January 2011 - Allegheny West Magazine

AN UNLIKELY TEAM REUNION -
1958 STYLE
The year was 1958. Ike was in the White House. Elvis Presley
was in the Army after shaking his leg and grinding his way to
fame and fortune while strumming on a guitar. He sang good
too!
A year earlier the Montour High School football team had
been declared WPIAL Class B Co-Champions, along with
Avella, after a 7-7 tie in the title game.
1957 was the beginning of a golden era of football at
Montour under Bob Phillips. The legendary coach compiled a
92-12-4 record and won four WPIAL championships in 12
years while at Montour. He went on to be the first assistant
hired by Joe Paterno when Paterno took over at Penn State in
1968.
The 1958 Montour team, known then as the Ramblers, was
undefeated with an 8-0 record going into the title game for the
second straight year. They were favored to win the
championship after blowing out Bellevue 76 –0 the week
before.
The Ramblers continued to ramble by defeating Edgewood
20-7 in the championship game held at Dormont Stadium.
It was reported in a local newspaper that there were 7,000
fans in the stands - a remarkable number for a match-up of two
Class B schools at the time.
Fifty-two years later, members of both teams, a unique
gathering of 23 players and other guests, got together at
Downey’s House on Steubenville Pike in Robinson to watch the
game on a large television screen. An old Montour film of the
game was converted to a DVD for the occasion. Each player in
attendence received a copy of the DVD and other keepsake
materials for posterity.
Prior to, during, and after the showing of the game, the
honorees, most of whom hover at or over the 70-year mark,
engaged in a fellowship luncheon of sorts as they sipped on beer
or soft drinks and partook of brunch food. Reminiscence was
rampant.
There was humor, back-biting, and guffawing laced with
embellished bragging like “the older I get the better I was” stuff
that only those that have experienced the closeness of team
participation could tolerate with a smile.
There was also polite clapping and plenty of cheering and
jeering when acting co-hosts Bill Kriger for Montour and John
Brown for Edgewood introduced the players that attended.
Kriger pointed out that it was probably the first and last time
that the participants on both sides in a WPIAL championship
game got together 50 years later. Edgewood is now a part of the
Woodland Hills School District.
One particular play acting out on the screen brought back
memories of opportunity lost for Montour halfback Dennis
Schavolt. He almost intercepted a pass while on defense with an
18 Allegheny West Magazine January 2011