JOHN KOVACH | Colleges Ron Berdis gives credit to his coaches and dad

When Ron Berdis was growing up on the West Side and later as a Chaney High football player, he wanted to emulate his father, Steve Berdis, who also had played for the Cowboys.
Then, while playing for Chaney from 1967-69, Ron Berdis became even more motivated to excel by his football coach, Red Angelo.
Later, Berdis was influenced by Ron Lynn of Struthers, a Mount Union College assistant coach who recruited Berdis to play for the Purple Raiders from 1970-73.
Then entering the picture was Mount Union's coach, Ken Wable, who encouraged Berdis to become more independent so he could succeed on his own in college.
All of this guidance, plus all the playing, studying and learning, set the stage for Berdis' 28-year coaching career at Chaney, first as an assistant and then as head coach.
Now, at the end of his 18th season as head coach, with a 121-62 career record, 14 outright City Series titles, eight playoff appearances and only one league loss in the last 15 years, Berdis has been honored for his life-long achievements by his alma mater.
Honored by Mount Union
He won the Mount Union College Award of Excellence, which was given in conjunction with the Mount Union College Hall of Fame inductions two weeks ago.
The award goes to a Mount Union football player who displays excellence during and after his college career, both as a player and coach.
The honor put Berdis in elite company with Lynn, now an assistant coach for the Oakland Raiders, and Dom Capers, Berdis' former teammate at Mount Union who now coaches the Houston Texans. Lynn and Capers were among previous recipients of the Award of Excellence.
Lynn, who formerly played for Mount Union, became Berdis' position coach for outside linebackers all four years, while Capers, a strong safety, was Berdis' teammate for two years.
But of all the people that Berdis has known, he credits his father, who was a Chaney running back on the school's first undefeated team in 1929, and Angelo for making the greatest impacts on his life.
"I grew up hearing from [former Chaney] coach Ches McPhee and [former Chaney] players like Frank Sinkwich and George Poschner that my father was one of the greatest players that played at Chaney," said Berdis. "Sinkwich also told me he actually tried to emulate my father. So hearing all that, I wanted to excel at Chaney, and growing up in his shadow had a great effect on me."
Angelo takes over
Then when Berdis got to Chaney, Angelo took over and made him feel like he could conquer the world in whatever field he chose.
"[Angelo] was absolutely the most motivating factor in my life next to my father," said Berdis, who played three years for Chaney and was a two-year starter at linebacker and guard and did some placekicking, and made All-City in 1969. "He just had almost a magical touch in bringing out the best in his players. He got me to believe that there [were] no limits you should place on yourself."
Then Lynn and Wable picked up where dad and Angelo left off.
Berdis said he got along well with Lynn. "At that time he was a younger guy. He was really a player's coach. We related real well [and] we got to be good friends after [college], and stayed friends and maintained a close relationship."
Berdis said Wable helped him to become an independent, mature and a responsible adult." Wable was completely different from [Angelo's] way but it was at a time in my life when you were older and hopefully more mature and entered college close to home. It was a different atmosphere. He created a sense that to play on the college level you needed to be more mature and he did a good job bringing that out," said Berdis, who was a three-year starter and four-year letterman under Wable, graduating in 1974.
Set Mount Union record
Berdis, who was 5-foot-10, 176 pounds at the time, also was an outstanding placekicker, and broke a 57-year-old school record by kicking 44 straight extra points in a row spanning his freshman and sophomore seasons to eclipse the previous mark of 37. He also kicked several field goals.
But he decided to withdraw as the team's placekicker his junior year. As an outside linebacker, Berdis followed his instincts.
"I had a pretty good nose for the ball. It seemed to be that I could be around the ball a lot and make a lot of tackles," said Berdis.
kovach@vindy.com