John Utz: Wilkes-Barre man achieved greatness in football, lacrosse
Penn grad later coached Muhlenberg to a momentous victory at Penn State.
For as good as John Utz was at playing football — and he was great — he may have been an even better lacrosse player.
He also authored one of Muhlenberg College’s most noteworthy victories, from the sidelines.
Born Sept. 19, 1908, in Wilkes-Barre, Utz graduated from the city’s Coughlin High School. He helped the school make history as 1925 was the first year Coughlin fielded a football team.
Utz first played at the University of Pennsylvania in 1926 as a starting tackle for the freshman team. He made varsity in 1927 and played guard, but switched back in 1928 to tackle.
At the end of the 1928 season, Penn’s varsity football lettermen gathered to elect the captain of the 1929 squad.
The lettermen resoundingly endorsed Utz with 36 votes — a record number, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, which called him “a square-shouldered giant” at 200 pounds.
After an 8-1 record in 1928, Utz led Penn to a 7-2 encore. The best win was Utz’s final game, a 17-7 triumph at Franklin Field against Cornell on Thanksgiving Day.
The Central Press Association crowned Utz as a second-team All-American tackle.
Utz represented the U.S. on an All-American intercollegiate lacrosse team that played in Canada in the summer of 1930. His teammates included players from numerous colleges, including Yale and Syracuse, and the team’s coach was Jack Faber, who won six national titles at the University of Maryland.
As his playing career ended, Utz’s coaching career began. He briefly coached the freshman and junior varsity football teams at Penn before moving on to Muhlenberg College in Allentown.
Utz was the head football coach of Muhlenberg in 1933, when the Mules pulled an incredible victory, 3-0, at Penn State. The Nittany Lions, coached by Bob Higgins, went 3-3-1 that season.
“The upset — and it was all of that — was all the more remarkable in that Penn State went into the game a top-heavy favorite,” the Morning Call newspaper said. “It was the third meeting of the two teams and the Lions had no trouble whatever in their two previous games with the Mules.
“Spurred on to better things rather than discouraged by a 57-0 trouncing at the hands of Fordham a week ago, the Allentown collegians several times turned back several threatening scoring gestures by the Lions.
“When the opportunity presented itself, (kicker Al) Weiner came through with his field goal that gave Muhlenberg the greatest gridiron triumph scored in recent years.”
The 1933 Mules finished 6-3. However, after struggling in 1934 and 1935, Utz resigned with a three-year record of 9-18-1. He also coached baseball and basketball at Muhlenberg. He was succeeded by Alvin Julian, who also coached multiple sports at Muhlenberg and briefly coached the Boston Celtics.
Utz was later employed by the U.S. Treasury Department and Philco-Ford Corporation.
Utz died in 1972. He was 63.
View the constantly updated list of all the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre region’s major college football All-Americans by clicking this link.