Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League

 
Gary Tranquill had an outstanding athletic career at Avella High School. He was a four-year football letterman who, as a senior, helped lead the Eagles to a share of the WPIAL Class B title. Tranquill played quarterback from 1958 through 1961 at Wittenberg University, where he was named Little All-American as a senior. He won the Mike E. Gregory Award as the top offensive back in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Gary also lettered in baseball in college. After stints as an assistant at his alma mater, then Ball State, Bowling Green, Navy, Ohio State, and West Virginia, Tranquill was named the 32nd head coach at the United States Naval Academy in 1982 and led the Midshipmen through the 1986 campaign. His first season was his best as Navy went 6-5. Through his tenure, the Middies went 20-34-1. He then went to work as Offensive Coordinator under another former Navy head coach, George Welsh, at the University of Virginia. The Cavaliers attained a #1 ranking in 1990 bolstered by Gary's potent offense. He served as quarterbacks coach with the Cleveland Browns from 1991 to 1993 but returned to the college ranks at Virginia Tech, Michigan State, Virginia again, then North Carolina. Along the way, he worked closely with and mentored current University of Alabama coach Nick Saban, who was Tranquill's defensive backs coach at Navy in 1982. They also worked together at West Virginia, Michigan State, and with the Browns under then head coach Bill Belichick. Gary stepped out of retirement to become the quarterbacks coach of the Rhein Fire of NFL Europa for one season. In 2009, he was invited to join the staff at Boston College to serve as offensive coordinator and coach the QB's. He was inducted into the Wittenberg University Athletics Hall of Honor in 1986, and the Washington-Greene Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.