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Former Potter assistant still going strong in WPIAL

Jim Render (center) and his wife Pam were honored by the Pittsburgh Steelers before their September 16th home opener against the Kansas City Chiefs. (Photo by Jimmy Joe Savage)

When the Carrollton Warriors opened their 1970 football season with a 12-7 victory at East Palestine, first-year head coach Jim Render picked up the first win of his storied head coaching career.

Forty-nine years later, the former East Liverpool and Stanton Local assistant is still racking up wins. Render notched the 400th win of his career on Aug. 31, when the Upper St. Clair Panthers beat Peters Township 16-14 in their season-opener.

The 1960 Dover High School and 1964 Wittenberg University graduate has been at Upper St. Clair, which is about 10 miles south of Pittsburgh, since 1979.

During that span, Upper St. Clair has won two state titles and five Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) titles. The Panthers play in 5A, which is Pennsylvania’s highest classification, similar to Ohio’s Division I class. Render is the all-time winningest coach in WPIAL history. There are less than 20 active high school football coaches who have amassed 400 career coaching wins. Upper St. Clair is currently 8-1 on the season, increasing Render’s career record to 407-139-6.

After one year at Stanton Local, three at East Liverpool and two as a graduate assistant at West Virginia University, Render took the helm at Carrollton in 1970. Over the course of the next two seasons, he guided the Warriors to a 12-6-2 mark.

Render then spent seven seasons at Uniontown, Pa., going 44-25-2, capped by a 7-1-2 ledger in 1978. What made Render’s record remarkable was that Uniontown had gone winless the two years prior to his arrival.

Render recalled his year at Stanton Local, working on Howard Gilger’s staff.

“I had a great time at Stanton,” Render said. “I was fresh out of college, I had never coached before. I didn’t know if I was going to like it. I found out that I liked both teaching and coaching, and working with young people.”

While Stanton may have been Render’s first coaching experience, he was no stranger to outstanding coaches. Render spent his freshmen year at Northwestern, which was coached by Ara Parseghian, before transferring to Wittenberg. The Tigers’ head coach was Bill Edwards, who previously had been the head coach of the Detroit Lions and Vanderbilt University. Edwards served on Paul Brown’s staff in Cleveland in 1947 and 1948.

Render’s uncle, Ike Trubey, coached Elyria High School to an undefeated season in 1947 before joining his former roommate’s staff at Vanderbilt. During his stay in Elyria, Trubey coached 1950 Heisman Trophy winner Vic Janowicz. After a standout Ohio State career, Janowicz would play parts of two seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“My uncle taught me how to placekick,” said Render, who played quarterback and kicked. “He also taught Janowicz how to placekick. In fact, Vic Janowicz’s Pittsburgh Pirates contract was actually signed on my uncle’s desk.”

Steve Belichick was also on that Vanderbilt staff when his son Bill, the future New England Patriots coach, was born.

During the year he spent at Stanton, Render rented an apartment in Wellsville from attorney Jim McSweeney. McSweeney told East Liverpool board of education member Harry McConville about the talented young coach who might be a good fit for East Liverpool. McConville relayed the information to Bob McNea, the head coach of the Potters. Render was no stranger to

McNea, as McNea was the coach who had recruited Render to Northwestern during the time he was on Parseghian’s Northwestern staff.

“I really enjoyed my three years on Bob McNea’s staff,” Render said. “We had a lot of success. I remember a really big win over Cleveland St. Joe’s. We had tremendous support from the East Liverpool community. Over the years, people like Harry McConville and Frank Dawson are the type who have made East Liverpool such a great place. We had so many hard-working, talented players.”

During the recruitment of one of those standouts, Mike McVay, that Render made contact with the West Virginia staff. Render was able to secure a graduate assistant post on head coach Jim Carlen’s Mountaineer staff. After Carlen left to take the Texas Tech post, Render worked under Bobby Bowden, who eventually would become the fourth all-time winningest coach in college football.

Render recalled his first win at Carrollton.

“We beat East Palestine at their place,” he said. “My mom and dad had been on a long-awaited vacation in Hawaii. They flew all day to be there. In those days, it was a big deal to fly that far in one day. After the game, my mom put a Hawaiian lei around my neck. I will always remember that.”

For many years it has been said, “To win the WPIAL, you have to be able to beat Upper St. Clair.”

That is very true, as for a span of eight consecutive seasons, Upper St. Clair was in the WPIAL semifinals, winning four and losing four. They have played for four state titles, winning twice.

One of his former players, Sean Lee, is currently a linebacker with the Dallas Cowboys.

“Many of my players have gone on to be doctors, lawyers and financial planners. They are a lot smarter than me,” said Render with a laugh. “I have been very lucky. I have stayed relatively healthy and have had a lot of good players.”

Render’s biggest “win” came in Carrollton when he met Pam Churico, whom he married on July 1, 1973. They have two sons, J.T. and Eric, who both played for their dad at Upper St. Clair.

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