Indiana University of Pennsylvania Athletics

Jack Henry's tenure of six years at IUP may not be the longest among Hall of Fame inductees, but it is one of the most substantial in terms of milestones and memories, for his alma mater, himself, his family and the many who know him as a friend.

As a player who Indian fans first came to know as John Henry in 1967 and '68, after he had spent two years at Penn State, he immediately became a standout offensive guard and was elected a co-captain of IUP’s 1968 team that posted a 9-0 regular season record before falling 31-24 to heavily favored Delaware in the final seconds of the Boardwalk Bowl in Atlantic City.

Eighteen years later, after a high school and college coaching tour highlighted by four years at Division 1 Wake forest (1981-85) as offensive coordinator. Henry was invited in 1986 by then· just-named IUP mentor Frank Cignetti to become his associate head coach.

(The 1969 IUP social sciences grad and West Virginia University master's degree recipient had been Cignetti's offensive line coach at WVU in 1978 and '79).
Henry devoted four years (1986-89) to IUP professionally, including service directing the Indians to record setting performances as their offensive coordinator and as assistant athletic director.

In that span, IUP rose for the first time to consistent national prominence, advancing to the NCAA Division II championship playoff in '87. '88 and '89.  Reaching the national semifinal his final year, and ranking in the NCAA Top 20 at the close of each season, as high as sixth in 1987.

The Indians also were named ECAC Team of the Year and Lambert/Meadowlands Cup awardee in '87 and '89 and won two Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference titles.

In 1990, Henry realized a lifelong ambition to become an NFL pro football coach when head coach Chuck Noll asked him to come on board as an offensive line coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who won the AFC Central Division crown that fall.

Caught in the subsequent personnel shuffle when Noll retired, though, Henry in 1992 found himself away from football far the first time since childhood, until Johnny Majors asked him to come to Pitt as offensive line mentor.

After three campaigns there he again got the chance to coach pro ball, first as OL tutor with the San Diego Chargers in 1996 and now with the Detroit Lions.

This brings him closer to his hometown (near Canonsburg), that of his wife, the former Carol Highberger, a 1968 IUP grad and Spanish teacher originally from Blairsville, son Chad. a '96 IUP grad now enrolled in its master's degree program in labor and industrial relations, and daughter Jacqueline, now a sophomore majoring in international business at Penn State.