State College Soccer Celebrates 50th Anniversary of State Title Win

This story originally appeared in The Centre County Gazette.

STATE COLLEGE — In 1976, the State College High School soccer team, led by head coach Ken Fogleman, won its very first Pennsylvania State Championship with a 2-0 victory over Bethlehem Freedom at Reading Memorial Field.

Little Lion forwards Dave Shelow and Bob Langton scored late fourth-quarter goals and goalie Terry Brush, after two crucial first-half saves, completed the shutout as SC took what was just the fourth State Championship Tournament ever run by the PIAA.

Now, in 2026, the members of that State College team, along with coach Fogleman and assistant coach Donn Wagner, celebrated the 50th anniversary of that magical 1976 season. 

They gathered on Friday night, Sept. 11, at the Wyndham Garden Hotel in Boalsburg and were introduced at the State College High School soccer game against Lewisburg on Saturday and then held a reunion banquet at the hotel on Saturday evening.

There were many players, friends and supporters who attended, including present Little Lion Coach Danny Orton.

That 1976 championship was the culmination of 11 years of hard work for Fogleman, who restarted the State College soccer program in 1965 after the school went 10 years without a team.

The early years were difficult, but by 1970 the Little Lions were more than competitive. They were 11-3-2 in 1970, 12-3-1 in 1971 and they took their first Tri-County League championship in 1973 with a 14–1-2 record. 

In 1974, SC won its first District 6 Championship and a trip to the very first PIAA State Tournament. In that tournament, SC beat 7-1 Washington Trinity in the first round but was knocked out in the quarterfinals.

In 1975, they were back in the PIAA Tournament as D6 Champions, but fell in the first round, but that was a young team, and everyone expected them to be back in 1976.

They were, and they took out Altoona in the D6 final, scored three goals in the second half to beat Tri-Valley League champ Middleburg, 3-2, and then qualified for the title game with a 3-2 victory over WPIAL Champion West Allegheny.

Next up was Bethlehem Freedom.

“This has been an amazing weekend,” Fogleman said at the celebration dinner. “Last night we had a social event, mingled and it was some very emotional times.

“I am so grateful that the boys put this together. Then at the soccer game this afternoon they had us out in the middle at halftime and honored us. It was fantastic.”

In that 1976 season, SC scored 70 goals to 16 for opponents with Mark Cunningham leading the scorers with 11 goals followed by Langton with 9. Don Rung, Cunningham and Shawn Muthersbaugh were named Tri-Valley League All-Stars.

The seniors on the team were Dave Belk, Dan Brewer, Brush, Cunningham, Denis DeMartino, Tim Frey, Chuck Gill, Gotshalk, Jim Guthrie, Jamie Hettema, Kurt Huntley, Chet Johnson, Dean Pearce, Rung, Chris Schein and Shelow.

The juniors were Eric Diethorn, Sam Ergler, Jeff Harpster, Bob Langton, Roland Moore and Shawn Muthersbaugh.

The sophomores were Jeff Harper and Jay Infield, and the managers were Sally Harding and Bonnie Bloom. Chris Morro was the statistician. 

Fogleman, who graduated from East Juniata High School and attended Lock Haven University, has since been inducted into the Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Hall of Fame.

At the banquet, Fogleman spoke first and recounted memories of the season, and he was followed by Wagner and many others. 

It was a night of reminiscing about a great team and a great season.