Fithian, assistant coaches honored at Sun Valley
ASTON >> A group of men and women sat in the auditorium at Sun Valley High School Saturday afternoon, watching the video of Kenny Chesney’s “The Boys of Fall.”
The voices of coaches addressing their players before games as well as hard-hitting tackles, gamewinning touchdowns and the sights and sounds of football seasons gone by were racing through so many minds.
The event was entitled “Honor the Coaches.” It was the brainchild of a few that brought together so many of the men who played football at Sun Valley between the years 1967 and 1985 as they held a reunion and showed their appreciation for head coach Bob Fithian and his assistant coaches – Joe Giampalmi, Tom Kent, Mike Lashendock, the late Bill Benedict and Ron Withelder Sr.
Dr. Rick Dunlap, former principal at West Chester East and superintendent of schools in Upper Darby, was master of ceremonies. Before the coaches were introduced by former players, a special tribute was paid to the undefeated 1973 team.
Carmen Lex, the All-Delco
SUMMER SPORTS
quarterback in ‘73, spoke on behalf of the team.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been 45 years,” said Lex, who cited an opening game win over St. James and a victory over Haverford School – then led by a future NFL player named Mike Mayock, who these days is general manager of the Oakland Raiders – as well as the Thanksgiving Day success against Chichester as among the most memorable moments of the season.
Don Morgan, former head football coach at Chichester, gave the introduction for Benedict by saying “the three words I think of as I remember Coach Benny are selfless, helpful and kind.”
Benedict’s daughter, Yvonne, who works in the Chichester School District as a second-grade teacher, spoke on behalf of her family.
“He loved teaching and coaching,” she said of her father. “And he would have been the happiest man in the world had he been here today.”
Mike St. Clair, who helped the 1979 Sun Valley team record seven shutouts, introduced Lashendock.
“You learned early that you never talked back and you never made excuses,” said St. Clair, who is head coach at West Chester Rustin, which opens its 2019 season at Sun Valley on Aug. 23.
Lashendock was emotional in addressing the crowd.
“I fondly remember all these players,” he said. “They were great individuals. And we had a special group of coaches.”
Joe Reilly, a receiver with the 1973 team, introduced Withelder, whom he called “a good football coach and a good man.”
Withelder weighed 150 pounds when he set Delaware County receiving records and earned all-state honors at Ridley Township High in 1965.
“Joe Reilly weighed 140 pounds and he could get open and catch the ball,” Withelder said. “That’s why I’ve always said there’s a place for the little guy in football. Coaching was great, but to me there was nothing better than playing the game.”
Ed Lanciano (1978) introduced Giampalmi.
“He taught us to be a team and to think as one,” he said. “I can’t imagine all the hours he spent preparing all season.”
Giampalmi, who became a college teacher when he left Sun Valley, began by saying “I wish we had one more game to prepare for. I know what I did here helped me to be motivated to go on to teach in college.”
He cited the 1972 game Sun Valley lost to St. James, which went on to an undefeated season, as one that showed the players what could happen if “they left it all on the field.”
Steve Osborne, center for the 1971 team that came within one win of a league championship, introduced Kent, his offensive line coach.
“Thanksgiving Day, we’re tied with Chichester and Jim Bostwick goes back to punt,” Osborne said. “I snap the ball and start running downfield. Then I turn around and see the referee giving the safety sign because I had snapped the ball over Jimmy’s head out of the end zone. (Kent) comes over to me and says ‘Ozzie that snap was a little high.’ Then he starts talking about what we were going to do when we got the ball back.”
Kent became an administrator in the West Chester Area School District and worked in the Education Department at Immaculata University after he left Sun Valley. He kidded Fithian about the day he hired a skydiver to land in the stadium to deliver the game ball.
“The guy misjudged the wind and ended up in a park somewhere in Chester,” Kent said.
“Sun Valley was a place with great people … the coaches, the players, the parents. And who could ever forget Dr. Wally (John Walichuk), the best team doctor anywhere. And Joe D (DeAugustine), the leader of the band in his white suit and white hat. With us it was always all about the team. We set a goal and we went for it.”
Rob Fithian, who played receiver and quarterback at Sun Valley, introduced his “head coach and father.
“With my dad being head coach, football was our family’s whole existence all those years,” Rob said. “I got to experience the impact my dad had on my life and see the impact he had on so many other people. My boys played for (St. Clair at) Rustin, and they came back so many times telling me ‘we met someone who knew Pop Pop.’”
The elder Fithian, who also worked for the West Chester School District before retiring, spoke to the members of the 2019 Sun Valley football team who were in attendance, asking them to try to understand how much being part of a team can mean as the years go on.
“It was always a family affair when I was here,” Bob Fithian said. “My personality was that we played to win football games. And the Sun Valley teams that won games were the ones that were together.
“I put the pieces out, and these other coaches put the puzzle together. I’m so glad that so many of you came here today to honor us and show us how much what we did meant to you.”