WILKES-BARRE FATS
By Lee L. Richards
Pitt’s triumph over Penn State was significant in many
ways for Coach Jackie Sherrill. He’s finally shaken the
shadow of having his coaching decisions always com-
pared to John Majors.
The Pitt fans can stop all comparisons. This team is
Jackie’s. In the last three years his recruiting efforts
had to play second-fiddle to Penn State’s in some
quarters, but he just sluffed it off. His people have
developed in to some talented honchos.
Another point we noticed is how much Jackie has
matured as a head coach this season. He’s demonstrated
a lot more patience. He took some heat in Pittsburgh
from the media for not playing QB Dan Marino earlier,
but he didn’t compromise. He said Danny wasn’t ready.
Last spring when we talked at the Pitt press day,
Jackie said, “I feel we’ve attained one goal in my first
two seasons. We've remained competitive and this year
we'll move back among the elite in college football.”
He took over Pitt in a tough situation, with the Pan-
thers coming off the National Championship. There were
some stormy times and several shakeups on his staff.
Coaches who didn’t conform to his total dedication and
exhausting work habits were sent packing.
I've got to feel the Pitt program became a little more
stable in the pre-season.
Jackie always had the ability to recognize his teams’
shortcomings and has been able to fill the holes. Last
year they lacked the powerback in short yardage
situations. He recruited Randy McMillan. You didn’t
hear much about him because he wasn’t recruited by
Penn State. He was a junior college player with a heap of
rushing records.
During the spring McMillan worked his way into the
starting lineup with some tough, tough running,
The Pitt staff started to make the necessary changes in
the offense for McMillan and incoming QB Dan Marino.
You saw what these two dudes did to the ‘Beasts of the
East.”
Several grid fans asked me how could I select
McMillan to Athlon’s All-East team when he hadn’t run a
play for Pitt? Simple, Coach Sherrill told me how good
he was and what he could add to the Pitt attack. We
weren't asked to compile an All-East team until a couple
of days after our meeting with Sherrill. We convinced
Editor Jerry McCoin to go with McMillan. I've always
respected Jackie's eye for talent.
season All-East team that played in the game performed
exceptionally well. Matt Suhey showed me some speed.
Larry Kubin is still a fine defensive end. Lance Mehl was
injured but has superb range at linebacker.
Dave Baker, Penn State’s SID, informed me Sunday
morning Jim Brown, an offensive tackle, will be ready to
play next year. He suffered a broken leg. Pete Harris
will also be back.
For the Panthers, Benjie Pryor showed his ability to
catch the ball in traffic. Mark May impressed me last
year when he battled Bruce Clark to draw. He’s the best
offensive linemen in the east. At 6-5, 285 this man can
shuffle his feet.
Off his performance you can see why we mentioned
Hugh Green may be the most talented player in the east.
He can play so many positions. Pitt has a lot of these
folks coming back and it’s no wonder Sherrill can’t wait
to go to Knoxville next season.
CLIPBOARD NOTES: Many thanks to former Pitt
player Chris Kirias for his help during the season. He
said all along Pitt would prevail. I hope after Saturday
John Zimich will finally recognize the Panthers have a
football program. . .Lehigh has got a very talented
wrestling team. They punched a few Wilkes tickets.
Locals got a pin, a decision and a draw out of 10 bouts.
Congratulations to Coach Bob Bubb’s Clarion team on
winning the Penn State Invitational Saturday. Eastern
Wrestling League will have a dandy bunch of dual meets
this season. Penn State was third and Rich Lorenzo will
have the young Lions back on the winning track. . .Down-
river, Roger Sanders has some very good wrestlers at
Bloomsburg.
Dayle Tate of Penn State isn’t the best QB I've ever
seen, but the kid didn’t deserve to be booed by the bush
PSU fans on National TV. . .Did St. Joe's pre-game
comment on TV come back to haunt him when the an-
nouncers asked him for prediction of how many points it
would take to win? When told Sherrill said 17, Joe
replied, “Jackie is smarter than me.” Final score was
29-14 and 17 would have won.
N.C. State’s Bob Rein was one of the leading con-
tenders for the LSU grid post. He's a pretty solid football
coach, but not the world-beater LSU was looking for.
He's a very likeable guy. He's going to inherit some
tough dudes.
--Dallas mat boss Larry Schuler claims he’s have a
pretty strong team this season. Larry does a solid job
and his team are usually pretty sound fundamentally.
~We're curious to see if there’s any improvement in
that works for you.
Member F.D I.C
the Dallas roundball program. After all, they’ve had the
benefit of the booster program for the past several years
and it is about time to see some marked improvement.
-Over at Lake-Lehman we expect the Knights to
challenge GAR for the title. Not too many people around
will be able to out maneuver Coach Rodger Bearde.
Seemed to always get more out of his team than they
were capable of giving.
-Can’t understand why with so many stiffs”
receiving bowl bids someone didn’t grab Notre Dame.
Heck, they’d make any bowl an instant sellout. Pitt’s
Jackie Sherrill spoke with Dan Devine about possible
meeting in a bowl, but loss the Clemson dashed all hopes
for the Panthers. :
--Last wrestling season we all noticed the steady in-
fluence Shorty Hitchcock provided the Lake-Lehman
mat program. While the Knights may not have as strong
a dual meet team, we do anticipate them being more of a
factor in the season-ending tournaments.
--One interesting item in Pitt-Penn State encounter.
PSU out-scored the four common opponents, Army,
put only 102 up and gave up 47. Taking this into con-
sideration and using a formula PSU had a plus factor of
8.5 over the Panthers.
YMCA schedules coed
lifesaving courses
The Greater Wilkes-
Barre Family Y.M.C.A.
will begin a co-ed junior
and senior lifesaving
course on Dec. 5, at 7 p.m.
The minimum age
requirement for persons
wishing to enroll in the
Junior Lifesaving Class is
11 years, and for Senior
Lifesaving; 15 years. It is
also required for all
participants to pass a
preliminary swimming
test which will be given on
Dec. 5.
Both the junior and
senior lifesaving Courses
will be conducted on
Wednesday’s from 7 p.m.
to 10 p.m., and instructed
by John Zimnicky.
Upon successful
completion of the course
three certifications will be
awarded: Y.M.C.A.
Senior Lifesaving, C.P.R.,
and American Red Cross
Advanced Lifesaving.
lees)
R. 113 E. Center St.,
Shavertown
In Our Gang League the
Pin Splitters shut out the
Challengers led by B.
Eipper’s. 506. L. Cool-
baugh posted 502 for the
Glen’s Hookers but it
wasn’t enough as they
dropped four points to the
High Rollers. R. Hom-
yack’s 507 paced the
Tigers to three points
from the Brunswick Go
Fors. T. Heffernan aided
with 210. D. Katyl hit the
pins for 212 (590) to lead
Tough Luck to a three
point win over Mission
Impoossible whose J. Ide
tumbled pins for 520. E.
Busch League to three
points from Vie’s Girls.
A. Hospodar scattered
pins for 179 (506) for the
Castlettes in: the Ladies
Country League to lead
the way to three points
from Daring’s Market. L.
Cyphers spilled pins for
171-178 (502) to help
Fashion Vending take
three from Grotto Pizza.
The Grotto girls had R.
Radzinski’s 185 (480) and
F. Allabaugh’s 178. David
Ertley copped three from
G.H. Harris aided by T.
Langdon’s 176 (490) and
P. Gordon’s 176 (472).
In the Idetown Compact
League the Tempests
blanked the Corvettes
while the Skylarks were
taking all from the
Ramblers. G. Jeffes
toppled pins for 517 for the
Skylarks while H. Evans
scattered pins for 523.
Marilyn Morris’ 486 led
the Corvairs to four poin
from the Valiants. H.*
Heidel’s 209 (521) paced
the Comets to a three
point win over the Darts.
J. Roan hit pins for 200-211
(599) for the Darts. The
Falcons picked up three
from the Larks.
K. Kalafsky rolled 170
for Mr. Donut to aid the
Reese Girls in the
Bowlerette League. T.
Langdon hit the woods for
170 (492) for Reese. L.
Cyphers rolled 181 for the
Hoagie Bar but it was in
vain’ as they dropped
three points to Checker-
board.
Mahaffey Oil continued
in thei lead in the
Imperialette League
blanking : Roth Jewelry.
Highest game for both
teams was P. Williams
166. Lombardo Bakery
earned three points from
the Jean Shop whole L.
Thomas rolled a 471
series. Dallas Dairy and
Gino’s Shoe Store divided
evenly with S. Johnson
The Gate of Heaven
Girl’s Basketball teams
open their 1979-80 season
on Monday, Dec. 10 when
they travel to Avoca to
meet St. Marys.
The JV game time is set
for 6 p.m. with the varsity
game set for 6:30 p.m.
The Gate of Heaven girls
will host Wyoming Area
Catholic on Wednesday,
Dec. 12 at the Gate of
Heaven gym to round out
their first week of the new
season.
Members of the varsity
team are as follows:
Patti Judge, Susan
Ruthowski, Lori Movicki,
Janel Jorda, Jill Solinski,
Margaret Purcell, Debbie
Gardner, Kathy Dixon,
Julie Napieralcki, Ellen
Joyce, Pam Solinski,
Leah Slattery, and
Kathleen Kelley.
JV squad members
include Pam Solinski,
Leah Slattery, Catherine
Leonard, Kim Yanchick,
Becky Hughes, Maria
Stakovec, Danette
Yanchick, and Ann Ryan.
Dec. 10--Gate of Heaven
Dec. 17--Gate of Heaven
Jan. 7--Gate of Heaven
Jan. 9--Gate of Heaven
at St. Mary, Avoca
at Gate of Heaven
at St. Mary Assumption
at Gate of Heaven
at St. Jude
at Wyoming Seminary
Jan. 16--St. Mary, Avoca
Jan. 21--Gate of Heaven
Jan. 30--Gate of Heaven
Feb. 11--Gate of Heaven
at Gate of Heaven
at Wyoming Area Catholic
at Gate of Heaven
at North End Catholic
at St. Jude
at-Gate of Heaven
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