Wildcat Flashback: ’69 Findley Revival
by antoinette nora claypoole
aka “Toni Claypool", class of ‘69
While the world was taking those wide turns around corners of a Democratic Convention in Chicago and Haight Ashbury was painting the face of love, Latrobe was riding high on the summer of Wildcats in training. 1968. Chuck Findley working those boys of my Senior Class at Latrobe High. Pushing them to a place that, in the end, the whole town , Crabtree, Hostetter to Lawson Heights, would celebrate.
Every Friday night that Fall. Home games, away games. The Wildcats with the likes of Johnny Kubit, Stu Sapp, Jim Siko, Micky Sarnese Jay Yancey and Pat Arnold. Forgive me if I don’t list all those dedicated players who sacrificed going out with us girls during the school week because “Findley says stay focused”.
As a senior girl pushing up against mini skirt rules and rallying to get into a college and join a campus protest, the boys on our football team ALL had a special place in making glory days seem easy. For any of us to snag. As Siko or Arnold ran and blocked. No opponent broke through. That season we all caught the pass that scored a touchdown. The Wildcats tossed us, in the sidelines, a belief in any dream we wanted to take. Forbes Field never saw us comin....
The Wildcats won the AA Championship that year, under the leadership of a coach and inside the heart of a High School who believed that we would and could be the place history would claim.
We were invincible that season.
So many Friday nights under game lights and Loyalhanna Creek. The Stadium. Each week I lost my voice in those stands. Along with a chorus of old timers, freshman class and baby sisters on the shoulders of our dads. That was our family, the Wildcats telling us glory was possible, and W. Pennsylvania would never be the same. Would never forget us. And that season would always live inside of us.
Pat Arnold, key organizer of the 40th class reunion and Wildcat celebration game, says it best: “Many of us moved away but we all had a bond with each other, with our home town, that will never be broken.”
Fast forward. 2008. 40 years later. Classmates.com. I find out about our reunion online. Because I went west so long ago--during the hippie exodus—I am am out of the loop until I see the announcement via world wide web.
Dorothy Morely, a ’69 classmate asks the quintessential question on a message board “Can anyone tell me why we are doing this early?”
Arnold explains it to us like this: “We are honoring our coach, Chuck Findley on the fortieth anniversary of our championship. As with many coaches, Findley made a big impact on our lives.”
It’s not quite 40 years since we graduated, in ’69, but leave it to our class to recreate how a reunion happens. That rugged Wildcat Arnold is rallying us again. This time to celebrate our football, wins, to honor Chuck Findley 40 years ago to the season. For all he gave not only the players and the school, but the entire Pond Pizza, The Rink, this Latrobe Steel town.
“Those things he taught us go way beyond the confines of a football field and aren’t measured by our win/loss record alone. ” Arnold says this to me, carrying those experiences like a pass taken over the goal line, 3rd down a minute left on the clock.
On an early September night 40 years later some of the old Wildcat team will come together again. In Latrobe. For yet another moment in time we’ll get to hang on around the curves which came to be a defining moment in our lives.
If you weren’t around back in the 60’s you can still grab hold in a push up through time.
Friday night, Sept. 5th you can join the game with us. A Friday night. Coming soon. Like flicks used to hit at the old drive on Route 30. Near the high school, the billboard reads “coming soon”....this year, a reunion gathering Wildcats and their fans.
You can join us, the class of ’69, lead by Pat, Stu, Chaz & Jay to revive the wins, the warrior spirit, the wild Friday nights of unvanquished Double A title Champs. You can reclaim the reality that anything you want is yours with Chuck Findley at the helm. I imagine that is what the guys who didn’t date us girls as often as we wanted during football season, I imagine that’s what the Wildcats believed. And still do.
“We are celebrating what the town and our coach gave us. The character instilled in us back then helped us become good citizens in every community we ended up living” Arnold’s insights resonate..
Some things never change. An old childhood friend from old St. Vincent grade school days, Kris Bodner reminded me via email just yesterday. It’s true. We will always be number one. The only thing different will be those class rings on fingers now holding back the hands of time
Join us at 7 o’clock on Friday Sept 5th. Celebrate like no time has gone by and thank Chuck Findley and the Wildcats of Latrobe High for all the times victory made us higher than any campus rally or job at Rolling Rock ever could.
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about the writer:
antoinette nora claypoole (aka "Toni Claypool") moved to Latrobe with her parents, Ramona (1928-1975) and Chuck Claypool back in the 1960’s . Chuck Claypool was in the U.S. Army at the time, stationed in Jeannete, and after a short stay the family had to move to a new post. When Maj. Charles Claypool retired, antoinette moved back here to Latrobe, with her familly, to finish High School.
After graduating from IUP antoinette moved out west where she has been a freelance writer/literary editor. Recent recipient of an Oregon Literary Arts fellowship for Literary Non-Ficttion and her work on Louise Bryant (1885-1936), antoinette’s work has been published in various journals/bio-regional papers in the North/Southwest. (see www.antoinettewritings.blogspot.com for more bio info)
After graduating from IUP antoinette moved out west where she has been a freelance writer/literary editor. Recent recipient of an Oregon Literary Arts fellowship for Literary Non-Ficttion and her work on Louise Bryant (1885-1936), antoinette’s work has been published in various journals/bio-regional papers in the North/Southwest. (see www.antoinettewritings.blogspot.com for more bio info)
