Let’s credit Don Kern with first touchdown ever scored for Slatington in the Thanksgiving rivalry (since his name is listed first in the box score).
Don Kern, Pennridge teacher
Donald Leonard (Don) Kern (1920-2002) was born in Slatington, the son of Dr. Harry Kern (1888-1972) and Elizabeth née Hopkins (1887-1974). The family lived at 856 Main Street.
Kern was a star athlete at Slatington HS (football, basketball, baseball) and captain of the football team and then the baseball team in his senior year. In the 1936-37 basketball season, he led the Lehigh Valley League in scoring with 140 points, which was an average of about ten points per game. (You have to remember that the average score of a basketball game in the 1930s was something like 35-32.) (The Morning Call, 27 February 1937)
Kern was a student at Moravian College when he entered the army in March 1942. He served as a lieutenant in the 821st tank destroyer battalion and was overseas in 1944-1945. He was the recipient of a bronze star decoration.
On 16 March 1946 in Coryell, Texas, he married Josephine McClellan (1925-1996), a TCU graduate. He must have met her when he was stationed at Fort Cavazos (aka Fort Hood) which was the army’s tank destroyer training center during the war (and a camp for German prisoners of war).
Kern was a social studies teacher for Pennridge High School in Perkasie from 1955 until retiring in 1979. At times, he was also assistant football coach and head basketball coach for the varsity and junior varsity teams.
He died in 2002 and was buried in the St. Stephens UCC cemetery, Perkasie. His wife predeceased him in 1996. He and his wife had one daughter and a son.