13
Jim Nicholas
BY LEE L. RICHARDS
Sports Writer
/
I don’t remember when or where it was I first met
Jim Nicholas, but we struck up an immediate friendship
that lasted until his untimely death last week.
I do remember Jim’s first week as principal of Lake-
Lehman High School. He was quite concerned about
restoring the athletic program and giving his students
something to be proud of. He always believed a strong
academic program went hand in hand with a strong
athletic program. :
He knew, after he had an opportunity to assess the
situation that it was going to take time to build a solid
program. It was no secret the Knights were lacking in
self-pride. About the only successful aspect of the school
was the band.
Jim felt if the athletes had the best of equipment,
facilities and coaching, the rest would take care of
itself. The winning came slowly, but it did happen.
Lake-Lehman wasn’t going to’ be a ‘breather’ in any
sport once Nicholas’ game plan took effect.
First, he restored the self-respect. Then he went about
building school pride back into the entire student body.
Pride in their classwork and pride on the athletic fields.
Sure he made changes. He got people into the
leadership roles that would produce excellence through
discipline. Some of his methods didn’t get accepted right
away, but over the course of time he made believers out . ; : : ME :
of a bunch of people. varsity 440 relay team are competing in today’s District II meets in the
Several things Jim did impressed me. He was hopes of qualifying for States. Pictured are Robin Pawling, Judy Krispin,
organized and always seemed to have a plan. Every- Cathy Newhart and Denae Schoner. (Dan Walsh photo)
thing he did had one purpose in mind: what would
benefit the students the most. :
I can’t help but think of the bumper stickers Lake-
Lehman fans had on their cars ‘‘Lake-Lehman Home of
Champions.”
Nothing gave him more satisfaction than when Lake-
Lehman would defeat Wyoming Valley West.-He loved
it. The little school from the Back Mountain beating the
giant from the West Side.
Another trait which impressed me was his ability to
communicate with his students. I’d enjoy having lunch
with him and one of his former students would come up
to say hello. He'd smile and ask about his family or how
he was doing in college or in his new job. He'd always
offer encouragement. That former student would walk
away feeling 10 feet tall.
Jim Nicholas commanded respect, but he worked long
and hard to earn it.
When we’d talk about Lake-Lehman getting whipped
in some athletic event, there were never any excuses,
but he’d always manage to find a positive point about
his young folks.
Another characteristic which he had was he never
ducked an issue. He was a legitimate leader, but he
always shared the credit with people around him.
I don’t know 'if' ‘the Lake-Lehman people really
appreciated ‘all ‘that “he contributed ito the school. He
créated’a winning chemistry in the fidld of athletics and
in the classroom. He seemed to always be one play
ahead of the one he was about to call. He wanted the
best for his students and didn’t worry about the cost. No
task was too big and he’d fight right down to the wire if
it was going to help his students. He had a certain style!
I doubt if the recent athletic accomplishments enjoyed
by Lake-Lehman would have happened if he wasn’t the
principal. After all, he got the right coaches to provide
the necessary skills for the athletes to reach their fullest
potential. Lake-Lehman athletics isn’t regarded as
rinky-dinks anymore. They’ve gained the respect of a lot
of folks. : :
Sure he had his critics, but don’t we all? He
demonstrated again and again his sytem had one
purpose and one purpose only, performance in the
classroom and in athletics.
Meanwhile, where does Lake-Lehman go from here?
Athleticly speaking, it can go one of two ways. It can
continue to be competitive or it can revert back to the
days before Jim Nicholas walked through the front
doors with his game plan to restore the self-pride.
He did too much and worked too hard for the board to
allow the athletic program to slide back to second class
status now. For the sake of his athletes, students and
parents, I hope the board can find an individual to build
on the foundation laid by Jim.
oh ABO
ENTERING DISTRICTS: The 1600 meter relay team from Dallas High
School is ready for action today’s District Il competition with a good chance
of qualifying for the State meets. Pictured are Robin Pawling, Judy Krispin,
Denae Schoner and Amy Aston. (Dan Walsh photo)
Cindergirls Fall
second in the 400-meter
relay with Janusz, Spen-
cer, Kuschke and Mills.
Mills placed third in the
200-meter dash. Janusz
placed fourth in the discus
and Reed took fourth place
in the javelin.
. Fifth places were gar-
nered by Kuschke in the
long jump, Michaels in the
high jump, Austin in the
1600-meter run and Reed
in the fifth.
The losses dropped the
Lady Knights to 2-8.
The best the Lake-
Lehman ‘cindergirls could
take in the tri-meet with
Wyoming Valley West and
Bishop Hoban, Monday,
were a second, a third, two
fourths and four fifth
places while bowing 131-10
to Valley West and 114-26
to Bishop Hoban.
Wyoming Valley West
girls continued undefeated
with Kelly O'Kane a four
time winner.
The Lady Knights took a
POST Deadline:
Friday Noon!
Several people asked me last week what kind of
person was Jim Nicholas? I could only respond, he was
my friend and he was a winner! Lake-Lehman was
lucky to have had him.
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Lake-Lehman’s Jill
game against Wyoming
Area to lead the Lady
Knights to a 19-3 win, then
came back on Monday
afternoon and hurled a no-
hit game over five innings
as Lake-Lehman trounced
Seton Catholic 22-4.
Billy Jo Sorber started
in the game against the
Eaglettes but was relieved
by Solinski after giving up
three walks. Solinski
struck out 11 and walked
only four in picking up th
win. / ;
Kelly Wandel and Pam
Solinski led at the plate.
Wandel knocked out a
double and a triple while
P. Solinski hit a single and
a triple and earned three
RBI's.
In the game with the
Wyoming Warriors, Solin-
ski struck out nine and
walked four. The War-
riors’ Adrienne Placek hit
Solinski.
The Lady Knights went
in front by five runs in the
first inning, then scored
four in the second and
third innings and two in
the fourth and fifth innings
before the game was
called under the 10-run
rule. 3
Wandel, Gail Austin,
Kim Fey, and Rebecca
Clifford provided the
Judy Krispin set the
pace for the Dallas Moun-
taineers with four wins in
the meet with Nanticoke
Area and GAR. The Lady
Mounts downed the Tro-
jans 82-59 and took the
Grenadiers 120-14.
Krispin took firsts in the
110 and 300 meter hurdles
and on the 400 and 1600
meter relay teams. Cathy
Newhart, Amy Aston, D.
Schoner and:-Robin -Pawl-
ing had three wins each.
Pawling was a member of
the winning 3200 meter
relay team with Sitkowski,
L. Kroll and Aston; also
the 400 meter relay team
and the 1600 meter with
teammates Aston, Krispin
and Schoner.
Schoner copped a first in
the 400 meter dash, a first
in the 400 meter relay and
another first in the 1600
meter. Aston, who won the
woman’s division in the
recent Nesbitt Hospital 5-
Mile Run, was a member
of the winning 3200 meter
team, took first in the 800-
meter run, and was a leg
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—
Lady Knights. #
The two wins ran the
Knights record to 8-0 in
league play.
Dallas Girls
Debbie Shone gave up
only four hits, fanned four
and helped win her own
game by driving out fwo
doubles and two singles in
a 29-5 game against Bishop
O'Reilly.
Sheri Ciccarelli led with
the power at the plate
knocking out four hits
including a double:
The game was called at
the end of the fifth inning
under the league’s 10-run
rule.
Dallas Boys
After blanking the Queens-
men 8-0 on Friday to break
a five-game losing streak,
the Dallas Mountaineers
were nipped 6-5 by the
league-leading Wyoming
Warriors on Monday.
With the score tied 5-5 at
the end of the top half of
the seventh inning, the
Warriors James Kutzer
went to first when hit by a
pitched ball. Mike Klimas
singled him to third and
Kutzer scored on Mike
Molesky’s single to give
Wyoming Area pitcher
Mark Sickler the 6-5 win.
Each team had six hits
with Jim Lord taking the
loss for the Mountaineers
when he came in to relieve
of the winning 1600 meter
relay team.
Newhart was on the win-
ning 400 meter relay team,
took the 200-meter dash
and the 100 meter dash.
Felicia Tucker placed first
in the shot put and Harvey
of Dallas took the long
jump. Denise Sitkowski
placed first in the 3200
meter run.
Earlier in ‘a meet with
Liake-Lehman “and: Crest:
wood Judy Krispin led the
Lady Mounts to two wins,
defeating Lake-Lehman
119-20 and Crestwood 74-66.
and was a member of the
winning 400 and 1600 meter
relay teams.
Tucker took the shot put
the 100-meter dash, 200-
meter dash and was on the
winning 400-meter relay
team. Aston took the 1600-
and was a member of the
1600 meter relay team.
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We'll All Miss Varsity Wrapups
dropped the Mountaineers
to 1-6.
It was a reverse story on
Friday when the Mountai-
neers knocked out 15 hits
Bishop O’Reilly while
Dallas pitchers Steve
gave up only . total of four .
hits. Thomas fanned nine
and Gdovin struck out
three for the Mounts,
Dallas took a 1-0 lead in
the first inning when Tim
Grove hit a single, stole
second and crossed home
plate on Jerry Rollman’s
sacrifice fly. In the second
inning, the Mountaineers
scored when Darren Brein-
ing hit a single and stole
second, then scored on
A.J. Bittner’s single with
two out.
The Mountaineers ral-
lied for four runs in the
third inning when Breining
hit a sacrifice fly to score
Steve Federici. Art. Cool-
baugh then knocked out a
two run single scoring
Rollman and Walt Graben-
stetter, both of whom hit
singles to take to the
bases. Dave Thomas hit a
single to bring in Cool-
baugh to give Dallas a 6-0
lead. :
Dallas scored a run in
the fourth and another in
the top half of the sixth
while holding the Queens-
men on the bases.
Schoner was on the 1600-
meter relay team.
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