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Funny tidbits from the PSWC banquet.

Funny. Knew Joe Blumer The Elder through my GF (and mother of my daughter) and South Halls in the mid-80’s. I think he was one year ahead of Mickey Morandini at Leechburg.
Fall '81 lived in 606 Beaver Hall.
Lol My freshman year at Clarion was 81 and my best friend was a Leechburg RB. Small world. BTW if PSU Paul wad a 167 pounder from PSU he probably beat me in Bloomsburg tournament.
 
I do. I recall zoo house (3rd floor) was to blame.
Lol, yep, just reminiscing with Dave Paterno and some others yeterday on FB about it.

actually it was not us, but it was our Little Sisters, we just handled the cleanup, so I guess it being in the elevators was our fault.
 
I recall you guys well. I was friends with Chris Begley whose brother lived on three And I served on USG with DavePa.
 
Sounds like some great times for you all who went to Penn State. I am reminded of the poignant lyrics from the Simon and Garfunkel song, "Bookends"

Time it was, and what a time it was, it was
A time of innocence, A time of confidences
Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph
Preserve your memories; They're all that's left you
 
Sounds like some great times for you all who went to Penn State. I am reminded of the poignant lyrics from the Simon and Garfunkel song, "Bookends"

Time it was, and what a time it was, it was
A time of innocence, A time of confidences
Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph
Preserve your memories; They're all that's left you
Bookends...that reminds me of other times at the Skellar drinking cases of Rocks and listening to Bookends. At the peak of our drunkeness, we would all get on stage and sing American Pie with the band.
 
I recall you guys well. I was friends with Chris Begley whose brother lived on three And I served on USG with DavePa.
Tom Begeley was DavePa’s roommate in 84-85 according to the housing chart.

@Lyco1990 , wasn’t me, I stopped wrestling in 9th grade when I decided to go skiing, the wrestling world didn’t lose anything with me leaving.
 
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Our cast of characters in Lycoming House included (future) Collegian Sports editor John Severance, Dan Delligatti a reserve DE whose grandfather Jim is credited with inventing the Big Mac, his next door neighbor Gus Pagonis whose father Gus was the head of logistics in the Gulf War and by then a 3-star general, and Dale Fisher the young, 6’7” RA whose lady friends fondly nicknamed “The Weapon.” Now that I think about it, Gus’s roommate was Andy Hershberger who was a sports and news guy at WEST radio in Easton and WLYH TV in Lanc/Leb PA among other gigs.
 
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Forty Fort?

From there? Wyoming Area grad?

I have a friend that makes a near annual trek to Basslers.

Also a PSU Grad, works as a Civil Engineer in road and highways...
 
Forty Fort?

From there? Wyoming Area grad?

I have a friend that makes a near annual trek to Basslers.

Also a PSU Grad, works as a Civil Engineer in road and highways...
Forty Fort is in WVW district, Wyoming is next town over and starts Wyoming Area. My kids and my wife went to WVW but I am from the Back Mountain and Lake Lehman.
Basslers is a mainstay, always have the monkeys in the window! My son was a flagger for a year or so and had to get his work stuff from there.
 
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Our cast of characters in Lycoming House included (future) Collegian Sports editor John Severance, Dan Delligatti a reserve DE whose grandfather Jim is credited with inventing the Big Mac, his next door neighbor Gus Pagonis whose father Gus was the head of logistics in the Gulf War and by then a 3-star general, and Dale Fisher the young, 6’7” RA whose lady friends fondly nicknamed “The Weapon.” Now that I think about it, Gus’s roommate was Andy Hershberger who was a sports and news guy at WEST radio in Easton and WLYH TV in Lanc/Leb PA among other gigs.
Mike did not realize you were that Mike...looking back on it that was almost 40 years ago...man are we getting old. Good to see you are still around and doing well

Gus
 
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Mike did not realize you were that Mike...looking back on it that was almost 40 years ago...man are we getting old. Good to see you are still around and doing well

Gus
Are you seriously Gus? Wait, I have a quiz because I think my memory has two other things you would know (assuming I’m not FOS). Who was Naked Man? And what fraternity would I have associated with you, at least as a freshman?
 
Are you seriously Gus? Wait, I have a quiz because I think my memory has two other things you would know (assuming I’m not FOS). Who was Naked Man? And what fraternity would I have associated with you, at least as a freshman?

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Yep I am Gus...long time lurker first time poster :). AXP was the fraternity...the other question I am not sure it was 40 years ago. Spent 27 years in the Army, retired in 2013 and immediately went back to work. My wife and I ended up with 4 kids. 1 graduated from PSU and another is there now which gives me an excuse to go to some meets.
 
Yep I am Gus...long time lurker first time poster :). AXP was the fraternity...the other question I am not sure it was 40 years ago. Spent 27 years in the Army, retired in 2013 and immediately went back to work. My wife and I ended up with 4 kids. 1 graduated from PSU and another is there now which gives me an excuse to go to some meets.
Great to see you! Glad things have been good. We have a lot of jokers in here, so I thought one may have been messing with me. Naked Man was Mike (Mitch) Arnold who on several occasions would visit rooms late at night while drunk and leave pieces of clothing along the way.
 
Great to see you! Glad things have been good. We have a lot of jokers in here, so I thought one may have been messing with me. Naked Man was Mike (Mitch) Arnold who on several occasions would visit rooms late at night while drunk and leave pieces of clothing along the way.
Now that you mention it I do remember that...but then again a lot of us were drunk (but to my memory we did not leave clothing behind).
 
"Forty Fort is in WVW district, Wyoming is next town over and starts Wyoming Area. My kids and my wife went to WVW but I am from the Back Mountain and Lake Lehman."

I got that confused and I shouldn't. I worked with a guy who was a running back from WA (injured a knee as a junior and ended college FB hopes) and I think he grew up closer to West Pittston.

I'm still trying to remember Coughlin, Meyers and GAR are gone and I have a niece in that new school.

I think LL won the last D2 team championship in 81 or 82?

I went to Crestwood.
 
"Forty Fort is in WVW district, Wyoming is next town over and starts Wyoming Area. My kids and my wife went to WVW but I am from the Back Mountain and Lake Lehman."

I got that confused and I shouldn't. I worked with a guy who was a running back from WA (injured a knee as a junior and ended college FB hopes) and I think he grew up closer to West Pittston.

I'm still trying to remember Coughlin, Meyers and GAR are gone and I have a niece in that new school.

I think LL won the last D2 team championship in 81 or 82?

I went to Crestwood.
81!!! My grad year, we had three individuals and a team championship. The three were the two Bonomo brothers and our Heavyweight Mike Leskowski!
 
Yes he was, he is the coach that told me I could not wrestle and ski, so I said see ya! He was also a substitute teacher at school.
Shorty was the Millersville coach who put me, Joey Wildasin, and some other teammates through one heckuva a punishment in the middle of the night after sneaking out at a wrestling camp back in 1988. Whodathunk that having to roll around on a freshly mowed lawn in our underwear for a good 30 mins then back to bed with no shower would make for such a miserable final day wrestling in the camp tournament.
 
Great to see you! Glad things have been good. We have a lot of jokers in here, so I thought one may have been messing with me. Naked Man was Mike (Mitch) Arnold who on several occasions would visit rooms late at night while drunk and leave pieces of clothing along the way.
Can’t imagine what this guy does for a living now.
 
81!!! My grad year, we had three individuals and a team championship. The three were the two Bonomo brothers and our Heavyweight Mike Leskowski!

Mike Leskowski was the name I couldn't remember. I knew you had a really good HWT. Did he end up playing FB for PSU? Forty years is a long time....

There were a couple of bruisers in D2 in that era. Coughlin had Ron Solt (1980). We didn't wrestle them being a AA school, but went for a scrimage. I think classmate and fellow future NFL offensive lineman Bruce Kozerski used to be Solt's training buddy because nobody else could handle him in the room.

If I recall correctly, one of the Bonomos married a daughter of long time PIAA official Dr. John Hosage-who were a couple years behind me at Crestwood.

I think our best wrestler after Gary Siegel left was a kid named Andy Pisaneschi. He had the unique displeasure of being in the same weight class as Meyers multiple time SC Jay Patterson. Unfortunately, he was the first of our class to go in a car accident a year or two after graduation.
 
Mike Leskowski was the name I couldn't remember. I knew you had a really good HWT. Did he end up playing FB for PSU? Forty years is a long time....

There were a couple of bruisers in D2 in that era. Coughlin had Ron Solt (1980). We didn't wrestle them being a AA school, but went for a scrimage. I think classmate and fellow future NFL offensive lineman Bruce Kozerski used to be Solt's training buddy because nobody else could handle him in the room.

If I recall correctly, one of the Bonomos married a daughter of long time PIAA official Dr. John Hosage-who were a couple years behind me at Crestwood.

I think our best wrestler after Gary Siegel left was a kid named Andy Pisaneschi. He had the unique displeasure of being in the same weight class as Meyers multiple time SC Jay Patterson. Unfortunately, he was the first of our class to go in a car accident a year or two after graduation.
Mike was on the FB team but I am not sure if he got much pkaying time, he became a school phsy ed teacher and now is doing a decent amount of travel, I just got reconnected with him on facebook.

one of the Bonomo brothers is in the Camp Hill area, the other is a Pastor in the Lake Lehman area.
 
I thought it would be great to start a thread on funny things said by the senior wrestlers or Coach Cael at the PSWC banquet this past Sunday. I'm hoping other guys that were in attendance will post something funny said or heard.

They always have Cael speak about the Seniors, and he does a great job with his dry sense of humor. Cael was talking about Nick Lee and saying how nice of a guy Nick was. Cael said Nick is so nice that in the NCAA final match he allowed his guy to escape just so the guy wouldn't get majored! The part that made it even more funny is he said it at least 2 more times while he was speaking. I'm kind of thinking Cael wanted the major more than Nick. The crowd chuckled every time he brought it up.

I just want to thank the core group of PSWC members that put on the banquet. That banquet was a first class operation and is super enjoyable. I was talking to CStar after the banquet and he said he had no idea how great this banquet would be. I think the wrestlers really enjoy it and I know as a fan it's awesome. My good friend Cheryl said this is better than the academy awards! At $35.00 for a family membership, everyone on this board that's a PSU fan should join. The PSWC gave PSU athletics a check for $100,000, to be used by the wrestling program.
This is a story that I forgot to include but had some nuggets of gold. The PSWC awarded Bill Winterburn the Ed Sulkowski award, that is given to an individual whose dedication and hard work have contributed significantly to the PSU Wrestling program. The resume they gave about Bill in his business life was off the charts. Bill was a manager from the 1953 team and future scout for several coaches.

These stories were coming from a 90 year old man who spoke for 15 plus minutes without any notes. He told stories about that 1953 team and his relationship with coach Charlie Speidel. Bill worked as a scout covering the Lehigh Valley for Coach Speidel, Coach Bill Koll and Coach Rich Lorenzo. After the banquet I told Mrs. Condo, who was involved with organizing the banquet, how well Bill did speaking for a man at age 90. She said Bill told her that during the mid 1950's, when Joe Paterno was an assistant football coach, he would drive the wrestlers to their dual meets. That was definitely something I didn't know and a nugget of gold to me. I remember several football players that wrestled and Joe always encouraged them to do both sports.
 
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Get this. I started as a 4.0 student in AERSP, then partied, parents narrowly survived a head-on in Boalsburg in the big March 1984 storm on the way to see me, accidentally conceived a child, eventually got things turned around by working thru a year at York, then did my my ultimate major in one year with a 3.9. That major was … ECON.

I think it's true that Econ is the "Nobel" for frustrated mathematicians and engineers. Now think I know why.

BA EC (The college of business administration econ major no longer offered) 1985. I dropped out of Mechanical Engineering. I was no great student. I had decent brains, but no work ethic.

First two years at Hazelton. I remember sitting in freshman orientation and the head of the dept. there, Elliot Eisenberg said "look to your left and look to your right-next year two of you won't be here". I smugly thought "see you guys."

The oncologist that saved my behind after a predecessor screwed up was a wrestler and has a degree in Econ. Fortunately, my post treatment visits have to date been discussions of wrestling.

We lived in great times. You think any "music" from today will be played be the old, fat and bald versions with a philharmonic 35 years after the release?



And for the record, as for mayhem, NOBODY could hold a candle to East Halls. That 84 snowstorm? we rolled a 7 foot snowball up against a door. Pinchot harassed another dorm relentlessly (Sproul? McKean?) at had a teargas cannister dropped in the elevator shaft.
 
This is a story that I forgot to include but had some nuggets of gold. The PSWC awarded Bill Winterburn the Ed Sulkowski award, that is given to an individual whose dedication and hard work have contributed significantly to the PSU Wrestling program. The resume they gave about Bill in his business life was off the charts. Bill was a manager from the 1953 team and future scout for several coaches.

These stories were coming from a 90 year old man who spoke for 15 plus minutes without any notes. He told stories about that 1953 team and his relationship with coach Charlie Speidel. Bill worked as a scout covering the Lehigh Valley for Coach Speidel, Coach Bill Kohl and Coach Rich Lorenzo. After the banquet I told Mrs. Condo, who was involved with organizing the banquet, how well Bill did speaking for a man at age 90. She said Bill told her that during the mid 1950's, when Joe Paterno was an assistant football coach, he would drive the wrestlers to their dual meets. That was definitely something I didn't know and a nugget of gold to me. I remember several football players that wrestled and Joe always encouraged them to do both sports.
Bill has a ton of great stories about the wrestling team back in the early 50s. Paterno driving the team to a dual and wanting to open the window because it was so hot in the fan as the wrestlers were cutting weight. The team made it clear to Paterno that he could NOT open a window.
 
....several football players wrestled during the Paterno years, notably,,.
...Mike Reid-late 60's...
...Dave Joyner-early 70's...
...Charlie Getty-mid 70's...
...Larry Suhey- mid 70's...
...Irv Pankey- late 70's...
 
Forty Fort is in WVW district, Wyoming is next town over and starts Wyoming Area. My kids and my wife went to WVW but I am from the Back Mountain and Lake Lehman.
Basslers is a mainstay, always have the monkeys in the window! My son was a flagger for a year or so and had to get his work stuff from there.

It took me a while to root through the cobwebs. Did you happen to know a Joe Schappert in WVW?
 
It took me a while to root through the cobwebs. Did you happen to know a Joe Schappert in WVW?
The name seems familiar and I looked him up on FB and he looks familiar too, plus we have some common friends. My wife remembers him and says he would have been between us in age.
I think maybe I know him from Lehman campus, since I went there as a junior when I changed majors and most were freshman or sophomores.
 
The name seems familiar and I looked him up on FB and he looks familiar too, plus we have some common friends. My wife remembers him and says he would have been between us in age.
I think maybe I know him from Lehman campus, since I went there as a junior when I changed majors and most were freshman or sophomores.

After the fact I realize I forgot you said you went to LL, even after I acknowledged it in a question.

We were on the same floor in Pinchot. He knew a guy that was a rep from Russell or one of the big athletic companies and would occasionally get samples. One day he was wearing a Missouri sample jersey and a girl asked him if he played there. He laid it on thick about he had to leave because of knee injury. She never even thought to ask why did you have to leave the school or didn't look like a football player.

He once told me "there's a girl out there for you, but only one, it's whether you find her". He was right. I found her, ironically in Kingston where I think he still lives, working at the Cabaret (before it became one of those places).

I met him in Sears in the Wyoming Valley Mall several years after we were done.

He got me a plain jersey and I had "State Penn" put on it.

God has a sense of humor. I did a stint working for fiscal part of Corrections.
 
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