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Remembering notable deaths in local sports in 2022 — and what they meant
For about half of my 40-year career at The Morning Call, I’ve written a column for Christmas Eve talking about the people in local sports who died in the previous year and I’ve asked our readers to remember those families who may be grieving and missing their loved ones during the holiday season.
Over the years, I admit I didn’t know all of the people I’ve written about personally. Some I knew from a distance. Some I didn’t know at all. This year, however, was different. In 2022, there were several from the local sports scene who left us that I not only knew but also had a profound impact on my life. Many were people I treasured.
For example, Bruce Trotter was not only an iconic figure in Allentown sports, but he was a friend who I’ve known my entire life. He was in the same confirmation class at the church my mother attended as a kid, and was later married in, on Allentown’s East Side. He was also a teammate of my father’s on Allentown High’s unbeaten football team in 1957.
Later as a student at Dieruff with a profound interest in sports, he was a guiding force and mentor and his passion for coaching and kids resonated. On Oct. 14, I was inducted into Dieruff ’s Wall of Distinction. Trotter attended the ceremony and I was able to say a few words about what he meant to me and the school. Glad I had that opportunity because on Nov. 8 he died at age 82.
Another person who had an influence on my life in a different way was Curt Simmons, who died earlier this month at age 93.
People ask me all the time why I root for the St. Louis Cardinals. It’s because when I was a little kid being introduced to baseball, Simmons pitched for the Cardinals. My family, especially my grandfather Frank Groller and my uncle Willie Groller, were huge Simmons fans. They followed him wherever he went after he pitched for Sammy Balliet and Coplay Legion and I was given all kinds of Cardinals stuff ... shirts, hats, bobbleheads of the Cardinals. First impressions can be lasting impressions and 58 years after Simmons pitched for the Cardinals against the Yankees in the World Series with some family in the stands at Yankee Stadium, I still root for the Redbirds.
When the Cardinals won the World Series in 2006 and 2011 both of the clinchers came on Friday nights when I was in hotels waiting to cover Lehigh football games the next day. One of the first people to congratulate me on the Cardinals crowns was Andy Coen. Never mind that he was kind of busy himself as the Mountain Hawks head coach, Coen still thought of me when he began his postgame interviews.
That’s the kind of guy Coen was, a downto-earth, humble being who had the ability to motivate young men and win 85 games at Lehigh. No one who ever coached the Mountain Hawks won more. Coen left us way too soon when he lost his battle with Alzheimer’s on April 15 at age 57.
Another person I got to know through covering Lehigh football was another down-to-earth gem of a person. That was Bill McCoach, the longtime voice of the Mountain Hawks, who always had a kind word to say in that classic voice of his. McCoach died at age 90 in March.
Lots of sports fans knew people like Trotter, Simmons, Coen, and McCoach, but perhaps they never met Chris Fish or Cathy Neelon. Both were fixtures on the local high school scene but in different capacities.
Fish embraced the title of “Waterboy” and loved to be associated with Allen athletics, especially boys basketball where former coach Doug Snyder made sure he was part of the Canary family. Fish knew basketball and knew the players and just loved being involved. He died in February at age 36.
Neelon was one of the unsung heroes in local high school sports, working in local cable TV production for more than 30 years. She loved to kid around but always worked hard to make sure the high school sports coverage for her TV team was as good as you’d find anywhere. She was driving home after working a high school football game on Sept. 2 for the Astound TV Network when she was killed in an auto accident. She was 55.
Dr. Tom Bonekeper is another person who may not have been a household name but meant so much to so many in local baseball, especially in Quakertown where he kept the ACBL and the Quakertown Blazers thriving for years. Bonekemper would treat me to lunch each May for years so he could give me preview info on the ACBL and the Blazers. What could have been done in 15 minutes turned into more than an hour as Bonekemper loved talking about baseball at all levels, especially the college prospects in this area and beyond. He died in June at age 79.
Another guy who I loved to talk with was George Marinkovitch. I got to spend time with him on a few bus trips with the Lehigh Valley Yankee Fan Club.
He wasn’t the type of guy to brag about himself, so on a bus trip to
Kansas City back in 2011, a friend of George tapped me on the shoulder and told me “Keith, you know we have one of the best athletes in Bethlehem history on this bus.” I said “Who?” And he said “Chuck Bednarik once said that George Markinkovitch was the best athlete in Liberty High School history and he’s sitting right over there.”
That tip started a friendship I will treasure. George was an all-stater in both football and basketball at Liberty. He played football at Rutgers for one season and then was called to serve in the U.S. Navy in the Korean War. He came home and in 1956, he was the starting halfback and a catalyst to Montana State winning the NAIA national championship team.
Marinkovitch became an assistant coach at Montana State and fell in love with the area and spent a large part of his life there. He helped to bring numerous area products to Bozeman, including Easton’s Harry Stagnito and Allentown High’s Tommy and Bruce Wing, Jack Cameron, Bernie Costello, Paul Phass and Harry Lopsonzski — all members of the Canaries’ 1957 undefeated team.
The soft-spoken, kind-hearted Marinkovich was always proud of the Valley, however, and was happy to tell people in Montana that when Allentown and Bethlehem played football on Thanksgiving, 20,000 people showed up. He died on Dec. 7 just one day shy of his 94th birthday.
Marinkovitch became a fixture at the Lehigh Valley Old-Time Friends and Athletes Reunion each June where he’d often talk with another Bethlehem native, Pete Carril, who over 30 seasons at Princeton became one of the most iconic college basketball coaches in the history of the game. The often irascible, but always engaging Carril died in August at age
92. He coached local stars such as Gabe Lewullis and Snyder and left a legacy that stretched throughout the region and across the country.
Bob Boyle was another guy with a pleasant personality who never talked about his own basketball accomplishments. He was an all-stater playing for St. Anne’s in Freeland as a kid, but instead focused on the current kids, especially those who played for his son, Pat, at Notre Dame-Green
Pond. He also was a big fan of his grandsons Brendan and Colin and Pat’s older brother, Neale, who was a state champ at Allentown Central Catholic in the 1980s and now coaches at Malvern Prep. Bob Boyle died on Nov. 20 at age 87.
I didn’t know either Mia Duh or Treshawn Tracy, but those two young student-athletes — Duh at Whitehall and Tracy at Allen — left us way too soon and in a senseless manner. They had the potential to be shining lights in the community for years to come, but those lights were tragically dimmed. Our hearts go out to their families and friends who will keep them in their hearts forever.
There are no words that could provide sufficient comfort or meaning to those losses, except they remind us to savor every day and hold the ones who mean the most to us as close as we possibly can because tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. Keep that in mind while you celebrate this Christmas Eve and on these festive days to come.
Others to remember
With a big assist from friend and former Easton-Express sportswriter Joe DeVivo, here are other notable losses from the local sports community in 2022:
Brian Balliet, 74, Dec. 18, 2021: Slatington High grad played football at Lehigh (class of 1968), then went on to officiate football in several major college conferences and NFL before retiring in 2003.
Andrew Jenkins, 47, Dec. 25, 2021: District 11 and regional wrestling champion, and state runner-up at 171 pounds for Allen wrestling team. All-MAC nose guard at Moravian College.
Stephen “Deets” Guttman, 92, Dec. 27, 2021: Three-sport standout at Northampton in the 1940s who played a season of minor league baseball for the Red Sox.
Kenneth “Buzzy” Rabenold, 66, Dec. 30, 2021: Race car driver at Dorney Park, Nazareth and Grandview speedways.
Elwood “Big Woody” Marcks, 76, Jan. 2: Dieruff football and wrestling standout, signed as free agent with Philadelphia Eagles.
Robert Yost, 83, Jan. 13: Allentown Central Catholic three-sport standout, class of 1957, and member of school’s Hall of Fame. PIAA umpire for 40 years.
Clyde McIntyre, 91, Jan. 16: Founder of Community Basketball League, coach of Palmer Township American Legion baseball team.
James Vincent “Vinnie” Dragotta, 96, Feb. 28: Played football at Phillipsburg and Syracuse University. 27 years as assistant football coach at P’burg.
George Glykus, 48, March 9: Northampton assistant wrestling coach.
Stephen Chromiak, 101, April 25: Earned PGA card in 1965 and served as pro at Willow Brook Golf Course 1969-1995.
Charles Bibleheimer, 87, May 13: Early 1950s District 11 and Pa. state singles champion in tennis at Easton High. Member of Easton Wall of Fame.
Geoffrey Chenworth, 59, March 14: Boys lacrosse coach at Parkland, Central Catholic and Northampton who helped popularize the sport in the Lehigh Valley.
Ed Folk, 79, May 12: Whitehall two-sport standout who pitched a 3-hitter in Coplay’s American Legion state title game victory. Played college basketball on Mount St. Mary’s College team that won NCAA Division II title. Head baseball coach for 17 years, boys basketball for six years and golf for three at Pen Argyl. Then coached golf at Moravian Academy where his teams won numerous league and district titles.
Louis Molnar, 93, May 19: Coach of
Notre Dame-Green Pond’s only undefeated football team in 1963.
David Leone, 71, June 3: Author of 5 sports books, four that chronicled Phillipsburg football and wrestling and one on NFL star Jim Ringo.
Lori Weaver, 60, July 1: 1,000-point scorer for Palmerton girls basketball team, class of 1980.
Nancy Cusati, 84, July 23: Allen High Hall of Fame member, cheerleading coach for 17 years.
Leo Finks, 73, July 24: Member of three straight PCIAA State Championship wrestling teams at Notre Dame Green Pond 1965-67.
Dennis Bonser, 80, Aug. 10: 1959 Palmerton grad who scored 1,000 points in basketball and went on to a Hall of Fame career at Kutztown University.
Gerry Farnsworth, 77, Aug. 17: Assistant football coach at Parkland for 15 years and 2022 inductee into Carbon County Area Sports Hall of Fame.
Edward Lesko, 83, Aug. 22: 1957 Allentown grad and 2018 inductee to Lehigh Valley Softball Hall of Fame. Played on 1957 Lentz Legion Post 29 baseball team that won the state American Legion title.
Jeff Teet, 65, Aug. 25: Whitehall grad who was 1999 Late Model champion at Grandview Speedway and 16-time winner at the track from 1986-2000.
Ken Kline, 91, Aug. 27: 1949 Allentown grad coached boys basketball for 31 years at Jim Thorpe, Pottsville, Mt. Carmel, Blue Mountain, and Panther Valley, winning 437 games. Won a state title at Jim Thorpe in 1962.
William “Wilbur” Spang, 78, Sept. 19: Coached tennis, golf and junior varsity boys basketball under the legendary Bill Paulik at Salisbury.
John Olson, 82, Oct. 2: 1957 Allentown High grad who went on to star in football and basketball at Moravian. Coached three sports at Upper Perkiomen.
Dr. Thomas Sauer, 76, Oct. 17: Member of Notre Dame-Green Pond’s only undefeated football team in 1963. Longtime team physician for Bethlehem Catholic and Moravian College.
Thomas Kilker, 74, Oct. 25: Longtime scorekeeper for Saucon Valley basketball and wrestling.
Richard “Dick” Nissen, 86, Oct. 24: Player on 1953-54 Slatington’s Iron Men basketball team that went 25-4, won Lehigh Valley League and District 11 titles before losing to Chester in state quarterfinals. Also pitched two seasons for Phillies minor league affiliates.