Hall of Fame
His duties at California University have ranged from being a student athlete to being a professor. In between those two, he was also a football coach and sports information director for Cal. Not only is he now a professor, but he also serves as the California Times Faculty Advisor and is a professional writer. There are many reasons why Alan Natali deserves to have his name among the list of names making up the fourth class of the Athletic Hall of Fame.
Natali grew up in California and graduated from California Area High School in 1970 where he also played football. In high school, he was the team captain and named to the first team all-WPIAL. He also received an Honorable mention all-state and has been inducted in the California Area High School Hall of Fame.
Natali began his days at California in the fall of 1970. He started as a defensive end and linebacker for the Vulcans from 1970 to 1973. In those three years, Natali was named an all-conference defensive end and linebacker, all-district defensive end, all-state linebacker and all-college linebacker. He also served as the Vulcan team captain.
In 1974, Natali graduated from Cal with a degree in English. He continued his education and in 1979 obtained a master’s degree in English from Cal. He has also done doctoral work and has completed 36 credits in creative writing from Carnegie Mellon. He looks back fondly on his years at Cal.
“My favorite non-athletic memory is of sitting in Noss Hall in the spring on the first floor where I had R. Nucci for a class called American Lit Genres.
“He would perform all the voices in Winesburg, Ohio. I think that there were over 18 people in the class and only two came. Everybody else found that boring and irrelevant, but I thought that it was the most wonderful thing that I had heard. He had all of voices, he acted out all of the parts of every book he taught,” Natali said.
“We had to read 16 books in 16 weeks, and he would act out all of the characters. I was just fascinated by him, fascinated by sitting there at that point in my life when I knew I was about ready to leave college.
“I knew in the back of my mind that I wanted to write at that time. It was so wonderful to see someone who enjoyed literature and enjoyed writing so much and was so enthusiastic about it that the world didn’t mean anything to him once he started his performance during every class,” he continued.
According to Natali playing football at California helped him achieve more with his academics, friendships and life.
He graduated with honors from Cal, maintained a 4.0 during his master’s work and has a honors QPA in his doctoral work.
“Playing football here was a very, very important part of my life. It introduced me to a lot of people with whom I am still very close- Mike DeMichela, Pete Gialames, Tim Tracy and other guys whose friendships I will always cherish. Football, oddly enough, also taught me how to accomplish academically. It taught me, strangely enough, how to be a better student. And probably in the end after going through a whole lot of trial and error, it made me a better person,” Natali said.
Even though Natali deserves to be alongside the other athletes who are in the Hall of Fame, he isn’t quite sure if he belongs there.
“When I found out that I was inducted, exactly what went through my mind was the same thing that Frances McDormand said when she got the Academy Award for Best Actress in Fargo. She said, ‘What am I doing here?’ I don’t know why I am here or why I am doing this,” Natali said.
“I was alright, I played okay, but was I the best player on my team? No. Was I the best defensive player on my team? As a junior, I would say no. As a senior, I would say probably, but I got hurt real bad and missed the last couple of games. And, as a sophomore I was just trying to figure out what I was doing and trying not to get hurt while playing. So, that is exactly what went through my mind, ‘What am I doing here?’” he continued.
Alan Natali was a three-year starting defensive end and linebacker on the Vulcan football team from 1970 through 1973. Known for his intensity, Natali was a two-time, first-team all-conference and all-district selection who was also named to the all-state team (all PA schools, Pitt, PSU, etc.). This is the equivalent of being named a small college All-American.
Natali preserved a 3-0 win over Cheyney in the 1973 home opener with an interception and scored a touchdown via a fumble recovery in a 42-14 thumping of Bloomsburg in 1972. Natali was a freshman member on Cal's 1970 squad which compiled a 5-3 overall record which proved to be the Vulcan's last winning football season until 1983.
Originally from California, PA, and a 1970 graduate of California High School, Natali earned from Cal U both his B.A. in English in 1974 and his M.A. in English in 1979. He has since enjoyed a distinguished career at Cal U. Natali was Cal U's sports information director in the early 1980's before becoming a faculty member in the English department in 1985. Along with being an assistant professor and the director of Cal's professional writing program, Natali is an award-winning author who also served as a Vulcan football assistant coach in the late 1980's. Natali, who has a daughter, Alison, resides in Brownsville with his wife, Bethanne.
