Charles W. Havens

Charles Havens transferred

from Colgate University to Western Maryland College in 1926 and began a decadeslong

association with Carroll County as an assistant football coach at WMC, then as

the head coach, then also as a coach of baseball, basketball, and boxing. He taught

physical education and health as well. After retirement from the college in 1956, he

went on to teach for twelve more years in the Carroll County public school system.

Charles Havens’ obituary, written by Fred Rasmussen and published in the Baltimore

Sun on 16 May 1996, included the following story of his wartime service:

After World War II began, Mr. Havens joined the Army Air Corps in 1942. Too old to fly, he

became an intelligence officer with the 486th Bomber Group in Sudbury, England. Each day he parked his jeep at the end of a runway and watched the planes taking off for bombing raids over Germany. Every time we took off, my nose gunner would say, There’s the coach,‟ Sigurd Jensen, a retired Air Force colonel, said in a 1986 article in The

[Baltimore] Evening Sun. It almost became a good-luck symbol to see him as the last man on the

ground as we left and, yes, as the first one there, waiting, when we came back.‟ On the morning of May 20, 1944, two B-24 bombers collided in heavy fog. Ignoring thedanger from 500-pound bombs and 2,000 gallons of gasoline, Mr. Havens pulled 22 men from the wreckage. Twelve of them survived. For his action, he received the Soldier’s Medal, the highest award for noncombat bravery.

Born and raised in Rome, New York, Charles W. Havens first came to Westminster in 1926 as a student at Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College). He played football at the school from 1926 to 1929 and was named to the All-American football team in 1928. Havens captained the college’s undefeated football team in 1929 and was given an honorable mention in the Associated Press All-American. He graduated from WMC in 1930 with a degree in English.

Following his graduation, Haven played professional football for a time and then returned to WMC as an assistant football coach in 1931. In 1935 he was named head coach. Havens led the Green Terror squad through many successful years, including an intercollegiate title in 1936, the Mason-Dixon championship in 1949, and an undefeated season in 1951.

When World War II broke out, Havens joined the Army Air Corps. Being too old to fly, he served as an intelligence officer with the 486th Bomber Group in Sudbury, England. As Fred Rasmussen recounted in his obituary, “On the morning of May 20th, 1944, two B-24 bombers collided in heavy fog. Ignoring the danger from 500-pound bombs and 2,000 gallons of gasoline, Mr. Havens pulled 22 men from the wreckage. Twelve of them survived.” For his heroics, Havens received the Soldier’s Medal, the highest award for noncombat bravery.

Havens retired from WMC in 1956 and taught for twelve years in the Carroll County public school system. He was married to Jessie Money until her death in 1981. The couple had one son, Charles W. Havens III. Havens passed away in 1996 in Gaithersburg, Maryland at the age of 92.