. His wife is tickled by the thought.”
Fralic was so good at Penn Hills that he was named the top lineman in the country by Parade magazine after his senior season (1980). His size, strength and talent at Penn Hills was legendary. One of the most famous stories about Fralic was when he was 6 feet 3, 235 pounds — after eighth grade. His body was chiseled, too. The summer before ninth grade, Fralic was working at a local golf course when Pitt coach Jackie Sherrill happened to be playing one day and saw Fralic.
The story goes that Sherrill asked Fralic, “What college do you play for?”
When Fralic told Sherrill he would be a ninth-grader, Sherrill’s recruitment of Fralic began immediately.
There’s also the invention of the “pancake block” being attributed to Fralic. The Pitt sports information department came up with the phrase when Fralic was a senior. It was a statistic as much as a phrase. When Fralic would put a defender on his back, he was credited with a “pancake block.”
“Even though it seems like just yesterday that we were playing at Penn Hills, that was almost 40 years ago,” Miller said. “Everyone knows the Aaron Donalds nowadays, but this is important to us to keep Bill’s name prominent.”
Miller, who also is the baseball coach at Penn-Trafford High School, said the board of trustees worked together to come up with parameters for the award. The other trustees, besides Miller, are Kevin Ewing, John Gagaetta, P.J. Murray and Neil Gordon, former Penn Hills coach who was an assistant during Fralic’s days at Penn Hills.
The criteria for the award is the player must be an interior lineman, a senior and he must play both ways, like Fralic did in high school.
The Fralic Foundation has established a committee that will assist in selecting the Fralic Award. At least one person from each of the WPIAL’s six classifications will solicit nominations from coaches and athletic directors. Hempfield athletic director Greg Meisner and coach Rich Bowen are in charge of Class 6A, Fox Chapel coach Tom Loughran Class 5A, Thomas Jefferson coach Bill Cherpak Class 4A, South Park coach Marty Rieck Class 3A, Apollo-Ridge coach John Skiba Class 2A and Riverview coach Todd Massack Class 1A.
Nominations from coaches are due Sept. 10. The committee will then select six linemen (one from each classification) by the end of October. The six finalists will be announced in November. The winner will be announced at a Dec. 7 banquet at Oakmont Country Club, where Fralic was a member. Well, actually the winner will be announced at a breakfast Dec. 7. Pancakes — what else? — and sausage will be served at the event, in honor of Fralic.
“I know a lot of people think, one of the guys going to a big college from one of the bigger classifications is going to get it,” Miller said. “But this won’t be based on college recruiting or potential. With having to play both ways, you might have a Class 1A player who dominates both ways and is worthy.”
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh
First Published: August 20, 2019, 2:45 p.m.
