Playing Through the Whistle

by S. L. Price

  To Morgan Entrekin and Jamison Stoltz at Grove Atlantic, who provided rare and unstinting support and suggestions, waved off any delays, and made everything better. You can’t ask for more from either editor or publisher. Thank you for keeping the faith.

  To Josh Paunil, whose early research assistance and diligence proved invaluable; George Solomon, whose interest and intervention kept the project on track; and to fact checker/ notesmith extraordinaire, Alex Holt, whose exacting eye and inextinguishable fire helped bring the thing home, at last: Thank you.

  To those who sustained me through the roadblocks, enthusiasm lags, and small victories inherent in such a project, who read the manuscript early and often, who provided bottomless encouragement: my son Jack Price; my great good friend Don Van Natta Jr., ESPN’s estimable investigative ace; my longtime editor Chris Hunt, Sports Illustrated’s unequaled dean of longform; and my super-agent/partner in crime, Andrew Blauner. “Thank you” doesn’t begin to do justice to their unqualified support.

  Six years is a long time to work on anything. Often without knowing it, sometimes with just a word, Marilyn Price, Sue Price, Eric Price, Bruce Schoenfeld, Simon Bruty, David and Julie Hamlin, Dave and Katherine Martin, Ilene Landress, Townsend Ludington, Joel Drucker, Steve Flink, Barry Levinson, Stefan Fatsis, Andrew Lawrence, Cullen Browder, Sam Stephenson, Dan McGrath, Kelli Anderson, Theodore Petrosky, Jonathan Yardley, and Alex Viorst kept me going. Todd Price provided a lead that proved to be gold: Thanks much.

  A writer isn’t the only one taken prisoner by the book researched and written; an entire family gets locked up, too. For putting up with all the 1,000-yard stares, grunts, strange mood shifts, and endless basement hours—not to mention the ubiquitous question, “Do you know who’s from Aliquippa?”—I thank my daughter, Addie, and son Charlie, for the trips to Pittsburgh and State College/Harrisburg, respectively. I’ve never had better company on the road.

  And, most of all, to my wife, Fran Brennan, for all the sacrifices made, the burdens borne, the nights and weekends lost: I offer my inadequate love and gratitude. You are the reason this gets done. You always have been.

  The Town, The Players

  Rapheal “Pudgy” Abercrombie—Running back, Aliquippa High, 1982–84.

  Carl “King Carl” Aschman—Head football coach, Aliquippa High, 1941–1964.

  David Askew—Father of Aliquippa High/Pitt running back Kaezon Pugh; uncle of Aliquippa/West Virginia defensive back Dravon Henry; husband of Diana Gilbert and stepfather of NFL defensive back Darrelle Revis. Served seven years in prison for the 1999 murder of Eddie Humphries.

  Jeff Baldwin—Lineman, Aliquippa High football, 1978–80; University of Pittsburgh, 1981–83. Father of Jamie Brown and Jonathan Baldwin.

  Jonathan Baldwin—Receiver, Aliquippa High football, 2005–07; University of Pittsburgh, 2008–10.

  Anthony Battalini—Mayor, Aliquippa, 2003–11.

  Charles “Chuck” “C. J.” Betters—Owner, C. J. Betters Enterprises. Beaver County developer/entrepreneur.

  Jamie Brown—Son of Jeff Baldwin, half brother of Jonathan. Currently serving a 20-to-40-year sentence for the 2001 murder of Aliquippa police officer James Naim.

  Tommie Campbell—Defensive back/receiver, Aliquippa High football, 2003–05. Tennessee Titans/Jacksonville Jaguars, 2011–15.

  George David—Sheriff, Beaver County, 1996–98, 2007–15.

  Andre Davis—Aliquippa police chief, 2011–14. Aliquippa Police Department, 1986–2011. Father of Byron Wilson.

  Mike Ditka Sr.—Burner, Aliquippa & Southern Railroad; 31-year president, Local 1432, Transport Workers Union of America. Died 1998.

  Mike Ditka Jr.—Tight end, Aliquippa High, 1952–56; NFL, 1961–72. NFL head coach, Chicago Bears, 1982–92; New Orleans Saints, 1997–99.

  Anthony “Ali” Dorsett—Nephew of Tony. Son-in-law of Dan “Peep” Short. Arrested as result of “Operation Enough is Enough”; sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2011.

  Tony Dorsett—Running back, Hopewell High, 1970–72; University of Pittsburgh, 1973–76 (Heisman Trophy, College Hall of Fame); NFL, 1977–88 (Pro Football Hall of Fame).

  Pete Eritano—President, United Steelworkers Local 1211, 1979–85.

  John Evasovich—Running back, Aliquippa High football, 1955–57.

  James Frank—Cocaptain, 1949 Aliquippa High basketball state champions. President of the NCAA, 1981–83.

  Willie Frank—Running back, Aliquippa High, 1950–52.

  Anthony Gaskins—Center, Aliquippa High football, 2002. Shot “Larry” Moon, 2005; released from prison, 2006. Slag-cutter, C. J. Betters Enterprises, 2010–2012.

  Aileen Gilbert—Mother of Diana, Sean and Mark Gilbert. Grandmother of Darrelle Revis.

  Diana Gilbert—Mother of Darrelle Revis. Wife of David Askew, stepmother of Aliquippa/Pitt running back Kaezon Pugh.

  Sean Gilbert—Linebacker, Aliquippa High, 1986–88 (USA Today High School Defensive Player of the Year). Defensive tackle, University of Pittsburgh, 1989–91; NFL, 1992–2003.

  Tom Girdler—Superintendent, Jones & Laughlin Steel, Aliquippa Works, 1914–24.

  Clint Golden—Senior mediator, Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. Associate director, Pittsburgh region, National Labor Relations Board, 1935.

  Dravon Henry—Running back/defensive back, Aliquippa High football, 2010–13; defensive back, West Virginia University, 2014–present.

  Georg Isasky—Laborer, Aliquippa Works, 1916–1930; union organizer, 1934. Committed to and later freed from mental institution, 1934.

  B. F. Jones Jr.—President, Jones & Laughlin Steel Company, 1900–1923; Chairman, 1923–28.

  Larry “Bulldog” Jones—Fullback, cocaptain, Aliquippa High football, 1970–72. Died of blood clot, 1972.

  Ty Law—Running back/defensive back, Aliquippa High, 1989–91. Defensive back, University of Michigan, 1992–94; NFL, 1995–2009 (three-time Super Bowl champion).

  Charlie Lay—Steelworker, Aliquippa Works. Aliquippa High football booster. Died 1980.

  Bernard “Josh” Lay—Quarterback/cornerback, Aliquippa High football, 1998–2000. Defensive back, University of Pittsburgh, 2002–05; NFL, 2006–07.

  Joe Letteri—Carpenter, Aliquippa Works, 1944–1984. Father of four-time Oscar winner Joe Letteri Jr.

  Jon “White Chocolate” LeDonne—Linebacker/tight end, Aliquippa High football, 1997–2000; linebacker, Robert Morris University, 2001–2004. Head football coach, Shaler High, 2014–present.

  Bob Liggett—Defensive tackle, Aliquippa High, 1962–64; University of Nebraska, 1966–69.

  Nate Lippe—Head football coach, Aliquippa High, 1927–1940; head basketball coach, 1927–47; head baseball coach, 1927–47.

  Henry Mancini—Composer. Aliquippa High, class of 1942. Winner of four Academy Awards and 20 Grammy Awards.

  Richard Mann—Receiver, Aliquippa High, 1962–64; running back/receiver, Arizona State, 1966–68. Assistant coach, Pittsburgh Steelers, 2013–present.

  Harry Mauk—Director of plant protection, Jones & Laughlin Steel, Aliquippa Works, 1915-1953.

  Press Maravich—Basketball, Aliquippa High, 1933–34. Head basketball coach, Aliquippa High, 1952–54.

  Pete Maravich—Born Aliquippa. Basketball Hall of Fame.

  Frank Marocco—Guard/linebacker, Aliquippa High, 1952–54; head football coach, 1989–1996.

  Sherman McBride—Wide receiver/defensive back, Aliquippa High, 1977–1979; wide receiver, Ohio University, 1980–83. Assistant football coach, Aliquippa High, 1984–92; 1997–2010. Assistant head football coach, 2010–present. Head track coach, 2004–present.

  George “Doc” Medich—Quarterback, Hopewell High, 1962–64. Major league pitcher, 1972–82.

  Sam Milanovich—Head basketball coach, Aliquippa High, 1948–1954; principal, Aliquippa High/superintendent of Aliquippa sc
hools, 1954–66.

  James “Larry” Moon—Running back, Aliquippa High football, 2002–04. Killed Diedre Walker and self, 2009.

  Ben Moreell—CEO and chairman of the board, Jones & Laughlin Steel Company, 1947–57.

  James Naim—Patrolman, Aliquippa Police Department, 2000–01. Killed at Linmar Terrace, 2001.

  Timmie Patrick—Beaver County police detective; assistant football coach, Aliquippa High. Fullback, Aliquippa High, 1985–87.

  Cornelia Bryce Pinchot—Activist for organized labor and women’s rights. First Lady of Pennsylvania, 1922–27; 1931–35.

  Robert Pipkin—Forward, Aliquippa High basketball, 1960–63; defensive end, Aliquippa High football, 1962.

  Gino Piroli—Beaver County historian/newspaper columnist. Pipefitter, Aliquippa Works, 1943–66. Hopewell Township commissioner, 1956–67. Postmaster, Aliquippa, 1967–88.

  Ernie Pitts—Receiver, Aliquippa High football, 1950–52. Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 1957–69. Killed in Colorado, 1970.

  Major “Loggie” Powell—Tackle, cocaptain, Aliquippa High football, 1931–34.

  Kaezon Pugh—Outside linebacker/running back, Aliquippa High football, 2012–15. Committed to University of Pittsburgh, October 2015.

  Darrelle Revis—Running back/defensive back, Aliquippa High football, 2001–03. Cornerback, University of Pittsburgh, 2004–06; NFL, 2006–present. (Four-time All-Pro; Super Bowl champion.)

  Moe Rubenstein—Head football coach, Ambridge High, 1929–50.

  Brian Samuel—Aliquippa High. Sentenced in 1997 to life in prison for conspiracy in the 1996 murder of his parents.

  Daniel “Peep” Short—Tight end/defensive back, Aliquippa High football, 1976–78. University of Pittsburgh, 1979–83. Defensive coordinator, Aliquippa High, 1989–present.

  Anthony Tusweet Smith—Confederate of Jamie Brown. Sentenced in 2007 to at least 50 years in prison for drug and assault convictions.

  Eugene “Salt” Smith—Inspection Department, Aliquippa Works, 1956–67. Member, Aliquippa School Board, 1971–2003. General Manager, Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa, 1979–2011. Chairman, Aliquippa Democratic Committee, 2002–2014.

  Melvin Steals—Guard, Aliquippa High basketball; class of 1964. Songwriter, “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love,” 1972. English teacher, Aliquippa Junior High, 1968–75; Aliquippa High, 1976–90. Principal, Aliquippa Middle School, 1996–2000.

  Mervin Steals—Guard, Aliquippa High basketball; class of 1964. Songwriter, “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love,”1972. Seamless tube department, Aliquippa Works, 1966–1976.

  Jesse Steinfeld—Aliquippa High, class of 1943. U.S. surgeon general, 1969–1973.

  Larry Stokes—Tight end, Aliquippa High football, 1962–64.

  George “Juke” Suder—Pitcher, Aliquippa High baseball, winner of 1944 WPIAL title. Welded tube department, Aliquippa Works, 1950–1984.

  George Suder—Guard, Aliquippa High basketball, 1958–61; University of Maryland, 1961–63.

  Pete “Pecky” Suder—Infielder, Aliquippa High baseball, 1931–33. Philadelphia/Kansas City Athletics, 1941–55. Assistant warden/ warden, Beaver County Jail, 1961–68.

  Edward Surratt—Aliquippa High, class of 1960. Currently serving two life sentences in Florida. Suspected of killing 18 people in various states in the late 1970s; confessed in 2007 to the killing of six in Western Pennsylvania.

  Sharon “Chedda” Walker—Aliquippa High, class of 1974. Mother of Aliquippa mayor Dwan Walker and councilman Donald Walker, and Diedre Walker.

  Chuckie Walker—Aliquippa High, class of 1971. Electrician, Aliquippa Works, 1973–86. Father of Dwan, Donald, and Diedre Walker.

  Diedre Walker—Aliquippa High, class of 1995. Killed by James “Larry” Moon, 2009.

  Donald Walker—Wide receiver, Aliquippa High football, 1993. Aliquippa city councilman, 2011–present.

  Dwan Walker—Wide receiver, Aliquippa High football, 1993. Aliquippa mayor, 2011–present.

  Tiquai Wallace—Aliquippa High ninth-grade basketball player. Died May 2009, age 14, after being hit in Plan 12 by vehicle driven by AHS basketball star Chaquille Pratt.

  Mike Warfield—Quarterback, Aliquippa High football, 1984–86; Catawba College, 1987–91. Trooper, Pennsylvania State Police, 1994–2004; attached to Drug Enforcement Agency task force, 2004–present.

  Monroe Weekley—Linebacker, Aliquippa High football, 1998–2000. University of Pittsburgh 2001–02; University of Kansas, 2003. Sentenced in 2012 to a minimum of 24.5 years for a third-degree murder over a $600 debt.

  Byron Wilson—Long jumper, Aliquippa High track, 2003–05. Stepson of Aliquippa police chief Andre Davis.

  Dave Wytiaz—Guard, Aliquippa High basketball, 1976–78. Superintendent, Aliquippa School District, 2010–2016, business manager, 2003–10. President, Aliquippa School Board, 1993–97.

  Don Yannessa—Tackle, Aliquippa High, 1955–57; head football coach, Aliquippa High, 1972–88.

  Mickey Zernich—Cocaptain, 1949 Aliquippa High basketball team; prominent doctor and Pitt alumni.

  Mike Zmijanac—Head football coach, Aliquippa High, 1997–present. Head basketball coach, AHS, 1996–2003.

  Notes

  All page numbers refer to the print edition of Playing Through the Whistle. Please use the search feature on your reader to locate the text that corresponds to the note entries that follow.

  PART ONE

  7 Čovek mora da radi . . . : Morawska, Ewa. For Bread with Butter: The Life-Worlds of East Central Europeans in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 1890-1940. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2003: pg. 42.

  7 “15 million strong” . . . :“Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929: Immigrants in the Progressive Era”, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/progress/immigrnt/.

  8 Sent funds in 1903 . . . : Vukmir, Rade B. The Mill. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2011: 248.

  8 Began buying up acreage twenty-six miles down the Ohio River . . . : “Aliquippa History”, Piroli, Gino, B.F. Jones Memorial Library, Aliquippa, Pa., May 20, 2008; “Aliquippa Celebrates 100 Years.” Beaver County Times. May 25, 2008; “The Islands of West Aliquippa were a source of food, leisure”, Beaver County Times. February 25, 2015.

  8 The original village name . . . : Ireton, Gabriel, http://www.aliquippa.gov/history.htm.

  9 General “Mad Anthony” Wayne . . . : Thompson, Donald B. “Requiem for a Steel Town.” Industry Week. June 10, 1985. 55.

  9 Tom Girdler, the mill’s de facto . . . : Girdler, Tom M, Sparkes, Boyden. Boot Straps: The Autobiography of Tom M. Girdler. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1943: 161–166.

  10 The first blast furnace . . . : Inman, Donald R., Wollman, David H. Portraits in Steel: An Illustrated History of Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1999: 63.

  10 By the end of 1912 . . . : “Aliquippa, J&L Steel and the National Immigrant Movement: A History Lesson for Beaver County.” The Bridge. 12.

  10 Across the tracks . . . : Piroli.

  10 Base price of $2,200 . . . : “Steelmakers Turned to African Americans in South to Fill Employee Rosters.” Beaver County Times. February 25, 2015.

  10 The central commercial district . . . : Piroli.

  10 “It has every modern utility . . . ”: Ireton.

  11 Plan 6, with its three clay tennis courts . . . : Vukmir, 310.

  11 “The fathers and mothers . . . ”: Interview with Joe Perriello, conducted by Blackside, Inc. on December 19, 1992, for “The Great Depression.” Washington University Libraries, Film and Media Archive, Henry Hampton Collection.

  12 Soon after the mill’s opening . . . : Vukmir, 248.

  12 “In the Aliquippa plant . . . ”: “City Items in Brief.” Pittsburgh Post. July 15, 1913: 7.


  12 Three thousand J&L workers would go off to fight . . . : Wollman, David H., Inman, Donald R. Portraits in Steel: An Illustrated History of Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation. Kent, Ohio: The Kent State University Press, 1999: pg. 81; Of Men and Steel, No. 9, September 1944: pg. 7.

  13 B. F. Jones may have been the first in Pittsburgh . . . : Inman, Wollman, 42.

  13 “It was a terrifying site, and hypnotic . . . ”: Holbrook, Stewart H. Iron Brew: A Century of American Ore and Steel. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1939: Chapter 1.

  13 “Black snow” . . . : Mancini, Henry, with Lees, Gene. Did They Mention the Music? Chicago: Contemporary Books, Inc., 1989: 13.

  14 “Little Las Vegas” . . . : Perriello interview.

  14 The notorious Black Hand . . . : “Italian Terror Is Lured to His Death.” Pittsburgh Gazette Times. August 7, 1911: p. 1.

  14 “It is said” . . . : Commonwealth v. Zec, 262 Pa. 251, 105 Atl. 279 (1918), Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Walling, Emory.

  14 “An unofficial caliph” . . . : Girdler, 166.

  14 “There was in Aliquippa” . . . : Girdler, 177.

  15 “So, good or bad” . . . : Girdler, 19.

  16 “I hit him in the mouth” . . . : Girdler, 97.

  16 When a cadre of Finnish tin workers . . . : “War Hero Makes Mob Kiss Flag.” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, October 8, 1919, 1–2.

  16 “They had local government” . . . : Zahorsky, Michael J., interview by Kocherzat, Stephen, June 20, 1978, in the Beaver Valley Labor History Society Collection, 1909-1981, AIS.1981.08, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh. Box 2, File 58, pp. 4–5.

  17 “There were scarcely half a dozen registered Democrats” . . . : Girdler, 177–178.

  17 Immigrants opened every kind . . . : “Ethnic Clubs Are Fading into Beaver County’s Past”, Beaver County Times, February 26, 2015.