1940 team was Monongah’s first champions

Dorman Keith “Legs” Beckner, Class of 1942, speaks up for the unbeaten 1940 Monongah High football team that had 3 victories and 4 ties (not a lot of scoring in those days).

Keith, who was an end of that team that included two from the famous Lipinski athletic family of Monongah, writes:

“Morning, John,

“I may have missed your post in the past about the, maybe the first, Monongah

High Football Champions. We were the undefeated 1940 Marion County Football

Champions with a record of 3 wins, 4 ties and no defeats.

“To me, it was a sad day when the Marion County High Schools were

consolidated except for FSHS and ESHS. Old rivalries went by the boards when

the consolidation took place.

“The Farmington Farmers were our big rival when I played.

“Keep up the good work with the site.

“God Bless,

“Keith Beckner

“Class of 1942”

Eugene and Ted Lipinski were on that 1940 team. 

The Lipinski siblings were “Big” Jim, Joe, John, Frank, Stephanie, Henry, Loretta, Eugene, Theodore and Lyndon. 

They had a farm that was a left turn as you headed south, off U.S. 19 near the United Mine Workers Hall and Pepsi Meffe’s service station, then up a road a short way. 

You knew you were there when you heard the German shepherds growling menacingly until their Mom said, “Friend.” Then they just watched quietly, but you knew to behave.

I met Jim in 1970 in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio after I began working in the Akron Beacon Journal newsroom because he taught phys ed at Bode Elementary and my son, John Larry Olesky, who today lives in Tallmadge, Ohio, was in the class. 

Jim’s son, Jim, Jr. was deeply involved for years in Boy Scouts in Cuyahoga Falls.

Jim's first wife, Loreene, was the cosmetology teacher for my daughter, LaQuita Olesky Timberlake, today a schoolteacher in Aurora, Ohio.

Keith was in Washington, D.C. last month as part of the Honor Flight, which takes America’s veterans on a free flight to see our nation’s capital and visit war memorials.

Keith’s daughter is Rhea Lee Beckner Hillberry of Littleton, Colorado, married to Gary Hillberry. Rhea is a Fairmont West High and Fairmont State business education graduate who retired from the Coors Brewery, the largest single brewery facility in the world, in Golden, Colorado. Paula and I were there and tasted six free and different brands of Coors beer after we watched WVU play Colorado in Boulder.

Keith’s son is Roger Keith Beckner, who love to fish.

Nick Demus, who came along later and played football at Monongah High, in “Marion County Sports History” by the Fairmont Times’ John Veasey and Cliff Nichols, named Big Jim Lipinski, John Koloski, Mike Salopek, Fred Pacito and Anthony “Bugs” Vingle as the better athletes of the 1940s during the World War II years.

While it wasn’t until 1952 that Coach Jim Feltz brought Monongah High its first state football title, and did it again in 1955, and Coach Earl Keener, Feltz’ assistant, did it in 1968 and 1969 and Mike Argobrite and Rick Mazza coached the Lions to the 1973, and final, MHS state title, Keith is right that the 1940 team may have been the first football champs at Monongah High.

If you have memories of ANY of Monongah High’s championship teams, email John Olesky at jo4wvu@neo.rr.com and I’ll put the information in this Monongah High Alumni blog.