Charlie Winger

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000099" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Franklin Gothic Book" ><B>Oil City High School football</B></FONT> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFCC99" FACE="Franklin Gothic Book" >  </FONT> |   <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Oil City High School football"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id133.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dutch Burch"><U><B>Dutch Burch</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id134.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jim Shaughnessy"><U><B>Jim Shaughnessy</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><B>Charlie Winger</B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="04658020.png" border=0 width="600" height="2" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>Charlie Winger</B></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="421" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 2217 WIDTH="415"><div> <B>By CRAIG PHILLIPS</B></div> <div> <B>Derrick writer</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>SHIPPENSBURG - Oil City's Charlie Winger is still coming back for more.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>This weekend (May 27-28, 2005) will mark the 50th anniversary of Winger's record-setting performance at the PIAA state track and field championships, and the former Oilers athlete and coach will be on hand at the meet as usual.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Winger, who has attended each and every state meet </B></div> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="194" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 208 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="24fbcc80.jpg" border=0 width="188" height="200" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 21 WIDTH="188"><div> <B>Charlie Winger</B></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> <B>since his high school days - with the exception of when he was in the military service - plans to make the journey to cheer on the Oil City athletes and enjoy the competition.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>It was 50 years ago at Penn State that he made history when he broke a 16-year-old state record with a time of 4:25.9 in the mile run.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Winger was defending his state title in the 1955 meet, as he had won the mile the year before with a time of 4:32.6. His record-setting time eclipsed the mark of 4:26.7, which held been held by Oliver Hunter of Strong Vincent.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>“As a junior, I'd won the mile,” Winger recalls. “I don't think I'd been beaten the whole year in the mile or half mile. I was so happy when I won the mile, I felt why not let someone else win the half mile.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>“Coach John Kaufman wasn't real happy with me,” Winger continued. “(Kaufman) said, `Next year you're winning the mile and half mile.' ”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>And, the next year Winger did just than by adding the 880-yard run to his gold medal haul for two titles in the same meet and three state championships in his career.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>“We stayed in a type of barracks during the meet my junior year and there were people running around all night and causing a commotion,” Winger said. “My senior year coach Kaufman said he was going to put us up in the Nittany Lion Inn. Oh, Ernie Smith and I lived like kings.”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Smith, a high jumper, had also qualified for the Oilers, but failed to place.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Winger, however, scored a pair of victories and earned 10 points by himself to give Oil City a fifth-place finish in the team standings behind Clairton, Altoona, Lower Merion and York.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Winger's race strategy was simple.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>“I ran pretty much the same every time,” he said. “I'd like someone else to set the pace and then I would outkick them at the finish.”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>He also remembers being awfully dirty at the end of his races.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>“They were cinder tracks back then and I was covered with black because I followed everybody until the end,” Winger said. “In those days, each of my shoes weighed about two pounds apiece because they had a big metal plate that they screwed the spikes into.”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Still, he managed to run record-setting times and promoters in the eastern part of the state wanted him to race York's Fred Kerr, who had run a fast time during the season.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>“They wanted us to square off in the east to go for the national record of 4:19, but it never materialized,” Winger said.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Following his graduation, he attended Modesto Junior College in Modesto, Calif., where he and three teammates combined to set a national junior college record in the two-mile relay in 1956.</B></div> <div> <B>He later returned to Oil City to coach track and field beginning in 1980 and had a pair of state champions during the 1985 season when Ed Munoz and Mike Renninger won titles in the 800 and 1,600, respectively.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Oil City's Marty Marczak, who finished second in the girls meet and was coached by Peg Sims, narrowly missed making it a third.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>“We had two state champions within an hour and almost had a third,” Winger said.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The next year he coached Marczak and she set a District 10 record in the 800-meter run that still stands today. She wound up fourth in the state.</B></div> <div> <B>Winger, who became misty when talking about his former athletes, remembered his final District 10 champion in 2000.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>“There's nothing like having a state champ,” he said, tears welling in his eyes. “But I really enjoyed it when Brian Wice won districts his senior year. We worked very hard at that.”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Posted 5.27.05</B></div> <bR> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" width=160 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B><U>Features</U></B></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="College players"><U><B>College players</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="School records"><U><B>School records</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Yearbyyear records"><U><B>Year-by-year records</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rivalries"><U><B>Rivalries</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="VC/St. Joe"><U><B>VC/St. Joe</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Archives"><U><B>Archives</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="NFR"><U><B>NFR</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Related Links"><U><B>Related Links</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Guest book"><U><B>Guest book</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>2006 Season</U></B></div> <div> <A HREF="id349.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2007 Outlook"><U><B>2007 Outlook</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id45.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Game recaps"><U><B>Game recaps</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2007 Roster"><U><B>2007 Roster</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Coaching staff"><U><B>Coaching staff</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id324.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Oilers Statistics"><U><B>Oilers Statistics</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id326.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="District 10 Class AAA statistics"><U><B>District 10 Class AAA statistics</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id52.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="District 10/9 standings/scores"><U><B>District 10/9 standings/scores</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bill Born Power ratings"><U><B>Bill Born Power ratings</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id54.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2007 Playoffs"><U><B>2007 Playoffs</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id55.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jayvee recaps"><U><B>Jayvee recaps</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id56.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Junior High recaps"><U><B>Junior High recaps</B></U></A></div> </td> </tr></table></body>