George Stratts: PSFCA Newest Hall of Framer

by Willie McGonigle

There’s no question that the Philadelphia Catholic League has produced some great coaches in its storied history and George Stratts is one of them.

In his remarkable career that extended 30 years, 25 of which was as a head coach, Stratts produced 147 wins with three different schools.
 
An injury in the first half of his sophomore season at the University of Norte Dame forced Stratts to return home for a semester. While he was home Stratts joined the freshman staff at his alma mater St. James.
Stratts went on to graduate from Pennsylvania Military College, which is now known has Widener University, in 1964.

After graduating from PMC with a degree in Secondary Education Stratts went on
to be an assistant coach at Bishop Shanahan from 1965 to 1966. When Broadhurst was named the first head coach at Cardinal O’Hara Stratts joined his staff as an assistant.
 
In 1970 Stratts left O’Hara to take his first head coaching job at Bishop McDevitt. In Stratts first season at McDevitt, Stratts led the Lancers to an 6-2-1 record. Stratts would spend three more seasons at the helm at McDevitt.
 

In 1974 Stratts was named head coach at Cardinal Dougherty. It 1977 Stratts led his Cardinals to a 7-4 record and a Northern Division championship before losing to St. Joseph Prep in the Catholic League Championship by a score of
19-7.
 
In 1978 Stratts led the Cardinals to their second straight Northern Division Championship.
 
The Cardinals next Northern Division championship would come in 1980.

In 1982 Stratts led the Cardinals to 10-2 record and a Catholic League championship with 17-14 victory over Archbishop Carroll behind the game winning 23-yard field goal on the last play of the game by Bill Wright.
 
At the end of 1984 season Stratts decided it was time to take a break and help his wife raise two sons. During his
11-year tenure at Cardinal Dougherty, Stratts won 64 games and became the school's all-time winningest coach and coached Harry Swayne who went to become a two-time Super Bowl Champion with the Denver Broncos and the Baltimore Ravens.

In 1994 Stratts made his return to coaching and took over the head coaching job at Cardinal O’Hara. In Stratts’ fifth season at O’Hara he led his Lions to a 10-1 record before losing to La Salle in the Semi-Finals

In 2000 Stratts led the Lions to a 10-2 record and a Philadelphia Catholic League Red Division championship by upsetting their rivals St Joseph Prep who enter the game with a perfect 12-0 record. In that game the Lions were led by Kevin Jones who was playing in his final high school game. Jones scored four touchdowns and posted 196 all purpose yards. He went on have an outstanding career at Virginia Tech before being drafted by the Detroit Lions.
 
When asked about his experiences of coaching Jones Stratts said “ Kevin Jones is a great athlete. Coaching Kevin was a pleasure he did everything we asked him to.”
 
After the 2003 season Stratts decided t was time to retire thus ending a career which saw Stratts become one of two coaches in Catholic League history to win a championship with two different schools. The other is current Cardinal O’Hara head coach Dan Algeo who won championships with Roman Catholic in 1999 and O’Hara in 2004.
 
Today Stratts is in his 42 year as an educator for the Archdiocese. Stratts as been an administrator for the past
34 years and is currently serving as Principal at Cardinal O’Hara a position he has held since October.
 
Stratts admits that he misses coaching and the relationships he had with players, fellow coaches and assistants.