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.”
“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.
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