Lou Rozzi, Tom Jubeck remembered
Since I started writing the Memory Lane column, I have received numerous letters asking for columns on various athletes. A lot of the requests involved players and coaches who are deceased. It is very difficult to put together a comprehensive column when you can’t interview the subject of the column.
Many of the requests were for people who deserved to be recognized. I have a backlog of these requests and have decided since I don’t have enough information for a full column; I would combine a couple of deceased players and coaches for a column. I will try to do this from time to time as I gather information.
LOU ROZZI
The longtime head coach of the German Township Uhlans was a formidable coaching figure in Fayette County and produced some high-powered teams.
Rozzi was born In Sandy Bottom, which was a part of Masontown in 1912. He attended German Township High School, and despite his diminutive size, was a pretty good football player. He played center and was a three-year letterman while making the All-County team during his junior and senior years.
Rozzi was a part of one of the best teams in German history, during his senior season in 1929. The Uhlans posted a 7-1 record, and along the way beat South Union 62-0, Brownsville 60-0 and Uniontown 12-0. The lone loss was to Redstone, 8-6.
Rozzi graduated from German in 1930 and decided to attend Waynesburg College. He excelled on the line at Waynesburg and played all four years. In 1934, he graduated with a B.S. Education degree. Later he earned a M.S. in Administration from West Virginia University.
Rozzi returned to German in 1935 as an assistant to Ted Dailey. In 1937 Adam Donnelly, an assistant grid mentor at German, look over the coaching reins and Rozzi served as his assistant.
In 1939 Rozzi moved into the head coaching post, where he remained until 1958, except for a term from November 1942 to January 1946 when he was serving as a lieutenant with the Navy.
His teams of the 40’s and 50’s were so powerful that other Fayette County teams wouldn’t play them. This was a time when schools made their own schedule, and he ended up playing teams that were of much larger classification. Many were out of the area schools like Erie, New Brighton, New Kensington, Johnstown and Rochester.
“No one wanted to play German,” Former Uniontown Herald-Standard sports editor Tod Trent recalled. “Lou was a taskmaster and a tough coach. He turned out some great players. He always had some good running backs. You talk about Buddy Ward and Jim Ford; he had Bill Rutland. He had some great, great running backs and tough kids.”
Not being able to schedule enough suitable WPIAL opponents (according to the unpopular Gardner Point System) kept German ineligible for the WPIAL championship several times.
Rozzi’s teams were often undersized but by utilizing speed, stressing fundamentals and toughness made up for it.
“I never cut a boy, because I never knew how he might turn out. I believed everyone – even the little 80- and 90-pounders deserved a chance,” Rozzi said. “My players were very dedicated, and I always felt that if they could take what I dished out during the week practices, then they’d be ready on Friday night.”
Rozzi’s 1952 grid machine featuring Buddy Ward, later a Notre Dame running back, Jim (Happy) Ford, later a halfback at Lincoln, Mo., was edged by Midland in the WPIAL Class A championship game 14-6.
Mike Karas’ 79-yard third quarter punt return snapped a 6-6 deadlock and propelled Midland to victory. The game wasn’t without controversy as Ward gathered in a Midland punt on his own 28, reversed field twice and bolted 62 yards to the end zone. The play was nullified by a clipping penalty.
Rozzi developed such players as Frank Wydo, Cornell and Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles tackle; Bill Sichko, Pitt halfback; Emil Poppa, Georgia tackle; “Buck” Johnson, Duquesne tackle; Floyd Konetsky, Florida and Cleveland Rams tackle, and Gene Curtis, Little All-America halfback at Morris-Harvey.
When he stepped down as German coach in November 1958, Rozzi remembered some of the great Fayette County battles.
“The games with Fayette County teams were always thrillers, while games played with out-of-county teams did not provide me with the same feeling,” He added, “Of course, all of our games with Redstone provided a thrill.
“In all my years of coaching, I have tried to teach good, hard football and sportsmanship, and the biggest reward of all was the respect of the athletes I coached.”
Rozzi compiled a football coaching record of 116-26-3. In 1959, he was appointed Administrative Assistant at German Sr. High, and in 1960 became the German Twp. Jr. High principal. He remained in that capacity until 1969 when he was named A.G. Pupil Personnel Services Director. His entire teaching career was spent in the same building.
Rozzi died on Dec. 24, 1986.
TOM JUBECK
Jubeck was a bruising fullback at Redstone High School in the early 1960’s.
He was born on June 26, 1947, in Tower Hill #2 and was a three-year starter for the Hawks and head coach John De Pasquale.
Jubeck played on Redstone teams that posted records of 3-5-1 in 1962, 8-1 in 1963 when the Hawks were unbeaten against Class A competition. The lone loss was to Class AA Uniontown, 26-13. In Jubeck’s senior season he suffered a serious knee injury against Uniontown and missed over half the season, and the Hawks slipped to a 4-5-1 record.
Jubeck was fourth in the county in scoring his junior campaign with 13 touchdowns and 11 extra points for a total of 89 points. In his injury-plagued senior season, he was 15th in the county scoring race with seven TDs and four extra points for a total of 46 points.
Jubeck also excelled on the baseball diamond.
Former teammate Jerry Corella recalled that Jubeck was a tough cookie.
“He was a very powerful runner,” Corella said. “He had good speed, but was really powerful.”
“He was one of the top 5 running backs that ever graduated from Redstone High School,” Former teammate George Staples opined. “He was a hard-nosed kid who ran you over. His running helped us go undefeated my senior year (1963), during his junior year in Class A in the WPIAL.”
Following his graduation in 1965 Jubeck went to Nebraska and played on the freshman team. He carried the ball 13 times for 51 yards for the Cornhusker yearlings.
He was still plagued by knee problems and left Nebraska. He enrolled at West Virginia and played in the Blue-Gold game in 1967, but injuries forced him to the sidelines and he never played for the Mountaineers.
Jubeck joined his three brothers in the operations of the Sir Pizza Restaurants in Lansing, Mich. He worked in the business for 38 years.
He died Feb. 17, 2008, at the age of 60.
George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” columns appear in the Sunday editions of the Herald-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.