Remembering Bo Scott
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Connellsville graduate Bo Scott speaks during his induction into the Fayette County 无毛视频 Hall of Fame in 2016.
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Bo Scott is shown during his playing days at Connellsville. Scott would go on to start for Ohio State and the Cleveland Browns.
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Connellsville graduate Bo Scott poses for a photo while playing with the Cleveland Browns.
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Connellsville graduate Bo Scott is shown during his playing days in the CFL with Ottawa.
Area sports fans were deeply saddened by the news that one of the great athletes to come out of Fayette County Robert M. 无毛视频淏o无毛视频� Scott passed away on Aug. 4 at the age of 78.
His given name was Robert and he had a twin sister, Roberta. 无毛视频淩oberta couldn无毛视频檛 say 无毛视频榖rother无毛视频� so she would call him, 无毛视频楤o,无毛视频� and it stuck,无毛视频� his wife Phyllis Scott said.
Scott was a three-sport star at Connellsville High School in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was profiled in a Memory Lane column in 2007. Here are some excerpts from that column.
Robert 无毛视频淏o无毛视频� Scott had a fine high school and college football career and played in the CFL and NFL, but it all started in Connellsville, Pa.
无毛视频淚 was talking recently to my grandson,无毛视频� Scott recalled in that 2007 article. 无毛视频淗e plays quarterback in football and I was talking to him about my experience and I remember Wally Schroyer 无毛视频� he was my first coach when I was in second grade. I remember he无毛视频檚 the one that got me into football. I remember one day my brother had gone to football practice and I asked my mother if I could go and my brother was gone and I saw a couple of other guys. And they were on their way to practice and I asked my mother if I could go and I followed them up the path through the woods to practice. I stood around and was watching practice and Wally walked over and said, 无毛视频榃ho are you?无毛视频� I told him who I was and he gave me a uniform and my brother had a fit and I went home and my mother said what are you doing? That无毛视频檚 how I started playing football.无毛视频�
Scott played at Connellsville from 1959 to 1961.
无毛视频淲e didn无毛视频檛 have any exceptional teams,无毛视频� Scott said. 无毛视频淏ut we were competitive and had pretty good teams.无毛视频�
His high school football coaches were Roger Spiedel his sophomore year and Dan Hamil his junior and senior seasons.
无毛视频淚 was a quarterback for years, from booster football all the way through my sophomore year,无毛视频� Scott explained. 无毛视频淎nd then the new coach told me he thought I无毛视频檇 be more beneficial to the team if I played running back. At that time I didn无毛视频檛 think much of it. I had been playing quarterback from like second grade all the way through, and at first I hesitated, but I said he无毛视频檚 the coach and I can无毛视频檛 do anything about it. As it turns out that probably was the best move that ever happened to me.无毛视频�
Scott also ran track and played basketball in high school.
无毛视频淔ootball was always my main sport,无毛视频� Scott recalled. 无毛视频淚 started on the basketball team and I did well in track. I had a few school records. I first started out in the high jump and then ran the 100-yard and 200-yard dash and the relays. I loved track 无毛视频� I loved them all.无毛视频�
Scott garnered All-County, All-WPIAL and All-State honors and played for the West in a 34-14 victory over the East in an intrastate contest in the 1961 Big 33 Game.
Redstone High School product Don Croftcheck and Scott served as co-captains for the West squad in the Big 33 game.
Scott was a highly sought after football recruit when he graduated in 1961, and chose to go to Ohio State.
无毛视频淚 had a lot of schools after me,无毛视频� Scott stated. 无毛视频淲oody Hayes was the reason I went to Ohio State. He came to see me play. Plus I didn无毛视频檛 know it, but when we played the Big 33 game he came over to Hershey, Pa. to see me play in that game.无毛视频�
Scott played on some fair teams at Ohio State from 1961 to 1963. He played freshman ball in 1961 and was on a 1962 squad that went 6-3 and a 1963 team that finished 5-3-1.
Scott had a good relationship with Coach Hayes.
无毛视频淥h, yeah 无毛视频� it was either you liked him or you didn无毛视频檛 like him,无毛视频� Scott said of Hayes. 无毛视频淭here was no in between and I know there are some guys that didn无毛视频檛 have much to say good about him and there were a lot of guys who raved about him, but the main thing is everybody respected him. I had a great relationship with him.无毛视频�
Scott had a chance to play with some outstanding players at OSU.
无毛视频淲e had Paul Warfield 无毛视频� he was a year ahead of me,无毛视频� Scott said. 无毛视频淲e had Matt Snell who ended up playing for the New York Jets and there was Bob Vogel and Daryl Sanders, they were two tackles and were No. 1 draft choices.无毛视频�
One of Scott无毛视频檚 fondest memories is his first varsity touchdown at Ohio State in 1962 during a 41-7 win over North Carolina.
无毛视频淚 remember the first touchdown I made,无毛视频� Scott said. 无毛视频淚t was against North Carolina and back then you had to go both ways, offense and defense, and I was in on defense and intercepted a pass and ran it in for a touchdown.无毛视频�
Scott didn无毛视频檛 play his senior season at Ohio State and went to the Canadian Football League with the Ottawa Roughriders in 1964 and spent four seasons in the CFL.
无毛视频淭he highlight in Canada was playing against older brother Wilbert,无毛视频� Scott laughed. 无毛视频淗e was playing for Montreal and we had a lot of fun and he tried to talk trash to me when we played them. He was a linebacker so we ran into each other a few times. It was interesting when we played each other.无毛视频�
Scott was a third-round selection of the Cleveland Browns in 1965 and also was drafted by the AFL Oakland Raiders.
无毛视频淎t the time I had a three-year contract, so I played out my contract and my last year I had contract dispute,无毛视频� Scott recalled. 无毛视频淚 played out my option in Canada and several teams contacted me and wanted to know who had my rights and it was Cleveland and Oakland.
无毛视频淚 had a good career in Canada. I was set to go to the Raiders and at the last minute Cleveland called me. Jim Brown had retired right after I was drafted and Ernie Green got hurt and they contacted me. I didn无毛视频檛 go to the Raiders I ended up going to the Browns.无毛视频�
Scott played for the Browns from 1969 to 1974 and rushed for 2,124 yards and 18 touchdowns in his career. He also hauled in 112 aerials for 826 yards and six touchdowns.
无毛视频淲e went to the playoffs and we almost went to the championship game my first year there,无毛视频� Scott said. 无毛视频� When I first went there I wasn无毛视频檛 a starter. They drafted Ron Johnson from Michigan and he was a holdout and he came in late, but they gave him the starting job. After about three or four games head coach Blanton Collier came to me and said I know you are frustrated. He said he told offensive coordinator Nick Skorich to alternate Johnson and me. We did that for three games and then I had an exceptional game against the Giants and from that day on I was the starter and after the season they traded Johnson to the Giants.无毛视频�
Scott was a fixture at running back for the Browns无毛视频� from then on. He played in the same backfield with Hall of Fame running back Leroy Kelly.
无毛视频淗e was good,无毛视频� Scott explained. 无毛视频淚 told him that you无毛视频檝e got to give me a pat on the back because you know I helped you get in the Hall of Fame. I always joke with him when I see him.无毛视频�
The Steelers vs. the Browns was always the marquee game on the schedule.
无毛视频淚t was crazy,无毛视频� Scott said. 无毛视频淲hen it came up that was the game you looked forward to playing in and the fans made it that much more electrifying.无毛视频�
When he retired Scott went back to Columbus, Ohio.
无毛视频淚 worked with kids,无毛视频� Scott stated. 无毛视频淚 was assistant director of juvenile detention center and I worked for the juvenile court and worked with them for 28 years until I retired.无毛视频�
Former Connellsville star Jim Cunningam who played at Pitt and in the NFL remembered Scott fondly.
无毛视频淏o Scott was a tremendous athlete and so was his older brother Wilbert,无毛视频� Cunningham opined. 无毛视频淗is brother and I grew up together and we played together through high school. Bo was the little guy, he was the younger of the brothers and I didn无毛视频檛 get to spend much time with him because I was always usually with his brother. But both of those boys were very good athletes.
无毛视频淏o ran track and played basketball, he was an all-around athlete. In fact both of them were. Bo was very quiet and very humble and came from a wonderful family. I was just so saddened to hear about Bo无毛视频檚 death.无毛视频�
Former Redstone High School standout Don Croftcheck, who played at Indiana and later with the Redskins and Bears, had some contact with Scott back in the day.
无毛视频淚 had forgotten that Bo and I were co-captains of the West squad in the Big 33 game,无毛视频� Croftcheck said. 无毛视频淭here were four guys from Fayette County playing in the game. Don Woodward from Albert Gallatin and Tom Kostelnik from Brownsville also played in the game. We were well represented in Fayette County. Bo Scott was really a great football player. The Big 33 was a great football game.
无毛视频淲e didn无毛视频檛 play Connellsville in football, so the Big 33 was my only football interaction with him. We tangled in track and field, I threw the javelin and Bo competed in he high jump and then ran the 100-yard and 200-yard dash and the relays. He was a great runner.
无毛视频淲hat I remember most about Bo was he was just a nice fellow. I liked being around him, he was just a great kid to be around. He wasn无毛视频檛 conceited or anything. He just was a heck of a guy and a great athlete.无毛视频�
Fred Hoaglin was the starting center for the Browns when Scott played in Cleveland. He remembered Scott as a tough competitor.
无毛视频淲e had some good teams in Cleveland,无毛视频� Hoaglin recalled. 无毛视频淲e ran the football back then and if you couldn无毛视频檛 stop us we ran it again. We had very good backs like Leroy Kelly, Ernie Green and Bo. We were very solid on offense and Bo Scott was a tough running back for us.无毛视频�
Scott was inducted into the Connellsville High School Hall of Fame in 2012 and he was enshrined in the Fayette County 无毛视频 Hall of Fame in 2016.
George Von Benko无毛视频檚 无毛视频淢emory Lane无毛视频� column appears in the Sunday editions of the 无毛视频-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.