BHS Classes of 1948 and 1949

Copyright © 2018                                      John F. Oyler

March 29, 2018

BHS Classes of 1948 and 1949

The Bridgeville Area Historical Society continued its review of the history of Bridgeville High School in its March “Second Tuesday” workshop. It was particularly nostalgic for the facilitator who is a proud alumnus of the ’49 class.

Seventy years ago the atmosphere was mostly optimistic, the aftermath of the conclusion of World War II. There were still reminders however; in the summer of 1948 there were memorial and burial services for two local men who had lost their lives in the war – Lieutenant Warren Carson and Private James Michaels.

Even more sobering, in retrospect, was the knowledge that two of the graduates of the Class of 1948, Dick Johnson and Harry Stringer, would lose their lives while serving their country a few years later. Harry went into the Army and was killed in Korea quite early in the war. Dick graduated from Penn State and went into the Air Force and died following a accident during flight training.

Following the winless football season the previous year, the high school turned to recent Columbia University graduate Bob Hast as its new football coast. Hast was a product of Bethel High School who had played for Buff Donelli at Duquesne before going into the Navy during World War II. He was at Normandy on D-Day as part of a landing craft crew.

Following the war he finished his education at Columbia, where Donelli was now an assistant coach. It was rumored that the Donelli family connection was significant to his hiring, hoping their latest member, Fred, would be spared another embarrassing season. The losing streak was broken in the first game when the local team upset Carnegie 6 to 0, on a touchdown by Ray Fagan.

Next followed three consecutive losses, to Bethel, Clark, and Canonsburg, and an apparent return to futility. The team then turned things around and won its last five games, including a satisfying 20 to 0 rout of South Fayette. This was an excellent team that would have been highly competitive in the Class B title game had they not lost to Bethel.

Seniors on this team included the Batch twins, Bill and Jim, Don Vosel. Richard Deep, Curtis Copeland, Nick Mamula, Jack Schneider, and Emery Barzan, an impressive group of athletes. Ben Rupnik was added to the nucleus of Deep, Mamula, and the Batch twins for form a very respectable basketball team.

John Graham was President of the Class of 1948; Harry Prandini, Gwen Hillen, and Elaine Keil were the other officers. Louise Duchess was elected May Queen, an excellent successor to a line of lovely young ladies.

The ’48 Class included an unusually large number of successful businessmen. The creativity that Joe Lescovich exhibited in school paid off in a productive career with the Golden-Anderson Valve & Specialty Company, where his ideas led to thirteen valve-related patents. His classmate, Alfred Barzan, participated in the workshop and supplied valuable information regarding Joe.

Another participant, Curtis Copeland, Jr., provided information on one of his father’s classmates, Hartman Reed, who had an excellent career with a taxi company and other interests in Washington, D. C.  Mell Dozzo had loaned us a copy of “Eccentric Orbits, the Iridium Story”, which documents the role of ‘48er Dan Colussy in the salvaging of a bankrupt satellite telephone company and turning it into a moneymaker.

My favorite member of this class was Ed Weise, whom I have described as “the best ‘best friend’ a teen-aged boy could have”. Ed was the heart and soul of the Owl Patrol, certainly the best patrol in Boy Scout Troop 245. Our experiences hiking and camping are the real highlights of my life in those years.

In the Spring of 1948 we ‘49ers were responsible for the Junior Prom. The “Bridger” description of it warrants recording. It is written in the format of a society column in a daily paper. “I saw many socially prominent people”. It begins with Robert O’Neil and Sally Russell and then proceeds to mention Jack Oyler, Dick Rothermund, Sam Capozzoli, Don Toney, and John Rosa, among others. Sounds like a roll call for our Octogenarian Brunch Club. Unfortunately, my social stature has gone downhill ever since!

Following his impressive coaching debut the previous year which ended up with a five-game winning streak, Coach Hast was optimistic about the 1948 season. Despite losing so many productive Seniors, he had solid players returning at each position. His first shock was learning that potential star end Bob “Huck” O’Neil had broken his collarbone while “carrying hod” on a construction site. Junior Aldo Mosso proved to be an adequate replacement.

Then Loyal “Joe” Brown, projected to be the starting fullback was struck down by appendicitis and lost for the season. Not to worry, we have Matt Noark as a replacement. The first game was a romp over West Bethelehem, 24 to 0. Noark scored a touchdown before suffering a concussion. Not to worry, tackle Leo Maruzewski was called upon to replicate his older brother, Ed, who switched from tackle to running back and was the star of the championship 1942 team.

Leo also scored a touchdown, but concluded he preferred hitting people to being hit and returned to his old position at tackle. Not to worry, junior Sam Patton sparked the team to an exciting 20 to 19 win over Carnegie. We were unable to find a newspaper clipping reporting the results of this game; apparently it was such an embarrassment to the losers that they failed their responsibility of phoning in the results to the newspapers.

Lacking a proper report, we fell back on the version in the “Bridger”. The previous year the facilitator noticed that the Bridger staff consisted completely of females, so he decided to volunteer his services as sports editor. His write-up of the Carnegie game was surprisingly competent for someone “socially prominent”.

Cecil and Bethel were then conquered easily, but Patton was lost because of a broken elbow. Not to worry, Hast proved to be a genius by moving guard Lou Cimarolli to fullback. Jack Schullek moved from tackle to guard. He was replaced by center Joe Stalma, with Anthony Capozzoli taking over at center. The result was a powerful, well-balanced team which easily ran through the rest of the season, culminating in an easy 24 to 0 win over Marion in the Class B title game.

Prior to Cimarolli’s move to fullback, the team’s “bread and butter” play had been LF 25-I, a trap play that seemed to guarantee six or eight yards every time it was properly executed. It enabled Noark, Maruzewski, and Patton to exploit their bruising, hard running style. Cimarolli was so quick accelerating and so adept at finding open space that it suddenly became a potential touchdown each time it was called.

Game in and game out, end Al Bigi was the best all-around player on the team. Recognizing this, he was crowned “King of Football” following the South Fayette game and presented with the game ball. Jeanne Squarcha was chosen as Queen; she received a chrysanthemum bouquet.

Other key contributors to the successful season were Seniors quarterback Ray Fagan and halfback Fred Donelli, and Juniors Ron Lesko, a guard, and halfback Roger Bradford.

Mary Weise commented on the fact that success in football helped some of these young men to acquire a college education that might have denied them otherwise. O’Neil, Stalma, and Fagan went to Duquesne, played Freshman football and one year of Varsity before the University elected to drop football. O’Neil transferred to Notre Dame and played two years there, followed by six years of professional football in three different leagues. He eventually became a successful home builder in the Pacific Northwest.

Stalma transferred to Toledo University, earned a degree in education, and became a high school teacher and basketball coach. His success at tiny Rossford High School has been rewarded by having their field house named for him. Fagan completed his education at Duquesne and  went to work for Pittsburgh National Bank, where he eventually became a Vice President.

Based on my knowledge of these three men, I am not surprised at their success, but it does appear that the educations they received as a result of athletic scholarships was a major contributor.

The officers of the Class were President Bob Baldwin, Dick Rothermund, Mary Lou Graham, and me. Bob went off to Wesleyan College and then to the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a Ph. D. in Education. He ended up at Clarion University as Dean of Education. His most significant accomplishment was introducing me to a student he was advising at Pitt, a lovely young lady who ultimately became my wife.

Dick earned a degree in Industrial Engineering and worked for several steel companies before switching to Computer Science and working for Robert Morris University. Mary Lou followed her parents’ footsteps and became a teacher. Larry Godwin remembers her administering an intelligence test to him while she was studying at Slippery Rock. He said he was so young that they decided to ignore the results and assume he would grow out of it. I, of course, am still trying to find myself.

Sally Russell was our May Queen. She and her two attendants, Marian Jones and Jeanne Squarcha, are still the loveliest trio of young ladies I have ever known. Marian was half of one of three high school romances that resulted in “till death do us part”. She married classmate Loyal Brown, Pat Winnechuke married classmate Fred Donelli, and Dolores Kovach married classmate Jack McGrogan.

It would be remiss to not mention Florene Cherry when discussing our class. She was a constant leader in everything we did and has spent the rest of her life serving others. She married an outsider – Jack Joyce – after graduating from Mercyhurst and combined rearing a family with involvement with the Urban League, the Greater Pittsburgh Guild for the Blind, and NEED (the Negro Educational Emergency Drive). She was heavily involved in the founding of Miryam’s, an agency for homeless mentally ill women. In 1994 she was recognized by the Post Gazette in their Outstanding Citizen program. She also was a key founder of the Historical Society.

While reviewing the ’49 Yearbook for this workshop, the facilitator found numerous photographs of eighth graders, which included three regular workshop attendees – Dale DeBlander, Russ Kovach, and Judy Oelschlager. All three were members of the high school band. Incidentally, Judy’s brother Wilbur was a very popular member of the ‘49ers.

Also mentioned during the workshop were other well-known Bridgeville residents. Both teacher Gloria Lutz and Society faithful member Lena Carrozza were heavily involved in the Junior Women’s Club and its support of our students.

The next “Second Tuesday” workshop is scheduled for 7:00 pm, April 10, at the History Center. We will be taking a break from our High School history series to kick off a new initiative, the development of a permanent exhibit focused on “George Washington’s Impact on Western Pennsylvania”. This month we will discuss his well-documented mission to Fort LeBouef to negotiate with the French regarding sovereignty of the Ohio Country. We will return to the high school series in May and alternate months thereafter.