Wilson moving up quickly on Pennsylvania’s all-time wins leaders
2025 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
Mount Carmel, Berwick, Easton, Williamsport and several other blue-blood Pennsylvania football programs have recorded hundreds of more victories than Wilson.
Mount Carmel, the state’s winningest program, lays claim to 907 victories – nearly 300 more than the Bulldogs.
Easton has recorded 886 wins and Berwick 845, but those programs, like Mount Carmel’s, got a decades-long start on Wilson: They were all winning games while Grover Cleveland and William McKinley were in the White House and “Buffalo” Bill Cody was shooting up the prairie, in the 1890’s.
Wilson didn’t play its first varsity game 1945 – more than half a century, and two World Wars, after many of the state’s winningest programs kicked off.
In the decades since few programs have won as often as the Bulldogs have. Their .711 winning percentage over nine decades is sixth-highest in the state among programs with 500 or more wins.
Of the other 500-game winners with a higher all-time winning percentage only Ridley (.731) and Mount Carmel (.713) have accumulated more victories.
The Bulldogs have made up ground on the early leaders with an unprecedented run of success. Their 11-2 finish last season gave them 49 consecutive winning seasons and 61 consecutive non-losing seasons, the longest active streaks in the state.
Doug Dahms, who has been on the Wilson sidelines for 49 seasons and for more than three-fourths of the program’s wins, says much of that success comes down to one key element: Continuity of coaching.
“I’m the fourth (head coach) in 50 years,” said Dahms, the Bulldogs’ head coach since 2006.
Wilson athletics changed dramatically in 1964 when John Gurski was hired as head football coach. In the seven decades since the Bulldogs have been consistent winners in football (and in many other sports, thanks in large part to the culture Gurski developed.)
Gurski coached Wilson for 19 seasons. He turned the program over to a long-time assistant and former player, Gerry Slemmer, in 1983. After 15 seasons Slemmer was succeeded by Jim Cantafio, an established winner who guided the program for eight seasons.
Dahms was an assistant coach for Gurski, Slemmer, and Cantafio.
Many of Dahms’ assistants have been with the program for decades. Defensive coordinator Ernie Wolber is preparing for his 25th season on the Wilson staff; offensive coordinator Jeremy Palm has been on staff since 2003.
Dahms’ success in finding committed assistant coaches has been a key factor in maintaining the program’s high standards. He demands a lot from them, in-season and out. And he puts pressure on them to perform.
“When I’m ready to hire them, the last thing I tell them is: ‘When we lose a football game, it’s your fault,’ ” Dahms said. “(And) if we win a football game it’s your fault. That’s how I want my coaches to feel, that there’s always something they could’ve done better or differently to enable us to win a football game. If you get coaches who are like that (you’ll be successful).”
Wilson put together an incredible streak a few years ago, winning nine straight Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 titles and 68 consecutive league games, an L-L record.
Players of the last several generations have grown up knowing nothing but winning; they feel compelled to keep it going.
“Success is an annual responsibility of each team,” said Joe Mays, the program historian who played linebacker for Cantafio and who now coaches in the junior high program.
“Each year the senior class is tasked with playing for those around them now, and for those that came before them,” Mays said. “And each class must continue these long-established program identities. No graduating class wants to be the reason the program loses its luster.”
Pennsylvania’s winningest programs*
(ranked by winning percentage; minimum 500 victories)
| Ridley | .771 |
| Southern Columbia | .744 |
| Manheim Central | .716 |
| Upper St. Clair | .715 |
| Mount Carmel | .713 |
| Wilson | .711 |
| Thomas Jefferson | .707 |
| Aliquippa | .697 |
| Cumberland Valley | .690 |
| Frankford | .678 |
| Eric Cathedral Prep | .673 |
| Berwick | .687 |
| Jeannette | 687 |
| Easton | .686 |
| Central Bucks West | .661 |
Continuity of coaching has been a key in Wyomissing’s success, as well. Bob Wolfrum has been the Spartans’ head coach for 38 seasons and on the coaching staff for 51 years. In 2023, he was one of three coaches on staff with 50-plus years of coaching experience, along with the late Al Silveri and Jack Paris, a former head coach at Wyomissing, as well as at Gov. Mifflin.
The Spartans have a .732 winning percentage in their 57 seasons. They’re a few seasons away from reaching the 500-win milestone but their winning percentage is exceeded by just two other Pennsylvania programs with 400 or more wins, Ridley and Southern Columbia.
Wyomissing is the only Berks football team to record a 16-0 season and win a PIAA title and has recorded 20 consecutive non-losing seasons. It has finished with a losing record just once in the last 47 years.
Berks Catholic had a remarkable .808 winning percentage during its first decade but has tailed off in recent seasons, with 5-6 finishes in 2022 and 2023 and a 7-5 record last season. The Saints (.731) are one of 14 teams in the state with more than 100 victories and a winning percentage above .700.
Wilson passed Manheim Central last season to become the winningest program in the Lancaster-Lebanon League. The Barons, who began playing two seasons after the Bulldogs, still maintain a slightly higher all-time winning percentage at .716.
Pennsylvania’s winningest programs*
(ranked by winning percentage; minimum 100 victories)
| Central Valley | .786 |
| Ridley | .771 |
| Imhotep Charter | .764 |
| West Chester Rustin | .751 |
| Southern Columbia | .744 |
| Wyomissing | .732 |
| Berks Catholic | .731 |
| Downingtown East | .722 |
| Manheim Central | .716 |
| Upper St. Clair | .715 |
| Mount Carmel | .713 |
| Valley View | .713 |
| Wilson | .711 |
Pennsylvania wins leaders*
| School | Wins | First season |
| Mount Carmel | 907 | 1893 |
| Easton | 886 | 1889 |
| Berwick | 845 | 1888 |
| Steel-High | 813 | 1894 |
| Aliquippa | 790 | 1910 |
| Jeannette | 786 | 1900 |
| New Castle | 759 | 1892 |
| Coatesville | 757 | 1903 |
| Washington | 747 | 1901 |
| Williamsport | 746 | 1892 |
Berks’ winningest programs
| School | Wins | First season |
| Wilson | 611 | 1945 |
| Reading | 548 | 1892 |
| Wyomissing Area | 468 | 1968 |
| Gov. Mifflin | 420 | 1954 |
| Muhlenberg | 412 | 1945 |
| Boyertown | 386 | 1939 |
| Exeter | 374 | 1958 |
| Conrad Weiser | 352 | 1969 |
| x-Central Catholic | 333 | 1944 |
| x-Holy Name | 290 | 1968 |
