Ray Linn, 96, was a titan of Berks football

Ray Linn won a lot of football games as coach at Gov. Mifflin and three other schools but said that wasn’t the most important thing to him.

“It’s not important whether you win or lose,” Linn said upon returning to the sidelines after a 12-year hiatus in 1985. “I’m hoping to give the players a lesson they can carry on with them through their lives.

“My goal has never been to win, but to work with young people and try to teach them other things than just sports – to try to teach them to have character.”

Linn, who created a football dynasty at Mifflin in the 1960’s, died late last month at age 96.

He coached the Mustangs to a record seven Tri-County League titles during his first stint at Mifflin, from 1956-1973.

Overall, his Mifflin teams won 124 games over 21 seasons, second-most in Berks history at the time of his final retirement, in 1987.

He also coached West Reading for four seasons, from 1952-55, guiding the Cowboys to a 26-7-2 record that included their only unbeaten season, in 1952, and to a program-record 8-1 finish the following year.

Linn moved from West Reading to Mifflin in 1956. The Mustangs had debuted with two losing seasons following the merger of Shillington and Mohnton high schools. Linn’s first Mifflin team went 6-3 and his first 12 teams with the program had winning records.

Linn’s 1961 team set a program by going 9-1; the Mustangs matched that record in 1966 and 1968 and record their first unbeaten season in 1971, when they finished 9-0-1. The tie came against Lancaster Catholic.

In 1959, when Mifflin was part of the newly created Tri-County League, the Mustangs went 8-1 overall and unbeaten in the league, winning their first league championship. They went on to win four of the first five Tri-County titles and went 23-2 in league play the first five seasons.

The Tri-County League included Muhlenberg, Wilson, Cornwall (now Cedar Crest), Lancaster Catholic and Lebanon Catholic. Central Catholic joined seven years later.

In 1964 John Gurski became coach at Wilson and ignited one of the greatest football rivalries in Berks County history. The Mustangs and Bulldogs annually met in the season’s final game; they drew huge crowds and are among the most memorable clashes in Berks football history.

Since 2012 the Mustangs and Bulldogs have played for the Linn-Gurski Trophy, named in honor of their two respected former coaches.

Gerry Slemmer, a lineman at Wilson in the late 1960’s, recalled that rivalry with fondness in a 1985 Reading Eagle article.

“As an athlete, you looked at him with a sense of awe,” Slemmer said of Linn.

Later, when Slemmer became Wilson’s head coach, he called it an “honor” to coach against Linn.

Linn left coaching following the 1973 season. His final game was a 21-0 loss to Wilson. That nagged at him, and when the opportunity arose more than a decade later to return to the sidelines he did so eagerly, at age 58.

“There’s one thing I regretted and that’s quitting on a losing season,” he said upon his return in 1985. “It’s always been a little difficult for me to accept. I was hoping to go out a winner.”

Linn did take the Mustangs to a winning record in his second season, their first in six years, in 1986. He retired for good following the next season, 1987.

He was considered one of the pioneers of Berks football. He was named Coach of the Year three times and was inducted into several Hall of Fames, including Mifflin’s, the Berks County Football Coaches Association’s, the Pennsylvania Football Coaches’ and in 2022 the Wyomissing Football Association Hall of Fame; the WFA honors players and coaches from West Reading, Wyomissing High and Wyomissing Area.

“Some of the happiest times of my life were when I was coaching and working with kids,” Linn said at the time of his return in 1985. “That’s something that I really miss, working with the kids.

“I have a lot of pleasant memories (of my life), and most of them are with the school and working with the fine young people I met there.”

After coaching, Linn served as Gov. Mifflin’s athletic director, and as a member of the District 3 Committee, until his retirement from education.

Linn was a graduate of Shippensburg High School and Shippensburg University and a veteran of the United State Army.

Before coming to Mifflin he coached football at Port Jervis, N.Y. and Audubon, N.J.

A Celebration of Life will be held Jan. 27 at 11 a.m. at Immanuel United Church of Christ, 99 S. Waverly Street, Shillington. A reception will follow at Governor Mifflin High School.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to: The Linn Family Scholarship, Governor Mifflin Education Foundation, 10 South Waverly Street, Shillington, Pa. 19607.

Donations can also be made by visiting: https://bit.ly/46Fahae