This story reads like a script for a great sports movie. It involves the son of a preacher, who came to Danville High School to play his junior and senior years on the grid iron. Not having enough money to attend college, Carl Snavely did what a lot of young men from Danville did after high school, he went to work in a rolling mill. But an encounter with a stranger one night on his way home from the mill, led to playing four years in college, and eventually a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame as a head coach.

Snavely shared his story with a Philadelphia sportswriter in 1929, and it was reprinted the following day the Morning News of Danville, on October 30th, 1929. “I wanted to go to college. My father was a Methodist minister who had little money, not enough for me to use for a college education. I went two years to State College High School where my father had a charge. “

“He was transferred to Danville and I was graduated from that school two years afterwards. I played quarterback on the school team, but I knew that college wasn’t for me. So I went to work in the rolling mill. I earned $2.50 a day which was good pay for a kid in those days.” “We worked 24 hour shifts on Saturday and Sunday. One night I was on my way home. A man came up to me and asked: ‘Can you tell me where Carl Snavely lives?’ ‘You don’t have to go far,” I said. I’m Carl Snavely.’ “’ You’re going to Lebanon Valley, ‘(College) he told me.’ I told him he was crazy and that I had no money. “’Never mind,’ he said. “It’s been all fixed up; you’re going to Lebanon Valley.’ “I feel grateful to that man every time that I think of the chance that he gave me.”

Snavely entered college in 1911 playing four years at the school in Annville Pennsylvania before graduating in 1915. In 1959 he coached the Big 33 Football team to an 18-0 victory over the National High School All Americans at Hershey. The following year in a torrential rainstorm, the Big 33 and the All-Americans played to a 0-0 tie. He told one reporter, “Pennsylvania plays the roughest and hardest high school football of any state I know.”

In 1965, Snavely was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame at South Bend Indiana. It is now located in Atlanta Georgia. There, his list of accomplishments allows visitors to see why he is among the coaching elite:

“Today's college football coach would be at a loss without his game films, those invaluable tools of the trade. Today's coach might be interested to know that Carl Snavely was the first coach to employ the use of films as a coaching device. Snavely was at the helm of the Cornell football program when he first decided to set up the projector in his den in Ithaca, New York. He devoted hours to scanning the action, for Snavely knew the camera would reveal flaws in a team's play that the human eye would never detect. The Snavely coaching tour included stays at Bucknell (1927-1933), North Carolina (1934-1935, 1945-1952), Cornell (1936-1944) and Washington University in St. Louis (1953-1958). Snavely's record for 32 years was 180-96-16. His 1939 Cornell team was unbeaten and won a classic 23-14 victory at Ohio State.

Snavely coached three remarkable players - Clark Hinkle at Bucknell, Bud Holland at Cornell, and Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice at North Carolina. He always taught the single-wing formation. With Justice at North Carolina, he utilized the quick kick, using the punt on second or third down. Then he added a shift, when he needed short yardage, and drew opponents offside. For the period 1915-26 he coached at prep schools. Snavely was president of the American Football Coaches Association in 1952.”

Snavely, was known as “The Grey Fox,” or “King Carl,” or “The Dutchman.” The last nickname may come from his days on the football field at Lebanon Valley, home to the “Flying Dutchmen.” He is also fondly remembered in Chapel Hill for his late-night screening parties with vanilla ice cream.

It was while at Cornell that “The Dutchman” gained national prominence and it was during a famous game that his moral character was exemplified. What occurred is explained in this newspaper account.

“On November 16, 1940, Cornell played rival Dartmouth. Cornell had won 18 straight games, but Dartmouth was able to hold on to a 0-0 tie going into the 4th quarter. Then Dartmouth scored a field goal and led 3-0. With less than a minute to go, Cornell got the ball to Dartmouth’s six-yard line. Three runs and a pass failed to score . . . then, as confusion reigned on the field with what looked like a tremendous upset, the unheard-of happened. Linesman Joe McKenny signaled the ball should remain with Cornell for another down. Referee Red Friesell agreed. Cornell was given a fifth down. They scored. Game over, Cornell wins 7-3. When Carl Snavely reviewed the game film and realized what had happened, he sent a telegram to Dartmouth Head Coach Earl “Red” Blaik. “Cornell relinquishes claim to victory and extends congratulations to Dartmouth.” Dartmouth accepted the forfeit; final score 3-0, Dartmouth. “

Snavely was born July 30th, 1894 in Omaha Nebraska. He died July 12th, 1975 at his home in St. Louis Missouri.

From the home of a Methodist minister, Snavely left his mark in the collegiate coaching ranks, as one of the greatest. Not bad for a Danville High School graduate, and a young man who seemed destined for a life in the rolling mills. But destiny had more in store, and as we like to say, the rest is history.