At the beginning of the football season of the Fall of 1930, both David Ficks and I were 1st team ends. Coach Smith asked me to try out for quarterback since I was able to throw forward passes quite well, and also able to punt very well. In those days with a single wing formation the quarterback carried out these activities in addition to calling signals. By the end of the football season I was quarterback on offense, played left-end on defense during the first three downs for the opponents and played safety man during punt formation. Frankie Filchock, who was a classmate of mine in the second grade, and who was an excellent passer threw the long forward passes from his tailback position. Redstone always had a highly successful season. We lost one game during my freshmen year, one game during the sophomore year, lost no games during the junior year, and lost one game during my senior year. During the senior year, my mother and dad and brother Charles and his wife Nelle along with my niece MaryAnn moved from Brier Hill to Yukon, Pennsylvania. I remained behind living in Republic at the home of Clyde and Ruth Smith, the football coach and his wife, intending to remain there until after the football season. We had a very successful season until the sixth game during the middle of October when my right knee was badly hurt during a game. Several ligaments were torn which meant the end of high school football for me. I then moved from Republic to Yukon to live with my folks and began classes in Wyano, Pennsylvania in South Huntington High School. I was so glad at the time, and have bragged about it to this day, that from this small Redstone High School (330 total students) four (yes, four) of my football team members made All-American Football Selection in 1937. These were Frankie Filchock, tailback, Indiana University (he later played professional football with the Washington Redskins and then with the New York Giants); Gus Cardarelli, guard, Kansas University; George Delio, halfback, W. Virginia University; and John "Peewee" Kavashansky, tackle, Maryland University.
My Dad Was Better Than Jim Thorpe!!
Back to the Fall of 1931 at Brier Hill. We had a semi-professional football team. My brother Charles played tackle on the team. My mother and dad and sister Anna Mae and I traveled every Sunday to watch Charles play. My brother Charles was a tiger and an excellent football player. He also happened to be an outstanding free-for-all fighter and was the strongest young man in town. I remember one weekend when my dad said he could run the football through the entire Brier Hill team with no protection and with nobody running interference for him. The team members laughed at him and said "We will kick the ball to you and you run toward the other goal". They kicked, Pop caught the ball, and ran the entire distance to make a touch down against the team with no other player on his side. Much later Charles told us that he asked all of the Brier Hill players to fake the tackle attempts or else they would have to face the consequences. In the meantime, my happy dad felt that he had pulled a real coup.
I Take Up Boxing
During my days at Redstone and during the off-football season, I decided to take up boxing and joined the Pleasant Valley Boxing Club in Fairchance, Pennsylvania. The club was financed by a local dentist. The trainer was Red Richardson who was a flyweight champion during the 20's and also an outstanding individual similar to my football coach Clyde Smith. We were not permitted to use tobacco in any form, swear or misbehave at any time in the gym. This is unusual for a boxing gym. Red Richardson was a very successful trainer and had national AAU champions from his stable by the name of Rabbit Ely, Sonny Boy Horne, Buttons Brokenbaugh, George Bittner, Mike Makarun and others. Several made the Olympic teams. It was a delight to work out with these people. I started the club in early 1931 and ultimately had 34 boxing matches, winning 33 of them. The last boxing match I had was in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1936 while I was a student at Tri-State College. I was very fortunate to have had such excellent training because I have very seldom been hit in the face, and was never out pointed. My only loss was during my 11 th bout in Uniontown, Pennsylvania when I was fighting a young amateur who had no business being in the ring. He had had no training and absolutely no defense. I hit him with ease and several times looked to the referee to ask him to stop the bout because the poor young man could not defend himself. Early in the 2nd round as I turned around to ask the referee if he would stop the bout, I was hit in the right temple with a haymaker by this "defenseless" young man. My lights went out! I really did not know where I was until an hour or so later when I was walking out of the boxing hall, fully clothed and already having taken a shower. I was told later that I finally did get off of the floor much later after the count of 10 and walked to the locker room, showered myself, changed clothes and behaved normally. All this was done in a stupor. The record of 33 wins out of 34 fights was highly satisfactory. It is very interesting that most of the people think that the one fight that I lost was the last one. I never did have a very strong knockout punch (only 6 of the 33 wins were by knockout) but I was in excellent physical shape, had extremely good foot work and boxing skills thanks to Red Richardson and his trainers.
A New High School
It really made me very unhappy to leave Redstone in October, 1932 to go to another high school. I was so surprised when I entered school at South Huntington that I was accepted so well by the classmates. This was a very small country high school (110 students), the students were extremely friendly and helpful. I was welcomed by the students and faculty and helped in every possible way that I could be helped in arriving at my senior year at mid-semester. Ultimately, I graduated from South Huntington in mid-May of 1933.
The only bad incident at my new school happened soon after my arrival. There was a big bully junior student named George Menser who kept teasing and taunting my cousin Frank who was a freshman. Frank was 6ft. 4in. tall but weighed only 95lbs and had no fighting experience. I was warned about George Menser by Frank the day before I started going to the new high school. Several days after I enrolled George Merser met me in the hall and said "I hear you think you are pretty tough and are a boxer. I'd like to have you come to the back of the building to see how tough you really are." I replied with a fact which was, "George, I'd like to accommodate you but as an active boxer my two hands are classed as lethal weapons and I could be arrested and serve time in jail if I ever hit someone with these hands. But ...I would love to show you a few things I learned in the ring." He replied, "That doesn't scare me at all. Why not go to the back of the building with me." I said that I would if we could have at least one witness. He called several students and we four went to the back of the building. I said "George, I would feel better if you would take the first swing at me." Without a word he threw a hard haymaker at my head. It was hard, but slow, and I was able to get under it easily. I countered with a very hard right uppercut to his solar plexus. He grabbed his abdomen and gasped for air for almost a full minute. He lay on the ground and tried to breathe. Finally he was able to get up but couldn't talk. I told him I was careful not to hit him in the face. I was also glad to have the two witnesses who could testify that he swung his fists at me first. (In our boxing training we were always warned by Red Richardson not to swing a fist first because they were classed as lethal weapons). Incidentally, from that day on George and I were on friendly terms and he never teased Frankie again. The two student witnesses told everyone in school about the incident.
