1942 Saint Clair Saints reuniting for Anthracite Bowl Saturday

BY STEPHEN J. PYTAK
Staff Writer, Pottsville REPUBLICAN
 

He told them to "bring the bacon home!"

It was September 1942 and William Reese Super, a Saint Clair High School English teacher, said this to encourage the high school football team to win its first game of the season.

The Saint Clair Saints' 12-7 victory over the Pottsville Crimson Tide was a historical game. It was the first and last time the Saints defeated the Tide.

The game - which is part of the borough's heritage - will be remembered by the surviving members of the 1942 Saints team.

To honor Super's memory and celebrate Saint Clair's Sesquicentennial, the members will raise the flag at the 18th Annual Anthracite Bowl Army vs. Navy Lightweight football game at Saint Clair Area Veterans Stadium at 11 a.m. Saturday. The game starts at noon.

Among the surviving members are: Joseph F. "Wap" Wapinsky, 74, Pottsville; his brother Clement T. "Clem" Wapinsky, 73, Myerstown; Stephen "Weaser" Kustan, 75, Saint Clair; Michael "Buckshot" Bulino, 76; Saint Clair; William J. "Willie" Crolic, 73, Port Carbon; and Fred J. "Brud" Wolff Jr., 75, Camp Hill.

Super was a strong supporter of the team.

At a pep rally prior to the 1942 game, Super - who died in 1998 at age 93 - revved up the team.

"Before the Pottsville game, Reese Super, who was getting ready to go into the Navy, he says at this assembly, he came up with the statement bring the bacon home- win the game!'"

The Saint Clair game against Pottsville was always a big one, because it was the first game of the season.

"Pottsville was a bigger school than Saint Clair and Saint Clair was a big draw for the opening game for Pottsville," Wapinsky said.

At the time, Saint Clair didn't have a field, so Saint Clair played Pottsville at Pottsville's field.

"We almost always knew we were gonna get beat because Pottsville had that much more material, that much more students in the school," Wapinsky said.

But in 1942, Saint Clair had "a good bunch of guys," he said.

"We had a good team because of the experience we had," Kustan said. He, Wapinsky, Bulino and other senior players, had been playing together for three years.

"The reason we had a good team was we wanted to play," Wapinsky said. "There was a couple of times it rained. Practice was called off. We all went and practiced on our own. That's how much we liked the game. We wanted to play. We had good players. Everybody got along fine. It was a good group of guys."

"We had the weight and height to play well," Bulino added.

At the time, Wapinsky, a senior full back, weighed 200 pounds.

His brother, a sophomore back field man, weighed 150. Kustan, a senior left end, weighed 163. Bulino, a senior right guard, weighed 160. Crolic, a junior left half back, weighed 165. And Wolff, a senior right end, weighed 216.

"I think it was a good team because every once in a while you get a really good bunch of athletes that come together," Bulino said.

Saint Clair scored first and led the game throughout.

"We played a very, very good defensive game," Kustan said. "We had them stalled until the last quarter when they scored that touchdown. We had them in check practically that entire game."

Pottsville scored late in the fourth quarter, but then time ran out.

After the game, the team and the coach, Michael Stranko, insisted the game ball be given to Super, who was leaving to join the Navy to fight in World War II.

"He left it at the school and we put it in the trophy case. It's been there ever since," Wapinsky said.

It was a good season for The Saints. That season, the team won six games (beating Pottsville, Schuylkill Haven, Nesquehoning, West Mahanoy Township, Cressona and Ashland) and lost four (to Minersville, Allentown, Coaldale and Tamaqua).