John Stevens
John Stevens was one of the top football linemen ever developed in Mercer County.
John was a mainstay of the line on the 1966 Sharon High undefeated football team that is considered by some as the best team ever from this area. The team won the Midwestern Athletic Conference championship.
He was a three-year starter for the Tigers of Coach Cliff Smith and was a first-team Section 3 tackle his junior year. His senior year, he was named first team All-State by the AP and UPI polls. He was a Scholastic Magazine All-American and played in the Pennsylvania Big 33 game.
One of his proudest awards was being named the Most Valuable Player in Section 3 that season, a rare feat for a lineman.
He attended the University of Pittsburgh on a full athletic scholarship. At Pitt he was a three-year starter at defensive tackle. He was named "Player of the Game'' in the Pitt vs. Duke contest in 1969 and had a 42-yard punt return for a touchdown against Tulane.
John played in the first and only Pa. Dutch Bowl, a college all-star game at Franklin and Marshall University, Lancaster, Pa.
He signed a free-agent contract with the Buffalo Bills in 1971 and played with the Shenango Valley Blasters, a semi-pro team in this area.
He coached an managed Little League baseball and coached boys basketball in the Parochial League with St. Joseph's School, Sharon.
John lives in Sharon with his wife, Sherry, and two children, Jonathan, a freshman at Geneva College, and Tara, a sophomore at Kennedy Chrsitian High School. John earned a bachelor degree from Pitt and is employed by Sharon Tube Co. as coordinator of human resources.