Bernie Kirchner
October 28, 2002 10:31 AM | General
Mickey Furfari At-Large
Mountaineer
Illustrated
Bernie Kircher lettered as a wide receiver and punter on West Virginia's football teams of 1971-72-74. He also was a pitcher/outfielder in baseball and played freshman football and basketball in 1970-71.
The Arlington, Va., native now resides in Jupiter, Fla. Since 1988, he has owned and operated the Snuggery Bar & Grill in Palm Beach Gardens.
"I still follow WVU closely," he said in a recent interview. "When (former assistant coach) Doc Holliday recruited down this way, he'd always drop in and have dinner."
Whenever the Mountaineers play in Miami, Kirchner takes one or two busloads from his area to the games. He also has Marshall and Pittsburgh Steelers fan clubs that watch games at his establishment.
"I've really enjoyed having those people," he said. "I just turned 50, so my brother came down to take some of the late-night duty off me."
During his three years of football here, Kirchner caught 58 passes for 727 yards and three touchdowns. He did most of the punting his senior season, averaging 34.3 yards on 25 attempts.
Bobby Bowden, then the head coach, paid him tall tribute. "Bernie has the best hands on the team as far as I'm concerned," he said. "He has a great competitive desire when going for the football."
Kirchner also excelled on the hardwood. As a walk-on, he averaged 16.4 points a game. Only John Vidovich, also a walk-on, did better (19.2 ppg). Chuck Windsor was their coach.
The late Dale Ramsburg coached Kirchner in baseball.
WVU was 7-4 and 8-4 his first two seasons in football. But the '74 team won just four of 11 games.
"We had some real good receivers," Kirchner noted. "Danny Buggs, Marshall Mills, myself and others. We had some fine running backs, too."
Most memorable to Kirchner was a 22-21 victory at Virginia Tech in the final game of his career. "Dan Kendra threw a 12-yard pass to me for a touchdown, making the score 21-20. Then he hit Marshall Mills with a game-winning two-point conversion," he said.
That certainly was a big thrill for him. So were wins over Pitt, 20-9, and Boston College, 45-14, in 1971; wins over Tulane, 31-19, Pitt, 38-20, Syracuse, 43-12, and Virginia, 48-10, in 1972; and Kentucky, 16-6, Indiana, 24-0, and Syracuse, 39-11, in 1974.
"I always liked playing against Pitt," Kirchner said. "It was fun beating Virginia Tech and Virginia, too," Kirchner said. "But we never could beat Penn State."
He also caught a 32-yard touchdown toss from Ben Williams in a 17-14 loss at Tulane his senior season.
"I loved my years at WVU," he said. "I had some other offers, but going there was the best move I ever made."
After receiving bachelor of science and bachelor of arts degrees, Kirchner remained in Morgantown for another seven years. He was the proprietor of a college bar, "The Dungeon," on High Street.
"I didn't want to leave, but I was getting 30-some and told myself I should move on," he explained. "After taking it easy for about a year in Ft. Lauderdale, I moved to Palm Beach Gardens to open the Snuggery."
Kirchner said he's never had a desire to coach. "I got turned off on that by politics," he remembers. "Sometimes you have to play games to get certain things."
He's going to marry Dr. Francine Greco, a Weirton, W.Va., native, on Nov. 16. She is an emergency room physician in South Florida.
Kirchner has two children from a previous marriage. They are Bristol, 11, and Sara Jeanne, 5. "The best thing that's ever happened to me is my children," he said.
