USA Today names 3 WPIAL greats among best high school quarterbacks in history

By: Chris Harlan
Monday, July 10, 2023 | 9:20 PM

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Who was the best high school quarterback in history?

It’s a debate that’ll never be resolved, but three all-time great WPIAL passers made the list when USA Today tried recently to answer that question. In fact, one of them, Beaver Falls legend Joe Namath, was named the all-time best high school quarterback from the East.

The newspaper divided the country into five parts — East, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest and Western — and named the top five quarterbacks from each region.

Namath, a senior in 1960, was joined on the East list by two other WPIAL greats: Central Catholic graduate Dan Marino was ranked second and Ringgold’s Joe Montana was fifth.

Along with Pennsylvania, the East region included players from Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington D.C.

Namath led Beaver Falls to a 9-0 record as a senior, and the Tigers were declared WPIAL champions that season as the only undefeated team in the largest classification.

Marino passed for nearly 1,600 yards in 1978, during an era where most WPIAL offenses had a run-first approach. The Vikings won the West Penn Conference title with a 9-1 record.

Montana led Ringgold to an 8-1 record in 1973, helping the Rams qualify for the WPIAL playoffs for the first time.

USA Today identified the top high school quarterbacks from the four other regions as Chris Leak in the Southeast, Tim Couch in the Midwest, Peyton Manning in the Southwest and John Elway in the Western.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Beaver Falls, Central Catholic, Ringgold