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 Legacies grow as time goes by for ex-Cougar football players... By Ron Paglia, For The Tribune Review, June 19, 2005 As reunions go, it was an informal affair. There were no prizes for making the first reservation, having the most grandchildren or traveling the farthest, although Pete Newstrom would have walked away with the latter honor. He traveled from Boynton Beach, Florida for the festivities. "With Stan being inducted into the Hall of Fame, we thought it would be nice to get the guys together again," Joe Barcelona, a retired Charleroi Area School District teacher and coach who coordinated the reunion of former Cougar athletes at his riverside home in Dunlevy, said. "It's something I've been thinking about for a long time, not just for this group of guys but also for teams from other eras." "Stan" is Stan Kemp, a 1963 graduate of CHS who was in town for induction into the Mid Mon Valley All Sports Hall of Fame. Barcelona, an assistant coach during Kemp's career as an outstanding quarterback in the early sixties, coordinated the reunion and also served as chief cook and bottle washer for the bash. Others attending the event were Newstrom, Ron Yuss, Sam Ancitano, Eddie Protin, Dave Lee, Mike Lee, Joe Hurley, Bill Lee, Don Saunders, Dennis Harger, Dave Sink, Ron Nucci, Don Nucci, Pete Gialames, Dwight "Lucky" Williams, Tim Dooley, and former teacher-coach John Shelapinsky. "This is a great idea," Ancitano, who now lives in Greensburg and works for Home Depot, said as he looked through a large scrapbook of newspaper clippings and pictures. "I haven't seen some of these guys for many years, and it's good to be with them again. They were a very important part of my life in high school. I lived in Virginia for a number of years and tried to keep tabs on them, but there's nothing like seeing everyone like this." The scrapbook accounts of their feats were complemented with personal remembrances of those days gone by for guys now at or pushing 60. The former Cougars had a grand time trying to outdo each other with stories that, as Saunders put it ever so gently, "have a way of becoming embellished" over the years. A headline on one of the stories caught the attention of Williams, who heads his own insurance agency in Belle Vernon. It read: "Nucci leads Cougars; Kemp shows promise." "I think that was their (newspaper) way of keeping your feet on the ground," Williams smiled at Kemp, who gained all-state honors in football and basketball as a senior. "We had some outstanding teams in those years," Saunders said of the 1960, '61 and '62 seasons. "I think we lost only five games overall, and four of those were to Monessen and Uniontown twice each." The Cougars of the early sixties entered their initial chapter of CHS history in the shadow of the 1959 team that won the WPIAL Class AA championship with an exciting win over Aliquippa at Pitt Stadium. "That was an outstanding team," Mike Lee said of the '59 Cougars. "It strikes me as rather odd that not one of the guys from that team is in the Hall of Fame yet. Just take a look at that backfield of Gary Hogan, Bob 'Moose' Hodgson, Paul Strelick and Mickey Bitsko. The term 'dream backfield' is tossed around rather loosely at times, but it truly describes those four. And there was a guy named Pete Goimarac who was one of the best ever to wear the Red and Black." Hogan (quarterback), Hodgson (halfback), Strelick (halfback) and Bitsko (fullback), the brother of Cougar legend Myron Pottios, each accounted for over 1,000 offensive yards in 1959, and all went on to play college football. Goimarac, described by Barcelona as being "as tough as anyone I every saw," starred at West Virginia University. Yuss, who also started three years at WVU and who was inducted into the Mon Valley Hall of Fame two years ago with his brother Fred, said the early sixties "might have been the golden era" of the Big 6 Conference. "There were no weak teams in the league," Yuss, a U.S. Air Force veteran who served two tours of duty as a fighter pilot in Vietnam and now lives in Peters Township, said. "There were no breaks in the schedule. Monessen had guys like (Bill) Malinchak, (Eric) Crabtree, (Ben) Jones an (Eton) 'Buster' Karenchak and they won the WPIAL title in 1961. There were Marty Nagg and a guy named (Gary) Klingensmith at Brownsville; Clairton had a big running back named Ernie Moore, and Donora and Monongahela were good, too. Even our non-conference opponents were very strong. Uniontown had (Ben) 'Pope' Gregory, who went on to play at Nebraska." But the Cougars, Kemp and others emphasized, didn't take a back seat to anyone. "You had to be tough to play for Rab," Kemp reminded a visitor to the reunion. "And these guys were the toughest bunch of characters I've ever met. They worked hard and they played hard, and they were the ones who made me look good." Kemp's departure from a 1962 game against Bethlehem Center worked in Bill Lee's favor, the ex-Cougars recalled in one of their favorite recollections. "It was a bittersweet night," Lee, now the mayor of Speers Borough, remembered with a smile. "They (Beth-Center) sent one of their substitutes into the game to get Stan riled up. The kid threw Stan to the ground really hard on a rough tackle, and Stan came up swinging. Both of them were ejected from the game, and Rab sent me into the game." Lee, whose late father, Frank Lee, was a longtime assistant at Charleroi, wound up throwing four touchdown passes and gaining a "ton of yards" through the air, but one play overshadowed all of that. "We had been practicing a naked reverse during the week and had planned to use it with Stan in the game," Barcelona said. "Because we were well ahead in the game, Bill kept asking us if he could run it. Rab finally relented and told Bill, 'Don't mess it up!' You know what happened. Bill takes the snap from center, rolls back a few steps and gets hit for a seven-yard loss. I don't think we ever ran a naked reverse again." Lee, who later played at California State College (now California University of Pennsylvania) laughed and said, "I guess fame really is fleeting. I throw for four touchdowns, and the only thing they remember is that naked reverse play." Saunders, who also played at California State College and who served as a U.S. Army military policeman for two years in Germany, began a successful coaching career that included two stints in the Carlynton School District and California Area High School. One of his players during the first 11-year hitch at Carlynton was a guy named Bill Cowher. Saunders retired from teaching and coaching a year ago and now makes his home in South Fayette Township. "They had a lot of respect for Don at Carlynton," Mike Lee said. "A couple of years ago, my brother Dave was a social function, and Coach Cowher also was in attendance. My brother asked Cowher if he could have his picture taken with him, and Bill said he didn't do pictures. Dave smiled at him and said, 'OK, but I want you to know that Don Saunders is one of my best friends.' His (Cowher) face lit up at Don's name, and he agreed to have his picture taken." Saunders and the others debated their final game against cross-river rival Monessen in 1962 for a long time and had to go to the scrapbook for the details of the 13-13 tie with the Greyhounds. Another key figure in that game, veteran MHS coach Joe Gladys, recalled the contest at the Hall of Fame banquet the night after the reunion in Dunlevy. "The score was tied, and there wasn't much time left in the game," Gladys, also a member of the Hall of Fame, said. "Charleroi drove down inside our ten-yard line and kept trying to punch the ball into the end zone. I thought for sure they were going to send him (Kemp) in to kick a field goal, but they continued to run at us, and we managed to stop them. After the game I asked Rab why he didn't have Stan try the field goal and said, 'He was tired.' Everyone on both teams was tired. That was a very hard-fought game." As were all of the games in those years, according to the reunion participants. But the one that stands out most for Kemp, who lives in Potomac Falls, VA, is the night he kicked a 37-yard field goal with six seconds remaining in the game to beat Brownsville 10-7. "The snap from (center) Rick Smith was right on the target and Ronnie's hold was perfect," Kemp said as he pointed to Ron Nucci, an outstanding running back for the Cougars. "The line gave me great protection. All I had to do was kick the ball, and fortunately it went through the uprights. Memories like that flooded the night like the nearby Monongahela River overflowing its banks for the Charleroi graduates. "It's a great way to get together and talk about how good we were," Dennis Harger smiled. "That's for sure," Saunders replied with a broad smile on his face. "And if you listen to the stories long enough, we seem to get better every year." PHOTO TOP... "Happy Times"- Obviously enjoying the reunion of Charleroi High School football players of the early sixties are (left to right) Ron Yuss, Don Saunders and Joe Hurley.   PHOTO... "Welcome Home"- John Shelapinsky (second from left), former athletic coach and teacher in the Charleroi Area School District, welcomes Stan Kemp (left) back home as they meet at the reunion in Dunlevy. Also shown are Mike Lee (right) and Dwight "Lucky" Williams. | 1905 Football Team | 1925 Football Sectional Backfield | 1936 WPIAL Football Champs | 1959 WPIAL Football Champs | 1971 Golden Hurricanes | 1968 Charleroi Area Jr. High Football Team | 'Red Raider's' Reunion - Tribute to Coach Joswick | 1969 White Lightenings | 1951 Charleroi Junior High Washington County Champ | 1952 Charleroi Junior High Washington County Champ | 1977 Red Raiders | 1978 Red Raiders - C.M.F.L. 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