Hall of Fame
Lou Ilioff was a four-year starter at guard for the Shippensburg football team. He was a standout blocker and a key element in the Red Raiders’ outstanding defense of that era. He also saw action as a placekicker. During that time the Red Raiders won 21 games, lost only six, and tied four, shutting out the opposition 16 times.
In 1936, as a freshman, Ilioff started every game as the Raiders compiled a 7-1 record. Only a 9-7 loss at Lock Haven in the season finale prevented Shippensburg from winning the conference title that year. During the season, Shippensburg shut out its first five opponents, allowed a touchdown on an interception in its 19-6 win over Millersville, shut out Indiana 14-0, and then lost to Lock Haven. The 1.87 points per game allowed by Shippensburg set a school record for scoring defense. Obtaining six shutouts in one season was also a record. That year Ilioff was selected as a guard on the All-Pennsylvania team by the International News Service and the United Press. This group included players from all the colleges and universities, both big and small, in the state. He was the first Pennsylvania Conference Player to be selected to this team.
In 1937 Shippensburg again challenged for the conference title. The Red Raiders shut out six opponents again but finished with a 5-1-2 record. The team allowed only 19 points in eight games.
In 1938 Shippensburg was 6-1-1 and claimed a share of the Pennsylvania Conference championship. The Raiders shut out three opponents that season. The following year Illioff served as team co-captain. The Raiders were 3-3-1 for the season.
After he graduated, Illioff coached Yeagertown H.S., his hometown area, to a 7-2 record in 1940. He was a U.S. Navy aviation cadet in 1941 and then served as a navigator with Pan American Air Ferries (PAAF), ferrying planes from the U.S. to American Allies in Africa, Europe, and Asia. After the U.S. Air Force took over PAAF, he was commissioned as a navigator for trans-ocean plane ferrying and then as a Navigation Briefing Office in Europe and the Middle East. He was discharged with the rank of captain in 1946.
From 1946 to 1948 he coached at Burnham High School. The team was undefeated in nine games in 1946, eight games in 1947, and went 8-1 in 1948. He was high school principal at Burnham for the next two years before moving to Dade County Schools in Miami and Miami Beach, Florida, where he served as an administrator for 21 years. He earned a masters’ degree from Penn State in 1948 and a D. Ed. from Penn State in 1957.
Ilioff retired to Lewistown where he became active as a Board Member of Campus Life, Youth for Christ of Central Pennsylvania and as an Elder in the Presbyterian Church.
