Rover -
Yes, I have wondered about Saylor sometimes (I have heard he was a bit biased to the West even though he was really a Harrisburg guy as I understood it).
You can go back and get the ratings for each school and as far back as he goes (you can visit the Penn State site for that stuff and punch in the school and check it out).
Here's the link:
The Saylor football statistics database consists of approximately 6,700 files. There are different types of files which include records from all colleges, universities, and junior colleges across the country, conference information, including defunct conferences and alliances. Also included are...
libraries.psu.edu
Here's the Harrisburg Tech link which has the 1919 squad with a .549:
digital.libraries.psu.edu
The 1919 club posted a .549 which is getting up there, for sure.
Here's Easton:
digital.libraries.psu.edu
Picking some selectively for Easton, some of their great teams include:
1939 - .531
1958 - .511
1959 - .513
1968 - .541
Interesting to say the least.
I recall that very tough 1968 team as I saw that game up in Easton (with Neshaminy - I was in 9th grade and Neshaminy was three years at the time). The Dawgs were beasts and I can see why they had that .541 number.
The 1958 team was undefeated and the 1959 guys had one loss (odd numbers).
The 1959 teams loss was to Baltimore Tech, which played a lot of Lehigh Valley teams back in the day. They also had guys in their 20s on the football team in their Tech program, so those tended to be tough games to say the least. I think that game didn’t count in the Saylor rating because it was out of state. The ‘59 team did go on the road and beat Central Dauphin with Don Caum, who were higher rated in Saylor in ‘58, but in the UPI Poll Easton got the nod. That would have bumped their strength of schedule in the formula. They also were Neshaminy’s only loss, and beat up Thomas Jefferson from Brooklyn, which also wouldn’t have counted in their rating. That’s a really good team - Charley Weaver had the first 1,000 yard season, mostly running behind Ray Rissmiller, who ended up a first round NFL draft pick at tackle.
The ‘58 team’s big win was Old Forge, who was a coal region power in thr 50s. Easton actually scheduled the game during the season when both were undefeated and had the same off week, and Easton blew their doors off to get a lot of love in the poll rankings. That Easton team also beat Phillipsburg, who finished #3 in New Jersey, in a game that didn’t count towards their Saylor rating because it was out of state.
The 1968 team gets referenced a lot on here because of the “scholastic Super Bowl” against Pennsbury that was the 1 and 2 teams in the state, won in dramatic fashion by Easton. That game still holds Easton’s attendance record - something like 16,500. Our AP US history teacher used to teach a lesson on that game every year as part of a “history of Easton” mini-course that ran through the year. They also only played in state teams other than Phillipsburg in ‘68, so they have 9 of their 10 games count towards the formula. That also was the close of a 27-1-1 three year stretch where each team was rated over .500.
That ‘68 team was quarterbacked by Barry Snyder, who is probably the most quintessential Easton athletics figure ever - undefeated as a starting quarterback in 67 and 68, state finalist as a wrestler, wrestling captain at Penn State, 30 year wrestling assistant and freshman football coach at Easton, and his son was a state champion wrestler (Easton’s only father-son state finalists). That backfield had guys go to NC State, Maryland, Princeton, and Harvard - with the Maryland guy (Art Seymore) playing for the 49ers. It’s also funny, looking at old articles, fullback and All State linebacker Joe Parsons is listed as going to Ohio State (recruited by new OSU assistant George Chaump, who was cleaning up in Pennsylvania), but then at the last minute his mother sent him to Princeton, which was probably a better long term move if not a better football one.
The other team from the mythical champ era that was way up there was the ‘78 team, they went 10-0-1, with a weird tie against Emmaus in week 2. In the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s end of season poll they were #3 behind Penn Hills and CB West. They got a .520 rating by Saylor.
