Ronald Haas
- Post by: mcalibrary
- January 11, 2024
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INDUCTEE
There will always be those that will argue as to which team was the best – 1938 Kulpmont 11-0 State Championship team, the 1945 11-0 Eastern Conference Championship team, the 1951 10-0 undefeated team, or the 1944 – 11-0 undefeated team that was nosed out of Eastern Conference play by the old Saylor Rating System. An integral part of that ’44 team was Ron Haas. Ron would help the ’44 team rack up 8 shutouts and would give up only 21 points all season. The first team D was unscored upon, even while playing perennial powers Mount Carmel, Coal Township, Coaldale, Ashland, Shenandoah and Scranton Tech. The 21 points given up are the fewest in Kulpmont’s 34 year history. The offense would put up 357 points while averaging 31.9 points per game – second only to the 381 points scored in 1950. Hass would be on the receiving end of 5 of the 19 touchdown passes thrown by 6 different players on that ’44 Wildcat eleven. Remember that was long before the pass became an integral part of area offenses. Ron would be part of the era which would produce a 27 game undefeated streak at Kulpmont, extending from 1944 thru 5 games of the ‘ 46 season. So good was that team, that Haas becomes the 7th member of the 28 man roster to earn induction into the Ed Romance Chapter.
Haas was also an outstanding basketball player who would lead the 1943 Wildcats to a 22-2 record and the Keystone League Championship During his senior season, Haas would surpass Sammy Brazinski as the school’s all-time leading scorer. Coach William Beierschmitt would proclaim him “one of the finest basketball players I ever coached.”
Following graduation in 1945, Haas would play Semi-Pro football with the Anthracite Maroons, Shamokin Indians, Shenandoah Presidents, and a few games with the famed Pottsville Maroons. As an Anthracite Maroon, Ron would help them to their first ever undefeated season in 1945. He would also play basketball in the Anthracite League with the Kulpmont Legion and Maurer’s Dairy of Mount Carmel.
Hass would also try his hand at coaching and headed the Kulpmont Wildcat Midget Football Team for approximately 6 years and would produce one championship team. He would also coach an All-Star team that played in Baltimore.
Ron would meet and marry his wife Alice in 1958 and would live his entire life in Sunbury. They had 2 sons, John and Scott. Ron worked for Celotex Industries and later Knights Industries until his retirement in 1989.