“I will say what I think to be right today, even though it contradicts everything I said yesterday,”

(by Jack Yalch, Valley Gazette, October 2003)

Outspoken “Casey Gildea was the miners’ hero, a role model for kids and a battler for 50 years.

The more I think about the seemingly endless list of achievements attributed to the late James H. “Casey” Gildea, having been an esteemed citizen of Coaldale, the more I feel he packed more into one lifetime than most folks could pack into two, or even three.

Gildea, a legend in his own time, was a United States Congressman, a fearless outspoken newspaper editor and publisher, plus a football coach and a champion without peer to a legion of Panther Valley anthracite miners, when coal was king.

A slogan often seen on the front page of his yesteryear newspaper, the “Coaldale Observer,” was indeed a perfect example of how unique his character was.

“I will say what I think to be right today, even though it contradicts everything I said yesterday,” Gildea wrote.

He constantly targeted the powerful Lehigh Navigation Coal Company then headquartered in Lansford, during his relentless crusade to improve working conditions for the thousands of men employed in the network of Panther Valley mines.

A staunch Irishman and an equally staunch Democrat, Gildea used his newspaper to promote the cause of the Democratic Party.

Virtually nothing within northeastern Pennsylvania’s civic, social or industrial realms, escaped his editorial pen.

He rose to prominence in the Schuylkill County political arena, then waged a fiery campaign that won him a seat in the Congress of the United States.

It was overwhelming support at the polls from the miners that sent Gildea to Washington. With their backing, he was able to overcome a huge Republican majority in his district.

His outstanding record as a congressman earned Gildea a second term.

During the Great Depression, when 12 million people nationwide were left jobless, a multitude of unemployed miners in need of help made Gildea’s office their first stop, because they knew he would come through.

Gildea was chairman of the Panther Valley Industrial Association, head of the Panther Valley Recreation Commission and he founded and was the driving force behind the Irish-American Association.

In addition, he headed the local draft board during World War II, was president of the Tamaqua District War Price and Rationing Board and became the first chairman of a regional drive undertaken to sell War Bonds.

His spartan efforts were recognized by the U.S. government and thus, he was awarded a bronze medal for distinguished service.

Gildea fathered the storied Coaldale Big Green football team, then molded the lineup of players into rugged gridiron professionals who made the long, hard climb from the streets of Coaldale to prominence in the East.

As a newspaper editor and publisher, Gildea knew no bounds.

“He would rail just as vociferously about a bad call made by an umpire during a Coaldale Church League baseball game, as he would against the U.S. Secretary of Defense’s policy on Formosa,” the late Dick Hoben, a former editor of the Lansford Evening Record of=2 0bygone days, said.

Gildea’s David and Goliath wars were his trademark for some 50 years.

Himself an accomplished swimmer, Gildea frequently loaded a dozen or more Coaldale youngsters onto a truck and treated them to a refreshing dip in the Hauto Dam.

Football and boxing were his favorite sports. However, for relaxation, Gildea turned to swimming.

A role model to the kids of Coaldale, he stressed physical fitness and moral excellence to them all the time.