Chuck Pollock: Hornell’s Gene Mastin reflects on old-time football in the Big 30 from Bill Shesman to George Whitcher

By CHUCK POLLOCK, Wellsville Sun, Hornell Sun Senior Sports Columnist

An email arrived the other day from an old friend.

You may remember him … Gene Mastin, one of the most successful high school football coaches in Section V history.

In 28 years at Hornell High School he won 240 games, the most in that section’s history, and claimed an unprecedented three straight New York State championships while fashioning a 51-game win streak en route to a spot in the Section 5 Hall of Fame.

WHAT PROMPTED his email was the passing of a long-time friend of mine, Bill Shesman, who died last week at the age of 89. His first name was John but for most all of his life he was called Bill for reasons that were never explained to me.

We met in the fall of 1970 when I took the play-by-play job at WESB radio doing the football and basketball games of Bradford High, Pa., and Bradford Central Christian. New to the area and, given BHS’ size — nearly 500 graduates back then— I wanted to learn all I could about the football team. John Durham, the head coach, invited me to the Monday night film sessions reviewing the upcoming opponent. It was Durham, assistants Shesman and Ed Pomroy and me. In my three years as a team broadcaster, I learned more football in those sessions than in any segment of my life, including playing days.

Durham, a preparation fanatic, still conducted the film study with a sense of humor and Shesman was the perfect humorous foil, especially the way he pronounced the subject he taught: “Jom-i-tree.” His students that I met swore Bill was their favorite teacher.

Durham hired him due to his success at Johnsonburg and we never failed to remind him that he coached in the smelliest town in Pennsylvania. Pomroy, 6-foot-2, 240 pounds, was nearly drafted by the Browns after graduating from Slippery Rock. He was a no-nonsense, all business coach and was a source of fear at practice.

Besides learning the game and being flattered by the invitation, those sessions got me super ready for the coming week’s broadcast.

MASTIN HAD his own recollections of Shesman.

“I really liked Bill. He was polarizing before that was really a commonly used word. He was of a different era — tough, hard-nosed, always ready to unapologetically offer his opinion. Bill was a true football guy.

“In an era of spread offenses, 7-on-7s, ‘basketball on grass,’ Bill’s football would have stood out. I hadn’t seen him for many, many years, but I can only imagine his thoughts on the way the sport has evolved, if indeed it has. There’s no doubt that the sport has moved on from the health and safety standpoint. I started in an era of cut blocks, where leading with the head for blocking and tackling was a standard, where the mantra was “if you look in the box score and see we passed 10 times, check to see how much we lost by.” The game today is certainly entertaining and fan-friendly, but Bill would probably say it has taken the toughness out of play and I might tend to agree.”

He added, “I was so fortunate to start my coaching career when I did. It was a different generation and culture of coaching. Tough-guy coaching. Guys like Mike Dominick, Mike Borro, Hank Reap, Paul Simcoe, George Whitcher, and Bill Shesman. I could also add two who began in the Big 30 and were highly-successful after moving on: Bill McAlee and Mike Foster. An era of toughness, regimentation, discipline, fundamentals, execution. Coaches who stand by these things today are usually out of jobs when they don’t win, or they coach at military academies.

I don’t talk football much any more except with the guys I coached with at Hornell. None of them would know anything about Bill Shesman, and very few of us still around except you and I would remember him. Those certainly were from a different era of football.”

MASTIN concluded, “I was most appreciative of your piece on the passing of Don Scholla. Don was one of the classiest people I had ever known. On the occasions that I had to deal with him in his role as Athletic Director at Olean and mine at Hornell, the interactions were pretty much the same — five minutes or so of business, and then another half hour of just talk. Always uplifting, I hung up the phone feeling better about things. In the competitive world of high school sports, Olean always had some of the best people and role models: Don, Mike Kane, Mike Taylor, and many others. I appreciated the wonderful tribute you paid to Don.”

(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun and Olean Star senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)

Photos courtesy Lynn Brennan Photography’s personal collection. Read more from Chuck after Gene Mastin photos: