Final word on all-time Fab 22

Leftovers from the Post-Gazette “All-time” Fabulous 22 that was released last week:

One of the most enjoyable parts about writing about the “All-time” Fabulous 22 was talking to some of the players and hearing how eager and excited they were to make the all-time team and their memories of the Fabulous 22.

A most fabulous reaction came from former Central Catholic quarterback Marc Bulger, who had a highly successful career at West Virginia University and in the NFL. After getting Bulger’s phone number, I reached out to him via text message about the all-time team and asked if he would talk about his memories of the Fab 22.

In about two minutes, he texted back with a picture of a framed page from a Post-Gazette 26 years ago. The picture was of the 1994 Fab 22 team that included Bulger, and the framed page hangs on the wall of his basement home in Nashville. It’s right next to jerseys of Dan Marino and Joe Montana, and right above a photo of Bulger handing the ball off to Marshall Faulk when they played for the St. Louis Rams.

• In contacting some of the players on the all-time Fab 22, it was certainly interesting to hear what some are doing nowadays. Former McKeesport star Brandon Short lives in London with his wife and two children, and is extremely successful in the private equity real estate business. He also is a member of the Penn State board of trustees.

But nothing was more fascinating to me than what Bulger is doing nowadays. Although he lives in Nashville with his wife and two daughters, Bulger owns a farming business in Missouri. Bulger’s wife, Mavis, is from Missouri and the Bulgers’ family farm has more than 3,000 acres.

“Yeah, I know,” Bulger said with a laugh. “Who would’ve thought a kid from Greenfield (part of Pittsburgh) would own a farm that produces wheat, corn and soybeans?”

• To those complainers about those who did not make the alltime team, may I point out once again that the all-time Fab 22 team is not “my” team. It was selected by a committee made up of 17 current high school coaches, four former coaches and six current and former P-G scholastic sports staff members.

• Sean Lee of Upper St. Clair and still a linebacker in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys was reminiscing about his year on the Fabulous 22 and some other high school events when he made an interesting comment about a game his senior season (2004) at North Hills’ storied Martorelli Stadium.

“That stadium with the (Rowdy Rooter) fans up on the hill,” Lee said. “I still remember going on the bus to that place. Driving in, the feeling was similar to, like, riding to play the Eagles in Philadelphia.”

• We were able to pull off a video posted on the P-G’s web site of former North Hills star LaVar Arrington and Palko. We tried to get Brandon Short also on the video, but try lining up three players in three different time zones around the world, who all have high-powered jobs, for a Zoom call and video taping. Short is in England, Arrington lives in California and Palko was in Florida on business. After four days of trying, we were only able to get Arrington and Palko.

Arrington and Palko certainly had some interesting comments, especially Arrington admitting publicly for the first time that he wishes “maybe” he would’ve tried playing running back at Penn State, where he turned into an alleverything linebacker. Arrington ran for more than 4,000 yards at North Hills.

• A shoutout to the ol’ Hector, who started the Fabulous 22 40 years ago. Steve Hecht was the Post-Gazette high school sports

editor back then teaching this college kid about the newspaper business, and Hecht came up with the Fabulous 22 idea and name. He also started the Fabulous 5 in basketball. Before 1980, the Post-Gazette picked allstar teams in various ways with various amounts of players. But Hecht gave the all-star teams a name and a format, and little did he know the “Fab” teams would became such a huge part of Western Pennsylvania high school sports tradition.

• With the all-time Fab 22, the P-G ran an iconic picture of Penn Hills player Bill Fralic from 1980. Fralic was selected the No. 1 player on the all-time team. The photo was taken after a Penn Hills practice and captures the essence of the massive Fralic as he stands with his hands on his hips, in a uniform covered with dirt and mud and dirt running down his legs. Hecht last week relayed a great story about that memorable photo.

“I drove out to Penn Hills that day to interview Fralic and it was raining so hard I had to pull off to the side of the road because you couldn’t see,” Hecht said. “When I finally got there to the practice, everything was very wet and muddy. Fralic told me (coach) Andy Urbanic had them practicing through the entire storm.”

• Ever wonder what school has produced the most Fabulous 22 players? Well, Gateway players are No. 1 in appearances on the Fab 22 with 42, but that includes nine players who made it twice. Woodland Hills has had the most Fab 22 players with 37. North Allegheny is next with 35, Gateway 33, Central Catholic 30, North Hills 26 and Aliquippa 25.

• Six of the players on the all-time Fab 22 were firstround NFL draft picks — Penn Hills’ Bill Fralic, North Hills’ LaVar Arrington, Penn Hills’ Aaron Donald and three players from Aliquippa — Darrelle Revis, Ty Law and Sean Gilbert.

• Other first-round NFL selections since 1985 who made the Fabulous 22, but weren’t selected to the alltime team, are New Castle’s Malik Hooker, Aliquippa’s Jon Baldwin, Franklin Regional’s Tom Ricketts and Gateway’s Bob Buczkowski. Mt. Lebanon’s Brian Williams also was a first-round NFL pick in 1989, but did not make the Fabulous 22.

• The all-time Fab 22 had 12 players who were NFL Pro Bowlers: Fralic, Arrington, Donald, Revis, Law, Gilbert, Bulger, Lee, Allderdice’s Curtis Martin, Hopewell’s Paul Posluszny, Woodland Hills’ Rob Gronkowski and Freeport’s Jeff Christy.

• Gronkowski is the player who committee members had the most trouble deciding on whether to vote for him. Gronkowski played only one year at Woodland Hills and caught only eight passes. But his blocking and defensive play were also impressive and he was rated one of the best tight ends in the country that year. You know the rest of his story. Gronkowski made the all-time team and was 17th in voting.

• Some Fab 22 history: Hopewell’s Rushel Shell is the only player to make the team four times. Seven players made it three times — Arrington, Washington’s Brian Davis, Valley’s Brandon Williams, West Allegheny’s Tyler Palko, PineRichland’s Phil Jurkovec, Clairton’s Lamont Wade and Gateway’s Derrick Davis.

• The next 10 in voting for the all-time team were: Central Valley’s Jordan Whitehead, Central Catholic’s Stefen Wisniewski, Penn Hills’ Tom Tumulty, Gateway’s Curtis Bray, Perry’s Rod Rutherford, Woodland Hills’ Miles Sanders, Moon’s A.Q. Shipley, Central Valley’s Robert Foster, North Allegheny’s Tim Manoa and McKeesport’s Mike Logan.

• In my opinion, one of the most overlooked and underappreciated players in the voting was South Fayette’s Jon Hayes. He was on the first Fab 22 in 1980 and didn’t have eye-opening stats because high school tight ends didn’t get many passes thrown their way back then. But he was a terrific two-way standout at South Fayette. Then he played tight end and linebacker at the University of Iowa and was an All-American as a senior. He was a second-round pick in the NFL draft and spent 12 seasons in the NFL, nine with the Kansas City Chiefs and three with the Steelers. He had 153 receptions in the NFL.

• Think of it: Ten or 12 years from now, the 40-year all-time team might have five Pro Football Hall of Famers. Allderdice’s Martin and Aliquippa’s Law are already HOFers. Revis, Gronkowski and Donald sure do look like they’ll be in Canton someday, too.