complete edition - Clarion University

12 ClArIoN AND beyoND | NOVEMBER 2012
Like grandfather, like granddaughter.
When Hannah Heeter decided to play basketball last year
after playing only volleyball as a freshman, she became the
second member of her family to suit up in two sports for the
Golden Eagles.
Hannah’s grandfather, the late rich Vidunas (‘54),
played both football and basketball for Clarion State College
from the fall of 1952 to the spring of 1954.
“I knew he had gone to Clarion, but I didn’t really know what he had
done here,” Heeter said when asked about her late grandfather’s playing
days for the Golden Eagles. “It never really came up, or I didn’t think it
was a big deal. now I realize it was.”
The similarities between Vidunas and Heeter don’t end with both of
them playing two sports. The duo share in common being members of
teams considered among the best in school history.
Vidunas was a defensive starter – halfback, which is present day
defensive back – on Clarion’s undefeated, 9-0, 1952 football squad that
beat East Carolina, 13-6, in the Lions Bowl. He was also a key player on
both sides of the football on the Golden Eagles’ 6-2 1953 team.
“(Vidunas) played end, tackle and defensive halfback during his career
and did a fine job at all three positions,” the May 15, 1954, edition of the
Clarion Call stated.
Heeter, meanwhile, has been a key player on a pair of nCAA Division II
qualifying volleyball teams for the Golden Eagles, including the 2010 team
that won PSAC, PSAC West and nCAA Division II Atlantic Region titles
while becoming the first team in school history to make it to the Division II
Elite Eight in volleyball.
“It’s a proud feeling following in his footsteps,” Heeter said. “He died
when I was in seventh or eighth grade, so I didn’t know him that well. I
realize we have a lot more in common than I thought we did.”
Both Vidunas, who went on to an outstanding career as a teacher and
head football coach at nearby Union High School, and Heeter, from nearby
Cranberry High, have been considered to be among the best athletes on
campus.
Heeter is the reigning PSAC West Freshman of the year in basketball
and was the only freshman in either nCAA Division I or nCAA Division II
to average a double-double last season (13.4 ppg, 11.8 rpg). She also has
been a key member of the volleyball team for three straight seasons and
has topped 200 kills in each of the last two seasons.
“She pretty much has it all,” Clarion’s 24th year women’s basketball
coach Gie Parsons said. “She can handle the ball, she can go rim-to-rim
with ease, and she is a great rebounder.”
In basketball, Vidunas might not have scored as much as his
granddaughter (4.1 ppg in 1953 and 9.8 ppg in 1954), but he was a
Rich
Vidunas
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