Great Pennsylvania Teams

Hal Wilson

ALIQUIPPA 1952


Although the giant steel mills at Aliquippa are essentially gone, the Ohio River community northwest of Pittsburgh produces outstanding scholastic football and basketball teams to the present day. Perhaps the best of all Aliquippa gridiron teams, however, was fielded in 1952 when the Indians swept through a difficult ten-game schedule and edged an excellent Washington team, 13-12, in the WPIAL AA championship game. The Indians earned the highest Saylor rating index up to that date.

Coach Carl Aschman had been hired away from Brownsville after the Brownies’ 1940 title season. He had taken an undefeated Aliquippa team to the AA title game in 1942, and then brought a powerful squad to the summit in 1952.

The mainstays on this mighty team were end Ernie Pitts at 6-1 and 190 – one of the best players in the state, center Dick Fusco and halfback Willie Frank. Pitts was one of the leading vote getters on the All-State team. He was a tower of strength on defense and caught the pass that led to the winning touchdown to beat Washington in the AA playoff. Fusco and Frank were named to the All-State second team. Pitts and Fusco were co-captains. Quarterback George Sarris was a gifted natural athlete who helped convince Aschman that passing was worthwhile.

Pitts, Frank, Fusco and Sarris were named All-WPIAL.

At the season’s beginning, two highly-touted opponents were destroyed, Erie Tech by 40-0 and Pittsburgh’s Allegheny 52-0. At McKeesport in the opener of the WPIAL campaign, the local Tigers were beaten 26-6 as the Quips line played superbly. Midland, later to win the A crown, was routed 44-0, a strong measure of the worth of the Aliquippa team. Sarris completed three TD passes to Pitts.

Beaver Falls invaded the Aliquippa stadium led by star Joe Walton. Frank jump-started the Indians with a dazzling 80 yard run for the first touchdown. Walton got the only Beaver Falls score as Aliquippa won 28-7.

Always strong New Castle, who had upset undefeated Ambridge, provided another stern test, but a tight defense and three TD’s enabled an 18-7 victory.

Arch-rival Ambridge remained to derail the Indian express. At Ambridge’s packed field, the Bridgers took a 6-0 halftime lead. A third quarter explosion, led by a gimpy but game halfback Nick Passodelis, turned the tide and Aliquippa won 27-13.

Matched with the Washington Little Prexies in the AA championship game at Pitt Stadium, the Indians met another potent team who ran from the rarely seen but powerful single wing formation. Washington scored first and led 6-0 before Willie Frank swept end, ran through five or six would-be tacklers and scored. Later, Sarris passed to Ernie Pitts who was downed at the Prexie four. Fullback George Trbovich carried into the end zone and Aliquippa was ahead for the first time. Another Sarris to Pitts pass netted the vital extra point.

With just two minutes to go, Washington’s Bruno passed for a touchdown and the Prexies lined up for the conversion try. Tackle George Hrubovcak and linebacker Fusco broke through to block the kick, the score remained 13-12, and Aliquippa had its first WPIAL title.

The Indians’ outstanding starting lineup:

E 79 Ernie PITTS         6-1    190
T 62 Ben MILLER          6-0    205
G 63 Joe MONAHAN         5-10   175
C 54 Dick FUSCO          5-9    175
G 85 Ted METROPOULOS     6-0    180
T 58 George HRUBOVCHAK   5-11   185
E 82 Daryl CAMPBELL      6-1    180
Q 71 George SARRIS       5-9    165
H 60 Willie FRANK        5-10   165
H 52 Nick PASSODELIS     5-9    170
F 59 George TRBOVICH     5-11   185

Other key players included end 75 Charles GILL 160, guard 76 Nelson MOORE at 180, linebacker 72 Pete KRICKICH at 165, and 170 pound halfback 61 John HANCOVSKY. Krickich and Gill replaced offensive starters in Aliquippa’s 5-3 defense. Hancovsky handled the punting on the few occasions when the Indians were forced to give up the ball.

All were seniors except Trbovich, Gill, Krickich and Hancovsky.

Guard Ted Metropoulos says today that the 1952 team was “real close – we had no personality problems - we were all focused on the team”. Of Aschman, Metropoulos comments that he was “no-nonsense and all business - a good teacher – with the blackboard and on the field – and a serious disciplinarian”.

Star end Pitts traveled west to play at the University of Denver, then in the Canadian Football League.

Halfback Nick Passodelis became a key halfback at Pitt in the mid 50’s. Today, he is a dentist in Aliquippa.
Great PA Teams – Aliquippa 1952 3

Fusco and Metropoulos went on to the Ivy League – Fusco at Brown and Metropoulos at Harvard. Both became college team captains.

The perfect Aliquippa 1952 record:

40 ERIE TECH 0
52 PITTSBURGH ALLEGHENY 0
26 MCKEESPORT 6
51 ELLWOOD CITY 0
38 ROCHESTER 0
44 MIDLAND 0
40 SHARON 0
28 BEAVER FALLS 7
18 NEW CASTLE 7
27 AMBRIDGE 13

WPIAL AA Championship

13 WASHINGTON 12

Carl Aschman was a native of Charleroi where he and another longtime coach, Earl Bruce, were teammates. Both entered California State Teachers and then W & J. Aschman began coaching at the newly consolidated Brownsville in 1934. With the Brownies, he won 55, tied five, and lost only 10 games, before moving to Aliquippa for the 1941 season.

In 1955, he produced another AA champion as Aliquippa won eight straight games and completed a perfect record campaign with a 14-13 come-from-behind win over Mt. Lebanon, again at Pitt Stadium. Mike Ditka was a lanky 175 pound junior starting end on this team.

In 1959, Aliquippa was again unbeaten and untied – this time losing a heart-breaking 13-12 decision to Charleroi in the AA championship game.

In 1964, despite two losses outside the WPIAL AA ranks, the Indians won a third WPIAL crown, edging Monongahela 7-0 in the title game.

Aschman’s overall 24 year record at Aliquippa, before retiring after the 1964 championship season, was 140 victories, 80 losses, and five ties.

In recent years, under coaches Don Yannessa, Frank Marocco, and Mike Zmijanac, Aliquippa, with a declining enrollment, has won eight more WPIAL titles – in the current classes AAA and AA. Under Yannessa, AAA championships were won in 1984, 1985, 1987 and 1988. Marocco coached the 1989 champions and Zmijanac’s 2000 and 2003 squads won AA crowns.

Aliquippa teams have also played for PIAA State titles four times in recent years. The Quips won the AA championship in 1991 under Marocco, routing Hanover Area at Pittsburgh’s South Stadium 27-0. In 2003. Aliquippa edged Northern Lehigh for the AA crown 32-27 at Hershey Park.

Included among many great players from Aliquippa are recent NFL stars Sean Gilbert and Ty Law. Mike Ditka, of course, starred in the NFL for three teams and coached the Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears.

Mike Zmijanac is the current Aliquippa coach. As a nine-year old, he attended the 1952 championship game. He states now that, of all the great athletes that have performed for Aliquippa, Willie Frank is considered the finest.

In his 17 years at the helm in Aliquippa, Yannessa won 142 games. He served as the Technical Advisor to the Hollywood scholastic football film “All the Right Moves” with Tom Cruise - and appeared himself in this movie as the coach of the “Maple Heights” opposition in the climactic game of the “Amquip” season.