MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Dave Van Halanger, captain of the 1975 Peach Bowl championship team and the first strength coach in West Virginia football history, has died.
 
Teammate Tommy Bowden confirmed his passing this morning.
 
A native of Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, just 12 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, Van Halanger spent a year playing at Greenbrier Military Academy in Lewisburg, West Virginia, before joining coach Bobby Bowden's Mountaineer program in 1972. He became a starter at split guard during his sophomore season in 1973 before moving to right tackle for his final two years in 1974-75.
 
Van Halanger was part of a 1975 offensive line that included center Al Gluchoski, guards Steve Early and Bob Kaminski, and left tackle Tom Brandner who paved the way for 1,000-yard rusher Artie Owens, Dwyane Woods, Ron Lee, Heywood Smith and a WVU ground attack that averaged an impressive 251.5 yards per game and produced 29 rushing touchdowns.
 
WVU ran for 337 yards in a big early-season road win at California, and then two weeks later, put up a season-high 408 rushing yards in a 28-22 victory over SMU in the Cotton Bowl.
 
Despite operating a veer offensive attack that was designed for smaller-type offensive lineman, West Virginia had what was considered a big offensive line in '75, led by 6-foot-6, 250-pound Halanger, who protected young quarterbacks Dan Kendra and Danny Williams.
 
"Any time Kendra got in trouble we could run the ball like we did against Cal and SMU, and that took the pressure off of Danny so he could get a little more confidence, and he did as time wore on," Van Halanger once recalled.
 
Van Halanger was on the field when WVU upset Pitt 17-14 at old Mountaineer Field on the game's final play, a 38-yard Bill McKenzie field goal. He remembered getting his uncle Tony a ticket for the game and his uncle sat in the Pitt section and rooted for the Panthers that afternoon.
 
"I never invited him back to my house again," he said. "My mom and dad were there and just to see my dad's face after that game was like, 'Wow.' He was so happy."
 
Van Halanger said he avoided the nighttime celebration in Sunnyside afterward and instead spent a quiet evening with his family in his trailer on the outskirts of town.
 
"We ate in our trailer we had there and just kind of enjoyed the night," he said.

West Virginia finished the 1975 season with a 9-3 record and was ranked No. 17 in the final UPI and No. 20 in the final AP polls. It was considered Bowden's best team at WVU.
 
Van Halanger was part of the group of players during the Bowden years that came up with the "Bomb Squad" that helped with team morale and unity. It was basically made up of freshmen and scout-team players who didn't see much action, and their individual bomber ranking was based on futility.
 
Being the No. 1 bomber on the team was to be avoided at all costs.
 
"It was basically the freshmen and what freshman on our team, A., went to the bathroom in the middle of the street; B., was seen by five girls doing it; C., got taken to jail by the cops or, D., all of the above," Van Halanger laughed. "There was a bomber draft, and it would start one through 25 and the No. 1 bomber was the biggest freshman screw-up on the team.
 
"We had the best time," he added. "These guys would make bomb shelters and instead of practicing, they'd have all of these (blocking) dummies and would be hiding underneath them. I never got a chance to do that because I played right away."
 
Soon after West Virginia's 13-10 victory over NC State in the 1975 Peach Bowl, Van Halanger joined Frank Cignetti's staff as a graduate assistant coach and transitioned into WVU's first strength and conditioning coach in 1978.
 
He continued in that role when Don Nehlen was hired in 1980.
 
"I've been around some great head coaches and Frank Cignetti gave me my first chance," Van Halanger recalled. "On the 1978 staff when we went 2-9 there was Nick Saban. I tell people Nick Saban and I got fired at the same time.
 
"We just couldn't recruit against Penn State, and we had that small, little stadium," he continued. "When Frank left in 1979, we opened the new stadium in 1980. We got the new weight room and we got new everything."
 
After three years working for Nehlen, Van Halanger joined Bobby Bowden's Florida State staff in 1983 and was a part of Seminole national championship teams in 1993 and 1999 before going with coach Mark Richt to Georgia, where they worked together for 14 years.
 
In 1993, Van Halanger was named "Strength Coach of the Year" and in 1998, he was one of three strength coaches featured in a Sports Illustrated story about the profession. Van Halanger was inducted into the Strength and Conditioning Coach Hall of Fame in 2003.
 
After parting ways with Georgia in 2015, he later oversaw a Fellowship of Christian Athletes program in suburban Dallas, where he was living at the time of his sudden passing last weekend. He was respected and admired by his teammates and colleagues during his time at WVU.
 
Van Halanger remembered his days playing and working for Bowden, who died in 2021. He enjoyed a lifelong friendship with Bowden's son, Tommy.
 
"When people would say coach Bowden is great, he would just laugh, rub his little tummy and go on," he said. "Bobby loves football, he loves his family, and he loves God. That's the way he works."
 
Van Halanger is survived by his wife, Michele, and children Danielle, Michael, Matthew, Julie and Katelyn.
 
He was 69.