Falcons Soared Above All
HERMAN — The won-loss record wasn't good. The anticipation was great.
The reward was the ultimate.
As high school seniors across the area are enjoying their graduation at this time of year, a group of 1971 St. Fidelis High School graduates are enjoying the 50th anniversary of their Pennsylvania Catholic Interscholastic Athetic Association Class C basketball championship.
They didn't see it coming.
Their coach, Jim Meissner, did.
The Falcons finished 5-17 during the 1969-70 season. There were seven juniors on the team that year.
“Coach Meissner came up to us one by one after we lost that last game (a playoff game) and asked if we were coming back next year,” forward Jim Freeman recalled. “St. Fidelis was a seminary school then and the students lived there.
“There was always a lot of turnover on the roster from year to year. Kids didn't stay for four years all the time. But each one of us said he'd be back.”
Considered a Class C school because it only had 130 students, St. Fidelis played in the PCIAA Section B league in Pittsburgh against much bigger schools.
“When we were freshmen, it was the first year the school had a freshman team, so we all played together,” center Larry Cresce said. “We were 16-6 as sophomores on the junior varsity team. We knew we could be good.”
Freeman said the Falcons scrimmaged schools with more than 1,000 students leading into that 1970-71 campaign.
“We got our butts kicked in those games, but Coach Meissner was getting us ready,” Freeman said. He knew what he had in us.”
Father Julian Haas and Butler resident Rich Caringola were assistant coaches under Meissner.
“Father Julian molded us, Coach Caringola drilled the fundamentals into us and Coach Meissner brought it all together,” Freeman said.
And the Falcons took off.St. Fidelis finished 20-4 in 1971, scoring more than 80 points in 10 games. The Falcons scored 100 points twice, a 100-54 win over St. Mary of Sharpsburg and 118-42 over St. Francis DeSales.Freeman and Cresce were joined in the starting lineup by point guard Oscar Miller, guard Mickey Kasunic and f orward Darryl Simms. Paul DiMaio was another senior and the team's sixth man.Other players on the team were Bill Gitzen, Ed Czochara, Mike Catalano, Bill Betz, Ed McManus and Matt Ruyechan.“The bond we formed was our legacy,” DiMaio said. “We lived togther, got up and had breakfast, went to class, then played basketball. That was our routine for four years.“That was a wonderful experience. I still have my jacket and my plaque for being champions. Those guys have been my best friends for life. We still talk, even 50 years later.”After defeating St. John of Uniontown 67-61 in their first playoff game, the Falconss reached the state title game by edging St. Francis of Clearfield, 68-66.St. Fidelis trailed St. Nicholaus of Wilkes Barre 50-49 with two minutes left in the championship game, but sank all six of its free throws in the final 47 seconds to pull out a 59-52 win. The Falcons sank 13 of 18 free throws in the fourth quarter .They sank only 19 of 73 shots from the field in the championship game.“The free throws are what won it for us,” Freeman said. “That was the difference.”Kasunic scored more than 1,000 points in his high school career and was St. Fidelis' all-time leading scorer. Freeman was the school's all-time leading rebounder and second-leading career scorer. Miller holds the school record for career assists.“That was just a great all-around team,” Miller said. “We had scorers. We controlled the boards. We had good players coming off the bench. We played together.“And our defense wore other teams out.”Freeman agreed.“That defense set up our offense a lot,” he said.Freeman went on to coach high school basketball in Wildwood, N.J. Miller is a retired Pittsburgh science teacher, Cresce a landscaper in Virginia. Simms, now deceased, was a high school guidance counselor in Delaware. DiMaio has been a physician's assistant for 35 years “and helped deliver thousands of babies,” he said.The Pittsburgh Catholic League ceased to exist in 1974, when Catholic high schools were welcomed into the PIAA. St. Fidelis closed its seminary high school in the early 1980's.Clearly, the memories live on.“That was a special bunch of guys,” Cresce said. “Jim Meissner was incredible. His coaching ability got the most out of us ... a state championship.”
