School leader, coach Donald Schneider, 86

He was a star sprinter at his Lancaster high school before he went off to World War II.

He was a star running back for the University of Pennsylvania in 1945, 1946, and 1947, playing on an undefeated football team in his senior year.

But after his only pro football season in 1948, Donald P. Schneider realized that players "didn't make much money, so he got a job coaching and ended up loving the coaching enough" to quit the pros, said his daughter, Mari Cote.

On Monday, Mr. Schneider, 86, a Delaware County high school football coach and Chester County school administrator, died of Parkinson's disease at his West Chester home.

Born in Crafton, Pa., Mr. Schneider graduated in 1942 from J.P. McCaskey High School in Lancaster, where he was captain of the football team and, an alumni official said, an Athletic Hall of Fame inductee in 1988.

The Philadelphia Record reported that on Penn's 1942 freshman team, "Schneider was the outstanding ball carrier among the backs."

He then served in the Army Air Corps from December 1942 through February 1945, discharged before World War II ended because he got pneumonia, his daughter said.

In 1948, Mr. Schneider earned his bachelor's degree in physical education at Penn, where he was a three-year letter winner in football.

He also lettered on the baseball team in 1945, a Penn spokesman said, and the Philadelphia Record quoted coach Horace Hendrickson saying in May 1945 that as an outfielder, "Don Schneider is one of the fastest baseball players I ever have seen."

Mr. Schneider was a reserve running back in nine of the 14 games of the Buffalo Bills' 1948 season in the All-America Football Conference. He also was a starting defensive back, his daughter said.

He went to Delaware County as head football coach at the former Sharon Hill High School in 1949-50 and assistant coach at Springfield High School in 1950-51.

He went north as head football coach at North Plainfield (N.J.) High School from 1951 to 1955, at Bethlehem (Pa.) High School from 1956 to 1959, and at Jonathan David High in Springfield in North Jersey in 1959-60.

Early in his coaching career, he also taught English and physical education, his daughter said.

After being an assistant football coach at Lehigh University from 1960 to 1962, she said, Mr. Schneider was a teacher and coach at what is now Watchung Hills (N.J.) Regional High School from 1962 to 1969 before becoming an assistant principal there until 1971.

Returning to the Philadelphia region, Mr. Schneider was principal at what is now Peirce Middle School in West Whiteland in 1971-72, assistant principal at Stetson Middle School in West Goshen in 1972-74, and assistant principal at West Chester East High School from 1974 until he retired in 1983.

In 1993, he was named to the Susquehanna Valley chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.

Besides his daughter, Mr. Schneider is survived by his wife of 63 years, Lily; sons Donald Jr., Richard, and Timothy; eight grandchildren; and a great-grandson.

A viewing will begin at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Goshen Baptist Church, 1451 West Chester Pike, West Chester, where a memorial service will follow at 11.