Back in the day he was known as “Leapin” Len McFadden, a nickname he earned as an outstanding performer on the Uniontown High School track and field squad in the early 1980s.
He also played a little football for the Red Raiders.
McFadden got an early start in athletics.
“I started early, I was 12 years old,” McFadden recalled. “I was very active. I played Little League baseball out here in Newboro and we won a championship in 1977. I spent most of my young years playing sandlot football at the ball diamond in Buffington. I was the baby of seven in my family.
“I was good in baseball and I had a big decision to make. All my life growing up I was fast and I could really run. In football I scored some touchdowns in seventh grade at A.J. McMullen school. I lost my father at the age of 12 who was very active and watched me play little league baseball. I made a decision because I could run and track and field became my forte. I started long jumping in seventh grade under the tutelage of Bill Broda.
“I received a lot of instruction from Mr. Broda and Gene Cavalier. I also was helped by my three older brothers Henry, Howard and Warren. When I started the long jump I became very active in junior high at Ben Franklin. I also played football.”
McFadden played two years of varsity football at Uniontown as a sophomore and a junior. The team posted a 6-5 record in 1981 and lost to Penn-Trafford in the WPIAL playoffs, 21-10. In 1982, the Red Raiders finished with a record of 3-7.
“I played two years of varsity football for Uniontown,” McFadden stated. “The reason I didn’t play my senior year is I ran into big Bill Fralic from Penn Hills. We scrimmaged Penn Hills two years in a row and they came to Uniontown and I was a running back. I took a toss to the outside and got hit by Fralic and I received a hip pointer, he got me pretty good. That ended football for me my senior year.”
In two years of varsity competition the 5-foot-8, 130-pound McFadden scored three rushing touchdowns for the Red Raiders.
“I played for coach Larry Bielat,” McFadden said. “Also assistant coach Rich Bierbower was very influential for me. I really liked football.”
Track and field was where McFadden made an early impression.
As a sophomore in 1981 McFadden finished fourth in the WPIAL track championships in the long jump with a leap of 21 feet,10½ inches. He qualified for the PIAA championships and finished second behind Chester’s Dave Wells who had a jump of 22.6, McFadden jumped 22-1½.
“I got a silver medal in 1981 at the PIAA championships,” McFadden said. “I got off to a good start. I had high hopes because at that time I had no idea that I would even be that competitive. It just creeped up on me at the beginning of my sophomore season. Then we started getting a little more detailed about my long jumping.”
McFadden also competed in running events for the Red Raiders.
“I was very competitive in the 100 meters and 200 meters,” McFadden stated. “I also ran the 400 meter relay and we had a couple of really good squads.”
In 1982 McFadden captured the WPIAL long jump title, missing the WPIAL record by ½ inch when he flew 23-2¼. At the PIAA championships he won a gold medal with a jump of 22-10½.
“It was a great year,” McFadden recalled. “That is a great memory and I have such pride and also knowing that there have been some great, great athletes that came before me and after me. There will be some more young men that will hopefully be able to look back on things like I do 40 years later. I’m very proud of it.”
McFadden was expecting big things in 1983, perhaps back-to-back championships, but the fly in the ointment was an outstanding athlete from Washington High School, sophomore Brian Davis.
Davis set a WPIAL meet record leaping 23-8¾, blitzing the old record by five inches in capturing the WPIAL long jump title. McFadden got the silver medal also surpassing the 1977 mark with a leap of 23-3¾ setting up a showdown at the PIAA championships.
McFadden had hit 23-8¾ twice at the District 7 meet at Latrobe.
“I remember Brian Davis vividly. It seems like it was just yesterday,” McFadden said. “In my career he was one of the few young men that rattled me. Davis could really run, he was a great all-around athlete.”
The showdown between Davis and McFadden didn’t happened at the PIAA championships. McFadden was disqualified after fouling on all three trial jumps. Davis went on to win the PIAA championship with a jump of 22-7½.
McFadden was left wondering what might have been.
“It was the strangest thing,” McFadden explained. “I wish I could turn the clock back. It…
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