Greensburg honors Offutt Field icon 'Huddie' Kaufman

For a few minutes before Wednesday’s middle school football game in Greensburg, the attention turned from the field to the press box.

All eyes were on Howard “Huddie” Kaufman, sitting in his usual perch as team timekeeper.

Mayor Robert Bell was there to declare it “Huddie Kaufman Day.”

“He’s been a fixture in the city of Greensburg for as long as I can remember, ever since I was a kid,” Bell said.

It was Kaufman’s last game as timekeeper. At age 91, he is stepping down — though he will still maintain records and scores as the team’s historian.

Kaufman knows more about Greensburg Salem football than anyone else. He’s been a fan longer than most people have been alive.

“I was at the Greensburg-Wilkinsburg game in 1935, someone took me there,” Kaufman said.

He’s been following the team in one way or another for decades. He used to cover the Golden Lions as a sports reporter and editor for the Tribune-Review.

“Huddie has a wealth of knowledge of football and Western Pennsylvania,” said Lynn Jobe, former Greensburg Salem athletic director. “You sit and listen to him, and you could listen for hours.”

Kaufman goes to almost every home game and has an encyclopedic memory of Greensburg Salem stats and anecdotes.

“He used to do the play-by-play and the analysis of the games on the radio,” Bell said.

In honor of Kaufman’s last game as timekeeper, he was given a ball signed by all the players on the Greensburg Salem varsity team.

In 2015, the team paraded Kaufman through town for “Huddie Kaufman Recognition Night” to mark his contributions to the team. The next year, The Greensburg Salem Education Foundation named him a distinguished alumni.

City and school officials say they’ll miss having him as timekeeper.

“They don’t make them like they made Huddie Kaufman,” Jobe said.