From the time he can remember, John Peterman was inspired to work.
And work hard, said the former Kiski Area athletic director.
“Growing up, my parents taught us to earn a day’s pay for a day’s work,” he said. “We were raised to do an honest day’s work.”
Already retired at age 57, you could say that Peterman, a Penn Hills native and Leechburg resident, has put in his time. But his work ethic remains the same.
After a career tied to athletics, Peterman, on some days, finds himself mowing acres of grass on family-owned property.
“When I wake up now, every day feels like Saturday,” he joked.
A graduate of Penn Hills, Peterman was inducted into its sports hall of fame and, for a time, served as its football coach as well as the district’s athletic director.
He went on to become an NCAA Division II All-American at Clarion, where he excelled as a strong safety and punt returner and once registered 25 tackles — Peterman insisted the total was more — in a game against Shippensburg.
“I’m pretty sure I had 27 tackles,” he said, “but we’ll stick with what the paperwork says.”
On April 25, Peterman will add another honor to his resume as one of seven new members of the Clarion Sports Hall of Fame.
“With it happening the year after I retired, it’s the icing on my athletic career,” he said.
What a career it was.
It began at Penn Hills, where Peterman played football and wrestled. He attended Clarion from 1985-88 and said he felt he had a shot at playing in the NFL.
“Those were dreams,” he said. “It’s better to have a dream, even if nobody came knocking. They missed out.”
In college, his work ethic was on full display every Saturday in the fall. He knew his parents would be watching.
“My dad worked at Pullman-Standard,” Peterman said, referring to the former Butler-based railroad car manufacturer. “We went from richest to rags, but my dad would never miss a game.”
In the spirit of working hard, the elder Peterman went on to attend truck driving school and, subsequently, was hired by D.M. Bowman Inc. of Frederick, Md.
“He’d go back and forth to see my games,” Peterman said.
Later, Peterman’s dad drove for Barr-Nunn Transportation. But unlike the Maryland outfit, Granger, Iowa-based Barr-Nunn didn’t require drivers to return their trucks to the plant when they were finished with a job.
“That worked well,” Peterman said. “I just remember my parents would go to all the away games as well as the home games.”
With his playing days behind him and already married to his wife Gloria, whom he met at Clarion, and with a young daughter at home, Peterman set out to become a teacher.
He had majored in elementary education at Clarion.
When he failed to land a gig, he studied to become a tool and die worker. In between, at age 24, he was hired as Leechburg’s football coach.
“I worked some construction in the summertime and fall, but I was married and had a kid, so I had to step away and find a (full-time) job.”
He spent a 90-day probationary period “to prove your abilities to do your job,” Peterman said of making computer chips at Composidie Inc. in Washington Township in Westmoreland County, a position he held for 15 years.
“I didn’t have a background in mathematics, and they asked me if I knew trigonometry. I said, ‘Yes.’ I really didn’t, but I knew right away that I could do the job. So I studied the book.”
During that time, Peterman joined the Franklin Regional football staff as an assistant and juggled both jobs with a workman’s precision.
“I would get up at 3 a.m. and show up at work early so I’d be able to leave in time to coach at Franklin Regional,” he said.
Peterman finally returned to education when Penn Hills hired him as athletic director in 2007. He later took on a dual role for several years that included serving as football coach.
“Even though my dream was to become an athletic director, I loved the tool and die job that I had,” he said.
At Clarion, Peterman finished with 265 career tackles (126 solo), 15 pass breakups, five fumble recoveries, four interceptions, three forced fumbles and one sack. He also returned 46 punts for 317 yards and 10 kickoffs for 155 yards.
“I thought I was the Troy Polamalu era of the 1990s,” Peterman quipped. “I may have been an inch too short or a second too slow, but look at a guy like (former Penn Hills star) Aaron Donald. He was 5-11 7/8, yet (former Pitt assistant) Greg Gattuso and (head coach) Dave Wannstadt came to my office and took a chance on him.”
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Donald, a defensive tackle, went on to become an All-American at Pitt and was the NFL’s 13th overall pick in 2014 before finishing his career as an eight-time, first-team All-Pro.
Peterman became close friends with the late Allderdice athletic director and football coach Jerry Haslett, whom he met in college.
“I was a three-year starter at Clarion, and the reason I wasn’t a starter in my freshman year is because there was a guy ahead of me by the name of Jerry Haslett, who happened to be an All-American, (too),” Peterman said. “He was the punt returner in my freshman year. I moved into that spot as a sophomore, and I returned one for a touchdown against Fairmont State.”
Haslett, having attended the game, witnessed the play.
In a light-hearted moment afterward, Peterman said Haslett approached him and said, ‘Hey, it took you a while to get to the end zone.’ I told him, ‘At least I scored a touchdown. You didn’t.’ ”
Haslett, a Northgate graduate, died on July 24 at age 59.
Peterman and Haslett maintained a close relationship until Haslett’s death. When Peterman was hired as Kiski Area AD, the two men arranged for a two-year football series between the Cavaliers and Allderdice.
Peterman not only turned in a stellar high school football career, he also was a WPIAL wrestling champion in 1984 and finished sixth at 145 pounds at the PIAA championships.
He chuckled at the thought of an encounter with Mt. Lebanon native Kurt Angle, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist in wrestling and another highly decorated Clarion All-American, who won two NCAA Division I championships for the Golden Eagles.
Several months after claiming Olympic gold at the Atlanta Summer Games, Angle served as grand marshal of the Allegheny Autumn Leaf Festival in Clarion, which is held annually in conjunction with Clarion University’s Homecoming festivities.
“He sat with us — me, my wife and daughter — at a football game,” Peterman said. “Kurt asked me, ‘Peterman, why didn’t you ever wrestle here?’ ”
To which Peterman replied: “Kurt, you guys practice three times a day. We practice one time a day.
“And then, they let us out for happy hour.”