Arnold high school, Lower Burrell Legion baseball teams won titles 60 years ago

By: Michael Love
Friday, May 30, 2025 | 7:06 PM

Previous Next

This week, the WPIAL crowned baseball champions in six classifications.

But 60 years ago, only one WPIAL titlist reigned supreme.

With no classifications at the time, the team from Arnold had to go through a number of bigger schools to earn WPIAL gold.

With no fear, the 1965 Lions took down four playoff opponents on their way to lifting the championship trophy at Forbes Field.

“It’s hard to believe it’s been 60 years,” John Mazur, a senior and the starting catcher on the Arnold team. “It seems like time has flown by. It seems like it was just yesterday. I can picture in my mind certain plays that happened and other moments from that time. Sixty years is such a long time.”

Mazur was one of a number of Lower Burrell residents who attended Arnold and were team members. Burrell opened its doors in the fall of 1964, but those who had been attending Arnold were permitted to stay at Arnold until graduation.

Arnold, led by manager Jim Marino, survived section play to qualify for the WPIAL tournament. They then beat Greensburg-Salem, 5-2; North Hills, 8-0; and then Gateway, 3-1 to qualify for the final.

The Lions didn’t waste the opportunity to go after the title. Many of the players remembered the year before.

Arnold, in 1964, gave up just four runs in 10 section games and scored 54. But the Lions were upended by Penn Hills in the WPIAL tournament.

“I thought the ’65 kids wouldn’t measure up to the respectability of the ’64 team,” Marino told former Tribune-Review and Valley News Dispatch reporter George Guido. “We had a lot of players coming back, but so did some other teams.”

Chester Napierkowski and Dan Coyle were newcomers to a versatile Arnold lineup in 1965. Jim Fantuzzo, Joe Unites and Chuck Johnson led the pitching staff.

Unites pitched a no-hitter against Har-Brack for a 3-0 win to clinch the section championship.

Fantuzzo threw a one-hitter in the first-round win over Greensburg.

Unites was one out away from another no-hitter in the quarterfinal win over North Hills. He gave up just the one hit against the Indians.

Fantuzzo and Unites combined to limit Gateway in the semifinals.

Arnold was a heavy underdog against Beaver Falls, but the Lions hitters got to Beaver Falls standout Jim Suskiewich, who was nearly unhittable in a half dozen appearances leading up to the title game at Forbes Field.

Arnold fell behind early but erupted for five runs in the third inning, and the rout was on.

“We never thought about how big the schools were we played,” Mazur said. “We just went out and played. We didn’t back down from any challenge.”

Fantuzzo, who went on to play in college at Marshall, got the win.

“That was a memorable experience for everyone to play down at Forbes Field,” Mazur said. “It was such a big deal for us. It’s just unfortunate that teams today aren’t able to play for the championship at PNC Park.”

Team members and coach Marino had the chance to reminisce at Arnold’s ’65 class reunion in 2006. The WPIAL championship trophy, which had been stashed in a storage area at Valley High School, was brought out and presented to coach Marino.

Marino, who also coached Springdale’s American Legion baseball team, died in 2010 and was inducted posthumously into the Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.

“Coach Marino was a hard-nosed coach who preached discipline,” Mazur said. “He was such a great motivator.”

Mazur said he and a couple of other team members have attempted to get the Arnold team inducted into the A-K Valley Sports Hall of Fame.

“It didn’t go through this year, but, hopefully, soon. All of our starting lineup, except for one (Chuck Johnson), is still alive. Everyone is in their mid 70s. You wouldn’t think there would be that many still surviving.”

Lower Burrell: Kings of Legion baseball in ‘65

Arnold’s season was memorable with its WPIAL championship, but it was as far as the Lions could go.

The PIAA didn’t host a state tournament at the time, so Arnold’s season concluded at Forbes Field.

But several members of the Arnold team, including starters in Mazur, Fantuzzo, Unites, Johnson, Dan Barbiaux, and John Ciciarelli, combined with others from high schools such as Har-Brack (Fred Paganelli, Ed Wygonik) and Kiski Area (Ken Wrable) to help Lower Burrell, managed by John McDonnell, make a run to that year’s American Legion state championship.

They swept Jeannette for the Westmoreland County League title and Fairchance for the Section 2 crown to earn a spot in the state tournament in Allentown.

At states, Lower Burrell lost its opener in the double-elimination format against South Scranton, 10-1 but won five in a row to win gold.

“We were still confident after that first game,” Mazur said. “We drove up to Allentown the night before. It was a five-hour hike. They put us in Muhlenburg College, and there was no air conditioning. It was about 90 degrees. It was so hot for the game. It was brutal after not having a good night’s sleep.

“But we had great pitching and timely hitting, and we were able to recover. It’s tough after you lose that first game. But we were able to do it.”

Lower Burrell beat South Scranton, 6-3, in the championship game, a satisfying conclusion of revenge for the opening loss. Fantuzzo picked up the pitching win with nine strikeouts, and Mazur led a 10-hit attack with three singles.

Mazur had 10 of his team’s 46 total hits over the six state-tournament games. Ciciarelli added eight. Unites and Fantuzzo recorded two pitching wins each.

The Lower Burrell team members came home to a police escort and were greeted by a couple of hundred fans in a celebration of their accomplishment.

Lower Burrell was the first A-K Valley Legion team to win a state title since West Deer in 1953.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Valley