Benedictine High School - Benedictine Yearbook (Cleveland, OH)

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We - Father Florian Plays lflaior Role In Benedictine llthletrc Program llave you wondered why some of our fine athletes, as Ed VVettrick or Hd Stakolich, ever' canre to Benedictine? If you have. their look to Father Florian for the answer. llefore high school entered the minds of these players, Father foresaw their ability and encouraged them to enroll at BHS. llis own participation in sports and coaelringf have so trained and developed hirrr that he is now He- rredictint-'s chief scout. Other' boys that he has attracted to llenedic- I .t'I'Ill'lR l I,0Rl,-KN line are: Kay llorovielr, tlil Ver- derber, ltay tlernbarski, Frank lflvans, .loc Kotrany, Ronald Foli- ano, and lion tlustie. Father Florian was egraduated from Benedictine in 1934. As a student he played varsity basket- hall and football for two years. At St. Procopius college, Lisle, Ill., Father continued his sports activities and added baseball to the list. His success as a pitcher attracted even big' league talent scouts, and brought the young pitcher offers to play minor league hall for Detroit and St. Louis. Instead he chose the way of God, and entered the religious life being' ordained a Benedictine priest March zo, 1943. llere at Benedictine, Father Florian plays a major role in the athletic department. Beside coach- ing: varsity baseball and football and helping: out in basketball, Father coaches frosh basketball and weekly 'luring the winter months conducts thc Bengal loop CYO basketball tourney. As Jay Vee basketball coach, Father Florian had the first un- defeated JV team. And his efforts with the boys greatly helped Be- nedictine win its triple sports' crown in lil-18. t'lreerirrg.:' arrd bzrckirry.5 our victorious varsity this year, were many loyal fairs and llerredictine students, a thousand strong. Pictured :rhovc is a typical rooting section, taken at the East 'l'ech game. I I I I A lively march or popular trrne makes every football contest 'more lively. And this Benedictine's band faithfully supplied. Every game, rain or shine, found them playing' their best for the school. Not only did they play the Bengal eleven to victory. 'l'hey also cheered them on, as this shot taken at the Stadium during the Latin game gives evidence. Financing BHS Sports s Father Placid's Job 95501, 3502, S503 .... Ah, thought Father Placid as he prrt the money into the safe, that should going a while. help keep the athletic department Most. probably when he was back in New York, his home town, attending St. .lohn Nepomucene grammer school, Father l'lacid never dreamt that someday he would be business manager of the athletic department of a large boys' high school. Father Placid, then Francis, left New York to come to Benedictine in 1932 for his high school training. Interested in athletics, he cap- tained the basketball team in his senior year and earned varsity letters in all three major sports. After g'raduation in 1936, he entered St. Procopius college, Lisle, Ill., and here again Father cap- tained the cage team for two seasons. From college Father joined the Benedictlnes and was ordained a priest Sept. 233, 194-1. While still a cleric Father Placid joined the high school athletic de- partment as freshman basketball coach. After ordination he was made business manager of the de- partment. He still holds the business ma- rraeger's job, and through his hands 'flow all the transactions concern- ing: athletics, such as ticket sales, purchasing' equipment, expenses, F.t'l'llER l'I,.Xt'IlJ frame prog'rams, schedule rnakingr, publicity, etc. Without a doubt Father's behind the scene work played a large part in Bcncdictirrc-'s successful '48 season.

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iw! W ' 0am latin THANKS FUR THE MEMURYH Whatever happens from here on in, this has been the greatest single season in Benedictine football history. There'll be no other like it. You can beat Latin for the first time only once. There'll be other great teams, other impregnable lines, other terrific backs. But there'll be nothing quite like this again. You kind of felt it coming. You felt it when our guys ran over Holy Name. You became increasingly confident when successive opponents fell like tenpins under the llengal jauggernaut. Week after week you became surer. And then that pep rally. There won't be another like that, either. Sure, the girls were good. Steve Luptak did a fine h'l.t'. job. The band was tops. lt was all swell. But it took a couple of guys with football in their veins to knock the props from under you. Joe Rufus was first. .loe Rufus. the rotund guy who looks as though he should be selling real estate rather than coaching football. He said just the right words. said them almost grudgingly, as if they were rationed out. They fell like a ton of bricks somewhere inside, and you began to feel that lump take shape in your throat. Ed Powell was next-just a kid with a man's heart. He'll probably never score any touchdowns on the gridiron. He's not built for speed. But he scored one then, and Latin was at least one touchdown behind when he finished. It was then that you knew. It had to be. Powell probably didn't say fifty words, but every breath that escaped him was loaded with emo- tional dynamite. lle picked out each word from somewhere in his heart.. And when his voice broke and the hand came out in a fight gesture and he said, We'll give 'em everything! - you knew. You knew deep down inside. Latin was finished, and you were almost finished, too. You wanted to cry. Some of you did cry. You hoped nobody noticed. You blinked to keep the tears away. You didn't have to feel sheepish. Ab Strosnider, a guy who's been in football longer than most of you are in the world-Ab Strosnider was using a big handkerchief to wipe away his tears. Captain Ed walked off the stage, and a thousand kids and a score of usually sedate faculty members went temporarily screwy. Congratulations to the coaches. the team, the band, the entire student body. l aculty adviser of the BENNET On behalf of the faculty ffwiiiff E be- 7- Q 1 . L.-. Malces Dream Routing Latin BENEDIC'l'INE TRIPS LATIN . . I5-0 shouted the headline in the Plain Dealer Sat. morning. Nov. 6, letting Cleveland know what happened the evening before in the Stadium. Bengal Varsity Come True By But to Benedictine students and followers this was only telling what they felt deep inside them before the game was even played. Each week we felt surer as seven opponents fell one by one before the Bengal attack. We had piled up the impressive total of 188 points while holding our opposition to a mere 30. Only once had we been hard pressed to win-the time the Ignatius Wildcats held us to a 6-3 victory. But still we were riding high. Latin, it is true, lost its opener, but they had improved consistently with win after win, and now nestled close on our heels. For the city this was the game of the weekg for us, the game of the year. And there we were sitting in the Stadium-some 20,000 rooters. The alumni in their own special section were out in full force. The fresh- men, everyone with his beanie, the student body, the faculty and loyal friends were all there hoping and praying for a victory. We had to win! The whistle, the kick-off, the game was on. For two periods 22 boys raged a grim scoreless battle on the turf before us, see- sawing back and forth, with neither team claiming an advantage. Rain started heavily, drenching the field and us in the stands, but. that. did not matter. We just sat and watched as our boys started to move up that slippery, muddy gridiron after the half. , Finally late in the third period, Ray Gembarski blasted through the Latin dc- fense to block and down a desparation punt in the end zone for two points. That was the b1'eak we needed! Senior halfback Ed Belin and junior Jimmy Liberatorc each ploughed into thc end zone for two bard earned touchdowns. The score now stood 15-0. Then came the final gun! infra' l our heads are better than one and so the Bengal captain and three of Benedic- tine's coaches held many planning sessions before entering the Latin game. Kneeling here CI. to r.J are: head coach Joe Rufus, I9-I8 varsity football captain, Eddie Powell. and assistant coaches, Joe Iofredo and Ab Strosnider.

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QB M H h, oi Whose mercies there is no number, and oi Whose goodness the treasure is infinite, we render thanks to Thy most gracious Majesty for the gifts Thou hast bestowed upon us, evermore heseeching Thy clemency, that as Thou grantest the petitions of them that ask Thee, Thou wilt never forsake them, but wilt prepare them for the reward to come. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the I-loly Ghost, God, world without end. Amen. -Collect of the Mass of Thanksgiving in the Roman Missal.