Slatington High School 1951 yearbook
Bruce Frehn Follweiler (1933-2013) grew up on Franklin Street, the son of Leland Follweiler (1905-1934) and Blanche Green (1908-2012). There were two boys and a girl in the family.
His Northern Lehigh High School "Ring of Honor" statement read:
Bruce "Cass" Follweiler participated in three Varsity Sports during his years at Slatington High School serving as a member of the Football and Basketball teams from 1948 to 1951 and as a player on the Baseball team from 1949 to 1951. Bruce played in the District XI Baseball Championship and is considered by many as one of the best "All-Around Athletes" to come through Slatington. In addition to his dedication on the playing fields, Bruce was also elected Class President by his peers. Today, Bruce continues to play men's' league softball and is the spotter for Lehigh University Football Games. Congratulations, Bruce "Cass" Follweiler!
As the Ring of Honor statement noted, Follweiler played football, baseball and basketball in high school. As a graduating senior in 1951, he was class president and voted "best athlete."
In his freshman year of 1947-48, he was mainly used as a substitute in football games, and he played JV basketball. He did not play baseball his freshman year.
In his sophomore year of 1948-49, Slatington's football and basketball teams were not very good. The football team finished 0-9 with Follweiler listed as a tackle for all the games. The basketball team was a bit better finishing 9-6 in league play. While Follweiler started the season on the JV team, in mid-December he was promoted to the varsity where he remained for the rest of the season. He scored 53 points in league play.
Follweiler's junior year, 1949-1950, saw the Slatington football team enjoy some success, finishing with a record of 5-3-1. He was now playing in the backfield at left halfback and scored his first touchdown in a game against Emmaus on Saturday, 8 October. The Morning Call, in the upset of Palmerton on Thanksgiving Day, 24 November, singled out Follweiler who "played brilliant ball throughout the morning contest." The Slatington basketball team was not very successful, finishing with an overall record of 7-11. In the fourteen league games, Follweiler scored a total of 67 points, about 5 points per game. He was also on the baseball team in the spring, which finished with a 2-5 league record.
Follweiler was a dominant athlete his senior year, 1950-1951. He captained the football team, which had a pretty good year at 6-3. Just look at his season.
2 TDs in the Slatington 19 - East Stroudsburg 6 game
1 22-yd run for a TD in the Coplay 0 – Slatington 19 game
1 pass reception for 67 yards and a TD in the Slatington 6 – Emmaus 12 game
1 TD on a 45-yard run in the Northampton 38 – Slatington 6 game
1 TD on a 23 yd run (and a placekick for the extra point) in the Slatington 13 – Catasauqua 12 game
1 TD on a 20 yd pass reception in the Slatington 6 – Whitehall 19 game
3 TDs including one on a 55-yd reception and another on a 23-yd run in the Stroudsburg 14 – Slatington 25 game (The game was played on a Monday afternoon after being postponed because of rain.)
1 TD on a 6 yd pass reception in the Thanksgiving game v. Palmerton, a 6-0 win for Slatington.
According to my calculations, that's 11 TDs, or 66 points of the 112 scored by Slatington that year.
The Slatington basketball team finished with a record of 12-10 in the 1950-51 season, which was good enough for third place in the league. Follweiler was captain of the team and averaged about 10 to 15 points per game. He finished with 115 points in 14 league games.
In the spring of 1951, Slatington fielded a Lehigh Valley League championship baseball team, 10-2, led by the brilliant pitching of Franklin D. R. (Ted) Wieand who compiled a 9-2 record with 167 Ks in 86 innings. The team lost in the District XI title game to Cass Township H.S. Follweiler was a big part of the team success playing center field and homering in several important games.
After graduating from Slatington High School, Follweiler entered Lehigh University in the fall of 1951.
He served in the US army 1953-1955.
After leaving the service he began working at Bethlehem Steel where he worked for 43 years, eventually becoming chief of plant payroll and employee benefits.
He was part of the statistics crew for Lehigh University home football games for almost forty years.
In 1956, he married Nancy Jane Coffin (1933-). They had a son and a daughter.