Monongah’s Lion Kings were in the spotlight again Friday night at North Marion High’s Homecoming game against Clarksburg Robert C. Byrd High School.

Monongah High was consolidated into North Marion in September 1979. Thirty nine years later the Lions still have more state football titles than North Marion, East Fairmont and Fairmont Senior combined.

Monongah won SIX state championships, 5 in football and in 1955 in baseball behind pitcher Frank DeMoss.

The 1968 state football champs were honored during Friday’s game. The 1968 players who showed up included Kerry Marbury, probably Monongah High’s greatest football player who also was a WVU football star and played pro ball in Canada.

Marbury’s quarterback in 1968 was Nick “Brother” Saban, Alabama football coach with five national college titles to his name . . . so far. Marbury also was on the 1969 Monongah state titlists, after Brother graduated, and was a state champ in track in the 100- and 200-yard dashes.

For Kerry and Brother, it began on Nick Saban Sr.’s Pop Warner football team for pre-high school children in Idamay.

"Nick Sr. told us if we started winning he'd take us to the Dairy Queen he had," Marbury recalled. "That motivated us and we started winning so much that he almost went broke." A 38-game winning streak to be exact.

The Black Diamonds once traveled to Pennsylvania to beat a team that had quarterback Joe Namath, later the pride of Beaver Falls High in Pennsylvania, of Alabama and of the New York Jets and in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Kerry and Brother remain friends.

Nick Sr., who passed away in 1973, bought an old school bus to transport his football and baseball players to practice and to games. He bought gloves and shoes for those who couldn’t afford them.

He imbued his values in Brother. Nick Sr. raised his family in a brick split-level behind the filling station, where Brother washed cars while teen girls watched and giggled as the water glistened on his shirtless body.

Julie Angelucci, Larry Rankin and Dennis Jones brought Monongah High the 1952 state title with a Julie pass to Dennis followed by a Dennis lateral to Larry for a touchdown that won the game in the fourth quarter.

Henry “Dinkle” Martin and George Martello were on TWO Monongah High state championship teams in 1955 – football and baseball. Dinkle kicked the game-winning point after touchdown in the title game. Pitchers Frank DeMoss and Bernie Vingle were the stars of the baseball state tournament triumph.

Merlin Davidson was quarterback of the 1955 Monongah High state champ football team and the 1956 state runnerup team. And was on the 1955 state champ baseball team.

Kerry Marbury was on 1968 and 1969 state football champs, with Brother the quarterback on the 1968 team.

Jay Feltz quarterbacked the final, 1973 Monongah High state football champs, completing a circle started by his father, Jim Feltz, coach of the 1952 and 1955 state kings.

Earl Keener, Jim Feltz’ assistant in 1952 and 1955, coached the 1968 and 1969 champs. They played together at Fairmont State.

Monongah ceased to exist after 1979, morphing into North Marion with Farmington, Barrackville, Fairview and Mannington.

But the legend of superior Monongah High football and its Lion Kings will never fade from our memories.

 Friday at North Marion’s Homecoming was proof.