Akron native and Rose Bowl champion Harry Welch embodies local sports history | Ulrich
GREEN — It's been more than 70 years since Harry Welch became a Rose Bowl champion, yet the Kenmore High School graduate remains among the most interesting sports figures in the Akron area.
After Welch had finished his customary breakfast of one egg, a piece of toast and coffee at Molly Brown’s Country Cafe, another regular customer of the Portage Lakes restaurant told him he looks good for someone who's 200 years old.
Welch laughed. He's only 92.
On a more serious note, Welch has lived a life Forrest Gump would envy.
College football star.
Hollywood actor.
U.S. Air Force veteran.
Husband and father.
Educator and coach.
Accomplished golfer, racquetball player and outdoorsman.
Noted businessman who built many Portage Lakes homes and offices.
Media darling — then and now.
Long before LeBron James opened a museum in Akron celebrating his basketball journey, Welch and his daughter Lynn loaded the basement of his Turkeyfoot Heights home with photographs, newspaper clippings, trophies and other memorabilia.
The most remarkable item is a leather helmet Welch wore during practices in the early 1950s with the University of Southern California football team. Welch considers it a minor miracle he didn't lose any teeth while playing without a face mask. It's a good thing, too, because he had looks fit for the film industry.
But of all the triumphs Welch experienced, his greatest claim to fame is still football, particularly a stellar performance in the Rose Bowl.
The 110th Rose Bowl is scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday, when Michigan (13-0) and Alabama (12-1) will clash in a College Football Playoff Semifinal featuring this season's Big Ten and Southeastern Conference champions. The victor will face the winner of Monday's Sugar Bowl between Washington (13-0) and Texas (12-1) in the national championship game on Jan. 8 in Houston.
The Rose Bowl brings back some of Welch's most cherished memories.
Born in Akron, Welch was named after his grandfather, who had become the Rubber City's first chief of detectives in the 1920s. The younger Welch began playing football at age 11.
Welch graduated from Kenmore in 1949 and he walked on at Notre Dame the same year to appease his father, Howe, a standout football player and golfer in his own right. But Welch said he didn't love being forced to attend Mass three times a week, so he decided to transfer to USC in 1950. He had two uncles in Los Angeles. One of them, Stephen “Suey” Welch, was a big-time boxing manager and promoter.
At Southern Cal, Welch lettered and started at cornerback in 1951 and '52, the year he graduated with a degree in business administration. He saved his best for his last college game.
“I had a good Rose Bowl,” Welch said. “There wasn't a pass completed in my area.”
During USC's 7-0 Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin on Jan. 1, 1953, Welch had an interception in the second quarter, made key tackles and served as the holder on the Trojans' successful extra-point kick in front of an announced crowd of 101,500 in Pasadena, California.
When Wisconsin star fullback Alan Ameche, the Heisman Trophy winner in 1954, broke loose for a 54-yard run on the first play from scrimmage of the second half, Welch brought him down to prevent a touchdown. The same drive ended with the Trojans forcing a fumble and recovering it.
In the waning moments of the Rose Bowl, Welch applied coverage and helped force an incompletion on a pass Wisconsin halfback Harland Carl juggled in the end zone, allowing USC to prevail and finish the 1952 season with a record of 10-1.
Welch isn't a large man and wasn't during his playing days. USC listed him as 5 feet, 10 inches and 172 pounds.
“They said I was 170, but I didn't quite make 170,” Welch said with a smile.
Either way, Welch had blazing speed. In his prime, he could run 100 yards in nearly 10 seconds flat. Still, he considered knowledge and instincts his greatest strengths as a football player.
“I just had a knack of getting to the right place at the right time,” Welch said.
Welch received a shot in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers, but they cut him in the preseason after a broken ankle presented a major obstacle.
“I couldn't get a shoe on anymore,” Welch said.
Welch's career as a football player ended as a result, though he had another fascinating job as an extra in films. He had a role in “All American” (1953), but there were many other parts.
“I made something like $29 a day,” Welch said. “That was a lot of money back then.”
The pay increased if stunts were involved, and they often were when Welch portrayed an athlete.
“For a good tackle, we got $75,” he said.
Welch has a screen extras guild card in his cellar. Although Welch said he never had a speaking part, he appeared in movies with Tony Curtis, Elizabeth Taylor, former USC teammate Frank Gifford and the 40th president of the United States, among others.
One of Welch's best stories suggests he was a better athlete than actor. In “The Winning Team” (1952), he portrayed a baseball player and nearly took off Ronald Reagan's ear with an accidental line drive to the pitcher's mound.
“I was supposed to strike out, and I hit the ball right on the nose,” Welch said. “It missed Reagan. It whistled right by his head.”
Welch met his wife, Jean, at the University of Akron when he went there to take a class because of an Air Force commission requirement. When Welch introduced himself to Jean, he informed her she would become his wife. She was skeptical at first, but they were married for more than 65 years and had three children, son Jeff and daughters Kerry and Lynn. Jean dedicated her career to teaching kindergarten. She died in 2021 at the age of 88.
“My wife, she was a champion at Akron U,” Welch said. “She was homecoming queen. Anything that she got into, she won. It's just as simple as that.
“I wish she was still here. I wish you'd meet her. She was really something.”
Welch has long been accustomed to achieving his goals in sports and beyond.
Welch spent 22 years teaching business administration courses at Coventry High School, where he also worked as an assistant football coach and athletic director. He transitioned to Portage Lakes Joint Vocational School, where he rose to adult education director before retirement.
Welch learned enough from contractor friends to start his own construction company, building several homes in his neighborhood, including his own. His three children live nearby, two in houses built by their father and the third in one he renovated. He also built a cabin in Pennsylvania, where hunting, fishing and snowmobiling adventures unfolded.
“Everybody loves my dad,” Welch's daughter Lynn said. “He is so well known, and he has done so much with football and golf. I don't know if he told you, but he's an amazing singer, and he plays the piano. Coventry would put on shows once a year that he ran, and people would come from even out of state to see him. He was just so involved in everything with the community.”
In 1999, Welch was inducted into the Summit County Sports Hall of Fame, joining his dad, Howe, who had been enshrined in 1964. The Burkhardts, a semi-pro football team organized in 1914, featured Howe and two of his brothers, “Suey” and Charles “Shang” Welch.
All these years later, a significant chunk of sports history resides in Welch's basement and mind. Walking with him down memory lane is a privilege.
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Former USC football player Harry Welch cherishes Rose Bowl
