Indiana University of Pennsylvania Athletics

One need not go far geographically to go far in athletics or in life. That's a lesson, among others, offered by Barry Ruffner.
When he graduated from Latrobe High School, less than 30 miles from Indiana, Pennsylvania, "Chad" did not follow the lead of football-playing brothers who had gone to Clemson, in South Carolina.
Instead, he was convinced by Coach Chuck Klausing to come to IUP, where he lettered three years at free safety, majored in social sciences education, and established himself as a strong, lead-by-example student leader.
Demonstrating the latter, he was widely known as an exemplar in a time of anti-Vietnam student unrest instrumental in maintaining a positive campus climate at a time when many colleges and universities found themselves in the midst of turmoil and even violence.
On the playing field, Ruffner intercepted 17 passes (six as a sophomore, five as a junior when the Indians advanced to the Boardwalk Bowl, six as a senior team co-captain) to tie the then career team record originally set by Pete Archibald earlier in the decade. (The mark was surpassed by two three years later for the present record of 19.)
He also ran back punts with success, returning 47 for 448 yards, an average of 10.4 yards, standing second all-time at IUP to this day.  As a sophomore in 1967, he returned 14 punts at a rate of 16.1 yards per try. He once ran a punt back 91 yards against California, a current team record.
Following graduation, Ruffner signed a free-agent contract with the Philadelphia Eagles, then intercepted 19 passes in two years with the Midwest Football League Youngstown Hardhats, and played a year with the Chicago Fire in the World Football League.
For the past 26 years, since 1976, Ruffner has been director of operations for the Adelphoi USA education and youth-emphasis programs based in Latrobe while also serving as executive director of the area's Homes Build Hope endeavor.
In his tenure, he has been a key to Adelphoi growing from serving 12 youth with a budget of $188,000 to today's 1200 families with yearly expenditures of $35 million.  Virtually every new Adelphoi project in that span has gone forth over Ruffner's signature.
Married to IUP graduate and Latrobe teacher Mary Kay Fantini for 31 years, Ruffner is the father of son Chad Beau, 26, also an Adelphoi staffer, and daughter Raime, an IUP senior who was elected the university Homecoming Queen last fall and is a Mortar Board student.
In his community, Ruffner is vice-chairman of the Westmoreland Coalition on Housing, chairs the Lloyd Avenue (Latrobe) Revitalization Committee, and is secretary of Westmoreland Volunteer Administrators and a member of the board for Laurel Partnership on Aging.