2010 Century Club President’s Award Recipients: Abe Bryan

“Legendary” and “remarkable” are two words commonly used to describe Abe Bryan. A driving force in football in Steubenville and Ohio, Bryan was a coach at Steubenville High School from 1951 to 1973 and served as head coach of the Big Red football team from 1964 to 1972.  During his nine seasons, Big Red outscored its opponents 1,737 to 1,169.  As coach, Bryan was instrumental in making Big Red a member of the All-American Conference, known to be the toughest football conference in the country at that time. He also called for the expansion of Harding Stadium.  As president of the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association, Bryan established the current Ohio high school football playoff system, which his team went on to do very well in, taking the top spot in Ohio twice during his tenure.  Bryan was named to the OHSFCA Hall of Fame in 1976 and to the Ohio Valley Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1994.