Godlewski, Stanley “Stan”

 

Stanley “Stan” Godlewski – (1994)

 

Stanley “Stan” Godlewski played high school and college football in an era when two-way performers were commonplace. It was the post-World War II period. For Stan, it all began at Nativity School (“out in the street during recess”) and continued at Hawthorne Junior High School, Lorain High School and the University of Cincinnati.

What made it even more amazing was Stan played offensive tackle and linebacker on defense as a junior for the Bearcats in 1952 at a “listed” 195 pounds. “That was my program weight,” he laughs today. “I don’t think I ever made it. It was more like 185 to 190.”

Godlewski, now retired from Lorain Ford Assembly Plant and an Avon Lake resident, began his football career playing guard in his only year (ninth grade) at Hawthorne under the late Ellwood Zaebst before moving on to LHS where he played two years under Harold Pryor and his senior year under Art Lave.

He was chosen Most Valuable Player and All-Lake Erie League and was the Steelers’ team captain his senior year, 1949.

Stan moved on to Cincinnati where his head coach was Sid Gillman, later to become famous as a National Football League coach with the San Diego Chargers, Los Angeles Rams and Houston Oilers.

While never garnering all-conference honors in college, Godlewski recalls how Gillman had his own method of rewarding and honoring his unsung gridders, particularly linemen. “Sid’s way of giving incentive was giving us tailor-made suits,” he said. “I guess I got about four or five suits. I know I never had to buy a suit in four years of college.”

Under Gillman, Stan played nose guard on defense as a freshman and sophomore. Playing both offense and defense as a junior was largely due to NCAA rules that restricted substitutions then. He played defensive end and defensive tackle as a senior. Two of his UC teammates were Don Fritz, a cornerback and captain as a senior, and Ralph Pisanelli, both later to become prominent in local football coaching circles.

During his sophomore year, Gillman’s Bearcats led the nation’s major colleges in both total offense and total defense, marking the first time any school ever accomplished such a feat.

Upon graduation, Stan played service football at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, where some of his teammates included the likes of Billy Vessels, a Heisman Trophy winner from Oklahoma, and Leon Heath, an All-America at Oklahoma.

Godlewski received an invitation to try out with the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL, but passed up the opportunity and instead opted to pursue his football career from the coaching ranks. He became an assistant freshman coach as a graduate student at Bowling Green State University under Head Coach Doyt Perry, the former Clearview head coach. Two of his frosh players from Lorain that year were Fred Churchill and Carl Hartman.

He would go on to become an assistant coach at Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills in 1958 before returning to Lorain as assistant football and head track coach at the former Lorain St. Mary High School.

While football was his principal sport, Godlewski also excelled in baseball as an outfielder, playing two years at LHS where he earned All-Lake Erie League honors in 1950, and two years at Cincinnati.

Stan also played and managed teams on Lorain’s sandlots, including the American Legion Post 30 team that advanced to the state tournament in 1949, and the Class D Czarnecki Club team that was national runner-up in the National Amateur Baseball Federation tournament in 1950. The catcher on his Lawson Lumber team in 1951 was none other than his honor, Lorain Mayor Alex M. “Kiki” Olejko. He was also manager of the Class A Lorain Glass team.

Above all, Stan’s greatest pride is his family. He and his wife, Claudia, have seven children, six of them college graduates and another presently in college. Their daughter, Anita, was the Sports Hall of Fame’s recipient of the 1987 J. Ed Uland Memorial Award for excellence both athletically and academically. A basketball standout, she played at Lorain Catholic High School and at Marquette University where she was team captain as a senior.