First, can you talk a bit about how your dad decided to make football his career?
Val: I have some stories but dad was pretty private about his playing days. My brother didn’t even know he played football until high school!
He took the numbers off of his game jerseys and the Steelers patches off of his football jackets he had. He was a humble guy.
I know they called him a sleeper. They didn’t expect him to be as good as he was. He was gifted naturally. He had a good friend in college and they mirrored each other – Chuck Mihalik. They played for the Fleet City Blue Jackets during the war and played at Duquesne together.
Tim: They used to call my dad and Chuck the Gold Dust Twins!
Zeb: He only played high school in his senior year. He worked in the coal mines after high school until one day his principal asked him what he thought about going to Duquesne on a football scholarship. My dad was a one-hit wonder in high school – he won the Mid-Mon Valley award in 1939 as a senior.
Tell me about any memories he shared of that undefeated Duquesne football team.
Zeb: My dad said fine to the scholarship. But he asked where Duquesne was. Keep in mind he grew up 30 minutes from Duquesne! So, he tried out and oddly enough two of the head coach’s brothers played on the team. Buff Donelli was the coach and he in the tryout had his brother run around the end and my dad tackled him for a loss. So he sent his second brother out there and my dad did the same thing. So Buff immediately told them to get my dad a jersey – he made the team.
Val: One funny story is that they went down to North Carolina to play a game there and, he didn’t know how it happened, but the North Carolina cheerleaders were hanging out with the team all night. He said he felt like they were there intentionally to wear them out. They lost the game and broke their win streak!
Tim: I remember reading an article about him starting off at Duquesne in 1939 – the article said that this was a guy who doesn’t care what he hits and that the varsity men will want no part of him.
Zeb: Freshmen couldn’t play on varsity teams then. But in 1941 he played on the varsity team and they went undefeated, But that was the year of Pearl Harbor. My dad was in the ROTC for Duquesne so he went in as an officer and was shipped off to Villanova after one semester in Harvard.
Any memories he shared about his time in Pittsburgh?
Zeb: The Steagles scrimmaged against Villanova in 1943 – my dad caught seven passes and had four or five sacks. It was crazy. That’s when the GM for the Steelers -Bell – put him on the draft list. He was shipped to London in 1944 and was the athletic director for the troops then. He set up intramural games for the troops who weren’t in combat. He didn’t come back to play until 1946 when he played for the Fleet City Blue Jackets and won a championship with them.
He went to camp then in 1946 – there were a slew of guys trying to make the team then and he felt like he wasn’t getting any opportunities. He packed his bag and was ready to quit when Chuck Mihalek convinced him to come back and he made the team.
Val: I know he played against Sammy Baugh and during one game, when the defense was struggling against Slinging Sammy, he asked to go in on defense and they sent him in to play defensive end. He blitzed a lot and was able to slow Sammy down.
He also told us a story he was really proud of, where he returned a kick and jumped over a pile of players before being tackled. That was a rare one he shared with me that he was proud of.
I know he was frustrated near the end of his playing days in Pittsburgh – the quarterback had trouble getting him the ball. It’d be bounced to him. The fans would boo him and the team. And the single wing offense wasn’t conducive to catching the ball. That’s when he felt it was time to get out. He didn’t need that fan abuse!
Tim: In 1950 he led the league in sacks and the team in receptions. He was the first Steeler to catch 10 passes in a game. When I asked him how many passes they threw to him he told me: 10.
Zeb: He said there was a second game against the Rams where he caught 1o passes too but for some reason he said it was never recorded.
Tim: There was a group of fans that always booed him but he never knew why, They unfurled a banner that said get rid of Mihalik, Jansante and another guy and that’s when he said he had enough and retired.
Val: He also talked about how tough the Steelers coach Jock Sutherland was. Jock was actually a pall bearer for his funeral. Jock was a disciplinarian. My dad would tell me that after those practice games would be easy.
When he went to Green Bay they’d take breaks and have popsicles. Back then the water breaks in Pittsburgh were pretty bad. They’d add oatmeal and a sponge to the water buckets and players would have to take the sponge out and suck on it and spit the water back out and put the sponge back. Not good.
Zeb: In the playoffs in 1947 they were tied with the Eagles so they had a playoff game with them before the championship game and lost 21-0. The week before that game the players all talked and wanted more money for playing an extra game. When Jock Sutherland came into the locker room though all the other guys ran away and my dad was left there. Jock asked him what was going on and my dad told him about the players wanting more money and Jock just yelled at my dad and told him to get on the field. In that playoff game they didn’t throw one pass to my dad. He took out his grudge on my dad in the game.
Jock Sutherland died after that 1947 season and John Michelosen took over in 1948. My dad said he always tried to convince Michelosen to move away from the single wing offense but he never would. So my dad told me he just kept moving out further and further from the tackle so he could get off the line of scrimmage easier. He told me he was one of the first wideouts because of that. I asked him “Really dad?” I didn’t believe him, but he was serious.
Any other memories?
Val: Back then they played for peanuts. He made $5,500 a year and he was one of the highest paid linemen. He like most guys had to have a second job – he repped Budweiser, going to bars and just saying hi to fans there. He didn’t drink so it was a safe job for him!
The Fleet City Blue Jacket teams my dad played for – he said those teams had more talent than the Steelers teams he played for. But he did tell me that even though the Steelers teams lost a lot, the teams they played often struggled the next week because they were so beat up playing the Steelers.
Zeb: He was good friends with Johnny Clement – the quarterback in the late 1940’s. Johnny wore the number zero and they called him Johnny Zero. He was also friends with Frannie Rogel – he said they always used to chant “Hey diddle diddle Rogel up the middle.”
He was always a great athlete…
Val: He played defensive end and wide receiver, but he preferred wide receiver for sure. He had huge hands – if you put his hand on an 8 x 11 sheet of paper his fingertips would touch the edge of the paper. He had big mitts. He never lifted weights but had a great physique – he was chiseled.
Tim: When he was coaching, when he was 47 or so, he was still in great shape. My friends still talk to about the time the team all raced each other in the 40 yard dash. Well, he jumped in and beat them all. Backwards.
Val: In fact, when he was in his 80’s, we took him to the doctor and, you know when they give a strength test by pushing your arms down? Well, we warned the doctor he was strong, and when he tried to push my dad’s arms down. He couldn’t!
Tim: He was also one of the first guys on that Steelers basketball team that played at high schools and around the city. They played the Satellites on year – which were like the Harlem Globetrotters then. It was fun to see him play – I was too young to have seen him play sports before. He was their center. He was a good basketball player in high school and told me he never knew he was allowed to dunk in high school or he would have!
He was also a well-known high school coach in Pittsburgh too.
Val: Central Catholic was his first coaching job. They had a great team – they went undefeated. In fact his friend Chuck Mihalik coached rival North Catholic. They continued mirroring each other’s careers.
A funny story later on about that team – one day many guys on the team snuck out to get hamburgers. When they cam back, the brothers at the school caught them and booted them all off the team. They got crushed the next game – all for hamburgers! Certainly not like kids now who take breaks to go vaping.
Tim: He used to take me to basketball games when he was a coach at Mon Valley. I remember them beating Braddock in triple overtime. He was always very laid back. He never yelled. They just had two coaches for the football team – he on defense and Don on offense. He used to teach driver’s ed and people always talked about how calm he was through those experiences with some of those drivers – he would never get excited!
There was a kid at Mon Valley – Lenny Caruso – who had an 80-yard punt return. Later on his parents called my dad and told him Lenny had Leukemia. He later died while in high school, but my dad visited until he passed away and stayed good friends with his parents. He was always close with his players.
Your dad was on the All Time Greatest Steelers ballot and received high praise from Art Rooney, who said he had never seen a better player. How much did that mean to your dad?
Val: I know as kids we knew he was shocked and humbled by it – and even a bit tickled by it. I think he was proud and excited to know his kids had seen it. My brother was in education then and had his kids vote on those McDonalds ballot for him. I don’t know how he didn’t win with all of those kids stuffing the ballots!
Tim: I went to a banquet with my dad in 2001 – the first year Heinz Field was launched, and they honored the 1947 playoff team. Art and Dan talked about being his water boy then and how he’d chase them around for more water!
He passed away over 10 years ago. Any last thoughts on who he was you want fans to know about?
Tim: At the banquet in 2001 Art told everyone that my dad was built like a stallion – the finest physical specimen you could imagine. He said my dad was one of his favorite players and he always wore his jersey number as a kid.
Val: At his nursing home, he died in 2008 a few days after his birthday. People who worked at the nursing home said he was a blessing to have there. The kids he coached who are adults now all thought the world of him. Many of those guys, and a lot of people from the Steelers organization came to the viewing. He was a well-liked and respected man.