Cas Potera starred on the football and basketball teams at Providence’s La Salle Academy in the mid-1930s.

But it was at Providence College (P. C.) that he came into his own.  At the time the Friars played an extremely competitive schedule, vying against national powers Boston College and Holy Cross and also playing such Eastern and Midwestern schools as City College of New York, Duquesne, Rhode Island State College (later URI), Springfield, and Xavier.

A frequent substitute in the middle of the line as a freshman, Cas gained first team status as a sophomore end and never relinquished it.  As a senior in 1940, he followed in the footsteps of now fellow-Hall of Famer Ben Polak and co-captained his school’s eleven.  (When elected the leader of the Dominicans’ eleven following his 1936 junior season, eighteen-year-old Ben was the youngest football captain in the history of college football.)

The Providence Journal had this to say about his college performance: “Cas Potera and Stanley Eiselonis dominated the line play”; “Cas Potera recovered a fumble on the one-yard line”; “Cas Potera did a fine job at end”; “As usual, Co-Captains Cas Potera and Charley Avedisian were outstanding in the line”; and (in the Friars’ 1940 25-0 shutout of Rhode Island State College) “Duke Abbruzzi cut loose in fancy style a few times, but co-captains Cas Potera and Charley Avedisian took pretty good care of him on his sweeps.”

Following the 1940 season Cas was named All New England College honorable mention.  The following spring he was voted the Second Best Athlete in his Senior class, with the P. C. student newspaper describing him as “a hard-crashing type of performer who gained a starting end berth when he was a sophomore and held first team ranking thereafter.”

Cas was raised Polish-American, but one of his proudest moments came when he was named to the Italian College All American football eleven. He was fond of saying that he had always liked Italians, especially Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren.

Picture from Hall of Fame archives