In 1897, the Berwind-White Coal Company founded a new mining community at the border of Somerset and Cambria Counties, southeast of Johnstown. The company named the town Windber, a transposition of syllables in the corporate name. The town quickly grew. A football program was started at the high school and, for a long period beginning in the 1920’s, the Windber Ramblers were a team feared across the Commonwealth.
Windber football reached a peak in 1942 with a mighty team, unbeaten and untied in eight games, and conquerers of powerful Johnstown and Altoona. The Trojans were defending WPIAL AA champions and had won 14 straight games, while the Mountain Lions were also perfect in 1941 and were unbeaten in 25 contests. Each lost only one game in 1942 – to Windber.
The Johnstown game at Point Stadium in the Flood City was witnessed by 17,000. Temporary bleachers were brought from Windber’s Delaney Field to augment the seating capacity. The coaches, Windber’s Joe “Pearly” Gates and Johnstown’s Harold “Duke” Weigle, had been teammates on the 1927 Windber team. Gates was the star quarterback and Weigle a standout fullback.
Windber’s offense and ball-hawking defense provided just enough strength to overcome the Trojans in this clash of titans. The Ramblers scored twice in the first quarter. End Pete Kaplan recovered a fumble at the Johnstown three on the game’s first scrimmage play. Big John Polansky finally scored from the one on fourth down. Tackle Jack Lochrie later returned another Trojan fumble 34 yards for the second Windber touchdown.
Early in the second half, Spiro Pappas, a veteran star from the 1941 Trojan champions, carried a reverse 84 yards to get Johnstown back in the game. Later, the versatile Rambler center, Ray Torquato, ran a pass interception back 35 yards for a TD to essentially clinch the game. A late Johnstown drive made the final score 20-13. Windber had intercepted four Trojan passes and completed 12 of 17 of their own tosses. Windber led in first downs nine to five.
Two weeks later, at Altoona’s Mansion Park Stadium, 12,000 saw another thrilling game between two unbeaten powerhouse teams. The contest was tied 7-7 in the fourth quarter when Rambler tackle Jim Campitell broke through, snagged a Mountain Lion fumble, and returned it for the winning touchdown. Altoona had driven 46 yards to the Windber 34. Earlier, Polansky had passed 35 yards to Kaplan to climax a 60 yard drive.
Speedy halfback Ward had led the Mountain Lions to a TD that enabled Altoona to tie the game.
To reach the site of this game in Altoona during World War II, the entire Windber party, including the football team, 90 piece marching band, and eleven white-clad majorettes had traveled by private car
Wins over a talented Conemaugh Township team, led by star backs Tom Kalmanir and Dick Trachok, and Johnstown Catholic closed out the memorable 1942 campaign.
Center Torquato scored seven touchdowns over the 1941 and 1942 seasons, returning interceptions and taking laterals downfield from criss-crossing ends. He was named to the 1942 All-State second unit.
Another great Windber team repeated the perfect season in 1943 with a 10-0 record. The Ramblers were led by veteran backs Nunzio Marino and Walt Cominsky, the “Touchdown Twins”, and an entirely new line. Assistant Ray Jones had taken charge after Joe Gates left for Greensburg. A two game series was played with Johnstown who had lost Duke Weigle to McKeesport after the 1942 season. Windber won both 1943 games, 19-0 and 18-0, before huge crowds at Point Stadium. Altoona was beaten 21-7, again at Mansion Park. By the close of the season, Windber had won 26 straight games.
John Polansky had given up his senior eligibility to work in a defense plant in Cleveland.
In 1943, Marino scored 136 points, including 22 touchdowns, and averaged nearly nine yards per carry. Cominsky tallied 13 TD’s and totalled 83 points. His rushing average was nearly eight yards.
Marino was a first team All-State backfield selection in 1943. He spent 1944 on the Notre Dame squad, scoring and starting as a 160 pound fullback. He went into the service, then transferred to St. Bonaventure where he completed a fine college career. His ND coach, Hugh Devore, had moved to the Bonnies when Frank Leahy returned from the service. Cominsky played at Penn State and star 1942 end Pete Kaplan was the kicker at Scranton after World War II.
Cominsky had become one of only three four-year lettermen at Windber, after the 1943 season. He, Joe Gates, and 1940 senior Joe Polansky had each won four varsity football monograms.
1943 guard Tony Di Muzio was named to the All-State second unit in 1944.
Joe Gates’ razzle-dazzle offensive tactics had no equal at the scholastic level. His teams ran from the double wing, and used the buck-lateral series to great effect. Walt Cominsky said recently that Gates was “strict and stern, and a tough disciplinarian”. “We were well conditioned”, he added.
After his playing days at Windber, Gates went to Duquesne University where he was a standout quarterback. Elmer Layden, of Four Horsemen fame and the Duquesne coach, termed Gates the smartest quarterback he had ever coached. After his Duquesne graduation, Gates served as freshman coach for the Dukes under Layden. He was an assistant in West Virginia before coming back to Windber to work for Don Fletcher in 1938. When Fletcher left for New Kensington after that season, Gates became the head man
After coaching Greensburg in 1943, Gates went into the Army and was wounded in France. He returned to Greensburg for just one year, 1946, then moved back to Cambria County and Nanty-Glo where he coached successfully until retiring from football after the 1963 season.
Windber had won the East – West Central Conference title in 1933 with a 7-6 victory over the Eastern Conference champion, Harrisburg John Harris. 16,000 saw this game at Johnstown’s Point Stadium. Backs Jim Cavacini and John Carliss were the mainstays of this excellent team which defeated Johnstown, 7-0, and lost only to DuBois during the regular season.
The Ramblers may have actually had their best team ever in 1936. However, three key players were declared ineligible after Altoona, beaten by Windber, protested. That decision is questioned to this day in Windber. Jackie Freeman, the quarterback and later a star and head coach at William & Mary, was part of a brilliant backfield that included Mike Sekela, a big talented back, who became a key player at Pitt, and a pair of outstanding juniors, Bud Bossick and George Bokinsky.
This Rambler team was invited to play in a post-season game in Miami – the inability to finance the trip in depression times kept Windber at home during the Holidays.
In 1937, Windber again won the East-West crown, again at Point Stadium, drubbing Steelton, 21-0. The Ramblers won nine of eleven regular season games, playing a scoreless tie with Johnstown and losing an early game to Erie East. At Bethlehem, Windber won by the astounding score of 75-12. Clever offensive formations confounded the home team. Ace backs Bossick, with his passing, and Bokinsky led the Ramblers.. Both were great runners. Bokinsky played on Duke University’s 1941 Rose Bowl team while Bossick had a fine career at Muhlenberg..
Other talented players from the 1937 team included tackle John Badaczewski who had a fine eight year career in the NFL. Fullback Pete Gorgone reached the NFL in 1946 with the New York Giants. Both had played at smaller colleges. Joe Pierre became a starting end for Pitt and spent 1945 with the Steelers.
The great 1942 Windber starting lineup:
E 53 Joe KATCHMERIC 5-11 175
T 71 Jim CAMPITELL 5-11 180
G 70 Paul RODGERS 5-11 175
C 77 Ray TORQUATO 6-0 150
G 51 Robert SOLOMON 5-7 150
T 65 Jack LOCHRIE 5-10 185
E 54 Pete KAPLAN 5-10 170
B 55 Nunzio MARINO 5-8 155
B 52 Jim THOMAS 5-11 180
B 75 Walt COMINSKY 5-9½ 160
B 66 John POLANSKY 5-11 210
57 Charley POPELICH and 78 John GIBSON were other key backs. Arthur TOTH filled in capably at center after Torquato was injured in the Conemaugh Township game. End Kaplan handled the place kicking and was actually the leading 1942 scorer with five touchdowns and 24 conversions.
The all-winning 1943 Coal Town team:
E 62 Gerald SHAFFER 6-0 170
T 67 Joe CAMPITELL 6-2 170
G 44 Joe DEL SIGNORE 5-4 135
C 66 Arthur TOTH 5-9 173
G 63 Anthony DI MUZIO 5-10 165
T 65 Carl GEISEL 6-0 175
E 64 Ed WOJCICKI 5-11 165
Q 58 Nunzio MARINO 5-8 153
H 59 Walter COMINSKY 5-10 160
H 44 Don THOMAS 5-7 150
F 64 John WOJCICKI 5-7 150
Ed HUNTER filled in at several positions when needed.
The Rambler’s all-winning 1942 season:
64 SHADE TOWNSHIP 0
40 PITTSBURGH CENTRAL CATHOLIC 0
41 CONEMAUGH 6
34 PORTAGE 0
20 JOHNSTOWN 13
13 ALTOONA 7
26 CONEMAUGH TOWNSHIP 14
33 JOHNSTOWN CATHOLIC 0
Windber’s imposing perfect 1943 campaign:
54 SHADE TOWNSHIP 14
47 RANKIN 6
21 JOHNSTOWN CATHOLIC 6
13 PORTAGE 0
18 JOHNSTOWN 0
27 LEWISTOWN 7
21 ALTOONA 7
27 CONEMAUGH TOWNSHIP 0
19 JOHNSTOWN 0
27 CONEMAUGH 0
Frank Kush is perhaps the most accomplished of Windber’s many gridiron greats. An All-State first team guard in 1947, Kush was a star All-America defender at 180 pounds for Biggie Munn’s great Michigan State teams in the early 1950’s. His coaching career led him to legendary status at Arizona State. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. He was also head coach at Baltimore in the NFL.
Among other Windber products, Bob Hayes was a starting tackle on Army’s 1944 Davis-Blanchard juggernaut.
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