Remembering the many sports greats who left us
Every year begins with bright hopes and ends with solemn thoughts about those who will not be around to share the joys that will come with the new year.
The year 2015 was no exception. There were many who shared a love of athletics and touched us with their care and compassion, but who left us during the last months.
In January, we learned of the deaths of Upland A.C. basketball coach Sarah E. Boyle; Doris M. Lamb, who was a baseball league farm team coach; James Beirne Sr., a softball pitcher who help start St. Dorothy School’s intramural basketball program; Eugene J. Giello, a coach in the Upper Darby Little League and with the Drexel Hill Raiders football program; Joseph Hoven, who played for the Wilson White Sox baseball team in Chester; Jean R. Volpone, a Chester Pike Bowlero bowling instructor; Charles P. Bingnear, a Chester West Little League coach; Denis M. Kraft, who played football and baseball at St. James High and Widener University; Norman
12 D. Feldman, a football coach at Drexel Hill Middle School; and Lawrence J. Piziak Sr., a Brandywine Warriors football coach.
Others who died in January included Frederick “Ted” Peters, The Haverford School’s baseball captain in 1938; Ann (Maitland) Kushto, a St. James High cheerleader; William T. Fox, who played football and ice hockey for Ridley High and was a Penn State ice hockey player; James P. Ward, a Delco Valley Baseball League player and member of the Media Area Athletes Hall of Fame; Richard A. Vogel, former president of the Media Little League and Media Boys Club; Walter Yannuzzi Jr., a local softball player and Upland A.C. coach; Leonard J. Klemaszewski, a Chester Teener Baseball League player and Toby Farms A.A. president and baseball coach; James DeGeorge, who coached at Folcroft Boys and Girls Club; Robert R. Redding of the Colwyn Comets Athletic Association; William R. Johnson, St. Andrew CYO basketball coach; Raymond M. Jarman Jr., who played football at Eddystone High; Charles McMillan, a Chester High football, basketball and track athlete who became director of the Chester Boys Club; William A. Simon, who was a Norwood Boys Club football and baseball coach; Brandywine Warriors football coach William H. Creegan; and Galen R. Hoke, a local softball player who coached baseball at Ridley Park Boys Club.
In February, we lost David B. Weir Sr., who coached basketball and softball at 69th Street A.A.; Ed Fisher, a Ridley Park High football, basketball and baseball player; Chester youth sports benefactor William J. Coopersmith; John Waldron, a coach in the William Penn School District; former Monsignor Bonner hockey player Marc E. Kuchler; Danny McCormick, who competed in rugby and crew at Monsignor Bonner/ Archbishop Prendergast High; Paul Micun, an Aston Valley baseball coach; and Upper Chichester recreation director Michael Ricci.
Others who died in February included Lorian Conyers, a Chester High basketball and track athlete; former Monsignor Bonner High and Haverford College cross country and track coach Francis E. “Dixie” Dunbar; Larry L. Anthonsen, who competed in football, wrestling and baseball at Springfield High and played football at Lehigh University; local bowler Dorothy M. Ciabattone Imburgia; Nicholas Peisochenski, a Ridley Township High and Delco League baseball player; Donald J. Keeth, who played baseball in the Chester West Little League and was an avid bowler and golfer; James A. McGuigan Sr., a founder of the Upper Darby Wrestling Boosters; Henry J. Rodgers, a Prospect Park Termites football coach; and Westbrook Park Boys Club athletic director Joseph Falcone.
In March, we mourned the passing of Delco Athletes Hall of Fame bowler Nick Francis Jr.; Barbara M. Bardsley, also a Hall of Fame bowler; Thomas M. Ennis, who played football at Pennsylvania Military College; Arnold Coleman, an outstanding athlete at Darby-Colwyn High; Robert M. Farrell, who was football and basketball captain at Darby High; Daniel J. Algeo, a Sharon Hill native and Archmere Academy athlete who coached at Rosemont School of the Holy Child; Thomas E. Gallagher Jr., Our Lady of Fatima School’s boys basketball coach; basketball official and St. Madeline’s youth mentor Edward A. Gallagher; Joseph M. Jaglowski, who competed in football and ice hockey at Ridley High; and youth baseball coach Daniel C. Clancy Jr.
Others who died in March included Henry E. O’Brien, a Chester West Little League coach and umpire; Fredrick J. Datillo, former member of the Chester Chapter of PIAA Football Officials; Clifton H. “Sonny” Wagner, a Ridley Township High football player; James J. Pentimall, a Ridley Junior High track coach and Special Olympics volunteer; Aston A.A. basketball coach Kenneth Renshaw; Shanna Halliday Michael, a Norwood Athletic Club coach; Robert W. Thompson Sr., who played football at Collingdale High and was a Collingdale youth football coach; and James J. Baumann, an Upper Darby High graduate and U.S. Association for Blind Athletes gold medal winner in swimming and track and field.
In April, we learned of the deaths of Paul S. Buckley Jr., a St. James High cross country and track athlete; Daniel K. Mills Jr., who played football at Penncrest High and rugby at Neumann University; Charles R. Berger, an NHRA record-setting drag racer; Regina E. Canzanese, a loyal St. James High booster; James J. Magee, a football coach and founder of the Our Lady of Fatima CYO programs; Monica M. Boon, who coached at Glenolden Boys and Girls Club; S. Joseph McNicholas, a local softball umpire; Larry J. Rendin Jr., who competed in football and wrestling at Nether Providence High; St. Joseph’s Prep football player Ryan Gillyard; and Michele (Blundin) Lesher, who was a Ridley High athlete.
Others who died in May included Samuel “Sonny” May Sr. of the Greenhalgh Pipers softball team and a local basketball coach; John C. Greer, who was named to the Delco Athletes Hall of Fame as an official; Louis P. D’Angelo, a Villanova graduate, who was a football coach at Bok Technical School and Pennsville (N.J.) High, where he started the football program; Helen (Miller) Polischuk, former GlenNor High basketball captain; Edward J. Bissell, a founding member of the Blessed Virgin Mary CYO in Darby; Fred E. Racine Jr., an Aston-Middletown baseball and basketball coach; and William J. Hampton, a St. James High football and basketball captain who was a founder of the Rose Tree Colts football program and former Media Area Athletes Hall of Fame Sportsperson of the Year.
In May, we lost Michael R. Fecile, who played football at Garnet Valley High; James J. Martyn of the Folcroft Boys and Girls Club; Richard Langdale, a Nether Providence High soccer player; Dominic Scamuffa, who coached football at Interboro High and was a high school baseball umpire; and Michael DeNoia, former Clifton Heights High football coach and a member of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.
MEMORIAM » PAGE 55