Edward B. Lawless Sr. | Football coach, 80

Edward B. Lawless Sr., 80, formerly of Dresher, a retired football coach, died of complications from dementia Monday at Alterra Wynwood, an assisted-living facility in North Wales.

Mr. Lawless played football at Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia and was quarterback at the University of Pennsylvania for coach George Munger. One of his teammates was future pro football hall-of-famer Chuck Bednarik.

After graduating from Penn, Mr. Lawless was football coach at Germantown Academy. During the Korean War, he served in the Marine Corps in Korea.

He returned to Germantown Academy and eventually added duties as athletic director and baseball coach. During his 13 years at Germantown, his football teams won five Inter-Academic League championships.

From 1961 to 1967, he was athletic director and football and track coach at Chestnut Hill Academy. Mr. Lawless coached football at Pennsylvania Military College for two seasons before becoming coach of the high school team and athletic director at Valley Forge Military Academy and College in 1969. He retired from Valley Forge in 1974 to pursue business interests.

Mr. Lawless coached Philadelphia Little Quakers teams from the founding of the youth football program in the early 1950s until the 1970s. In later years he loved attending his grandchildren's sporting events, said his daughter, Suzanne Marvel.

In addition to his daughter, Mr. Lawless is survived by sons Edward Jr. and Michael; a brother; and eight grandchildren. His wife of 53 years, Helen Glasscott Lawless, died in 2002.

A Funeral Mass will be said at 11 a.m. today at St. Alphonsus Church, 33 Conwell Dr., Maple Glen, where friends may call after 10.