1960 Marion champs still winners today

The Monongah girls softball team won the Marion County championship in 1960 by defeating Watson under the lights at East-West Stadium.

They had a great maestro, the late Gene Kendzoir, who applied the discipline and focus he used to win Green Hills Country Club golf championships regularly to building a girls softball team that won the league title by beating Watson in East-West Stadium in Fairmont.

Sherry VanMeter Nicholson, Class of 1965, tells the story:

“This photo was taken by our neighbor, Willie Pflock, as a result of our team winning the championship. Our final game was with Watson and we got to play under the lights at the East-West Stadium. Which was unheard of back then.

“We won the game, which ended with a busted kneecap as the shortstop slid into third base  in the final inning.

“A fight broke out and off to the hospital we went for a pink cast to be put on the left leg. I don't remember the score but I vividly remember the slide into third and Watson getting really mad. And the trip to the hospital since I was the shortstop who slid into 3rd and was taken to the hospital.

“Coach Gene Kendzior was soooooo very good to me. He and his wife Sheila picked me up and took me to the drive-in movies.

“Softball was not only my love but my passion. I continued to play into my adult years. I started girls softball in a small town in Sycamore, Ohio.” Olesky note: Sycamore is in Wyandot County between Sandusky and Lima.

“We had a winning team. My daughter, DeAnna, played as well. To this day softball is the greatest sport.”

Janet Duncil Skarzenski, Class of 1966 with the help of her GED, who lives in Houston, Texas, chimed in after I asked her for her memories:

 “I am not sure when the first team started up. I know I played for several summers. If we had someone that would coach, we would have a team, of course. It was hard to get someone. And team players, too, who could do it for the whole season.

“We practiced at the Thoburn field where Monongah Elementary is now. When the old Thoburn Elementary School was there, the football/baseball field was laid out behind there, at the back, you probably remember that, the field rose up to a small hill which flattened out and that was where the playground used to be.

“By the way, farther on up the hill from the fenced-in area behind the playground and up that mountain, belonged to Domico's, and it was the greatest berry-picking place around.

“I think whoever coached also shared responsibility with the people who ran the playground. So there needed to be a coach and a playground manager. 

“Freddy Yanero coached one year and, of course, Gene Kendzior.

“Anyhow, not sure how many summers we played, some of the team’s players varied, depending on who was available for the summer. For sure I was always available; loved the game. 

“One person I remember on our team, who was not in the picture, was Kathy Vincent. It's possible she may have moved and not played that year. (Last I heard she was married to Carlo Tarley, I think.)

“Two of the girls are cousins on my mom's side, Paula Mick Webb and Laraine Lushinski Clark. 

“I moved from Killeen to Houston a little more than a year ago.

“I receive my GED when I joined the Job Corps and also completed a course in Cosmetology. That was in the state of Maine in 1969. 

“I reconnected with my father in Florida in 1970, where I met my first husband, Randall Knowles, the father of my children. We married in 1971 and lived in Jacksonville.

“Randy’s construction job led us to Texas about 1980.

“We had four children, two born in Florida and two born in Texas.

“We separated in 1989 and eventually divorced after a 24-year marriage. I moved back to Monongah with my two youngest boys.

“I completed a course in Medical Assisting, but became an insurance agent in 1995. The  insurance agency was where I met my second husband, Charles Skarzenski. We married in 2000. I worked for a little while longer at the agency, then decided to take some time off. 

“When I went back to work, about six months later, it was for a company in Sabraton, which was good since I was living in the Cheat Lake area now.

“I retired as Human Resources Assistant in 2009, 10 months before Charlie passed away from Alzheimer's disease in December. My first husband, the father of my children, passed in that same month, due to complications from heart disease. 

“Paul Duncil is my brother and resides in Killeen, Texas. Byron Duncil and Nancy Duncil Bush are distant cousins.

“I have raised four wonderful children:

“Deina Knowles Foytik of Brazoria, Texas, who with  husband Dale has two children, Jaecen and Rhys.

“Randall (Bo) Knowles Jr.  of Houston, who with wife Gina Schild-Knowles has two children, Mason and Taylor Jo. And a grandchild, Cason, which makes me a great- grandmother.

“D. Travis Knowles of  Houston, who with  wife Amanda Scott Knowles had a child, Holden.

“C. Taylor Knowles of Morgantown, who with wife Kasandra Hughes Knowles has three children, Brooke, Nathan and Chase. 

“I also have another daughter that I didn't raise, Stephanie, who has a son, William. She is married and lives in Virginia and William lives and works in North Carolina. 

“I have traveled throughout the U.S. from Maine to Florida to Texas to Utah to state of Washington, including a cruise to Alaska. 

“My hobbies are crocheting, Xbox (to keep up with the grandkids), fishing, camping and reading. 

“I love my trips back to West Virginia to visit family and friends. 

“It would be nice if the Softball team, from any years we played, could get together.” 

Linda Lopez Gandy, Class of 1955, added:

“David Van Meter also coached us one year. We were affiliated with the playground. You would not believe how many people would come watch us play and practice. We were summer entertainment.

“My dad took me to Johnny Warsh's sports store and bought me a black Wilson glove."

John Olesky note:

I know from my 40 years of teaching children’s baseball that I taught my players more than baseball, but a preparation for the bad hops and curveballs of their later lives, and how to hit home runs with their family and careers.

Obviously, Gene did the same.

Sports foster leadership that gets applied in other aspects of life.

Sherry paid it forward by getting girls softball up and running in Sycamore, Paula Mick and Irene Fazio became class officers and Merit Examinees at Monongah High, Irene was on the MHS Student Council, Cathy Vincent was Monongah High prom queen, Sherry VanMeter, Linda Lopez, Lorraine Snider and Paula Mick participated in girls sports at Monongah High and Linda also was a student director of the senior class play, “Stranger in the Night.”

Today, Linda Lopez Gandy is president of the Monongah High Alumni Association, which will have its annual reunion 6:30 p.m. Saturday, May 27 at the Knight of Columbus Hall on Mary Lou Retton Drive in Fairmont. By the way, it you want to come to the 2017 Reunion, just find the dinner-dance reservation form on this blog, print it up and mail it to Donna Davis with your check. I’ll be there, so maybe the 1960 champions can stop by my table at the K of C Hall.

But what about later in life? What happened to Gene Kendzoir’s 10 softball players?

Vickie Everson, Class of 1966, and Diane

Minardi, Class of 1967, sadly have passed away.

 

Vicki Everson Summers had been living in Fairmont with husband Jim Summers. Her March 10, 2016 passing was reported in the Monongah High Alumni blog. She once lived in Bingamon.

 

Diane Minardi Star was married to Tom Star, Class of 1965.  She was president of the Monongah Future Teachers of America club at Monongah High. She passed away in 2014 in Belmont, West Virginia.

 

Paulette Colanero O'Connor, Class of 1966, lives in Manassas, Virginia with husband John O’Connor where she is manager of the Prince William Thrift Shop in Manassas.

She was a Lion mascot at Monongah High.

Catching the ball for a championship softball team later in life switched to catching a lot of large fish in the Chesapeake Bay every year for Paulette, surpassing even her husband.

Their daughters are Suzette and Robyn.

Her parents were Elizabeth and Philip Colanero, Sr. Phil Colanero, Class of 1963, who lives in Morgantown with wife Betty Hanlin Colanero, and Tom Colanero are her brothers.

Their father was on the unbeaten 1940 Marion County Champions Monongah High football team so the apple called Paulette didn’t fall far from the sports tree.

Sherry VanMeter, Class of 1965, married Dorsey Edward Nicholson, who passed away in 2009. Dorsey was an artist for NASCAR auto racing and Ohio State. He worked 30 years for General Motors.

 

Running Ronnie Nicholson passed away but his twin Donnie Nicholson still lives in Ohio.

 

Sherry and Dorsey have 3 children, 8 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.

Her brother is David Lee VanMeter III, Class of 1961. An earlier David VanMeter married Gene Kendzior’s sister, Carol Kendzior VanMeter. Talk about completing the circle.

Sherry and David’s mother, 93, lives in Monongah.

Sherry’s step-brother was the late Martin Walter Pflock, who went to Monongah High before graduating from Ribault High in Jacksonville, Florida. Like Gene Kendzior, Martin Pflock was an excellent golfer at Morgantown’s Royal Oaks Golf Club.

Martin’s sisters are Toni Pflock Hennis, Class of 1955, of Summerfield, Florida and Monongah High grad Nita Pflock Brooks of Desarc, Missouri.

Lorraine Snider Hulderman, Class of 1966, has been married for 50 years to Raymond "Bugs" Hulderman, Class of 1966. They live on Swisher Hill.

 

Lorraine and Raymond have two sons, Mark Hulderman and Gary Hulderman. Mark and wife Shirley have two sons, Patrick and Trenton Hulderman, all of Fairmont. Gary and wife Kerri have five children: Gary Hulderman Jr., Zackery Hulderman,  Triston Hulderman and twins Logan and Lexi Hulderman, all of Swisher Hill.

Bugs and Sylvia Hulderman Fitzwater Edwards, Class of 1967; Don Pitman, who lives in White Hall with Joan; and Tom Hulderman, Class of 1969, whose wife is Jane Hulderman, are children of the late Monongah High grad Olive Jane Kniceley Hulderman of Idamay.

 

Tom Hulderman caught Nick Saban’s passes in the 1968 state championship game for Monongah High. Today, Brother -- Nick Saban, Jr. -- is the Alabama football coach with five national titles.

Sylvia is married to Ed Edwards and living in Fairmont. Sylvia is a Northpoint Bible College graduate who lived in Carolina during her Monongah High days. Her children are Tim, Heather, Chandler and Sterling.

The Hulderman brothers all earned and wore Monongah Lions Lettermen’s Club jackets.

Laraine Lushinski, Class of 1964, married Denzil Clark. Her sister is Rosemary Lushinski Tetrick, Class of 1958, living in Ambridge with husband Ronald Tetrick. Rosemary and Ronald’s daughter, Rita Kaye Tetrick, passed away.

Their brother, John Lushinski, Jr., Class of 1971, also passed away.

The Lushinski family – parents John Lushinsky and Sophie Sobolewski Lushinsky -- lived two doors down from the Olesky family on Church Street. The Sayre family of Paul and Roxie Sayre and their daughter, Mary Margaret Sayre Lewis, lived in the house between both families.

Laraine and Rosemary had a tearful MHS Alumni Reunion with Jackie Olesky Straight, Class of 1955, the widow of David Straight who lives in Rivesville. I also was there to greet Laraine and Rosemary.

The family name was changed from John, Sr.’s parents’ name of Luszcynski, which John, Sr.’s brother, the late Eddie Luszcynski, kept. Eddie, who was married to the late Mary Lee Evans, was a Monongah High baseball, basketball and football star.

Helen Duncil of Texas and Veronica Mick are John Lushinski, Sr.’s sisters. Janet Duncil and Paula Mick are their cousins.

Irene Fazio Preolitti, Class of 1966, is loaded with other athletes in her family. Her father, Renzy Fazio, was a superb golfer. Renzy’s brother, John Fazio, excelled in baseball and basketball at Monongah High. Irene’s grandchildren are busy in Fairmont East athletics.

Irene and husband Mike Preolitti live on Park Avenue in Monongah, a softball homerun away from the Mount Calvary Cemetery where her parents, Renzy Fazio and Frances Olesky Fazio, are buried.

Their granddaughters also were excellent athletes: Renzy Cochran was Most Valuable Player on the West Virginia All-State Girls Lacrosse team for Fairmont West that won the state title and Ann Marie Parsons was a Fairmont West lacrosse star.

The family athletic tradition continues unabated.

Irene’s siblings are Mary Chris Fazio Ramsey, who lives on Pike Street in Monongah with husband Tom Ramsey in the home once owned by Helen (Frances’ sister) and Steve Kerekes; David Fazio, married to Cora who runs the Cora ElderCare facility in Stoney Lonesome; and Steve Fazio, widower of Nancy.

And, as the photo montage of Irene shows, plenty of grandchildren afoot all the time.

 

Monongah High Alumni Association president Linda Lopez Gandy, Class of 1965, is a graduate of Morgantown Beauty School. She married Jim Gandy, Class of 1964, in 1968.

Jim was in the Navy so they lived in Dunoon,  Scotland at one time. They returned to spend the rest of their lives in Monongah.

 

They have sons Jimmy, who lives in Morgantown with his wife, Joyce; and Brian, who lives in Fairmont with his wife, Amy, and their children, Lauren and Brendon. Linda and Jim also have 2 step-grandchildren, Trent (Misty)  and Josh (Blair),  6 step-great-grandchildren, Tristan, Treylon, Tyson, Charley,

Colt and Calan. 

 

Linda and Jim often vacation in Florida, when they’re not in Hawaii, Las Vegas or Italy, which Linda calls “the best trip.”

 

Linda’s father, Sam Lopez, is among the 26 remaining survivors of the July 30, 1945 sinking of the USS Indianapolis by the Japanese, the worst single-ship Naval disaster in American history. It came just weeks before World War II ended after the Indianapolis’ cargo was used to drop atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

 

Of the 1,196 men on board, about 300 went down immediately with the ship. Almost 900 stayed afloat with no lifeboats amid shark-infested waters that took their toll during their four days before they were rescued.

 

No one knew the ship had been sunk because the Indianapolis’ mission was such a secret. A plane searching for downed pilots found the 316 men still alive by accident. Sharks and the ocean got the others.

 

Cathy Vincent Tarley, Class of 1966, was class president for 2 of her 4 years at MHS, on the Student Council, attended Girls State, was in the National Honor Society, Monongah High prom queen and Valentine princess, a Monongah High cheerleader, on the office staff and in the Pep Club.

 

Cathy lives in Monongah with husband Carlo Tarley, Class of 1965. Carlo was Cathy’s prom escort

 

She is legendary for helping out others.

 

Just ask Dorene Wright. In 2013 when Dorene fell and couldn’t get up, Cathy insisted that she keep her cellphone with her at all times so that Cathy could rescue her if need be.

 

Or Nancy Edwards. In 2012 Cathy helped Nancy gets her cats spayed.

 

Gene’s girls still are winners in so many ways, long after he passed away.

 

Paula Mick Webb, escorted at that same prom by Steven Duckworth, lives in Monongah with husband Dick Webb. Her sister is Marlene Mick Harrison, who became a widow, remarried and lives in North Carolina. 

 

Vice president Paula, secretary Irene Fazio Preolitti and president Cathy Vincent were class officers as seniors. The softball team covered three of the four bases on that one.

 

Paula was a Monongah High Band feature twirler and in the class tournaments all four years. She also was on the Black Diamond Yearbook staff and in the senior class play, “Captain Kidd’s Return.”

 

Gene Kendzior married Sheila Stotler Kendzior, who passed away in 2013. Their daughter, Jennifer Kendzior, moved from  Bloomington, Indiana back to Fairmont with Jason Wright.

 

Gene had two sisters, Carol VanMeter and her husband David of Monongah and Kimberly Kendzior and her companion Paula Harr of Virginia Beach, Virginia.

 

Gene passed away January 7, 2013 at the age of 72. His wife of 48 years, Sheila Stoler Kendzior, passed away later that year.

 

The other children of Clarence T. and Calantha Grace Jarrett Stotler are Dale Stotler of Fairmont,  Marquita Kendzior Storms of Green Castle, Pennsylvania, Brenda Kendzior Tucker of Newark, Delaware and Avanell Kendzior Klepper of Seguin, Texas.

 

While Gene’s body lies in the West Virginia National Cemetery in Grafton along with other military heroes, his legacy will live forever in the memory of members of Monongah’s 1960 Marion County champions.