Memory Lane
John ‘Shag’ Wolosky was part of a great era at Brownsville They were called America’s greatest generation, young men and women who dropped what they were doing and went off to fight in World War II and then returned to their families, their jobs and went back to school and some didn’t return having paid the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our freedom.
Isabella native John “Shag” Wolosky is a member of that great generation who made so many sacrifices.
Wolosky is one of the many great football players to come out of Brownsville High School.
He was part of a great era at Brownsville. The Brownies 1938-39-40 football teams earned permanent possession of the Monongahela Valley Big Six Championship trophy by recording a 27-0-3 record, shutting out 21 of their 30 opponents, and yielding only 58 points in 30 games.
The Big Six consisted of Brownsville, Donora, Monessen, Monongahela, Charleroi and Washington
Wolosky, a 1941 graduate, was a two-way performer at center and linebacker on those teams.
“The years I played we were undefeated those three years,” Wolosky recalled.
“We won the WPIAL Championship in 1940. We never lost a game, and then I went to Penn State, and was undefeated at Penn State on the freshman team. After four years I was worried about how it would feel to lose a game.”
Wolosky said they had great coaching at Brownsville in those days.
“A terrific coach Carl Aschman, who after the 1940 season went to Aliquippa, leaving Earl Bruce and Andy Sepsi,” Wolosky said. “We had three wonderful coaches. All three were head coaches there at Brownsville over the years.
Baseball was king at that time in Fayette County.
“The area at that time was all baseball,” Wolosky stated.
“In the mining areas we had no other sports and then when we went to high school. Football was terrific for us. Football and baseball was the only recreation the miners had. We had a good selection of ballplayers at that time. We played all the big teams – Uniontown, Connellsville and the Big Six at that time.
“It was difficult to get exhibition games; there wasn’t any formal league at that time and actually we would play German Township. They would give us an opening game, and I think we played North Union.”
He met some top-flight competition on the area gridiron.
“Connellsville had Johnny Lujack and John Schroyer and we had some great players on our team – Paul “Buck” Sutton and Fred Kreuter. Actually Sutton was a big star in the whole state of Pennsylvania that year. He was a fullback,” Wolosky said.
In 1939-40 Wolosky was named to the All-Fayette County team and the Mon Valley Conference All-Stars.
When he graduated Wolosky decided to go to Penn State and was a member of a freshman team that posted a 5-0-0 record in 1941, defeating the Army plebes, which featured Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis.
As a sophomore Wolosky played on a team that went 8-1.
He spent the next three years in the U.S. Army taking part in the North African and European campaigns during World War II.
“We beat them real bad,” Wolosky offered. “We were shooting dice when we went to West Point. We were up late into the night, and they were raising heck that we were keeping the cadets awake. They changed the game from an afternoon game to nine o’clock in the morning because they knew we hadn’t slept, but we beat them anyway.”
“John Potsklan, who was an All-Stater, went to Penn State in 1940,” Wolosky explained. “He was one year ahead of me.
“Sutton and I were being recruited by Paul Brown at Ohio State.
“When we got out there, Olympic champion Jesse Owens was my chaperone. We didn’t think too much about it and he took Sutton and I out on the golf course. We never saw golf clubs before, coming out of a mining town back then. We played a couple holes, and we said ‘we don’t know how to play this Jesse,’ and he said, ‘I can see that.’ “
In 1946, Wolosky resumed his educational and athletic careers at Penn State. He was joined at Penn State by four other Brownsville stars – Potsklan, Chuck and Joe Drazenovich and John Simon.
“I didn’t know those guys other than Potsklan,” Wolosky recalled.
“They came during the war years. Potsklan went into the service in 1942, in the Air Force. He didn’t get to play with me my sophomore year. I went in to the service in 1943.
“The strange thing about Potsklan, when I went over to England, he was flying out of London, and I knew he was there. I asked for a weekend pass, and I went to look for him. I put his name on a board, but I didn’t get any response. I found out later on that he was shot down over Germany. He was shot coming down in the parachute. He was shot in the shoulder and he ended up in Cologne as a prisoner.”
All five Brownsville players were a part of one of Penn State’s best teams. The 1947 Nittany Lions were unbeaten and faced the Doak Walker-led Southern Methodist Mustangs in the Cotton Bowl.
“Four of us started. Simon was behind Steve Suhey an All-American guard,” Wolosky stated.
“We had a great team in 1947. We were a real close knit bunch. The year before we were supposed to play Miami, Fla., in the last game in 1946. We had two black players, Wally Triplett and Dennie Hoggard.
Miami said to leave them at home. We got together and voted, if they couldn’t go nobody was going.
“The following year we were undefeated, and there were four Bowls – Rose, Cotton, Orange and Sugar.
“Penn State, SMU, Notre Dame and Michigan were the four top teams.
“SMU had the choice of selecting an opponent. They said we’ll play Penn State, but they have two black players. They then said you can bring them, and I think we were the first team to play black players in the South.
The Cotton Bowl trip wasn’t an easy one for the Lions.
“We went by train and it took us three days. We stopped in St. Louis, and we practiced at coach Bob Higgins’ old school, St. Louis University.
“We took off three weeks to get ready for the game. We then went to a naval air station outside Dallas, and we stayed there because we had the two black players. We couldn’t stay in the hotel. We didn’t really like the idea of being on the base, and they wouldn’t permit us to leave the base.
“The two-black players stayed in private homes, and they would come to practice every day. We practiced twice a day up until game day.
“We got on a bus to go eat prior to the game, and we couldn’t find a place to eat. Nobody would serve us. We had to find a place way outside of Dallas to feed us, and we were a little late getting back to the game,” Wolosky said.
The game ended in a 13-13 tie in front of 47,000 fans.
“We weren’t ready to play the first half,” Wolosky explained.
“We went out and we scored two touchdowns, and the game was tied 13-0. I blocked the extra point by Walker. It ended up 13-13. When we scored the second touchdown. We thought our kick was good, and the officials said it was no good, so it ended up 13-13.
“Walker and Dick McKissack came in the lockeroom after the game. They were nice kids.”
After graduating from Penn State, Wolosky was drafted by the New York Giants as the 26th overall pick in the 1948 NFL Draft.
“I played with the Giants for one year,” Wolosky said.
“They didn’t pay anything at the time. They had a contract for me for $5,000, which was a lot of money at the time.
“They wanted me to sign, and I asked do I get anything for signing? They asked what I needed, and I said I wanted to buy a ring for my girl because I was getting engaged. They said what would that cost and I said I’ve never been engaged before. They said would $350 do it? I said yes, and then I said wait, and I got another $350 for the honeymoon.
“Pro football was all politics at that time. It wasn’t as great as it is now. Nobody was making any money, and I think the Steelers’ attendance was about 13,000 a game at old Forbes Field.”
Wolosky returned to the area and became a teacher and coach at the former Centerville High School and the Beth-Center School District.
Until he retired from coaching, he was on the football staff and served as varsity baseball coach. He was elected to the Mid Mon Valley All Sports Hall of Fame in 1977.
The 84-year old Wolosky ran into some health problems and has been recuperating for the past three years at a facility in Washington, Pa.
He is married to the former Margaret Ducar of Allison.
They have three children: Pamela, John and Charles.