Ahead of his time

KARL PEARSON
Star Beacon

December 05, 2008 03:46 am

— 14th of a Series...

There are few figures more mysterious than Emmett Delaney in the history of football in Ashtabula County.
Today, black athletes are a huge part of the football landscape, but 50 years, in Delaney’s day, especially in Ashtabula County, there were few, if any, participating in football programs.
There is evidence that Delaney, if not the first, was among the first prominent black athletes in Ashtabula County. Unfortunately, little is known about him after he left the county shortly after graduation from Jefferson High School in 1958.
What makes Delaney even more of a mystery is that few of his high school classmates kept in contact with him after his family left the community. All that is known of him is that he died somewhere between 1988 and 1990 of cancer. Efforts to locate any of his relatives have been futile to this point.
Delaney seemed to appear out of nowhere in the fall of 1954 at Jefferson High School, coming to the school system from Cleveland. Actually, according to school records, it appears that he entered Jefferson Local Schools in the sixth grade in 1952.
About his athletic skills there is little doubt, however. From the moment he stepped on the football field for the Falcons of coach John Strycula, he was an impact player.
Even as a freshman, surrounded by fine players like Chuck Naso and Bill Ollila, Delaney was a huge contributor to the team’s drive to a share of its first Western Reserve League championship with Perry in 1954. He provided a lot of the power running that made the passing attack Strycula mounted with Ollila at quarterback and Naso at receiver so effective as the Falcons compiled a 6-1-1 record.
The Falcons struggled during his sophomore and junior seasons to 2-5-1 records, but Delaney remained a key component on Strycula’s last two teams.
By the time his senior season of 1957 rolled around, Delaney was the main man, a welcome foundation around which first-year coach Ron Butcher could build. Delaney delivered, too, helping the Falcons to a 5-3 record. It would be Jefferson’s last winning season for seven years.
Fortunately, the words of several of Delaney’s teammates and his old coach speak to his credentials. They have spoken loudly enough to earn his selection into the Class of 2008 into the Ashtabula County Football Hall of Fame, which will be inducted at 6 p.m. Monday at the 39th annual Ashtabula County Touchdown Club Awards Banquet.
“Emmett provided the strength for our football team,” Naso, a 1956 Jefferson graduate who was the school’s first inductee into the Ashtabula County Football Hall of Fame and the first man to earn selection to the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame as well, said. “He helped make us as good a football team as we were.
“He was an excellent football player, especially to start for our team as a freshman. He was a bull of a runner. Emmett reminded me a lot of John Henry Martin, who I played with at Kent State.
“Emmett was also a very good teammate and a great person,” Naso said. “He definitely deserves to be a Hall of Famer.”
Tom David, another 1956 Jefferson graduate who is an auto salesman in the community now, agrees.
“Emmett was a fantastic player,” he said. “He was our short-yardage guy. He got the tough yards for us. He did all the running between the two and five holes for us. They called him the Freshman Phenom that year.
“Emmett was also a great blocker. He was also an excellent linebacker. And he really was a great teammate. He fit into our team like a hand into a glove.”
Ron Means, the quarterback in Delaney’s sophomore year, said Delaney was a performer upon whom all his coaches and teammates could rely.
“Emmett played well in every game,” he said. “They called him the Falcon Express because he was so fast and so powerful. He was a very good blocker, too.”
Larry Carlson, who went on to become a fine coach and the athletic director at Jefferson, was also Delaney’s teammate. He remembers Delaney’s physical strength and his strength of character.
“He was just so strong,” Carlson said. “He had huge thighs and calves. He was as strong as an ox.
“But Emmett never tried to show you how strong he was. He was a very quiet guy. He was also very popular. He was class president his junior year.”
Butcher came to depend on Delaney’s leadership skills, especially as an example to the other Falcons.
“He was a guy who never said too much, but just went about his business,” the coach said. “He was a bull of a runner and a very hard hitter at linebacker. Emmett was an excellent player.”
Even his opponents respected Delaney. Just ask Edgewood’s Dale Corlew, who will accompany him into the Hall of Fame on Monday.
“He was an excellent player,” Delaney said. “He was a very tough player for Jefferson.”

Coming to town
According to school system records, Delaney was born Nov. 12, 1938 in Chicago. He was the son of August and Alean Delaney, a laborer.
The Delaneys lived in Cleveland for a number of years before they moved to the Jefferson district in 1952. They lived in Denmark Township.
“I lived out in Denmark, too,” Carlson said. “We used to walk the seven miles to my house and then we’d drive him to his house from there. But he was real quiet then, too. We didn’t talk a lot. I guess those long walks was one of the reasons he was so strong.”
When he got to the high school, he immediately made his presence felt with the football team. He would also play varsity basketball for a couple years.
Even though the Jefferson players had never had a black teammate before, Delaney earned acceptance right away.
“We didn’t see a lot of African Americans around back then,” Naso said. “But I think he was very well accepted. I remember having him over to our house many times.
“Emmett was just a great person. He was very quiet, but he liked to laugh. There’s no question we all embraced him.”
Delaney’s arrival opened up whole new vistas for Strycula’s team.
“We were running the split-T formation Bud Wilkinson used at Oklahoma,” Naso said. “Emmett made it possible for me to move from the backfield out to end. That was good because Bill Ollila (another Hall of Famer) was our quarterback and gave us a really open offensive attack.
“Emmett loved to hit, too. He was a terrific blocker and he did a great job at middle linebacker.”
Perhaps the key performance of Delaney’s freshman year was in a game against the Spencer Wildcats, which the Falcons won, 14-0. He rushed for 145 yards on 16 carries (a 9.1 average), scored on a 53-yard run and had a 21-yard touchdown jaunt called back by a holding penalty. Jefferson had 267 yards rushing in that game.
Another win that Delaney contributed to was an 18-7 victory over Edgewood in the third game for the Hoadley Cup. The only loss the Falcons endured that season was a 20-2 decision to Perry that forced them to settle for a share of the WRL title with the Pirates. Delaney also played well in that game. He received All-WRL recognition.
The next two years didn’t go as well for the Falcons. Ollila had graduated after the 1954 season and Naso followed him in 1955, heading off to a Syracuse team that featured a promising young back named Jim Brown. Then Strycula left after the 1956 season, turning the reins over to Butcher, who had been his assistant coach that year.

That senior season
Butcher knew what he had with Delaney, who had grown to about 200 pounds. He utilized him, along with Carlson, who occupied the left halfback spot.
“We really relied upon him a lot at fullback and at linebacker,” Butcher said.
“He made All-WRL and all-county as a senior,” Carlson said.
Several of his other teammates came to know what to expect of Delaney.
“He was very fast and a very hard runner,” Jack Maylish, a guard on that team, said. “If you didn’t get out of the way when he ran, he might run right over you. There was a reason they called him the Falcon Express.”
“Emmett was a great player and a great teammate,” Dennis Diemer, who played end on that team, said. “He loved to hit people.”
Delaney also was honored for his leadership skills by being chosen team captain. At the end of the season, he was chosen Jefferson’s MVP.
The battle for the Hoadley Cup that year against Edgewood stands out in Butcher’s mind. Jefferson won the game, the sixth in the series, 19-7. It would be the last time the Falcons defeated Edgewood until 1976, by which time Edgewood was called the Warriors. That 1976 Jefferson team, led by Hall of Famer Randy Park, defeated Edgewood, 20-0, on its way to the best record in school history (9-1).
“We played that game at Memorial Field,” Butcher said. “Emmett was instrumental in that game both on offense and defense.”

Leaving town
But the Delaney family didn’t remain in Ashtabula County for long after Emmett graduated. They returned to Cleveland, where it is believed he remained for the rest of his life.
“I think he became a male nurse,” Carlson said. “I remember seeing him a couple times when he’d come back for class reunions. I remember one time he drove up in a big Lincoln. But I’m not sure when he died. I heard he had cancer.”
Butcher recalls one final meeting.
“I remember I was coaching basketball years later and I looked up in the stands and there he was,” he said. “I talked to him for a few minutes after the game. Not too long after that, I heard he had died.”
But Delaney’s legend lives on. His bruising style of play, his friendly, quiet demeanor and his love for the game will not be forgotten by those with whom he played or by those who coached him.

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