Villanova Univeristy Athletics

A star running back who also took the majority of Villanova’s extra points during his career, Robeert “Bob” Haner was only the fourth player in school history at the time of his career to rush over 1,000 career yards. He played on the Wildcats varsity squad from 1950-52 and graduated from Villanova in 1953. Haner was inducted to the Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1983.
 
During his three varsity seasons the Wildcats were 17-9-1, including a 7-1-1 campaign his senior year in 1952. That season Haner rushed for 511 yards and 12 touchdowns, caught a 55-yard touchdown pass and made 21 extra points. He led Villanova in scoring for the second straight year with 99 points after having 62 during his junior season in 1951.
 
Haner’s career totals added up to 1,111 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns. He ranked fourth in school history in rushing at the time of his graduation and was still 10^th in the Villanova record book when he was inducted to the Hall of Fame 30 years later. In the final game of his collegiate career, Haner rushed for a career-high 141 yards on 18 carries in a 51-6 rout of Boston University on November 22, 1952. It was one of Haner’s four career 100+ yard games. He and fellow future Hall of Famer Gene Filipski were the first Wildcats teammates to each top 500 rushing yards in the same season in 1952. It had nearly happed a year earlier when Haner rushed for 453 yards and finished second on the team to Ben Addiego (497).
 
Villanova had four Hall of Fame running backs during the span of seasons from 1950-52, including Haner along with Pete D’Alonzo (1948-50), Mickey Frinzi (1948-50) and Filipski (1952-53). There were plenty of touches to go around for all of them however, and the Wildcats averaged more than 175 rushing yards per game in each of Haner’s three varsity seasons. That culminated with the 1952 season when Haner and Filipski powered the Villanova ground game to an average of 232.3 yards on the ground per game.  
 
Several career highlights occurred for Haner during the 1951 season, including back-to-back games in which he led the Wildcat to wins over Penn State and Alabama. In the Penn State game on October 6, 1951 he single-handedly accounted for all 20 points in Villanova’s 20-14 win in Allentown, Pa. Haner scored on three separate touchdown plunges from two yards out and made 2-of-3 extra points in the win. Villanova and Penn State did not play each other after that day for 70 years until they met in State College on September 25, 2021. In a come-full-circle moment, Haner attended the game along with an alumni function the night before the contest.
 
One week after the 1951 Penn State game, Haner starred again in a stirring 41-18 win over Alabama in Tuscaloosa. He rushed 18 times for 114 yards and a touchdown while making a career-high five PATs in the victory. Villanova went 5-3 in 1951 under first year head coach Art Raimo, with its most notable wins coming on the road against Army West Point, in the Alabama game and later at Houston.