Posts Tagged school

     Prior to 2010, only FOUR coaches in Ellwood City football history have posted career winning records. The best percentage is held by Denny Schill 8-1-1 in the single season he coached during 1935. Howard Gills is next in winning percentage after coaching two seasons during the war (1944 and 1945). Not many people would argue that the two most successful coaches in Ellwood City football history were Peck Lee and Dutch Croft. Lee coached ten seasons from 1919 to 1930 (missing the 1922 and 1923 seasons) and had a winning percentage of .667. Coach Croft coached from 1938 to 1953 missing 1944 and 1945 years for World War II while posting a .640 winning percentage with the most wins (88) and most losses (48).

Coach Ganzy Benedict still holds the school record of most tie games with eight in just three years of coaching. Other notable head coaches that coached here at Ellwood City include NFL Head Coach Chuck Knox, Kansas University Head Coach Mark Mangino, and Butler Head Coach Jim Rankin.

    For the first half of the decade, the Ellwood City coach was not measured by wins or losses, but whether or not they beat New Castle. However bad we beat Evans City, usually worked out to how bad New Castle beat us; until 1925 when Ellwood City beat New Castle for the first time. New Castle cried foul that the Head Coach had water-downed the field to make a muddy mess to slow down the smaller, faster New Castle team. I do not know if there is any truth to this but as you can see in the pictures, it was a “little” muddy.

This would not be the last time that New Castle would use this excuse to try to justify a loss to the “Big Blue”. Sue Campbell recalls hearing back in the 1930′s folks from New Castle complaining that Ellwood City went to New Castle and watered the field until it was nothing but mud and Ellwood said that New Castle did it themselves. The day after this “sprinkling” the Wolverines pulled off the upset and won the game and the controversy began again. She recalled still hearing the charge of “watering” in 1961 when she graduated from Lincoln High School.

Due to the size of the schools, Ellwood City and New Castle did not play each other in regular season games for a number of years until New Castle dropped down to Triple A in the late 1990′s. The two schools would occasionally meet in pre-season scrimmage games and the rivalry was surprisingly still there. I recall in a pre-season game 1993 or 1994 the banter back and forth between the two teams along with the pushing and shoving and etc., caused the referees to walk off the field. The teams decided to continue the game with coaches officiating and coincidently New Castle and Ellwood did not play each other in pre-season games again for a number of years.

     We may never know if the “watering” was true or not or even if it affected the outcome much as both teams still had to play in the mud but someone always knows someone who knows. One rumor we heard was that the owner of the Ellwood City Ice Company who hired football players during the summers to keep them in shape and ready for the upcoming season, took one of his delivery trucks full of suspects to New Castle the night before the game in the 30′s and the dastardly deed WAS done. Of course we also hear rumors that someone’s grandfather told them that they were in New Castle the evening before the game and SAW with his own eyes a fire truck at the field and knows that it was New Castle that watered the field.

If you would like to leave a memory you might have about the coaches or the rivalry with New Castle, please leave a comment below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

Originally Posted July 23, 2010

I had a friend email me this picture that looks like a Bud Dimeo photograph for the Ellwood City Ledger but I am not sure where it came from nor who it belongs to. It is not my intention to “steal” anything so please let me know and I will take it down right away – but it is a great photograph.
  What looks like a picture of a parking lot to some is something so much more to me. Of course you see the brick P & LE Freight Station that is still standing today and to the left of it across the railroad tracks is the Baltimore & Ohio Freight Station along Sixth Street that was demolished in 1982. In 1966, the P & LE freight station was converted into a warehouse and offices by Fotia Brothers Sales & Service owners, Sam & Joseph Fotia. Today it is being remodeled again for unknown purposes.
Between the two buildings you can see the tops of two churches in the background. On the left is the former Saint Agatha Roman Catholic Church that served Ellwood City until September of 2007 when it consolidated with its own mission church the Blessed Virgin Mary Church and was renamed Holy Redeemer Church. The second church is the Presbyterian Church which is older than our town itself, having originally organized in the “old brick school house” back on July 14, 1891. The Presbyterian Church continues to serve Ellwood City today despite a fire in 1950.
Speaking of fire, on the far right you can barely make out the old livery on Fourth Street. Architect Byron McCandless who designed portions of Lincoln High School, the Ellwood City Municipal Building, and many others used this building and the brick buildings behind it as his offices. His son Joseph continued to use these buildings for storage until an arson fire destroyed the buildings a number of years ago. His father’s original drawings were lost as was Joseph’s picture taken of the Marines on D-day only a few yards from the beach at Normandy. Byron’s father was Joseph McCandless who built the very first brick house in Ellwood City that just recently burned down.
There are many interesting things you can make out in the background of a picture of “a parking lot”. If you would like to share your memories of any of these, please share below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    Thank you to Mark Crepp and Ernie Young for sending me this picture that was published in the Ellwood City Ledger and republished in the same paper December 5th 2012 as a part of the “Ellwood City Looking Back” series. There were a number of homes and businesses along Ellwood-Zelienople Road and South Second Street that were torn to build the new four lane highway. One of the most commonly recalled is Easy’s Twin Kiss.
Do you remember Easy’s Twin Kiss, located a little north and on the opposite side of the road as the old North Star School? Easy’s Twin Kiss was a classic drive-up on Ellwood-Zelienople Road that served hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries, pulled pork barbeque sandwiches, steak sandwich, homemade soup, and more. People remember going there just for the delicious ice cream, milkshakes, and of course the famous Big Kiss Sundae.
    Yes, they had good food, yes they had good ice cream, but you can not mention Easy’s Twin Kiss without mentioning their famous home-made root-beer. Easy’s served their root-beer in large thick heavy frozen glass mugs. The mugs were so nice that they had a difficult time getting the mugs back after someone ordered a root-beer.
If you remember Easy’s Twin Kiss and would like to share your memories of the old drive-up, please leave a comment below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

Originally Published April 18, 2010

If you have ever been one of the unfortunate ones to hear me speak about the web site you know I start off each one I have done by saying I do not know anything. I can’t remember the dirt streets, Hotel Oliver, or the Harmony Line. I vaguely remember the 100th anniversary; have only heard stories of the 75th anniversary and read about the 50th. I can only speak about the football field at the school from what I have heard and from the pictures I have seen. I couldn’t tell you what color building Nick’s Snack Bar was because I have never seen a picture of it. I have a hard time picturing ice skating at Merrit Brooke, though I have heard the stories… until now. Thanks to Carolyn “Tootsie” Grundy I have now seen pictures of the ice rink or the “Pond” as I have been told it was called.

On the far right of the first picture, you can see the “warming shed” where skaters could crowd around the pot belly stove inside.

This picture gives more perspective as the brick house in the background is still standing if it is the one I believe it is. Tootsie’s Grandmother Dorothy Forbush Houk ran the upper pond which existed before Mr.Russ Buccelli’s pond.  Butchelle ran the lower ice skating pond behind his house where he would open his basement for everyone to keep warm or put on their skates. Russ would flood the lower rink to freeze over to have a smoother surface but he charged $0.25 which was a lot back then. He closed the rink about 1965 just before he retired.

A nice picture of Mary Ellen Duncan and Chuck Anderson. Is the guy over Mary’s right shoulder (the one furthest away) holding a hockey stick?

This young man is Clarence Houk wearing his U.S. Navy Service Dress Blues (or crackerjacks). The little guy behind him is Eddie Jim Cable.

I know many of you have shared memories of ice skating in the North Side but we would still like to hear from more of you. Please share your memories below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com – Thank You Tootsie for sharing with all of us.

For those that complain that the football field and track are too far away from the school, there was a time the field was right beside the school. I have been asking for awhile for any pictures anybody might have that show the old field at the school and am grateful for the ones I have received. If you have a picture you would like to share please email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com. So far I have three pictures that I received permission to use and would appreciate any input you may have about them.
    In the first picture you can barely see the field at the bottom of the picture but it gives us a real good idea of the location. Some of the more interesting things about this picture are not so much the field but the layout of Lincoln High School at the time. At the time of this picture, there was a whole additional three story wing of the school where the current cafeteria, maintenance garages, and the “bridge” to the large gym are today. I have to ask those that remember, what was the layout of this wing? Was it all classrooms? I know the school did not have a cafeteria but did this wing have anything comparable to the size of the current cafeteria? Was the ground floor a locker-room for Lincoln Field for both home and away teams? Finally, was there a “band” room and a room dedicated for the choir before the addition?
    Okay, back to the picture, it’s nice to see the old Hartman Elementary School building and you may notice that Holy Redeemer is not there. Where the church parking lot is today, is the former BVM Church and previous to that it was the Methodist Church.
    Now back to Lincoln Field and the second picture. This is an action shot of the 1925 Ellwood City - New Castle game. In the background of the picture you can see the steel work for Lincoln High School that was under construction. You can also see how tight the stands were as an estimated 10,000 people watched the game from the bleachers, on top of parts of the school, and on top of neighboring houses. You can also clearly see how muddy the field was for the game and why New Castle cried for many years that the Ellwood City Fire Department flooded the field to slow down New Castle. The ball carrier in the picture is New Castle’s great Scooter Day, who despite a valiant effort, was not was not able to get into the end zone against the incredible Ellwood City defense.
    In the third picture here, you get a better layout of the field. As you can see, not only did the fans of Ellwood pack the bleachers but it looks to be two to three deep along the fence. Notice the people on top of the First Christian Church watching the game too.  This was not only a football field, but it was the school’s baseball field at the time. Home plate was beyond the field goal posts in the corner of what today would be Oak Avenue and Fourth Street. You can get a little bit of a better idea of the layout of the baseball field in the first picture. In addition to baseball and football Ellwood City also added four public tennis courts to Lincoln Field in 1930.
If you remember the field and would like to share your memories, please leave a comment below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

Originally Published Sept 25, 2009

     Perhaps the greatest team of all time from our area is the undefeated Ellwood City High School football team.

     Led by 6’1″ – 228 lb fullback/linebacker Tom “Big Train” MacMurdo, the Ellwood squad did not allow a single point until the National title game. The WPIAL champions outscored their opponents 313 to 0 during the regular season.

The biggest game of the year was against defending WPIAL champions New Castle who were riding a 43 game undefeated streak. New Castle’s Coach Phil Bridenbaugh’s team was led by local legend Ralph “Scooter” Day. 10,000 people packed the area around the old field in Ellwood City including people standing on the roofs of the houses that stood next to the old field where the current High School stands.  Both teams had yet to be scored upon 7 weeks into the season.

New Castle started the game kicking off to Ellwood City, but Ellwood turned around and punted the ball back to New Castle on first down. New Castle took the ball and drove down to the one yard line before being stopped one foot short of teh goaline on fourth down. Ellwood City got the ball back inside New Castle territory on an interception and Tom MacMurdo punched the ball into the endzone and took a 7-0 lead into the second half. In the 2nd half Ellwood City opened things up against a desperate New Castle team capped by a 26 yard touchdown run by MacMurdo and won the game 14-0. After the big win, Ellwood City was acclaimed the best team in the state.

     After the only other undefeated team Jeannette tied Latrobe on Thanksgiving Day, Ellwood City was awarded the Syrcuse Cup and crowned WPIAL champions. The season did not end there for Ellwood City as the two time Illinios state champions Freeport was inline to play Ellwood for the National Championship at the brand new Pitt Stadium.  Freeport, who had not lost a game in five years, beat the Ellwood City team 13-7 if front of the 2,454 fans in attendance. Ellwood’s only score coming late in the game by Tom MacMurdo.

Hal Wilson has a great site about the 1925 team

Ellwood City – 60    Evans City – 0

Ellwood City – 12    Monaca – 0

Ellwood City – 20    Beaver – 0

Ellwood City – 20    Beaver Falls – 0

Ellwood City – 20    Woodlawn – 0

Ellwood City – 64    New Wilmington – 0

Ellwood City – 14    New Castle – 0

Post Season

Ellwood City – 31    Homestead – 0

Ellwood City – 72    East Palestine (Ohio) – 0

National Championship

Ellwood City – 6     Freeport (Illinois) – 13

Starting Lineup:

Quarterback – Ross Parker

Halfback – Johnny Sanders

Halfback – Harold Johnston- All WPIAL first team

Fullback – Tom MacMurdo – All WPIAL first team – Ellwood City Single season record (120 pts)

End – Bill Marsh

End – Jim Fitzgerald – All WPIAL first team

Center – Jim MacMurdo – Played three years with Philadelphia Eagles

Guard – Bill Herge

Guard – Art Applebaum- All WPIAL first team

Tackle – Bob MacMurdo

Tackle – Curt Neff

*note – a sub on this team was later famous L. Butler Hennon who coached the Wampum Indians basketball team which included the Allen brothers to three State Championships.

Originally Published November 19, 2008

    The Koppel Bridge was built and owned by the Pittsburgh, Harmony, Butler, and New Castle Railway (more commonly known as the Harmony Line). The original Koppel Bridge (known as Magnificent Seven) was constructed mostly of wood and the sparks from the trains passing underneath often set the bridge on fire. Chuck Hall recalled that this was a tricky fire to combat as the firemen had to hang under the bridge to extinguish the flames. The reason the bridge was known as the Magnificent Seven was due to the fact that the bridge had seven piers. Though it was made of wood, the Swanson Brothers of Youngstown built a solid bridge that stood fifty seven feet above the water from 1890-1913 and was the longest bridge on the ”Harmony Line” .

Mr. Hall had many other memories of the bridge including when he was young and didn’t have the money for the toll. He along with his friends, would walk down a short distance and walk across the very narrow train bridge which was extremely dangerous. The important thing was to not let your folks know you did that.

    As most of you may recall, the Koppel Bridge was a toll bridge and many of you recall the name of the man who took the toll. Chuck Hall remembers the very nice man of Russian decent (he thinks), Walter Matetich, that collected the tolls for almost the entire life of the bridge. Sheri Ferrell shared that her Great Grandfather, Willard E. Shaner (1853-1935) was also a toll collector on the bridge in the late 1920′s. One evening a man pointed a gun at Willard in an attempt to rob him. Willard had a pencil in his hand and tried to push the gun away with it but was shot. He started walking across the bridge to get to a hospital when her grandfather, Fred Shaner (who was a policeman) found him and took him to the hospital.

I have been told that a popular thing young people would do was to turn off your car lights and run the toll booth to avoid the five cent toll. May 15, 1957 marks a special day as the last tool was collected to cross the bridge. As Bob Mallary pointed out that the alternative was a long drive. He remembers commuting to Geneva and going across the old bridge daily between ’57 and ’59. It seems to Bob the bridge closed down for a time for repair and he had to go down River Road to 588 and into Beaver Falls and then back up the hill to Geneva.

    Chuck Hall shared one more story of the bridge that includes the famous Danny Kaye. As you can see, it bows down in the middle like the old road bridges making it appear unsafe. Some time ago Danny Kaye’s famous orchestra was to play at one of Ellwood’s clubs. Upon approaching the bridge Danny looked out the window and what he saw made him “chicken out” and he refused to cross it. They took the long way through Wampum to get to their destination. Which is funny as the old trolley cars weighed forty four tons each; but this does raise a question. Back in the late fifties when the bridge closed as Mr. Mallary shared, how did the Koppel kids get to school as they would have been part of the Ellwood City School District at that time?

As I have mentioned, many have shared their memories of the Koppel Bridge but we would still like to hear your memories. Please share your memories below or email them to info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

Originally published December 16, 2008

It feels like only yesterday but the stretch of Lawrence Avenue between Fourth Street and Fifth Street has changed more than perhaps any other part of town, and I am not only referring to the loss of Pe Wee’s Lunch. This single picture seems to remind more people of the great memories they have of Ellwood City more than any other we have posted here.

    The Manos Theater (previously Liberty Theater), and the Jayhawk both seem to remind people of how fun it is to grow up in Ellwood City. The Manos was on the south side of Lawrence Avenue and was a popular date spot in town for years. The Jayhawk restaurant across the street was also a very popular teenager “hangout” and made famous by their roast beef sandwich.

The second door on the south side was Turners Barber Shop, the largest barber shop in town and during the 1940’s and early 50’s had six barbers working. Linda Turner remembers the shop got to the point that it was so busy that Turners Barber Shop was the first in town to use numbers to keep arguments down and the first to have a television for its waiting customers.

Others have shared their memories of the days before Lincoln High School offered bus service to its students, the pupils from Ellport had to walk from the High School to the bus terminal at the gas station beside the Jayhawk and catch the public bus to Ellport everyday. On the same side as the Jayhawk was also the Sunoco Station and Herge’s Radio & Electric.

When I previously posted this picture there was some question as to the name of the business on the Northeast corner of Lawrence Ave and Fourth Street. Mr. Stevenson recalled that at one time it was the popular Biordi Grille back when it was a bar. Season Swartz shared that when her grandfather Art Alben owned it, it was a restaurant named after his wife; Elvira’s Place . You may recall the teenage hangout on the second floor. If there is anyone that remembers this, please let us know. You can share your memories below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

Johnny & Eddie’s Oasis Bar & Restaurant was on the south side of Lawrence Avenue near Fourth Street. Jo Ann (Miller) Oxsen shared memories of her parents taking her to the Oasis occasionally on Friday nights for their delicious spaghetti & meatballs. She remembers that they used to give them bibs to wear while eating the spaghetti.

Originally Published January 29, 2009

    I would like to thank Carole Wimer Starz who took the time to scan a few old photographs that she took during the 1957 Christmas Parade in Ellwood City. The pictures were taken while she was still in elementary school and taken with a child’s Kodak box camera with no focus or other controls, just great memories.   

    Carole’s father was at the Pontiac garage when the parade was about to begin and someone talked him into riding in the procession.  Just imagine a young girl’s surprise when her father went by in a new Pontiac.

    Other than Denny Schill, Carole was not able to identify any of the other people in the parade. The businesses in the backgrounds are always fun to see again including the Majestic Theater and a crowd favorite, Isaly’s (I Shall Always Love You).

    To share your memories, please email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com or share your memories below.  

    Originally the bridge that connected the Northside (Hazel Dell) to Ellwood City, was a covered bridge. The road that climbed the bank on the south side met 6th Street and Glenn Ave.

    When it became time to get a steel bridge there was a lot of debate as to where it should cross. Eventually the new bridge was installed 150 yards downstream from the covered bridge, connecting Sixth Street and College Street.

   After 30+ years, a new bridge was built in 1915, a little upstream at Fifth Street causing an odd little “round-a-bout” on the North end of the bridge around Dom’s (later 7-11), Red Hot’s, and the various stores that occupied the little strip over the years. The Veterans Bridge (Fifth Street) stood until 1994 when construction began on the current Fifth Street bridge that was dedicated in 1995 to the Veterans of Ellwood City and to the 100th graduating class of Lincoln High School.

Originally Published on Dec. 16, 2008 

    Richard “Dick” Anthony Allen from Wampum played fifteen years in Major League Baseball, mostly with the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago White Sox. Having played first and third base and outfield, he ranked among the sport’s top offensive producers of the 1960s and early 1970s.

Dick hit 351 career home runs and had a .292 career batting average. The Wampum native led the American League in home runs twice, and led both leagues in slugging average (the AL twice) and on base percentage. His .534 career slugging average ranks among the highest in an era marked by pitcher dominense and low averages. He won the 1964 National League Rookie of the Year and 1972 AL MVP. Richie, as he was known during his time in school, went straight from Wampum High School to the Philadelphia Phillies organization. His older brother Harold signed with the Phillies at the same time.

I never saw Mr. Allen play the game so I will leave the comments to those who did…

Steve said: When you mention the words Dick Allen, you must talk about Hank Aaron and Willie Mays because there wasn’t too many ballplayers could do what he did; his many, many 500+ foot, super-mega blasts. How about TWO inside the park homeruns in one game. It is a farce that he is not in the hall of fame. … How can you say he does not belong, he was the greatest and maybe the most gifted ballplayer ever. You have to realize that he played with incredible players like Aaron, Mays, Clemente, not these steroid players today all juiced up. … Dick Allen is and always will be the greatest…

Mark Roeder once wrote: Dick Allen was my favorite player. Babe Ruth and Willie Mays could have been the best but did not play for my favorite team. My favorite memory watching a White Sox game in the 70s. Dick Allen and Bill Melton both homered in the same game. Melton hit a towering shot that took forever to loop into the left field lower deck stands. When Allen swatted one that same day, the ball traveled to the furthest reaches of the park over the centerfield fence, reaching its destination in a fraction of the time that Melton’s ball took to reach a shorter distance. Dick Allen hit line drives, very hard and long. I also enjoyed watching Rod Carew ply his trade. But Dick Allen was the greatest hitter I have personally seen play.

John Branigan said: I saw Dick Allen play for the White Sox 72 thru 75. This guy was a natural. One of the best I ever saw if not the best. The Sox franchise was in big trouble before Dick Allen, playing some of their home games in Milwaukee…

Rodney Daniels shared: I want to thank everyone that remember and enjoyed the way my uncle played the game of baseball. I watch the way the guys play today and I wonder to myself why he is not in the hall of fame, but I think I know why, and that’s because he got negative press from the sports writers. He has never gambled on baseball or took drugs and he even gave kids autographs. I look at his overall numbers and they are just as good or even better than some of the guys that are in the hall of fame…

Perhaps Charlie Boylan said it best when he wrote: I first seen Dick Allen when I was 10 years old. I went to the Connie Mack and he hit two home runs against the Cards, One of which left the stadium. That day he became my favorite player. When I was in the Army in 1972 through 1974 I followed his exploits with the White Sox and he almost single handedly carried them to a pennant (finished second behind the A’s). They should have built a monument of him in center field at Comisky Park. I later met him at the Phillies triple A stadium in Scranton PA. I spent several hours with him and he was one of the finest gentleman I have ever met. He was driving “big blue” the Lincoln he was given in 1972 by the Sporting News as the AL MVP. Earlier in life he appeared in Scranton in March of 1960 as a member of the Wampum High School Basketball team. They defeated Montrose High that night for the Pa. State Class B Championship. Either he or Willie Somerset of Farrell High was the best basketball players in Pennsylvania in 1960. Not only was he a great athlete and a deserving hall of famer, he was also a great person.

Photograph compliments of Dick Allen Hall of Fame

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoP0OZ8mZX4

According to the Ellwood City Moose Lodge #93 website, the Ellwood City Loyal Order of Moose was organized in 1909 by John Risbeck. The club started with 51 members meeting in the auditorium in the second floor of the Ellwood City Opera House. The Loyal Order of Moose continued to meet there until purchasing the building themselves.

The Ellwood City Moose Club on Lawrence Avenue hosted many events for the community including Lincoln High School’s after-prom for many years and performances by popular musicians including Lawrence Welk, Guy Lombardo, & Vaugh Monroe. Outside of the Lodge, the Moose has sponsored a multitude of things in the community including a little league baseball team for many years.

In 1999, the Ellwood City Loyal Order of Moose No. 93 sold their clubhouse on the North side of the 600 block of Lawrence Avenue to ESB Savings Bank and erected a new building on Factory Avenue. The new lodge offers a large lounge area with the original pool table and shuffleboard table that were restored and refinished, both free to play anytime. The club opens daily at 1:00pm.

If you have a story you would like to share about the Moose or a performance you seen there, please email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com or leave a comment at the bottom of this post.

Post Originally published April 3, 2009