Although S.R. (Pop) Grimm was Rochester High
School’s most famous football coach, not even some of the boys who
played on his teams from 1918 to 1925 knew that his initials stood
for Simon Ray. But most of them respected him as a man as well as a
successful coach. Before coming
to Rochester in 1918 at superintendent of schools and football
coach, he was principal and coach at Charleroi High School. During
World War II, Pop served as a Red Cross field director with General
Patton’s 72nd Armored Division from 1942 to 1946. Then he was head
of the school of education at Newberry College from 1947 until his
death in 1951. Pop’s strong Rochester High football teams
compiled a fine record of 52-17-9. His 1920 Rams had a perfect 10-0
season and his 1921 team chalked up a 11-0 record before playing a
scoreless tie with the powerful Westinghouse High gridders from
Pittsburgh in a game that was touted as being for the mythical state
championship. In the days when most high school football teams
played a grind-it-out style of power football, Pop advocated a
multiple offense that combined precision, deceptiveness, and hard,
clean play. Some of his outstanding players were
Forrest "Jap" Douds, Daryl
Decker, Bitter Hoehl, Swede Bloom, Boyd Brocket, Jimmy Denton, and
Tony Treglia. Pop was born in Apollo, Pennsylvania, in 1887 and died
of a heart attack in 1951 at age 64.
Although S.R. (Pop) Grimm was Rochester High
School’s most famous football coach, not even some of the boys who
played on his teams from 1918 to 1925 knew that his initials stood
for Simon Ray. But most of them respected him as a man as well as a
successful coach. Before coming
to Rochester in 1918 at superintendent of schools and football
coach, he was principal and coach at Charleroi High School. During
World War II, Pop served as a Red Cross field director with General
Patton’s 72nd Armored Division from 1942 to 1946. Then he was head
of the school of education at Newberry College from 1947 until his
death in 1951. Pop’s strong Rochester High football teams
compiled a fine record of 52-17-9. His 1920 Rams had a perfect 10-0
season and his 1921 team chalked up a 11-0 record before playing a
scoreless tie with the powerful Westinghouse High gridders from
Pittsburgh in a game that was touted as being for the mythical state
championship. In the days when most high school football teams
played a grind-it-out style of power football, Pop advocated a
multiple offense that combined precision, deceptiveness, and hard,
clean play. Some of his outstanding players were