Gary Mullen’s love for the city of Clairton and its sports teams is evident.
“I love this town. This is home. Clairton is a special place. I am a Bear for life,” said Mullen, a 1980 graduate of Clairton High School who was a standout member of the football and basketball teams.
He held the quarterback and defensive back positions on the football team and led the Bears to the WPIAL playoffs during his senior year of high school. Although the team didn’t win the final championship game, Mullen was named the Pittsburgh Press Class A Player of the Year.
After being recruited by West Virginia and Minnesota, Mullen chose West Virginia and played in three of the Mountaineers’ Bowl game victories; the 1981 Peach Bowl, the 1983 Hall of Fame Classic Bowl and the 1984 Bluebonnet Bowl.
After graduation, Mullen was signed by the Detroit Lions in 1985 but was released before the season began. A year later he was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers but left the team on his own free will when he couldn’t shake a bad case of the flu. One day before he was ready to give up on his football dreams and join the Army, he got a call to try out for the Arena Football League’s Denver Dynamites. During his rookie year with the Dynamites, Mullen was named MVP after his team won, 45-16. His prowess during the 1987 season led him to play three games with the Chicago Bears during the NFL players strike.
When the Dynamites suspended operations in 1988, Mullen went to play with the Los Angles Cobras. After the 1988 season, the Cobras and many other arena teams folded. Mullen signed with the Detroit Drive and played from 1990-1992. In 1994 he was chosen to play with the Milwaukee Mustangs and played from 1994-1995.
Mullen’s two brothers also played professional football. His younger brother, Keith, played arena ball with the Columbus Thunderbolts and his older brother, Davlin, played cornerback for the New York Jets.
“I love the Clairton Bears and I always wanted to play for them,” said Davlin Mullen, who graduated from Clairton High School in 1978. “On Friday nights you could see the stadium lights from the projects. It was all that meant anything to you. If you didn’t want to play for the Bears something was wrong with you. The Clairton Bears are the team. I will stand in the rain to watch them play.”
Davlin and Gary Mullen were two of the 13 athletes inducted into the Clairton High School Hall of Fame, Sept. 21 at the Clairton High School gymnasium. It was the first event of its kind, and for the inaugural edition, inductees were all professional athletes from the area.
Pauline Long, Hall of Fame committe coordinator, told the New Pittsburgh Courier that future inductions into the Clairton High School Hall of Fame will include those of different professions.
The other inductees were: Michael Micka (posthumous), Clairton High School class of 1940 who went on to play for the Washington Redskins and the Boston Yanks; Joseph Pagliei, class of 1952 who went on to play for the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Titans; James H. Kelly, a 1960 Clairton High School graduate who went on to play tight end for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles; J. Stewart Johnson, a 1962 Clairton High School graduate who played nine years in the ABA and several years of European basketball; Ronald Lancaster (posthumous), a 1956 Clairton High School graduate who went on to play for Saskatchewan and coached Canadian ball; Jonathan Marshall, a 1970 Clairton High School graduate who played on Sweden’s European basketball team; Lamont Meacham, a 1978 Clairton graduate who played with the Baltimore Colts, Toronto Argonauts, and Ottawa Roughriders; Wayne Wade Jr., a 1990 graduate of Clairton High School and current coach of the Bears football team, who also played for the Milwaukee Mustangs; Daven Holly, a 1990 graduate of Clairton High School who played for the San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns; Kamela Gissendanner, a 2003 graduate of Clairton High School who played basketball with the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks and European Slovakia basketball; and Tyler Boyd, a 2013 Clairton High School graduate who currently plays for the Cincinnati Bengals.
“This is a huge accomplishment,” said Wade about the Hall of Fame. “I’ve been watching or playing a team sport since I was 6 years old. These types of honors make it worthwhile. I tell the kids that I coach that it’s all about the decisions you make. If you make the right decisions things will work out for you and you will go far in life.”
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