Episode 32- Bill Gilger

Brian sits down with OLOL teacher and coach Bill Gilger to discuss his career at the school. Bill also talks about experiences as a student at OLOL and at Penn State University.

The guys also talk about professional wrestling and how it has changed.

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Welcome back ladies and gentlemen, here at Our Lady of
Lords Regional School in Coal Township.
Another episode of the Brian Britannia podcast here, and
today is May 20th, 2025. We are at the end of the school
year and today we have one of the best, and I mean it when I
say the best. Lord's teacher, local great Mr.

(00:25):
Bill Gilder, is in the House. Coach, how you doing today?
I'm doing great, Brian. Thanks for having me.
Appreciate it. Oh yeah, anytime.
You are a man of many talents around here.
You have been a teacher here at the school for a long time.
You've been in Shamout in your whole life.
I have, yeah, except for the four years I wandered off to
college at Penn State. Yeah.
And you, you graduated from hereat Lourdes?

(00:46):
And what year did you graduate? 1975, which means this is our
50th anniversary of. Class Wow. 75 that we'll be
celebrating in September with a big reunion.
That it probably feels like yesterday that you graduated
from here at Lourdes IT. It really does.
It's hard to believe that those years have gone by so quickly.

(01:06):
50 years. Wow, incredible.
What? What's the plans for the
reunion? Well, they're actually planning
around the whole weekend of activities, some formal, some
informal. I think they're going to have a
dinner as the formal part of it.Yeah.
Pine Barn and Danville. That's nice.
Then I think Saturday night they're going to hop down to the

(01:30):
covered Bridge. That's a good place too, and.
There's a band, I think, and I don't know that that's going to
be exclusively the class of 75 by any means, but I think that's
all part of the plan to get together.
And then there's a couple of other things.
I think Marty Defrancesco has a little golf outing plan for the
guys that like to hit the links.And.

(01:52):
There's a picnic at the Joe Brocas.
I know I was talking to him thispast weekend and we we got our
mailing and Bobby Abroser, Jim Levins, there's a whole
committee. I don't want to.
I don't want to. Didn't miss any names.
Yeah, but those are some of the people that have been involved
putting this whole thing together.
Incredible, incredible. And you, you said some great

(02:14):
names there in your class. And can you tell us some stuff
that went on during your time atLords?
You graduated in 75, there was agood football team during that
time, but what are some other stuff that happened during your
time at Lords? Well, the school at that point,
Father Haney was the principal and he was very much an
innovator educationally and he had gone to something they

(02:38):
called modular scheduling, whichinvolved 1525 minute mods each
school day and or 14, I'm sorry,14.
And some of the science classes,if you had a lab, they'd be 3
mods. So it gave you the flexibility
to have a 75 minute period or yeah, group of periods and
language we had every day, but there were some days of the

(03:00):
cycle that you would have the opportunity to go in and listen
to tapes in the listening lab and repeat for pronunciation
development. So that might be a single mod of
25 minutes if lunch was 25 minutes.
We had independent studies with Father Haney's scheme there with
modular scheduling, and you weresupposed to use that time to do

(03:24):
research, and at the end of the semester we were required to
produce a presentation based on the time that we'd spent.
We also had a free period each day where we could really get
together and socialize. The cafeteria had a jukebox.
Wow. Before people realized the the

(03:45):
dangers of smoking or fully realized smoking, there was
actually a smoking area, which Ithink was probably, you know,
the deal, where kids were smoking a lot.
It was never my thing. Being a.
Health major, but rather than having them do that in the
bathrooms and hide the way they they had a designated area

(04:07):
outside the cafeteria where theycould smoke during lunch or a
free period if they were of age.And.
Of course, at that time, a little.
Different. It's cool.
I mean, but I mean, it's not cool to smoke.
But I mean, it's cool how different it is from then to
now. I mean, you had a jukebox in the
cafeteria and you and I have cafeteria duty almost every day.

(04:29):
There was a couple days where the music was really booming in
the cafeteria. It was probably like that back
then. It certainly was.
We had. It was just a different time in
the 70s and we had 800 kids here.
Yeah, 9 through 12 only. 9 through high school.
So the halls were crowded, and, you know, you had the basic

(04:50):
rules that you stayed to your right.
Yeah, like driving. Yeah, and then you would.
Make make the loop up at the middle point of the hallway
there and. Make 'cause this wasn't like the
where the where our studio's located.
We're right near Jackson Street.So was that not here at the time
yet? Oh, yeah.
Oh, it was OK. We by the time we arrived in 71

(05:12):
as freshman the building was complete.
OK, earlier they had added this.Section, Yeah.
Section and they added down below also.
Yeah, yeah. At one point in time after the
initial construction of the building.
During your time here at Lourdes?
Also, if I'm correct, just from hearing from Gesh and everyone,

(05:32):
that was when Lords officially became API AA school, correct?
Yes, yes, Scoopa Damiak, who is the sports editor of the smoking
paper at the News Item, really was a proponent, along with
obviously the lately on Mulhawk.The legend hit Lords and the
football field was named after him.

(05:53):
Now the soccer stadium, he had pushed for a number of years for
us to be able to compete with the public schools.
And he wasn't the only one obviously in the state that was
doing that. But I know Scupodamia that the
news item had written a number of columns encouraging that.
And the our senior year, our football team had been very

(06:15):
good. Coach Klumberra and Coach
Mulhall was an assistant, Coach Libesky, just a lot of great
people involved. And we were admitted to the
Eastern Conference. And in the first year, that was
the team that made it all the way to the Eastern Conference
championship game, which ended in a tie.

(06:36):
Yeah. And at the time, they didn't.
They didn't overtime. So that squad was the Co
champions of the Eastern Conference, which was a very
prestigious group of large, a large number of schools down of
various sizes. Even though we hadn't way more
students at that time, so did the local public schools, and

(06:56):
previous to that we had competedathletically and the
Pennsylvania Catholic Interscholastic Association.
Wow. We played all of the other
schools in the Diocese of the Catholic Schools, so we had some
trips. Trinity, New York.
Trinity, Lebanon. Catholic at the time, Yes, a lot
of competition. Even we used to play Saint
Francis of Loretta. One time.

(07:18):
Wow. So there was a lot of travel
involved to play, and that was one of the reasons that, you
know, that they wanted to try and get involved and play some
of the local public schools. Yeah.
And it was good for the fans in the area, too, as well.
You know, you you're playing andcompeting against kids who may
have grown up and maybe gone to elementary school with your

(07:41):
neighbors, your friends from Shamokin, from Mount Carmel,
Southern Line Mountain. We played always.
Yeah, that's pretty cool. And I remember one of the
stories you told me, you were a part of the wrestling wrestling
team here at Lords. My freshman year I wrestled at
103 lbs. Wow A. 103 lbs Yeah.

(08:01):
And that ended up being a a big passion for you.
Well, it it did. I was never in better shape in
my life than when I was on the wrestling team.
Coach Rado, Coach Levesque wherethe coaches and you know, they
made sure because you know, withcoaching, the one thing that you
can control is whether your team's in shape conditioning

(08:23):
wise, you can't control the way the ball bounces.
Sometimes officials make calls that may or may not be in your
favor, but you can control whether the kids on your team
are in shape. So they made sure that it was a
great experience, even though I I only did it for a freshman
year. Yeah.

(08:45):
But then I I got involved or interested, I had been
interested actually in the professional wrestling even.
Yeah. And we will talk about that down
and further in the episode. So you were on the wrestling
team, did you? Were you involved in any other
sports, any activities during your time here at the school?
At the time, I I had gotten a job my sophomore year up at

(09:06):
Carol's, which is the precursor to Burger King.
Oh nice. Carol still is listed when they
seek employees when they advertise for hiring.
I've seen them even in recent years indicate that you do so
through carols.com or whatever, so it must be the parent company
somewhere along the line. I don't know.
However it's structured. I'm not sure but we flip

(09:30):
burgers. Some friends of mine and I got a
job up there back in the days when it was, I think it was
$1.75 an hour. Wow, the.
Minimum wage. And now everybody wants $2025.00
an hour. I mean, holy cow.
So that for a little while was what I did.
Sophomore in junior year and then Coach Rado had introduced

(09:55):
hockey in the gym. We played and I had never played
any hockey. I I grew up playing baseball,
basketball and football. Like most kids.
Yeah, especially in the area andthe Flyers were starting to be
successful and at one point we had 24 and all hockey teams
playing in the evening here at Lawrence.

(10:16):
Wow and. They'd have a tournament, we'd
we'd play the championship game in front of the student body.
That was a big thing for a while.
And I, I really enjoyed it And Iup to this day, I continue to
play what we call street hockey.On Sundays, small hockey.
Yeah. On Sundays over at the Smoking
St. Playground, Hey, if anybody

(10:36):
who's listening here today wantsto go play, you're always more
than welcome to. Absolutely.
There's always tryouts, as Coachsays.
Well, actually, or just pick up games and if you show up, even
if you don't have a stick, we'llhave one for you.
So again, that's on Sundays overat the Shamokin St. playground.
So coach, you finally graduate from here at Lourdes.
Then you decide, hey, I'm not done with my education.

(10:58):
Where did you end up going? Well, I had applied to a couple
of schools. Like most seniors, I had been
fortunate enough to get acceptedat Miami, FL, but I chose not to
go there because I didn't think I'd graduate if I had the
opportunity to be on the beach all the time.
And. That kind of weather.
So Bobby O'Gara, a neighbor, a cousin of my neighbor Mark

(11:25):
O'Gara, who played football hereat Lourdes, went down there to
Miami and kind of opened our eyes to that possibility.
I also applied at at Villanova and Bloomsburg, but I ended up
going to Penn State. My, my father had gone to games
and up there for a number of years and I really like the
school. So I, I, you know, spent my

(11:48):
college years for four years there at Penn State.
And you went to Penn State for? I was majoring in health
physical education and it was part of the College of Health,
Physical Education and Recreation.
And with it was a coaching certificate provided you met the
requirements. So that's I went to school for.

(12:09):
And your time at Penn State sounded like, from what I hear
in the cafeteria and the storiesI since I've known you for so
long, it sounds like your experience at Penn State was
really good. It was tremendous.
You know, they they say you learn more about yourself
outside the classroom with people you interact with.
In college. I had opportunities there at a

(12:30):
large school to go and hear speakers, you know, that
university would invite and provide those opportunities for
students. You meet people from all walks
of life smoking and here at Lourdes, you know, it's, it's a
tight knit community, but you really, when you get away from

(12:53):
the area, sometimes you, you find out, you know, there's a
whole lot out there. It's not just smoking.
Yeah, A. Lot of different people from
different backgrounds. Religious.
Cultural backgrounds. So you go and you get your
degree in whatever particular major, but you also learn a lot
about yourself and learn a lot about people.

(13:14):
Can you, you're a big Penn Statefootball guy.
Can you tell us about your storywith Paterno that you've you've
told me many times and I know you've told Mr. Rubindahl
before? Now, Mr. Rubindahl also went to
Penn State. Yes, he did, and.
The same time that I did, although I didn't know him while
I was up there. And so we we have exchanged
stories because we knew some of it.

(13:36):
Same people. People, the coaches,
instructors, we had lived. I I was living in the dorm lead
hall, which is in North Halls and just across Park Ave. from
our building. You get into the residential
area and McKee Street at the endof McKee St., about three or

(13:58):
four blocks from our dorm, I'd say there was a park and it was
popular with the students. So during orientation we went
over there for a little picnic. They had swing sets, they had a
ball field, they had picnic facilities, obviously.
And one of the girls that was onthe swing fell and bumped her
head and she had a little knot on the back of her head from the

(14:22):
fall. So I went over to the closest
house and I knocked on the door hoping to get some ice for her.
And who? Who answers the door but Coach
Paterno? There you go.
And there he is in his pajama pants and pajama top and it was
probably only about 8:00 at night, but I think he was an

(14:45):
early riser, so he probably. He was ready.
He was ready, but I was stunned for a second.
But then I, you know, I realizedwhat I was there for and simply
to ask for ice, I said, Coach, do you think I could possibly
get some ice? One of the girls fell and bumped
her head. And he said sure, he said.
And he turned and he yelled, Sue, one of the kids got hurt at

(15:07):
the park. Can you get him some ice?
So that was my introduction to to Coach Paterno, who I would
see at church very often on Sundays or walking around
campus. And he was always willing to sit
and talk with students. He just had that personality.
Yeah, I mean the legendary Joe Paterno.

(15:28):
And I love when you tell that story all the time.
It's so incredible to hear. It's awesome.
Well, he was, he was really downto earth and he was interested
in students who weren't footballplayers.
He was interested in how you were doing with your classes,
your courses, what you were taking.
So on the on the few occasions I, it's not like I was best
friends. I know, I know.

(15:49):
But on the few times that I did see him, he always, you know,
would great you friend in a friendly manner.
And he was never like, in a hurry to ditch you or get rid.
Yeah, you would always talk to. Incredible.
It really is. It's it's cool stuff.
So you graduated from Penn Stateand white year coach?
7919. 79 So you graduate in 79 and then after that did you know

(16:11):
that teaching was going to be the Nets move for you right away
or. I did.
I, I'd hoped to teach and coach and I had applied at a school in
the Poconos. There's actually a a small
Catholic school in the Poconos that was having a lot of
enrollment issues. The decline up there in
enrollment and I was offered a job as athletic director, health

(16:36):
and phys Ed teacher and basketball coach.
Wow, that's a lot. It was, and I kind of thought
about it and I thought particularly athletic director's
job. I don't think people realize how
much of A commitment that is to your time beyond coaching.
Coaching certainly as well as well as teaching.

(16:59):
But the problem was it was up inthe resort area, so it was a
little more expensive to live, housing was higher, and they
were not able to really offer methe type of money that I would
have needed just to stay. In the.
Area, you know. So I did decline that job.

(17:21):
I started at Lourdes month into the 79 school year as a
substitute. Wow.
And I guess I didn't mess thingsup too much.
So when an opening arose for thefollowing year, I was asked if
you know I would be interested. Who hired you, Mr. Gilder?

(17:42):
Father Di Chico was the principal at the time and a lot
of a lot of people here who had taught me and made it a great
opportunity in so many ways and they were terrific to me.
Coach Mulhall was willing to hire me coach when Coach Ryan

(18:04):
decided to get out of freshman basketball and Billy Wolf was
going to medical school to get out of softball coach and Coach
Mall, you know, asked if I wouldbe interested in doing those
things. And it was just a great place to
work. And although I thought maybe I'd
stay for a year or two and look for something in the state

(18:27):
system, I just enjoyed my time here.
And it's been a great, great experience all 46 years.
And you know, you're doing the same thing, you're on the same
schedule, but the kids all change, the faces change, and
certainly the people that you work with over the years have
changed. But it's just been a great place

(18:49):
for me as far as I'm concerned. I did have opportunities to go
elsewhere over that time, but I,you know, just chose to, to stay
here. I kept showing up and they kept
paying me. Yeah.
Yeah, it was a good deal. 46 years you, just 46 years you've
been here at this building. You've had many different titles
as well. You were the disciplinarian when
I was here. You were a basketball coach.

(19:10):
You were the guidance counselor here at one point too, aren't
you? I was for the underclassmen.
Yeah, I remember that. I was asked.
I took some guidance graduate work at Kutztown and at
Bloomsburg and at 1.1 of the sisters that came in as guidance
counselor asked if I would be interested in helping her and do

(19:32):
freshman basically career ideas and just get started talking
about, you know, what was going on academically, their
scheduling, that kind of thing. Yeah, that's I, I never really.
Had to do the Yeah, you know, I certainly wrote my share of.
Letters of records of recommendation.

(19:53):
Yeah, for sure. But it's incredible.
So yeah, I did that for a while.You, you also coached basketball
here. You coached softball here.
Let's talk softball first. Well, tell us a little bit about
Lord softball during your time and just your interest in
softball. Well, Coach.

(20:14):
Klumbera was actually one of theearly softball coaches and back
in those days, the girls were still wearing jeans and playing
on practice field behind our football field.
That's where they were playing their games with the, with the
orange fencing around, you know,just to try and keep the ball in
play. And it progressed to the point

(20:36):
where when I got involved, we, we had uniforms.
We played up at Ferndale originally and then moved to
Bunker Hill, play our games. Now of course with the Co-op
with Mount Carmel, they're playing at Mount Carmel's field.
But again, I just enjoyed being around the kids coaching.

(21:00):
It's almost as if you have a part of your life where you
don't have to grow up, you don'thave to leave, you know, things
go the old chicken or the egg kind of thing.
Do you? Do you stop playing because you
got old or do you get old because you stop playing?
Yeah, that's always been a big part of my professional life.

(21:24):
I enjoy being in the classroom, teaching health.
I teach business law class. There.
Have been times when I've been in teaching religion English
early on in a pinch, but I really enjoy the time in the gym
at least having some of the timeand you've subbed for me.

(21:44):
Oh, that was fun. For a funeral or something and
you know what it's like to. Face.
That is a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun.
It, it can be and it should be. Obviously you're trying to
impart that mentality that exercise is.
Important. Important in your.
Life teaching the rules of the games and so forth and.

(22:05):
Yeah. And some of the kids, you know,
their skill development comes along nicely.
Others are never going to be. Yeah.
And that is not a problem. I mean, but if you know, you
make exercise, whether it's walking, swimming, biking,
hiking, anything like that, all the studies show that it helps

(22:26):
your mental health as well as your physical health to be
active as much as you can. Yeah, for sure.
You also, you coach basketball here.
You were, you were hired, you said by Coach Mulhall at the
time. Was was Lee the head coach at
the time? At the time, Coach McKay.
Oh, Coach McKay. And he was terrific to me and

(22:48):
has been continuously throughout.
He was very organized, very structured.
I learned a great deal from him.I learned a great deal from
everybody that I coached with. Yeah.
And Coach Korbich, of course. And we were fortunate enough to
win a state title. Yeah, in 1990.

(23:09):
That team, when you look at thatteam, when you look at that
banner up in the gym, it's incredible when you see those
names. And for the longest time, in my
honest opinion, coach, the greatest Lords basketball player
was on that team. Johnny was at the time and I
always saw Johnny was it. And then Thomas Schultz, I mean,
recently his success on the basketball court, yes, it's,

(23:32):
it's so tough to pick one person.
He surpassed John as the all time leading.
Scorer all time Leading scorer, yeah.
And extremely talented. And John Had holds the
distinction of having been part of the state championship team
in 90 here at Lourdes and then he went on to Lebanon Valley.

(23:52):
M11 there. On a a college national
championship, teaming up, I think with yeah.
Rhodes. Yeah, played with Coach Rhodes,
who was from Montoy. Yeah, Now, of course, the head
coach at Penn State, there's also.
A connection to Shaka Smart and I don't remember, he was a head
coach at Virginia Commonwealth and then Texas.
I'm just I'm not 100% sure wherethe connection is, but somehow

(24:15):
there was 1. That could be.
I'm not. Yeah, I'm not.
Aware, I think Rhodes might havesomething to do with that.
So but yeah, that 90 team you guys had, I mean, was that he,
you had Matt, Matt, right? I mean, can you tell us a couple
more? He was a true and Brian Dirk and
Matt Rosini. Stevie Howard was a 6th man.

(24:36):
Of course, Michael Long was our point guard.
And if you look at those guys, Barry, yeah.
Barry Gechi. Barry Gechi, who works with the
kids in the building on case by case basis here, helps some of
the kids in the elementary as part of the counseling

(24:58):
situation. It was just a great group of
guys, Eddie Bendis, Stevie Bartlinsky, Sean Kalinowski, and
I don't want to. I don't miss a name anywhere.
It's just a great group. Sometimes the most competitive
games were at our practices. Oh, I thought our kids that were
not starters pushed our starters.

(25:22):
One of the things with that group was they were a very
bright group and you look at their success after they
graduate. You have lawyers.
Michael Long went to West Point.Matt, an engineer, a chemical
specialist at work. Brian Dirk, there's a

(25:43):
pharmacist. There's so much success on that.
Team, they did really well because they were a bright
group, so you could adjust things on the fly with them.
You could call something out andthey had that, you know,
camaraderie, the chemistry. And Michael was a leader.
He could communicate what the coach said to Michael on the
floor or yelled from the bench. He'd get it around and they and

(26:04):
they would, you know, work with each other.
Lizicki was the underclassman. At the Yeah, at the time.
Let me ask you this one also, because that team only had one
loss and that was against Schugelhaven.
Do you remember that game? I do.
And at the time, you know, when you're undefeated for a long
stretch, one period of time, there's a lot of pressure that
goes with it. Schuylhaven was outstanding.

(26:27):
We had a series. There was a couple of years
there where we played a multiple, a multitude of
overtime games to decide. Those was that game here the one
that. No, we lost, yeah, but it was
kind of. I remember riding, riding home
that night as a staff, as a group of coaches, and you know,

(26:49):
we in one sense we were disappointed obviously when you
come home with AW. But I think we believe that it
might reset some of their attitudes and minds about
exactly what it was going to take down the road.
And they made that, they came back from that, they rebounded
from that, and they never let that deter them from their goal.

(27:14):
Yeah, I really believe that theyfelt that they were capable of
of winning A state championship before the season started.
So one devoted themselves to that.
It's actually crazy talking about that school Haven team
because one of the managers downat the wise here, his name's
Jeff, Jeff Paul, he was on that school Haven team.

(27:35):
And he will tell you about that game.
Like he'll, he'll talk about that game and he remembers and
he, he'll even brag that, hey, Iwas a part of the only team that
beat Lords that year. And he always says how tough
Lords was. And the, the person he always
brings up that he remembers is Matt, how tough Matt Rybush
wasn't fundamentally his fundamentals, were they?

(27:56):
They stood out so much. They really did.
And Matt was a student of the game.
Coach Nabi, Yeah, whose brother played in the ABA for a while.
No more bullets, I think it was.He always brought math to camps.
In fact, that was the first campI worked with, with Coach Navi,

(28:19):
who taught English here. And really, he grabbed me in the
hallway one day and says you're going to be my sports editor for
the Lord Scope, which was a school newspaper.
And that kind of got me involvedin in writing.
And I owe a great deal to him aswell.
And he's remained a good, a goodfriend.
You know, we don't see each other that often, but it's

(28:42):
always great to see him. But he had Matt with him because
he was married to, he was in thefamily, he was married one of
the Worcester Worcesters. And but he brought Matt along.
And from the very beginning, Matt was a cerebral player.
I mean, he knew what needed to be done.

(29:04):
He wasn't the best athlete, maybe on the team or it was the
quickest, let's say, but he madethe most out of what he had and
he had a considerable amount of ability, yeah.
He did. And he had some size, but he
knew the game and he could, he could do things.

(29:25):
And he continued. When he you know, as a coach,
he's really valuable working with.
Big man. Oh yeah.
Right now I think our girls teamtook a big step forward and
coach was talking about this when we had him on the show that
he thought it, a lot of people thought it was a rebuild year
for the girls team. We bring Matt in and I think we
exceeded expectations a lot justby having Matt in the in the

(29:48):
situation. Yeah, I, I think he's probably
and you know, Hannah probably tell you she's he's probably
helped her yeah, a good bit withpost moves and, you know, the
fundamentals that are different for a guard than they are for.
Yeah, the big the post position.And he knew that position.
He could shoot too, from the corner or from the.

(30:08):
Really. Matt could shoot.
Oh yeah, he could drain threes. That whole family, I mean his
sisters as well, I mean, they were good.
Athletes during their time here,that whole family.
Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, you go, you go back to. You know his father's still
officiating I. Guess yeah, Dennis still wraps
you. Yeah, and his uncle played at
Villanova. Wow.
Oh yeah, he was a quarterback, right?

(30:31):
NFL. He was a white, a wide wide out,
a wide out. I'm sorry, Dennis, I guess, was
a quarterback in high school. I'm thinking about it.
What? He's helped a lot.
Matt has really helped the team out here a lot and the future is
bright for our girls here. And I mean, just talk, talk
about that state championship team.
I mean, the 90s were a good time, at least I think for Lords

(30:52):
basketball. They made it to back-to-back.
They did title. Appearances.
Yeah. Yeah, they did.
Nikki Schroyer and their sister Danielle, who were who was just
inducted into the hall of this past March, I guess it was or
April. April.
Yeah. The girls program has, you know,

(31:16):
been incredibly consistent, really successful.
Yeah. And the boys were, too, for for
many, many years now, the decline in enrollment doesn't
affect basketball as much as it would affect football.
Yeah. We don't longer have a wrestling
team. We no longer have a football
team. Yeah, 'cause you only need the
five. Yeah, you can only start 5.

(31:36):
You you need. More, but you need about 9 to 11
years. Yeah, yeah.
So it it doesn't affect the basketball as much, but you
know, things run in cycles. You get a good group, the
ability to recognize a group that and then get them involved
and play together for a period of time is you're building and.

(32:00):
You see the? Benefit at sometime down the
road I love looking at. The the late 90s with Lords
basketball, because that's getting towards the end of Lee.
Well, he's getting towards the end.
Pete eventually comes in. But I mean, there were some good
athletes during that time. I just love reading about it.
I love reading about Coach Crush.
I I always thought he was a goodbasketball player.

(32:21):
Eric, who eventually coached me and then another Hall of Fame
Famer recently was Eddie. Eddie, yeah.
Eddie May May. Eddie may have had the single
greatest work ethic that I've seen.
Wow. Not that the other kids did.
Oh, yeah, and Thomas. Thomas too.
And Thomas Schultz. He would work hard.

(32:41):
They all worked hard for their success.
Yeah. Doesn't come by accident,
doesn't come by standing around watching other people do it.
But Eddie was a gym rat who madethe most of his size, made
himself a complete basketball player.
He would go to the gym or the playground and just toss the
ball to himself, different spotson the court, jump into it and

(33:03):
practice it. Wow.
Practice his shot. Constantly, and he worked hard
defensively as well. And he was just one of many of
the kids who were a pleasure to coach like yourself.
Oh, I'm just Brian. That's what I was.
I'm just Brian. Yeah, but you know you.
Had an attitude that the coachesappreciate.

(33:25):
Just got. I mean and.
That's you got it, especially with kids now, got to keep
positive. Got it, got it.
You can get better. You just got to work for it.
And I don't want to say like, kids don't take that for
granted, but a lot of kids thinkit's just going to happen
overnight. And I try to stress on you, take
the losses to get the wins. Yeah, that's just me.
But I mean, I'm very thankful for that, coach, because it

(33:48):
means a lot hearing that from you.
And I mean, my dad always says thank you for everything you've
done for him as well. I mean, it means a lot what
you've done for him and I and Aaron as well, all of us.
It genuinely means a lot you. Come from a great family, you
know? The kids.
That have that advantage seem to, you know, be successful for

(34:13):
a lot of reasons and it goes beyond wins and losses because
you're going to win some and you're going to lose some.
If you play sports long enough, you're going to do a lot of
winning and you're going to do alot of losing.
It's just the way it works out. But if you work hard, you know
your success is justify. I have you for about. 15 to 20
more minutes before we get yeah you have your eval coming up

(34:36):
that's OK about. 45 Yep so. I want to bring up one thing a
couple actually tell me about the potato cakes.
You love them. I do.
I do perogies as well. I grew up in a household that my
mother's Slovak, so the church was the center of our life and

(34:59):
one of the things with the social aspects of the parish
would be the potato cakes and the perogies, particularly when
we would have the stand at the Bloomsburg Fair.
So. You know, we, we did that here
at Lourdes for a couple of years.
After Saint Mary's Church closed, Lords took over the

(35:20):
stand at the Bloomsburg Fair fora couple of years, fundraising.
I knew Cabrini had a. Stand out.
I didn't know Lords had one though, yeah.
Cabrini's boosters took over after that.
Ronnie Ossovalo reconfigured a stand that had been formed in
the 40s and was much of A much of A jigsaw puzzle that you

(35:41):
could. Imagine but worked.
Well, for its time. And then the Youth Center people
took over and used it as a fundraiser as well.
So basically it came from that, the early days.
And, you know, I got the recipe,the secret recipe, and I yeah, I
enjoy. Making them.
And I enjoy other people enjoying them, to be honest.

(36:03):
My mom. Says that yours are the best
'cause we get them over at Cabrini when they do their their
stand. Well, that's that's.
Different. That's kind.
Of her, yeah. Depending on the year, I think
depending on where they get the batter, I think they've been
getting the batter from Pondus. Really.
I didn't know that in. Recent years.

(36:24):
Because there aren't enough for the the little old ladies
anymore to produce the batter and the kind of quantity, you
know, So the local picnics were always a highlight.
What a great time. Yeah.
They were always a great time. This is a great place.
To grow up when I was a kid, thetown was very prosperous.

(36:48):
We had the three movie theaters on the Main Street, stores
galore, The Sun, the summer sidewalk sales were a great
time. We had two sporting goods stores
in town operating. Wow.
As well. As all the other was there more
than. Just pizza and sub shops in
town. Oh my God, yeah.
There were. Seems like that's all it is.

(37:09):
Now unfortunately. You know, you got CVS and Rite
Aid, you've got the food and everybody's got to eat.
But you know, I go back to when the mill was there and there
were 2000 people working at thatEagle Silk Mill where the
current police station is located and physical therapy
and. Sundance.
Vacation. Whatever.

(37:29):
They Yeah. That was a mill that.
Employed 2000 people at one timeand at lunchtime those people
spilled into town. So there were, there needed to
be plenty of eateries and they did their shopping and it, it
really was a a great place to grow up.
It was a safe place. There were athletic facilities

(37:51):
for those of us who were interested in sports.
I wouldn't trade. My time growing up for anything.
That's awesome. That's great.
And I know a lot of people feel.That way it's not it's not just
me. You talk to your your parents.
Oh, yeah. You talk to your pap who played.
Yeah, I'd say that's very. Good basketball player.
All those years I never saw him in his.

(38:13):
Prime, I've only seen him at theLegion.
Then people say that and I mean,I'm very thankful to hear that.
That's that's cool because I mean, that's he still talks
about he talks more about his time coaching than when it's
playing time. And I'm very thankful.
Thank you. Yeah, all right, so potato cakes
and pierogies. Let's talk wrestling.
For a few, sure. What sparked your?

(38:35):
Interest in the professional wrestling art.
Well, early on I turned on the television one night and.
There was a guy with. 3 gold belts and he was parked on the
Tampa bridge. And he was yelling that if he.

(38:57):
Couldn't have the title, nobody was going to have it.
He threw one of them off the bridge.
Paul Jones was the guy. And I thought, this is
interesting. This is different.
You know, as I said, we watched the Phillies, the Eagles, the
Sixers, Big 5 basketball, but I I really wasn't aware of

(39:17):
wrestling. And then they went to the ring
and these guys who were larger than life characters.
And in those days it wasn't the cookie cutter.
Everybody had this incredible physique.
Some of the guys looked like they might have, you know, just
gotten off the stool at the EastEnd Fire company or whatever,

(39:37):
but they had personalities that were larger than life.
And you get on the microphone and they there were people who
could talk you into wanting to see whatever conflict they had
constructed have a resolution. It's basically the the age-old
morality play that you you have in literature and everywhere
else. There's a good guy, there's a

(39:57):
bad guy. The bad guy cheats, gets the
upper hand for a while and the good guy overcomes that.
And you know, right wins out in the end in, you know, your basic
story, but it's portrayed through the athletic.
Abilities of. Some of these people, you.

(40:20):
You. Watched it for a long time.
I did your your favorite is yourfavorite wrestler of all time is
it would have to be. Bruno Sammartino, who is quite a
few years ago was was the champion.
But when I got to college, I I used to buy wrestling magazines
when I was in school because that was the only way you could

(40:43):
really find out. It was on an hour a week from
Florida and it was on an hour a week from the New York.
Based from Yeah, WW. W.
Www.afterthetime and I'd go downto the the nearby store, I'd go
down to Sages variety store downthere in the corner of Ray St.
and I'd pick up a magazine, buy a magazine.

(41:03):
How much was a magazine? At the time, $0.50.
'Cause now a. Magazine like $1314.00.
I mean, it's crazy. Yeah.
And they were not exactly. Up to the time, you know, they
were a month behind probably by the time they printed them and
got got them out on the market, they were about a month behind
the television. And then I started following a

(41:27):
little bit more closely, going to Hamburg, to the TV tapings
that the WWW held there every 3rd Wednesday.
Yeah, but when I got to college,I actually went down to the
student lounge and they had all kinds of magazines there,
Newsweek, Time, etcetera. But they did, I asked if they

(41:48):
had wrestling magazines. And then the kid that was
working the counter said no, we don't.
But then he started to ask me, do you, do you follow that?
Do you watch it? And I said, yeah, I said I know
what it is, but I still enjoy it'cause I didn't want him to
think I, you know, thought it was all real.
Yeah, I. Couldn't see through.
That, but he said my uncle's, myuncle's a wrestler and we got

(42:13):
talking and here his uncle was Bruno Sammartino, Bobby
DiMaggio, which was Bruno's sister, Mary's son.
And he, he lived in the dorm on the floor below me.
And we got talking and we got tobe friends.
And then before you know it, he came back from Christmas break
with a signed Bruno Santino magazine with the wow.

(42:37):
And he said, my uncle said that next time you go to Hamburg, if
he's there, just let the guy know in the back who you are and
he'd be happy to come out and talk.
And he was one of the nicest guys I've ever met.
Very, very humble man. At one point, probably the
strongest man in the world. Yeah, you told.

(43:00):
Me, he worked. Out and then later judged
competitions. He was friends with Arnold
Schwarzenegger, but he also is aa guy who held to very strong
principles. Wow, he.
Was never a. Steroid user?
Nope, he. Wouldn't touch him.
He knew the price that so many people paid down the road for

(43:25):
using steroids. He spoke out against those.
Things even though it caused himto be estranged from the
promotion that he starred in at one point they basically ignored
him for a long period of time because he was outspoken about
the steroids and the other drug use that he saw.

(43:46):
But he he wouldn't charge peoplefor autographs.
He would spend time and he the next time he saw you, he
remembered your name. Wow.
Which is remarkable. That is, that's a.
So I became and. His back story is is an
incredible 1. He survived 14 months of
occupation by the Nazis in his village when he and his mother,

(44:09):
while he was a young boy, he, his mother and his sister had to
flee to the mountains above the village.
And there's, you know, a whole thing you could you could check
on the Internet, but he. Was remarkably.
Unhealthy. And when he got to this country,
his father had come over for work and then the war broke out.

(44:29):
So his father wasn't even aware whether he was dead or alive,
whether his family wow had survived until afterwards.
Bruno actually failed a physicalto get into the country, held
his family back several months until he could pass a physical,
and then started building himself up when he got to
America. Wow.

(44:50):
And he. He lived down in Pittsburgh.
When he did, he lived. In Pittsburgh and stayed in
Pittsburgh. And much like Joe Paterno, he
stayed in a modest house even after he became famous.
And yeah, at one point he was earning as much as Willie Mays
and wow. Other sports stars.
At the time, yeah, And Tom Seaver had a series out, the

(45:12):
greatest sports legends, and he was the only wrestler.
The rest of them, you know, werebasketball, baseball, whatever
it might be. Yeah.
But. He was well respected and he
was. He's just a great guy.
There's been a lot of. Big names in wrestling over the
years, including Hogan, The Rock, Austin, I'm not going to

(45:33):
bring my boy up. I'm not going to bring him up
yet, but Hogan, the Undertaker, I mean Andre the Giant, what are
when you look back on some of those names, who are some people
that come out and stick out in your mind?
Well, all. The guys you named, of course.
Well, they're the. They were the the face.
They were the face of the. Promotion at different times

(45:54):
including your your buddy John Cena to.
Me. The greatest thing about Cena
was to me that he had spent so much time with the Make a West.
Foundation. And spent that time with kids
who were critically ill. And I think that says a lot

(46:17):
about him. I.
Enjoyed the more? Athletic professional wrestling,
I bring an exchange of holds anda series of counter holds and
kind of like amateur wrestling taken to the next level.
Obviously there's give and take and yeah, yeah, the result, the
results are predetermined etcetera, but I prefer a.

(46:43):
A match that goes back. And forth like that.
They're incredible athletes today.
A lot of gymnasts have gotten involved in it, but it borders
on the illogical after a certainpoint.
And that's not the kind of thingthat I really, yeah, go for.
All right, so. We talked a lot about wrestling,
but we'll wrap it up. Just one final question about
wrestling. If you had to, they always say

(47:06):
the Mount Rushmore, who would you put on your wrestling Mount
Rushmore? You could go.
In so many different directions,you could go in the people who
made the most money. You could go in the direction of
people who. Had the most.
Mainstream success and became the most famous.

(47:29):
You could go with people who changed the business in
different ways, both good or bad.
How about in rain? Performer.
If you go back. To the time when I was younger,
I would say Ric Flair, Bruno Sammartino.

(47:55):
Now Bruno won't get as much credit for in ring, but he drew
more people than anybody withouta gimmick.
OK. So I think.
And he did it on the microphone in large part.
Dusty Rhodes is. Probably 1 of the more colorful
people and one of our former students worked with Dusty down

(48:17):
in Florida, Bobby Naylor. And you know, he has really good
things to say about Dusty and working with him, the way he was
treated. I've had the opportunity to
interview a lot of these guys over the years and Mick Foley to
me, while I wouldn't encourage anybody to follow in his

(48:40):
footsteps of. The beatings that.
He took that he absorbed to entertain people and he wouldn't
fall into the category of the arm drag, the arm bar.
However. Having met him, he's been quite
generous with his time and he's made donations to various

(49:06):
wrestlers who found themselves in tough spots to kids, to kids
in foreign countries for education.
He's done a lot of philanthropy that doesn't get a lot of
publicity by design, but that I'm aware of.

(49:26):
And he was very, very nice to me, to my wife, my son.
When we. Spoke down at Knoebels on a
number of occasions and he's another guy who he remembered
your name, he remembered you, and you came back.
He was never in a hurry. And you know, the good folks at
Knoebels were kind enough to arrange some of those
interviews. So one of my surreal times was

(49:49):
watching Monday Night Raw in thecabin at Knoebels with Mix All
That. So wow.
I never heard that stuff. That's incredible.
His son actually was. Working for them as a writer at
one point. I'm not sure that he's still
there. Yeah.
He did a show at Knoebels the one time where it was snowing at

(50:11):
the end of the season. Wow.
The Halloween weekend, which is the last of the season for the
Halo fun. He was a, you know, judge at the
parade and then he, he was doingsome things down there, but it
was snowing and we actually had accumulated snow like 5-6 inches
and he was. Telling people.

(50:31):
He was there, but he was tellingpeople not to come because the
roads were dangerous. And there I think there was a
bad accident down there at some point.
But he was actually, you know, so he.
He's not a very he's. An unselfish guy.
Wow, he's. Generous with his time.
And. Family's important to them.

(50:53):
Christmas is important to them. Yeah, Play Santa Claus every
year. So I'd I'd.
Put him up there as well. I mean you the, the people you
mentioned, I mean, you can't argue against them either.
I mean more I I didn't. Even mention Sean, Mike Austin.
Michael Brett Hart Brett Hart. Excellent.
I told you yesterday. In the right now, a big Daniel

(51:15):
Bryan guy. Yeah, you'd you'd be.
Hard pressed to to find somebodywho was as good as he was in the
ring. Yeah, in terms.
Of exchanging. Holds and.
Yeah. And today?
Today you. Have, you know, guys that are
sensational? Will Osprey?
Yeah. Terrible athlete.
But, you know, it's like anything else.

(51:38):
When you're younger, you're moreimpressionable.
Oh, I am. You're more.
Impressed when you're 1? Word. 4 letters ye.
There's another family, I mean the Samoans, when we were
younger, we were scared to deathof them when they'd come down
the I would say. They used to be in town here a
lot too, weren't they? They?

(51:59):
Yeah. Dick Cashner.
Used to bring wrestling in as a fundraiser to Shmokin when he
was working for the Bunker Hill.Yeah.
Raise money for the Bunker Hill ball fields, Yeah.
And. Alpha was.
Promoting out of Hazleton for a while after he had retired and
he brought some shows down to the American Legion of Mount
Carmel. So I had the opportunity to

(52:20):
spend some time with him and just a very, very nice guy,
genuinely nice guy. The the thing with wrestling for
a large part of it is they say the bad guys are often the nicer
guys and there's there's some truth to that.
There's some guys that like anything else, there's some guys

(52:40):
that are stuck on themselves, yeah.
There's egos, there's personality.
Sure. I mean, it's yeah, sure.
The limelight, it's not. It's not easy when the
limelight's on you, when you hear it from the outside all the
time, It does get to your does get to your head.
It can. It can, and that's why I think
some of the people who didn't seem to are.

(53:00):
Yeah. Preferred to be around or.
Talk to I, I was telling. You 'cause I just did the whole
scene of thing last weekend. The big, the only one I, I think
now like, I'm like, man, I really want to meet him now Is
Naylor's buddy Punk. I do want, I at some point I'd
like to, you know, get to maybe even, you know, an interaction
with him 'cause I, I really enjoy his talent with the mic.

(53:24):
It's, it's, it's, it's phenomenal.
There's no doubt that. He's quick witted and he knows
how to. Manipulate a crowd.
Oh yeah, I don't mean that in a negative way.
No, that's. What?
That's an art. It's an art.
It's what's required to. Be at the top.

(53:45):
You've got to talk people in to the seats.
A lot of people don't. Realize that if you want to be
successful in that craft of the whole professional wrestling
field, it's not just what you doin the rain.
Not at all. It's a lot on the mic.
It's theater of the mind. It really is.
It really is, and the ones that are best at it can do.

(54:06):
Both do both. And the mics more important.
And wrestling has evolved so much.
Like every other sport back in the day, you had to be able to
talk people in because your pay was determined by where you were
on the crowd. You got a percentage or where
you were on the card. I was about to say, how do you?

(54:28):
Yeah. Where you were in the.
Crowd of people who were trying to get to the top of the card,
if you were in the main event, you got a certain percentage of
the gate and everything was based on the gate.
Promoters paid based on the gate.
And then people started doing T-shirts and merchandise and
people started selling more merchandise.
That was another revenue stream for the promoter, for the

(54:49):
promotion and for the individual.
And then they came out with pay-per-view.
Yeah, and that. Became a huge.
Source of income and they started making a lot more money
when they started with the pay-per-view.
Yeah, and. Now.
It's TV rights. In the old days, promoters paid
to have their show on TV. Now it's the other way.
Around, it's the other way around.

(55:10):
When you look at Netflix with that billion dollar deal.
Yeah. It's so.
Weird watching on Netflix. It's different with streaming.
And thankfully my wife is very patient with a technologically
backward person so she gets it on for me, pay per views,
Netflix, whatever it might be sothat I can.

(55:31):
Did you buy pay when? It was on pay-per-view.
Would you buy them? Every time?
I did. I did.
For a long time, and sometimes we'd get together with some
other people, would have a little party or something.
Have a little party. And split, you know, when it was
40 or $50, it got steep. I go all the way back to the TV.
Tape was in Hamburg. It was 2 bucks to get in, 3
bucks for ringside. Oh yeah, You know, and even if

(55:53):
you went to the Spectrum or wherever, I was only at the
Garden once, and that was exceptfor the Hall of Fame that was.
For the Hall of Fame. And they put Sammartino and
Foley, two of my favorite. Yeah.
And that night, actually, our president was there as well.
They put him into the DT. Yeah, they put.

(56:13):
Trump into the celebrity wing inNew York of all.
Places. Yeah, in New York, yeah.
Two final questions about wrestling.
This is actually not more about others, it's more about
yourself. What did you think about being a
seat filler? I enjoyed it and I.
Appreciated you, Bobby. Bobby Howard.
Bobby did it all. I and and also.

(56:34):
We we got to go down to the AW, yeah, that was the, that was.
The next one, AW. It's strange thinking that
that's their main concern, that they'd give up selling some
tickets in order to have people hustle in and fill a seat.
So when the camera's on, it doesn't appear that anybody's at
the bathroom or at the concession stand.

(56:57):
And that group of people in there, they kind of gave us the
pep talk before, you know, cheer, Boo, whatever you'd like
to do. But, you know, don't, don't go
out and yeah, scalp your ticket.Exactly.
Exactly. If you do have a.
An adult beverage, you know, just be, yeah.
Remember, you're representing WWE.

(57:18):
That's how they ended the whole meeting.
They did. So it was it was fun, it.
Was a lot of fun. I'm glad.
I'm grateful that I'm even at myage, able to move fast enough to
get into a scene. Yeah.
And that conversation of I'm working for WWE, it's the most
one of the most awkward conversations you have, but it's
you're there to do a job. You're there and.

(57:40):
Once most people are OK with it,once you let them know that
you're not stealing their seat or their loved one's seat,
you're just borrowing. It you're borrowing it to fill.
It until they return so that when that camera's on the place
is cancel yeah it it was a unique.
Experience and then AW, we were in Reading for that very good

(58:00):
show. We had a good time.
We were second row, third row. It was great.
Yeah, it was great. It it.
Took me back to the days of Hamburg of being that close
because quite honestly, today I don't know how anybody can
afford oh it's terrible get intothe.
First few terrible. At AWWE or.
An AW, it's crazy, you know, people.
With families and kids, I think the kids are, you know, losing

(58:22):
out because people and it's trueacross the board.
You know, you want to go to the Yankees game, a Phillies game,
or it's terrible, an Eagles. NFL I think is the worst.
It's crazy. It's it's nuts.
I do not like the Eagles by all means, but I consider going to
an Eagles game this year and it just out of my price range.
It was just nuts and they've done that.

(58:42):
To people it's there's, it's toomuch of A corporate thing and
then you have to worry about. Parking and then I mean if
you're, I mean, even with an easy pass, I mean, that's not
it. It it's a lot.
It just adds up and it adds up. It does.
Final thing. You you talked about your kids,
John and Taryn. Yeah.
Really. My wife Joanne and I are very,

(59:03):
very lucky. I'm lucky to have her.
But then we're we're really proud of our two kids, John and
Taryn, and then the grandkids. And the grandkids.
We have 4. They each have two with their
spouses. I've got a great son-in-law,
John Zeus, and a great daughter-in-law, Colleen Kane.
Yep. And they've given us 4 wonderful

(59:25):
grandchildren. Yeah.
The light of my day, little eagle.
That's what I. Always call him Yeah, he was
born in Philadelphia, so. He's definitely not going to he
Jaden is. Away with being a cowboy.
Jaden is. Jaden's going to be doing it the
way that a lot of the kids that had parents go here, like he,
he's in the hallway all the time.
I love that because, I mean, I was the same way.

(59:46):
I know Emma same because her momworked here.
Like we were all like, it's so cool.
And then he's going to be the next generation of that.
Yeah. Keep going.
It's. The Lords has always been about
about families. We've had so many families that
have been consistently here and hope that it continues, goes on
and on. So 46th.

(01:00:06):
School year here at the school. Any advice whether it's for
someone that wants to get into the teaching game, coaching
game, any advice? Oh.
I'd say, you know, if you enjoy trying to pass on to the next
generation kinds of things that you felt that you were given
that are important, you know, you come in, you have the
opportunity to work, whether it's here or anywhere.

(01:00:29):
I think, you know, if you're organized, if you're honest,
you're fair. I think you'll get along fine.
Yeah. You know, if you're
conscientious, you show up, do your job to the best of your
ability, I think people will appreciate that.
And you have a chance to make a difference in the lives of kids.
That and as a teacher, as a teacher, it's been around for a

(01:00:50):
long time. There's nothing that makes you
prouder than seeing kids go on to to great success.
Yeah. That's not measured by dollars
and cents. Yeah.
It's measured by, you know, the values.
You know, you see them in church, just see them in the in
the community. And no matter where you go,
there's always somebody from Shamokin.
Yeah. The ends of the Earth.
Yeah. And a lot of times that they are

(01:01:10):
people that that, that you remember, remember you.
Yeah. Well, I.
Want to thank you again for spending your afternoon with us
here on the show. Thank you.
It was great to have you. It's been a pleasure and.
I appreciate everything that you're doing here.
I'm just Brian, this is. I know you're.
Just Brian, but you know, the things have evolved now and what
you're doing with the media hereand you're providing

(01:01:32):
opportunities for particularly for our kids.
Yeah. Thank you.
That genuinely means a lot, hearing that from you.
And I mean, it's great to have you as a teacher now more as I
mean as a Co work, but a friend,it's good to have you as a
friend and like genuinely mean alot.
So I'm very thankful for you as so as the people listening, they
they are genuinely thankful for all that you've done.

(01:01:52):
So again, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Well, thank you SO. It's been my pleasure, ladies
and gentlemen, want to thank. Bill Gilder for being here again
on the podcast. You can listen to us on Spotify,
Apple Podcasts, and on Amazon. Hope you all have a great rest
of your day. Stay safe and enjoy.