Harold Fairclough spent plenty of time in the green and gold colors of Central Catholic High School, both as a player and coach for the school’s football team. During his six-year head coaching tenure of the Vikings, Fairclough led Central Catholic to a state championship in 2010. He also won a state title as a player in 1993.

And now, after taking a brief break from the life of a head coach, Fairclough is ready to take over a program of his own once again. And this time, it’s back to the familiar green and gold, albeit he’s now at a different Lehigh Valley program than his alma matter.

Dennis Ramella, Emmaus’ Director of Athletics, introduced Fairclough as the Hornets’ 19th football coach at a press conference last Tuesday afternoon at Emmaus High School. Fairclough takes over for Randy Cuthbert. After the Hornets won the Eastern Conference championship over Reading in the fall. Cuthbert left to take a position as an athletic director and head football coach at Wissahickon.

“It’s exciting to run your own program,” Fairclough said. “I was fortunate to have the stops at Whitehall and Moravian [College], but it feels real good. It feels like the right fit. And there were some opportunities before, but this is the right fit and the right time.”

Before joining the Hornets, Fairclough served as Whitehall’s offensive coordinator and then the cornerbacks coach at Moravian. That followed a 10-year stint with Central Catholic in total, the final six being as head coach.

“It was weird when I went to Whitehall and with that maroon, and I’m like ‘Oh, man’,” Fairclough said with a chuckle. “Everybody was busting my chops about you don’t look good in maroon and this and that. At least I got the colors right; I feel a little comfortable in the green and gold.”

“What made it so challenging was we just went through it three years ago,” Ramella said. “I thought that was going to be it for my tenure at Emmaus, and now we had to start all over again understanding the pitfalls that I didn’t realize the last time. I had to make sure I got it right, I really did. I hope Harold is here for a very long time and has a long tenure, and I don’t want this to become a revolving door.”

And while Ramella was just one of six people on the hiring committee when sorting through applications and conducting interviews, he’s had a unique relationship with Fairclough that goes back decades.

“It’s more exciting than that because he’s one of my former students,” said Ramella, who was the Athletic Director at Central Catholic when Fairclough was a student. “I know the type of person he is, and I know what he can do if the kids buy into his philosophy. I’m really excited for the kids when they get to know Harold Fairclough.”

Ramella saw at first glance the amount of passion and tenacity Fairclough has for football, even at such a young age. It came in Fairclough’s senior season, moments after Central Catholic fell to Berwick in the Eastern Conference championship game.

“He went into the locker room and let out such a blood-hurdling scream that he was so frustrated that it was over,” Ramella said. “That’s when I realized, how much we relied on him and his intensity. He’s a special person.”

There’s plenty on the agenda for Fairclough in his transition back into head coaching, including finalizing his coaching staff that includes offensive coordinator Matt Seneca and defensive coordinator Same Seneca. But the one thing Fairclough can’t wait to get back into is the weight room.

“To be 100 percent honest with you, I cannot wait to put on a pair of shorts, sneakers and a T-shirt, and get in the weight room and work with those kids,” Fairclough said. “That’s what I love the most. I’m a weight room guy. I spent like 14 years in a weight room in the offseason...I’m like salivating to get in there and start grinding.”

But Fairclough understands success grows more from just lifting weights in the offseason. He wants to continue establishing a winning tradition at a school that hasn’t been known as a football powerhouse but has often been called a sleeping giant of a football program.

“Everybody is doing the same thing,” Fairclough said. “The guys down the road are doing the same thing. Guys over in Bethlehem and Easton, everybody is in the weight room right now. But it’s about a mentality and chemistry that you develop down there. That, to me, is exciting.”

And that’s where Emmaus’ journey under Fairclough begins, as the Hornets are getting accustomed to their new leader, one that has three straight LVIAC and District 11 championships to his name as a coach to go along with two state titles. He’s also a former Division III Preseason All-American while at Susquehanna University and a PIAA Class AAA Coach of the Year.

“The program overall I think is in really good shape,” Fairclough said. “That’s one of the things that you look at when you decide on a program you want to work with. From the ground up, they’re in really good shape and they’ve always been in really good shape.”