In October of 1980, GEO Magazine published an article about our hometown heros! I was unaware of this article until Rome Sikora (DHS 1953 - Seattle, WA/Mirage, CA) forwarded me a copy of the magazine a few weeks ago. I owe Rome an enormous debt of gratitude for sending this fantastic tribute to Duquesne High School Football. THANK YOU ROME!!!!
To read the full article, click the link below. Again, THANK YOU ROME!
I am from Ligonier but have a soft spot for Duquesne. My roommate our last year at the Naval Academy was Ted Wirginis, who played football (very well) at your school. Also, I remember a lot of rather edgy basketball games between Ligonier Valley and Duquesne when both were in the same WPIAL section in the mid 1970′s. You can probably guess the reason why the games got a little rambunctious at times. Lastly, I am almost certain that the movie, “All The Right Moves”, was based on that GEO article. The movie was set in the fictional town of Ampipe (a take off from Ambridge) but filmed in the Johnstown area and starred Tom Cruise. Ampipe wore Ferndale uniforms and their “rich” rival Walnut Heights wore Westmont Hilltop uniforms so the “W. H.” initials could stay the same. I love reading about local history, especially high school sports history in Western PA. Keep up the good work on your site!
Thanks for posting my parents were Bernie and Marylou Gedman.. I was very young when they interviewed my mom but I can say they captured and published her stories perfectly. . So proud
Please allow me to lengthen the historical mosaic of Dukes football:
With deep sadness and respect, I must report that Mo Scarry, one of our Duquesne brethren recently passed.
http://www.fortmyersmemorial.com/obituary/user/show/template?id=68502
Beyond the details in the obit, I can fill out a bit more of the richness of a remarkable man, since I played for Mo at Waynesburg. Not noted in the obit, you’ll be interested to know that Mo was a graduate of Holy Name High School, while also playing both football and basketball at DHS (as it was done, BITD).
Also omitted from the obit is the abiding impact he had on his players and teams. Mo was as old-school as ever has been seen, not in any sense mean but as tough as iron. It’s not noticeable in the portrait accompanying the obit, but he had a huge broad scar across that Irish nose. Mo could fuss and fume and bluster with the best of them. A common experience for many of us was to have Mo stick his face with that vicious scar and which was as vast as Galway Bay into our face masks, and in highest dudgeon and his characteristic faint lisp, proclaim “Shon, I want you to go chlean that guy’s clockh!”.
The obit notes that Mo was drafted during WWII. Like most of those vets, he didn’t talk about it much, but over time we managed to learn a bit more about his service. He landed with Patton in North Africa, was captured in combat, and while being shipped back to Italy, his POW boat was torpedoed and sunk; somehow Mo survived but regrettably I don’t know much more of that tale.
At one of our occasional team reunions some years ago, Mo was circling around his former payers and body-slamming and clip blocking us; he was about 80 at the time. Later at the bar, I happened to ask Mo what it was like to serve under Patton. As usual, that launched Mo immediately into his characteristic high bluster, saying “Why that shon of a ….”, and he paused, then adding “but you know what, that guy knew how to WIN!” Classic Mo.
The obit only implies it, but it’s worth noting that perhaps the highlight of his coaching career was coaching the defensive line of the legendary No-Name Defense of the 1972 undefeated Super Bowl champion Dolphins. (http://www.miamidolphins.com/news/article-1/Former-Dolphins-Coach-Mo-Scarry-Dies/11824e4d-be3b-40b9-bbf3-dfeba6682004) Vern Den Herder, one of his defensive tackles on that team, later named one of horses Mo in honor of the coach. Shortly after Mo had moved on to the NFL, we won the NAIA national championship at Waynesburg, and of course, we invited Mo as guest of honor to our celebration dinner. As we gathered around him, we asked him, “Coach, what’s the biggest difference coaching in the NFL?”. His curt and obviously snide response was simply, “Agents”.
May God grant him eternal peace.
Paul, thank you so much for your wonderful comment. As you will see, I have just dedicated and posted an article about “Mo,” thanks to your contribution.
One cannot adequately do justice to Duquesne H.S. football without makiing mention of the Duquesne HS marching band under the direction of Eugene Schlagy. As a former member of that elite marching band (Sousaphone), I fondly remember with pride our half-time shows and especially those games with our arch rivals McKessport in which we often times feared for our very lives. My brother Robert (trumphet) and I would take a change of clothes when we played in McKeesport, so we could change from our uniforms and get the hell out of McKeesport immediately after the halftime show.
I now live in San Jose, CA and the uniforms of the San Francisco 49′ ers are reminders of the glory days of the Duquene High School football.
Forgot to sign my name the the last comment about Judy and Stevie Adams
I too remember the magazine well being that Judy Adams was my sister and Stevie is my nephew. The family was so excited about them being interviewed and in the magazine. I remember it being a lot of fun for all of us. Can’t remember if they chose the Adams family because they lived in the Gedman house. Gedman’s being a dynasty of football players in Duquesne.
I had that magazine! I loaned it to my brother Shawn about 30 years ago. He never gave it back!
I thought you gave it to me… hahaha
Don’t worry, I still have it
Jim, as I have communicated to you before, one of the things I find uniquely “Duquesne” is the nick names. The GEO article devotes significant space to the Gedman family. Taking that family as an example, here are their given/nicknames:
Bernie/Blood
Gene/ Paddy
Wayne/Turd or in more polite circles, Tarzan
Ron/Ronx
Denny/Tank
Janet/Janet (Don’t mess with the Gedmans)
I was delighted to learn that DHS had, by 1980, established an award called the Wayne Gedman Award for best senior athlete. Not only was he in fact a superior athlete, but he also was a great human being. We both graduated DHS in 1953. He went to Arizona State on an athletic scholarship and I went to Pitt on a street car. After our first year of college we spent the summer break of 1954 working side by side for the Duquesne school district cleaning and otherwise preparing the Oliver Grade School on Second Street for the coming fall school season. That summer I took a class at Pitt night school. Whenever I had a midterm or final exam, Wayne would insist I go find a quiet spot to study and he would cover for me by washing enough walls to convince anyone that 2 people had worked that entire day. God bless him. I suppose the Wayne Gedman Award went the way of the entire school. So sad!
That was a special time for DHS football. Everyone who ever wore the helmet up to that time, took pride in its being written. I can remember several days through out the season, with reporters, photographers etc. One cold Oct. day, as practice was ending, we lined up for sprints. I recall us running and the photographer trying to get a “shot”…..Because of the light, he kept taking them, and with the coaches help, we continued to run until this guy could get a winning pic. As fate would have it, that pic didnt even make the magazine!! One player…who will remain nameless, was photographed putting his helmet in his duffle bag to take home. The magazine came out, the helmet had to be returned,…..lol…..Have quite a few more. Great times…..Go Dukes!
It is strange that the story ( I have the GEO Mag) never mentions the sister Janet who was after Ronnie ( Ronks) and Dennis ( Tank). She was a beautiful girl and very popular in DHS. The three of them were just about a year apart. Maybe Ronks was 2 years ahead. The people in the earlier years I knew well. Kop lived across from my grandmother..He was an excellent person.
Rich Ivory
I dated Janet Gedman and was a real gentleman..so afraid that I if I misbehaved her brothers would annihilate me…
What a great time to be apart of a great program! I remember the night the photographer got the shot of me screaming!
It was wonderful to refresh my memories about high school football growing up in Duquesne. I am now living in a tiny town in West Texas (population 3,000 more or less) that has the same passion, spirit, and grit for football that Duquesne did. The choices here are are just as bleak: work in the oilfields after graduation or try to get a football scholarship to college. The town of Duquesne that I grew up in may not exist anymore, but the spirit lives on all across America. Go Dukes!
I remember this magazine article well. I believe it was entitled Pigskin & Steel in Pennsylvania and it had a picture of Stevie Adams on the front cover. He had on his red Duquense helmet with many Skull & Cross Bones awards pasted on it. Unfortunately, I lent the magazine to a guy and he managed to lose it – still not happy about that. Thanks so much for the opportunity to read this excellent article once again.
Ron, you are absolutely correct about the cover. In fact, I neglected to put the cover in my post and have since updated it. Spot on memory!
Jim, I remember this article very well. Somewhere I have the actual magazine that I got while coaching in Ohio. After the movie the “Deer Hunter” came out in 1978 I became the source of information on our Mon Valley. Because of that the librarian at our high school recognized the Duquesne reference and sent a student to the teacher’s lounge to give me the magazine. At the time I was blown away that Duquesne was “on the map” again. I recall sending a letter to Coach Fran Janusek to congratulate him on the article. I recall the Gedmans, also. Wayne was my Jr High coach when we went undefeated while I was in 9th grade (we played Jr High in 9th grade then-today 9th plays Sr High) and a year later, as the article says, he died on the sidelines of Edison Jr High in West Mifflin. My cousin Terry Kuchma was on that team and I recently discovered that team photo from the Daily News and gave it to him. Phil Magdic, my godfather’s son, was our ball-boy back then and always hung around the locker rooms with the team. As the article states he went on to be a great player. Last I talked to him he was still a coach down south. Now, where did I put that Gene Gedman Detroit Lions bubble gum card?