Alumni Spotlight – Harry James (‘Jim’) Koller ‘54

Jim Koller was part of a group of area teenagers with the distinction of attending three different high schools in one year without moving from their homes. It was in the early ‘50s and the Commonwealth decided that 3,000 school districts in one state was too many, passing sweeping consolidation legislation that reduced the state school district count to 500. Susquehannock High School led the way as Pennsylvania’s first consolidated high school, meaning that youngsters like Jim left the closed New Freedom High School for Glen Rock High School in Fall 1952 and then to Susquehannock after winter break.

Integrating student bodies was a challenge for all, but particularly for student athletes. Teams who were once rivals suddenly found themselves suddenly on the same side. At the time New Freedom was strong in football with the likes of Bo Schuhart, David Fry, Larry Miller and Donald Sweeney. Jim Koller– all 135 pounds of him – was an offensive guard on that team. He explains that he could get away with that playing weight because the team played “Split-T,” which made him a pulling guard, fast on his feet. He also played baseball, and dabbled in basketball.

Harry was active in the school’s drama program with roles in Ghost Wanted, the junior class play and Hillbilly Wedding in his senior year. He fondly remembers Phyllis Krumrine, who directed those plays and was his homeroom teacher. And he played drums in the school band, but recalls an ongoing battle with the director, who wanted him to perform with the drum line at halftime in his football uniform, something Jim would not do.

He was also a class president and honored as a graduation speaker marking the 20th reunion of the Class of 1954 at the invitation of another one of his favorite teachers, Rickey Krebs, then Susquehannock principal.

After graduation, Jim attended York Junior College (now York College) on a one-year academic scholarship as a pre-engineering student. Not having the funds to continue after his freshman year, he took a job as a junior draftsman in a local manufacturing concern. Following he worked in Fort Wayne, Indiana and in Philadelphia for the Honeywell Corporation.

In 1958, he joined the U.S. Navy on a promise to be trained in nuclear reactors, which led eventually to a posting at the Navy’s nuclear power school in New London, Connecticut in 1959. This training led to assignment as a member of the construction team and first crew of the ballistic missile submarine U.S.S. Patrick Henry. On his first cruise in 1961, the Henry set the record for submerged operation for its class – 66 days.

After this tour, he returned to ‘B’ school at Great Lakes and then went to San Diego for thirty nine months aboard the U.S.S. Scamp, a Skipjack class – or fast attack – nuclear submarine protecting the U.S. west coast during the height of the cold war. Harry was serving on the Scamp during the Cuban missile crisis, searching for Russian submarines in the Pacific Ocean.

After this tour, now First Class Petty Officer Koller was assigned to help shake down the Tomahawk missile attack submarine U.S.S. Queenfish, the Navy’s first single-crew submarine designed for under-ice travel, being constructed in Newport News, Virginia.

After leaving the Navy in 1966, Jim took up an interest in computers, his first job in the field being with at the Langley Space Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. As he pursued this career, he attended Christopher Newport College of the College of William and Mary as a part-time and later as a full-time student, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Information Science in 1973.

His career then included work on the development of Polaris missile technology, computer design work at the Letterkenny Army Base in Chambersburg, PA, and finally as a manager in the electrical engineering department at the University of North Carolina – Charlotte, a position from which he retired in 2003.

Jim now lives in Annville with his wife Katherine, enjoying his retirement hobbies of gardening, computers, and spending time with his children and grandchildren. Sons Harry Jr. works in Army intelligence at Fort Meade, Maryland and Howard is an accountant in Washington D.C.

Thanks to Harry Koller ’54 for making us Warrior proud!