Two of the greatest teams in Allentown football history were Allentown High’s undefeated team in 1957 and Dieruff’s unbeaten squad in 1979.
It is not a coincidence that Bruce Trotter was the leader of both teams.
With the 1957 Canaries, he was a dominant force at offensive end, earning all-state honors from both the Associated Press and UPI.
He was also selected to Pennsylvania’s Big 33 team after leading Perry Scott’s squad to a 9-0-1 record, a slate that included wins over Patterson Park, Maryland, and Memorial of West New York, New Jersey, and 6-0 victories over both Bethlehem and Phillipsburg and a 20-0 triumph over Easton.
Twenty-two years later he was the emotional, passionate leader of a Dieruff team that went 10-0-1 and gave the school its only outright championship in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.
During a 25th anniversary reunion of the team in 2004, defensive back Ron Carl made sure that the credit for the Huskies’ success in 1979 started at the top.
“The thing about Coach Trotter is that you would have taken on a truck for him if he asked you to,” Carl said. “You believed in him so much. It was the culture he created.”
The members of the ‘79 championship team and the countless students and athletes who learned from Trotter over his 38 years as a teacher and coach were better people for having him in their lives. He left an indelible spot in their hearts and minds.
Those hearts were filled with sadness with news earlier this week that Trotter had died at the age of 82.
Everywhere he went he brought an ability to engage with people, especially kids. He got to know them, laugh with them, cry with them and motivate them to become not only better student-athletes but better people.
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