California University of Pennsylvania Athletics

Size prevents some people from achieving all that they can from athletics. If an athlete is too small, not many people are interested in him because they believe that he can’t do the job. However, there are some small people who come along and change people’s minds.

Donald (Duke) O’Hara was one of these small athletes who wasn’t supposed to be a star. But not only did he excel in basketball, he was also a football leader that has earned a spot in the second class of California’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

“Back then, people weren’t as big, strong and fast as they are now,” O’Hara said. “I was quick enough, so that took care of the lack of size.”

O’Hara graduated from Lincoln High School in Ellwood City in 1948. It was in junior high that he began what would turn out to be a very productive athletic career.

“I started playing basketball in sixth grade, and then as soon as I could play football in junior high school, I did. It wasn’t very difficult,” ‘Hara explained.

Lettering for three years in both basketball and football, O’Hara became Ellwood City’s Outstanding Athletic Personality for 1947-48. He was the captain of the football team during his senior year and also the captain of the basketball team for his junior and senior years.

But O’Hara never had any intentions on coming to California. He had never heard of the school. In fact, he didn’t even apply for admission, but he ended up a Vulcan for four years.

Back then, the Penn State freshman football team played at Cal. O’Hara came to Cal because of his Penn State football scholarship. He would have moved on to State College, Pa., if circumstances would have turned out different.

“When you are on a scholarship, you think you are a hot dog, and Penn State mentioned that I was going to have to pay for my books. I didn’t like that,” O’Hara explained. “Coach Nemeth was trying to build a team here, and he said that they would help me here. So, I stayed in California, and I am very happy that I did.”

At Cal, O’Hara also lettered in both football and basketball, and was the captain of both teams for his junior and senior years. He was the first Vulcan to reach the 1,000-point plateau.

“I didn’t even know that I was the first person to score over 1,000 points. It wasn’t a big thing back then. No one ever mentioned it,” O’Hara said.

O’Hara ended his basketball career scoring 1,116 points, which still ranks him 18th on the all-time scoring list. For his outstanding abilities, O’Hara was named to the Associated Press All-Pennsylvania basketball team and the western Pennsylvania small college team.

In football, O’Hara played quarterback for the Vulcans. He is the only Cal player in school history that has scored in a bowl game.

“In the Pythian Bowl, they beat us 13-7, and I was just lucky enough to score the touchdown. Of course, I called the play, so that made it easier,” O’Hara said. “Usually when we got down in close, we gave Elmo Natali the ball. I am sure that they scouted us and expected that. So, he faked it and handed that ball to me, and I scored,” he continued.

Playing in the Pythian Bowl gave O’Hara a chance to do something unrelated to sports that he had never done before. Something that he loved so much that he has devoted his life to it. That is flying.

“That was the first time that I ever flew. Our booster club flew us down there, and I loved it so much that I ended up flying as a career. I had never had much interest in flying before then,” O’Hara said.

After graduation from Cal in 1952 with a degree in secondary education, O’Hara enlisted in the Air Force because he said that he wanted to “save the world for democracy.” His military career lasted for 25 years of enlisted and officer service.

During those years, O’Hara received many outstanding honors including: an Air Medal with three clusters, a Meritorious Service Medal with one cluster, a Commendation Medal with two clusters, a Joint Services Commendation Medal and a Presidential Citation.

O’Hara retired from the Air Force after serving as a pilot, navigator, bombardier, diplomat to Sweden, professor of aerospace studies at Allegheny College and commander of the Air Force Junior ROTC.

“During my regular career, I always had nuclear weapons on my plane. I was in the Strategic Air Command and had three nuclear weapons. I was targeted on the Iron Curtain,” O’Hara explained.

“At that time, the Cold War was going on, and we really expected them to attack. We were what was called a second strike; we were only to go if the Soviet Union launched a missile,” he continued. “The only time that I really thought that we were going to go was during the Cuban Missile Crisis. We took off and were on our way. It was bad.”

Being a diplomat to Sweden meant being a liaison officer at the Swedish Embassy, according to O’Hara. He said that if the Swede’s needed any help, the Americans would provide it.

“It was a fascinating job. You are in a selling job; you are selling the United States by how you behave, what you are and the job that you do,” O’Hara explained.

Even though O’Hara has achieved such great success throughout his life, he said that he never expected to be inducted into the hall of fame, but that he is thrilled about it and says it is an accomplishment to be in there with Natali and Steve Tselepis.

O’Hara believes that his four years at Cal led him into attaining such a prolific career.

“I think that the experiences that I had at California contributed in a large degree to the successes that I had later in life,” he said. “You have to suck it up on the football field and the basketball court sometimes, and there were many times in my life when I had to call on that.”

Don "Duke" O'Hara was a tremendous basketball and football player at Cal during the late 1940's and early 1950's. O'Hara was the halfback and team captain on Cal's 1951 Pythian Bowl team and scored Cal's lone touchdown in that game, a five-yard, third-quarter run. O'Hara was also a co-captain on the 1950 team which went 3-3. From 1946-52, Cal experienced one of its most successful stretches ever, compiling a 41-14-1 cumulative record with seven-consecutive non-losing seasons. In basketball, O'Hara was a dominating forward who scored 1,116 career points. He still ranks 17th on Cal all-time scoring list. He scored 254 points in 1948-49 when Cal won nine of its last 12 games to finish 11-9 and record the team's fifth winning season in the past seven years. The previous year, he scored a career-high 343 points. He was named Cal's Most Representative Student of 1952. He was a four-year letterman in both football and basketball and received numerous individual honors for both sports from organizations such as the Associated Press, Tri-State Coaches Association and the Pennsylvania State Teacher's Conference.

Originally from Ellwood City, Pa, and a graduate of Lincoln High School, O'Hara is a retired United States Air Force officer who now resides in Saegertown, Pa. O'Hara and his wife, Connie, have three children-Kevin, Meghan, and Kathleen.