Ashtabula High School - Dart Yearbook (Ashtabula, OH)

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1956 PANTHER BASEBALL TEAM-FIRST ROW: Don Thorpe. Henry Dondrea. Frank Spano. Bill For- loine, Roger Galliazzo. Bill Labry. Jack Allio, Bill Ander- SOH- SECOND ROW: George Kane. Jim Welty, Les DCCennar0, Sam Dispense. George Guarnieri. Stan Guerini Tom Johnson. Andy McElroy. Ron Katila. 1956 Baseball Rain and cold weather forced the 1956 baseball squad to train indoors. Coach George Guarnieri faced a real problem in Hlling the nine positions. for he had five returning lettermen, two catchers, two pitchers, and Jim Welty. who had played at almost every position. This was to be the basis on which the team was to be built. lN'ith weather clearing up. the Panther hardballers beat YN'icklif'fe 7--l on Apr. 23. Visiting Conneaut Rowe on Apr. 25. the Bulans behind the pitching of Andy McElroy squeezed out their second win in a 4-3 effort. Roger Galliazzo shut out the Geneva Eagles 1-0 on May l. Engaging in a contest with their cross-town rivals on May 3. Bula squeaked out another victory 4-2. XN'ith Les DeGennaro pitching the Panthers marched on to victories over Harvey 2-l and YYickliffe 3 -0 on May 4 and May 8, respectively. By winning these two NEC victories. the .Ashtabula hardballers earned the right to appear in the Cleve- land district. Euclid was the team to play there on 24 Klay ll. Larry Nosse, the southpaw from Euclid, pitched a no-hitter and gave up only one walk to win 6-0. Rlay 21 saw the Panthers at Massticci Park blast- ing out revenge over Mentor 6-1. Les DeGennaro. after a rest from pitching three successive games. came back to win over Geneva 6 -- 0 on May' 22. In a game that lasted 10 innings at Edgewood on Xlay 2l. the hardballers of A.H.S. came out on the short end of a 7- -6 score. lliiidiiig up the season at Painesville Harvey. Les DeGennaro pitched the Bulans to victory 6-4. The season record ended with 9 wins and 3 losses. The Ashtabula Panthers won the NEC champion- ship. Les DeGennaro was chosen team captain for the season by his fellow lettermen Sam Dispense. Bill Forloine. Roger Galliazzo. Tom johnson. Ken Ko- vacs. Bill Labry. Don Thorpe. jim XYelty. and junior Andy McElroy.

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'i gg t Basketball At Edgewood. Dec. 27, another town rival was victim of the high-fiying Panthers 59-46. Gilchrist led Bula's scoring output with 18. Three other cagers hit double figures. On Jan. 11 at Wickliffe, the Panthers gained their fourth consecutive victory 57-45. Gilchrist poured 23 points through the hoop for the gameis high total. With the new A.H.S. gym complete and ready for use. the Sandusky Blue Streaks came to Ashtabula Jan. 12 and before a capacity crowd broke Bula's win streak 40f35. Gilchrist pumped 21 points in a valiant effort. Seven games were played in the new gym before dedication ceremonies took place Feb. 8. Featured speaker was H. W. Emswiler, Commissioner of the Ohio High School Athletic Association. It was on this historic night the Panthers humbled the Geneva Eagles 50ff13 in a close game. This marked the 300th win for teams coached by R. A. Ball in his 24 years as basketball mentor. Dave Peterson from Geneva led the scoring with 19 points. Bob Gilchrist and Bob Walters were high for Bula with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Steve Candela's 19 points proved the margin of victory as Bula won the best defensive game of the year by beating Conneaut 37f29, Feb. 15, at Con- neaut. Bula scored their highest offensive total in the last I-'RESHMAN BASKETBALL TEAM-FIRST ROW: Larry Mosmski. Bruce Gaw. Bob Bruosta, Ed Pickard, Ray Ilinson. Coach Chiacchiero. SECOND ROW: Bob Par- f . tif 'E kaiviix ig- ! lg game of the year, undermining Painesville Riverside 77f-16, as Gordon McBride tallied his best high school offensive mark and scored 22 points. Larry Jepson followed with 16. This brought to an end an exciting season in which the Panthers won 12 and lost 5. Senior Bob Gilchrist led team scoring with a total of 221 points during the regular season. Steve Can- dela, junior, caged 168 followed by senior Dave Gorts with 164. Larry Jepson. junior, totaled 97 points. Gordon Mc- Bride. senior, and Jim Smith, junior, dunked 88 and 87 points, respectively. Sophomore Bob YValters put in 66 points. Lettermen were seniors Dave Corts, Bob Gilchrist, and Gordon McBride: juniors Steve Candela, Larry Jepson, and Jim Smith. Bob Wfalters was the lone sophomore letterman. The Junior Varsity, coached by Assistant Frank Farello. posted a 12-5 record. Members were Jack Allio, Jeff Ball, Ricky Bryant, Frank Bush, Tom Corts, Harris Eberle, Wayne Harley, Dick Laszlo, Joe Orlando, David Palmiter, Joe Peterangelo, and Ron- nie Vettel. Freshmen, playing their first year under A.H.S. in- fluence, completed the season with a 7-2 record. Coach Anthony Chiacchiero adapted the varsity style to frosh play. Participants are featured below. sons. Jim Griswold. Albert Toth. Jerry Santillo, Richard Diggs, August Pugliese. Bud Nelson. t .s.......,........... E

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1956 Track Coach R. A. Ball. with six returning letterrnen, turned in one of the finest track records in recent years with four wins and one loss. The l956 season opened on Apr. 24. against Erie Strong Vincent. after rain caused cancellation of the first two meets. Bula romped the Pennsylvania op- ponents 74' 44 taking ten hrsts. Frank Sposito and Bob Gilchrist picked up three firsts apiece to account for a big share of the points. On Apr. 27. Bula conquered the Conneaut Tro- jans 64- -53 in a close battle. with the Panthers claiming nine hrsts. Gilchrist and Sposito starred with two lirsts apiece. Nlentor routed the Panthers 70- -48 at Bula Field on Bfay 3. The deciding factor was fNfentor's depth. for Bula claimed six hrst places. but lost out because of the lack of seconds and thirds which went to Nfen- tor. At the Xfentor relays on Nfay 5. the Ashtabula Panthers picked up tenth place. The shot put and discus team of Gilchrist. Candela. and Carleton, and the mile relay team of Corts. Noonan, Nemitz, and Westerinen won two fifth places. Markin. Candela. Noonan. and Sposito of the 440-yd. relay team and Corts. Noonan. Westerinen. and Nemitz, of the sprint medley captured fourth places. On May 8. the tracksters led by Corts, Gilchrist, Howe. and Nemitz. who captured first places in the 880-yd. run. discus. high jump, and mile run, re- spectively. nipped Painesville Harvey 61--57. Markin and Sposito also picked up firsts in the 440-yd. and 1956 PANTHER TRACK TEAM--FIRST ROW: Bob Martin. David Morse. David MacDonald, Frank Spos- ito. Carlton Markin. Larry Scafuro. Charles Nemitz, Jim Coach, Steve Candela. Ronald Mollick. SECOND ROW' 220-yd. runs. The final event, which was the mile relay. proved the deciding factor as Ashtabula won it and the meet. Traveling across town to Ashtabula Harbor, the Panthers on Nfay l 1, emerged the victor 63M-52M. The winners gained ten firsts with Sposito the only triple winner. At the NEC League meet. the Panthers took sec- ond behind the host. Mentor. The brightest event for the Ashtabula team was the discus when Gil- christ flipped the platter l-43' 7 for a League rec- ord. Sposito gained a big share of points as he took first place in the l00-yd.. 220-yd. dashes, and the broad jump. He also anchored the 880-yd. relay which took first place. Setting a NEC League record wasn't enough for Gilchrist for at Cleveland in the District finals on May I9. he heaved the discus I48' 6' for second place thus qualifying him to enter in the state finals at Columbus May 26. Although Bob's throws were good for him, they were not good enough to place. The lettermen were seniors Tom Carleton, Gordon Cooper. Bob Howe. Carlton Markin. Frank Sposito, Earl Redmond. and Charles YNesterinen. Juniors were Dave Corts. Bob Gilchrist, Charles Nemitz, and Tom Noonan. Steve Candela and jim Coach were the only sophomores. Sposito. who was a member of the 880-yd. relay team. competed in the 100 and 220-yd. dashes, and broad jump. was chosen as the honorary captain of the team. Anthony Clause, Tom Noonan. Charles YVesterinen. Gor- don Cooper, Bob Howe. Larry Jepson, Mike Mihalick, Bob Gilchrist. Dave Corts, Al Schader. James Smith, Tom Carleton. I . r