Kuhla, the second four-sport athlete ever at Palmerton High School, starred during the 1946 football season.
Kuhla (right) is congratulated by Palmerton Coach Bill Braucher on his athletic prowess; photo credit The Morning Call, 20 June 1946 (AI enhanced)
Here are Kuhla's football game-by-game performances in the fall of 1946. He was a junior that season.
28 September at Whitehall, Palmerton 12 – Whitehall 2: Kuhla rushed for a touchdown.
4 October at Stroudsburg, Palmerton 32 – Stroudsburg 6: Kuhla rushed for a touchdown.
12 October against Catasauqua, Catasauqua 12 – Palmerton 7
19 October against Bangor, Bangor 0 – Palmerton 20: Kuhla rushed for a touchdown and also passed for a touchdown. He also had an important "coffin corner" punt in the game.
26 October at Northampton, Palmerton 7 – Northampton 20: Kuhla rushed for Palmerton's lone touchdown.
2 November versus Emmaus, Emmaus 13 – Palmerton 26: Kuhla rushed for a touchdown and also passed for a touchdown.
Action photo taken on the Palmerton field, Kuhla runs for a 35-yard gain; photo credit The Morning Call, 3 November 1946
9 November versus Wilson, Wilson 12 – Palmerton 12: Kuhla rushed for both Palmerton touchdowns.
16 November at Lehighton, Palmerton 24 – Lehighton 6: The game was cut short by a free for all which erupted late in the fourth quarter ("Fist Fight Halts L.V. League Game in which Eddie Kuhla Stars"). Kuhla had two rushing touchdowns on two long runs of 85 and 65 yards. He had over 190 yards rushing in a little over six minutes of playing time. (The Morning Call, 17 November 1946)
Action photo taken on the Lehighton H.S. football field as Kuhla runs 70 yards for a touchdown; photo credit The Morning Call 18 November 1946
28 November at Slatington, Palmerton 13 – Slatington 6: Kuhla rushed for a late Palmerton touchdown
Kuhla was recognized for the fine season he had accomplished for Palmerton.
The Morning Call's sports page Inside Stuff Column noted, "Quarterback Walt Struss of Northampton, halfbacks Eddie Kuhla of Palmerton and Don Young of Catasauqua, and fullback Jimmy Hoffman of Slatington … That quartet could serve as the 'Dream Backfield' of any of the eight coaches in the Lehigh Valley Interscholastic League." (The Morning Call, 1 December 1946)
Kuhla was also named honorable mention to the Associated Press All-State Scholastic Team. (The Morning Call, 13 December 1946)
In the 1946-1947 school year, Kuhla, then a junior, ran afoul of a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) rule enacted in 1941 that put an age-19 limit on the ability to participate in high school athletics in Pennsylvania. That meant that while he could play basketball for Palmerton for the 1946-47 season, he could not play the spring 1947 baseball or track seasons, nor could he play any sports in the 1947-48 school year.
After Palmerton's fall 1946 football season ended, Kuhla played on Palmerton's high school basketball team in the winter of 1946-47. That was his last season of high school sports. In the game results, Kuhla was usually listed as a guard or forward. The team finished with a 19-6 record, and Kuhla scored 21 points in 14 league games. (Palmerton's team was heavily dependent on the scoring prowess of Bill Mlkvy who tallied 310 points in league play.)
Since beginning with the spring of 1947, Kuhla was ineligible for high school baseball or track, he played for the Palmerton Sokols baseball team.
During Kuhla's sophomore year at Palmerton, he also stood out as an athlete.
For the fall 1945 football season, Kuhla was a halfback and sometimes a substitute. It was not clear from newspaper accounts how much he actually played. I only found mention of one touchdown that he scored and that was against Lehighton on Saturday, 10 November 1945 when he scored a on a triple reverse from forty yards out.
In the winter 1945-1946 season, Kuhla played on Palmerton's varsity basketball team. He was listed usually as a guard or forward and scored anywhere from 4 to 12 points per game. Despite initial high hopes for Palmerton's fourth consecutive league championship, the team finished with a record of 16-6 which was not good enough to win the league.
In spring 1946, Kuhla pitched for the high school team. Palmerton lost its first three games of the season, and the season did not get much better after that. I am not sure what the final record for Palmerton was that year.
But Kuhla also was on Palmerton's successful track team in the spring of 1946, running the 100-, 220- and 440-yard races and also participating in the broad jump.
In the first meet of the year, the Coaldale High School Invitational, 6 May 1946, Kuhla finished 2nd in the 100, 220, 440 and broad jump events.
On Saturday, 18 May 1946, in the District XI track meet, Kuhla finished 5th in the 220 and 3rd in the broad jump. (The Morning Call, 19 May 1946)
In the meet against Wilson High School at Palmerton on 22 May, Kuhla netted four first-place finishes in the 100 (11 sec.), 220 (22.4, which was a new Palmerton record), 440 (56.4 sec.) and long jump (20' 3.5").
In the meet against Northampton, 28 May 1946, Kuhla ran a 10.8 to win the 100, and jumped 20' 6" to win the broad jump.
In the Carbon County Scholastic Meet, 1 June 1946, Kuhla won first place in the 100, 220 and broad jump. (The Morning Call, 2 June 1946)
Kuhla wins the 100-yard event at the Carbon County track meet held in Palmerton; photo credit The Morning Call, 4 June 1946
We should remember that these track events took place on a cinder track, which provided a far-slower surface to run on than today's all-weather tracks.
The Morning Call ran a story on 20 June 1946 about Kuhla earning four letters at Palmerton, "Town's First 4-Letter Man in 20 Years." In 1928-29, Walt Steinmetz (1911-1965) had earned letters in football, baseball, basketball and track. It was almost twenty years until Kuhla duplicated that feat. "The hope of every coach in high schools and colleges is to have four-lettermen. Seldom do such dreams come true."
Kuhla was the son of Joseph and Sabina Kuhla and grew up on Hazard Road in Palmerton. As noted above, because of the PIAA age restriction on participation in high school sports, Kuhla could not participate in any sports during his senior year, and he did not finish high school in 1948.
In July 1948, he enlisted in the marines and served in the Mediterranean area until he was sent to Korea in August 1950. He was wounded in action about a month later. At some point in time, he moved to Philadelphia where he served as a police officer.
He married Joann Suchniak (1935-2018), and they had seven children.