Joe McMullen
Joe McMullen was an outstanding athlete out of the former Sandy Lake High School, Class of 1942.
He played varsity basketball for three seasons and led the team to the Mercer County Class B Championship.
He attended Grove City College where he played football as a freshman. He actually played in the first football game he ever saw.
He moved on to Brown University where he called the plays from his tackle position. He coached football and basketball at Brown from 1945-46, assisting Weeb Ewbank, later coach of the NFL Colts and Jets. He coached lacrosse, tennis and golf.
Joe was named director of athletics in 1979 and helped Towson State University move into NCAA Division I status, after he had 30 years of coaching, teaching and administrative experience behind him. He became the school’s first full-time AD.
He came to Towson after spending 8 years rebuilding the athletic program at Marshall University following the plane crash that took the lives of the football team plus athletic administrators and supporters.
Before that, he coached football for a dozen years at Stetson, Washington & Jefferson, Akron and San Jose State as well as serving for 6 seasons as an assistant to Rip Engle and Joe Paterno at Penn State.
He was inducted into the Towson State University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1984.