Ivan "Poss" Stehman secured his place in Millersville athletics lore when he guided the 1940 Millersville State Teachers College football team to an undefeated and untied season of seven wins and no defeats. No other Marauder grid squad since has matched that club's perfect regular season.
Stehman's Marauder "eleven" were proclaimed by the Washington Post as the nation's finest small college gridiron team, and the Baltimore Sun included Millersville in its selection of the country's 14 outstanding football teams. The Marauders were the mythical Pennsylvania State Teachers College champions that year (with IUP) and repeated that honor in 1941.
The '40 MSTC gridders outscored their foes, 166-25, and the defense tallied three touchdowns and never allowed more than one touchdown in any game.
The 1941 Touchstone noted, "And that is why on the ninth annual Homecoming Day, the old bell in the tower (at Old Main) rang with a joyous sound, the like of which it had never been uttered. Engraved forever in the hearts of students and faculty will be memories of the 1940 season; memories that reflect the injection of a new and vigorous spirit at Millersville; memories of which we are all proud."
Stehman recalled in later years that "after I looked over the boys out for the team, I came to the conclusion that here was a bunch of boys who wanted to play football. I wasn't much older than they were, but they went out and did a wonderful job."
Stehman posted a 15-11-2 record in four seasons as Millersville grid coach from 1938 to 1941.
Interestingly, Stehman was enrolled at three colleges as an undergraduate. He began his education at Millersville; one year later, he enrolled at nearby Franklin & Marshall College. He later transferred to George Washington University. In all three instances, he played varsity football.
Prior to his senior year in 1928, he transferred back to Millersville but was declared ineligible after it was learned he had played professionally for a Lancaster-based team. He helped John Pucillo coach the '28 Marauder gridders. He received his bachelor's degree from MSTC in the spring of 1929.
From 1935 to 1945, Stehman was an industrial arts teacher, health and physical education instructor and assistant football coach at McCaskey High School in Lancaster.
For 23 years (1945-68), Stehman headed the Division of Highway Safety Education in Pennsylvania. He helped develop classroom instruction and behind-the-wheel training for driver education programs throughout the state. Also, he was past chairman of the supervisors section of the School and College Division of the National Safety Council; and held membership in the Pennsylvania Commission on Safety Education and the Governor's Traffic Safety Council.
A devoted alumnus, Stehman was a member of the Millersville Alumni Council from 1960 to 1984 and was council president in 1964-65. He received the Distinguished Alumni Service Award from the Millersville State College Alumni Association in 1976, and he served as Alumni Association president in 1982-83.
In addition, Stehman was a charter member of the East Hempfield Exchange Club and served as a board member of the Lancaster County Citizen Scholarship Foundation.
Ivan "Poss" Stehman passed away in May, 1984 at the age of 78. At the time of his death, he was married 52 years to Genevieve F. Hughes and the couple had three children (Malcolm, Linda and Trevena), six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
