Class of 2020
William Yale Saltzman, considered one of the greatest football players in Philadelphia High School history in 1928, was inducted into their first Sports Hall of Fame class 63 years later. In his junior year at Franklin & Marshall College, he was the first Jewish captain of the football team with wrestling, boxing and baseball rounding out his sports interests. He was inducted into F&M’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1998.
Drafted by the Washington Redskins in 1933, Saltzman gave up the opportunity to pursue a career in teaching, coaching and most of all camping. During this time, he was Pop Warner’s assistant football coach at Temple University in 1933-1934, and he began coaching football at Cheltenham in 1936 until 1954, when he retired from coaching.
But it was in camping that he truly excelled and thrived. Beginning as head counselor at Camp Akiba at age 21, it was thirteen years later that Saltzman realized his dream of establishing his own camp. Camp Canadensis opened in the summer of 1941 and so started his career as “Uncle Bill”. Beyond his own camp, he was one of the driving forces founding the Golden Slipper Camp and was installed President of the Variety Club Camp. His “CAN DO” attitude was infectious and his impact has been felt by tens of thousands of children and young adults throughout the Philadelphia community. Golden Slipper’s Humanitarian Award was named in his honor along with the Cheltenham High School Scholar Athlete Award.
