BCFCA to add five members to Berks football Hall of Fame
It started small, with one member. Now, almost 20 years later, and with the induction of the Class of 2022, the Berks County Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame includes more than 120 members.
Five more will be inducted at the BCFCA banquet Saturday, June 4, at Green Valley County Club.
The Class of 2022 includes Jasen Esposito, Bruce Harbach, Bill Hess, Jack Prutzman and Al Wolski.
Also, the Class of 2021, which included Alex Austin, Kerry Collins, Chris Mayer, Rick Scalese, Matt Scornavacchi, Jake Slemmer and Ross Tucker, will be recognized at the banquet this year. The Hall of Fame banquet was not held last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
There was no class selected in 2020, also due to the pandemic.
This is the 19th class of the BCFCA Hall of Fame.
With the addition of 12 new members, the Hall of Fame now includes 126 inductees: Coaches, players, officials and special contributors.
The BCFCA Hall of Fame was inaugurated in 2003 with the induction of former Conrad Weiser head coach and current Wyomissing assistant coach Al Silveri.
The first full class, in 2004, included: Ollie Eyrich, Reading High; John Gurski, Wilson; Al Gursky, Gov. Mifflin; Ferdie Kuczala, Conrad Weiser; Ray Linn, West Reading and Gov. Mifflin; Tommy Miller, Reading High; and Lenny Moore, Reading High.
Twenty-seven of the inductees have ties with Reading High as players, coaches, or other associations; that’s the most of any school. Wilson is next with 23.
The largest induction class came in 2015, when 10 members were added. Most years, the class has numbered between five and seven members.
The Hall includes four Stoppers: Former Reading High coach Andy, his sons John and Mike, and his grandson, Luke. It includes four Gilmores: Lee, David, John and Mike. And three Slemmers: Brothers Harold and Gerry, who played at Wilson, and Gerry’s son Jake, who also played for the Bulldogs.
Jasen Esposito
Esposito was an all-league offensive lineman at Holy Name and Kutztown University, was twice signed by NFL teams and has coached at Holy Name and Berks Catholic for the past 14 seasons.
He was a two-time All-Berks pick at both guard and defensive end for the Blue Jays in 1997 and 1998.
He was a three-year starter at left offensive tackle at Kutztown University and earned All-PSAC first-team honors as a senior in 2002. He also saw time at guard as a freshman.
Esposito was signed as an undrafted free agent by the New England Patriots in 2003 and the Buffalo Bills in 2004, and played in NFL Europe for the Frankfurt Galaxy. He spent two seasons on the Bills practice squad, in 2004 and 2005.
He has been an assistant coach at Holy Name and Berks Catholic since 2008.
Esposito is currently vice president of Go Big Recruiting, a video submission service designed to help high school athletes gain exposure to college coaches.
Bruce Harbach
Harbach played quarterback at Wilson, was an assistant coach with the Bulldogs and several other Berks schools, and was head coach at Lancaster Catholic, where he won two PIAA championships and four District 3 titles.
In his 16 seasons at Lancaster Catholic Harbach’s teams went 141-63, won seven straight Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 3 titles and recorded perfect regular seasons in 2005, 2006, 2010 and 2011. His 2011 team set a program record by winning 16 games.
He was named Section 3 Coach of the Year six times and PIAA Class AA Coach of the Year twice, following state championships in 2009 and 2011.
Harbach was a two-time All-Berks pick and went on to play at Slippery Rock and West Chester.
He has coached at West Chester University, Reading High, Albright College and Conrad Weiser, among other schools.
He currently is head football coach at Schuylkill Valley.
Bill Hess
Hess has been involved in every aspect of athletics at Holy Name and now Berks Catholic, as a player, coach and administrator, for 34 years.
He was the starting center on Holy Name’s 1987 Inter-County League championship team, which set the program record with 11 wins.
Hess served as president of the Berks Inter-County Football League and later as BCIAA football chairman.
He was athletic director at Holy Name, and later Berks Catholic, from 2005-2021.
He was an assistant football for 30 seasons. He also was head softball coach and assistant baseball coach.
Hess founded the Blue and White Athletic Booster Club, the Holy Name Athletic Hall of Fame and the Berks Catholic Hall of Fame.
Hess, a graduate of Holy Name, Kutztown University and Alvernia University, is currently the Head of School at Berks Catholic.
Jack Prutzman
Prutzman was one of the top linemen of his era and a team captain at Reading High, where he played from 1952-54, when the Red Knights were part of the rugged Central Penn League.
He was named to the Reading Eagle’s All-Century team in 2000, and to the Eagle’s 1950’s All-Decade team.
Prutzman later was an assistant coach for the Red Knights coaching lineman and linebackers for head coaches Andy Stopper, whom he played for at Reading, and Bob DiPipi.
He went on to Ursinus, where he played football and wrestled. He played several positions for the Bears, starting out as a guard and linebacker when he was a freshman and eventually moving to running back and quarterback.
He had great success on the mat at Ursinus, and was the Middle Atlantic Conference runner-up at 157 pounds in 1958. He was a key part of the Bears’ 1957 championship wrestling team.
He is a member of the Reading High Hall of Fame, the Berks Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Ursinus College athletic Hall of Fame.
Prutzman taught health and physical education and aquatics at Reading High for 32 years; he also taught at Pennsbury.
Prutzman was head wrestling coach at Reading High from 1961-73, and later was a head wrestling
coach at Wyomissing.
Al Wolski
Wolksi was head football coach at Reading High and State College High over a wide-ranging coaching career that included stints at the college level and several high schools over a four-decade span.
He coached the Red Knights for nine seasons, from 1995-2003, taking the program to new heights, including Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 titles in in 1998, 2000 and 2003 and an appearance in the District 3 championship in 2003.
He went 65-28 at Reading and 159-81overall as a head coach.
After Reading he had great success at State College, where his teams went 87-42 and won three Mid-Penn Conference Commonwealth titles from 2004-2014.
He took the Little Lions to 10 postseason appearances and the PIAA championship game in 2009.
Wolski was a three-year starting lineman at Phoenixville and played at the University of South Carolina and West Chester State.