Bleeding orange

Bleeding orange, bleeding black

Mike Panchura arrived sporting his high school letter sweater, black with a large orange "C" on the front, four orange stripes along the sleeve signifying he had been a varsity athlete since his freshman year. It fit him perfectly.

Bill Edwards, or the “reverend/slash/quarterback” as guest speaker John Harkins referred to him, still fit into the jacket he and his teammates were awarded for their undefeated football season 44 years ago, way back in 1962 when they went 11-0.

As remarkable as it seems, both looked like they could step on the field today and perform - maybe not for four quarters, but they still looked like they had a few touchdowns left in them.

Tom Surotchak was there, sporting a spiffy necktie with orange tiger paw prints - pure silk, I'm betting.

And Bill Donovan, the former Marian High School quarterback was on hand, wearing a “Beat Lansford” button. An interloper? Hardly. He was as much at home as anyone who showed up.

Ed Kassak, who was to be inducted into the Carbon County Sports Hall of Fame the next afternoon, finally met something that could tackle him, and drag him straight to the turf - his own emotions. Ed got caught up in the moment as he relived a special time, shared with special friends, more than four decades earlier. He talked about it as if it happened yesterday, and not a lifetime ago. Twelve members of his family were there. They flew in from Colorado and California to surround him on his special weekend.

Jack Evans won one of the balls autographed by Hall of Fame Coach and former Coaldale star George Welsh. Jim McCartney won another ball, this one autographed by all the former players and managers in attendance. He studied every name, spinning the ball slowly in his hands, and no doubt triggering some special memories.

The first Coaldale High School Football Symposium, held last weekend in Costello's Restaurant in Coaldale, wasn't your typical get together. Oh, there was a cocktail hour, and dinner, and a DJ playing a lot of the oldies we grew up with. And there were old friends who hadn't seen each other in many years, hugging and shaking hands.

The symposium was open to all former Coaldale football players, managers, fans, opponents, wives, girlfriends, children, grandchildren - just about anybody who wanted to talk about Coaldale football, and the fun, the memories and the highs and lows being part of that tradition meant to all of us.

Coaldale High School football was played from 1921 through 1963, without interruption, and until the Panther Valley Jointure was formed. And master of ceremonies Bob Parfitt, a walking encyclopedia on Tiger gridiron heroics, set the tone for the evening, reminiscing about every era, every generation that wore the orange and black.

Harkins, the former Lansford and Panther Valley basketball and football coach, and Dick Jones, the successful former Tamaqua coach, (both are hall of famers) brought their own memories and wit to the occasion. They described themselves as the "friendly enemy".

As a sidebar, the 1956 St. Mary's CYO basketball team posed for a photograph. Nearly all the players who performed then as 11 and 12-year-olds, in the year when George "Beaky" McDonald scored 80 points in a single game, when they were “Harps” and before they became “Tigers”, re-enacted the team photograph that hangs in all its glory in Moe Burns' Halupki House.

Back in an era when television and cell phones, computers and the internet didn't dominate young lives, two things almost every Coaldale kid wanted were a nickname and a chance to play Coaldale football. They honed their skills on the empty lots and streets and in the Coaldale stadium's endzones, in pickup games while dreaming of someday becoming the next Barry, or Karpa, Tokarczyk, Rilo, Bitsko, Jabbo, or "Scratchy" Hontz.

Walking down that concrete ramp on a Friday night or a Saturday afternoon, listening to the clacking of cleats on the cement, trotting single file through a gauntlet of well wishers, with the band playing the fight song in front of a packed house, was a special moment in a young man's life. None of us can ever remember losing a game. On a few occasions the clock may have run out on us too soon, however.

The idea for the symposium came about after two of our younger teammates, Bob "Bogie" Griffith and Doctor Joe "Corky" Sweeney, died last year. Their passing affected a lot of us very personally, so a committee was formed and a special evening was planned, "while the rest of us are still here to enjoy it."

And enjoy it we did. the group even managed to raise more than $1,500 in a few hours to present to the Coaldale youth organization C.H.O.S.E., where many of us got our start in sports, playing Little League and Church League baseball, and participating in youth week activities.

It was a night for remembering, and one we won't forget.