Mechanicsburg Area High School
Alumni Association
Hall of Fame
Don Heiges was chosen by his MHS classmates as the Most Athletic in the Class of 1958, so it is no surprise he was selected to receive the Alumni Hall of Fame Award for Outstanding Athletic Achievement. Don was quarterback for the football team for three years, with a record of 13-4-2 as the starting quarterback. Don played Varsity Basketball for three years, scoring 831 points for his career and voted first team South Penn Conference and 2nd team AP All State Team.
After graduating Don attended Harrisburg
Area College Center and the University of
Pennsylvania. He has an Associate In Claims
degree. His athletic endeavors continued as
quarterback for the Harrisburg Capital Colts,
playing in the Atlantic Coast Professional
Football League for one year.
However, it is his coaching accomplishments that have won him awards! He coached the Mechanicsburg Teener League Baseball Team for three championship seasons and the Mechanicsburg Legion Baseball Team for four championships in the five seasons he coached them. He coached Cumberland Valley High School Football and Softball for two years and was the first Head Coach and General Manager of the Mechanicsburg and Cumberland Valley Midget Football Program for three years. For one year Don served as the Offensive Coordinator for the Dickinson College Football Team.
Don’s greatest success was as Head Coach
of the Chambersburg Cardinals Football
Team for seven years from 1976-1981. His
record was 90 wins and 14 losses, with six
championship teams and a 29 game winning
streak at one point! The team was rated as
the number one minor professional football
team at the end of 1980 and number two
at the end of the 1979 season by the
Minor Professional Football Assoc. Don was
selected to coach the Minor Professional
Football All-Star Game in New Orleans the
day before the Eagles played the Raiders in
the Superdome in the 1982 Super Bowl. The
Pro-Football Weekly declared Don Heighes
the Minor Pro-Football Coach of the Year in
1979 and in 1980 he was selected Monor
Pro-Football Coach of the Year by the Pennsy
Family and honored at the Penn Harris with
over 300 people in attendance. He was
inducted into the Minor Professional Football
Hall of Fame in 1993 and the West Shore
Chapter of the Sports Hall of Fame in 1998.
Don is retired from Erie Insurance and
is married to Barbara Kay Lancaster Heiges, ’58. They have three children; Donald L.
Heiges, Jr., Deborah Heiges Edwards, and
Wendy Christine Heiges Smith. Don is
still very active and enjoys watching his
grandchildren’s athletic events and their
other activities.
