Lemansky a soccer pioneer in Fayette County
Soccer is the most popular sport around the world and it has grown in the United States. Francis Lemansky was a soccer pioneer in Fayette County.
Lemansky, a 1960 graduate of Uniontown High School, picked up the sport in college because the Red Raiders did not have a soccer team when he was in high school.
“I participated in track at Uniontown,” Lemansky said. “I was a pole vaulter and had the record with the steel pole.” Track coach Abe Everhart told him he had to do more than just pole vault, so Lemansky tried the hurdles. “I tried the high hurdles and in three meets, I was third or fourth. In a triangular, the coach says, ‘We need some points.’ I won the hurdles against Connellsville and Redstone, but I knocked over every hurdle and my foot was bleeding. I always had trouble clearing the back foot in the hurdles.”
When Lemansky graduated from Uniontown, he went to Slippery Rock University because he was interested in the physical education department.
“I was on the track team as a pole vaulter at Slippery Rock,” Lemansky recalled. “They had the fiberglass pole and I was never used to that because in high school we used the steel pole. The fiberglass pole was throwing me everywhere. The soccer coach was watching me and wanted me to play soccer. I had never played in my life, but coach Jim Egli said he would help me. The first year, he was helpful and I learned the game. The second year, I did much better and I was playing halfback. My senior year, I did very well and had two All American bids.”
Slippery Rock was competitive during Lemansky’s three years on the squad. The Rockets posted records of 5-4-1 in 1963, 5-3-2 in 1964 and Lemansky’s senior campaign they finished 9-4.
“It was a different kind of game back then,” Lemansky explained. “It’s different today, but it’s better. When I was in college, the coach put us one-on-one and when you come up to the guy your defending, ‘I want you to tackle him and I want you to tackle him hard.’ You have about two seconds to tackle him. You want to get on him quickly and not let him have time to pass. Now it is more finesse and I like it, but I don’t like it. They back off and it is more skill and less physical.”
Lemansky has a great deal of respect for Egli.
“He was an excellent coach,” Lemansky offered. “I used to go up and visit him once in awhile.”
After graduating from Slippery Rock, Lemansky returned to Fayette County and took a position as executive director of the Uniontown YMCA. In 1969, he became the executive director of the Early Childhood Learning Centers. He later purchased the Early Childhood Learning Centers and remained the director. In 1971 he joined Intermediate Unit 1 as a teacher in the Youth Development Center in Waynesburg. Lemansky returned to Uniontown as the Project Head Teacher at the Adult Learning Center in Uniontown in 1981 and he remained there until his retirement in 2002. Lemansky also worked in Real Estate and owned several other business ventures.
Lemansky got into high school coaching at the urging of South Union Township Supervisor Bob Schiffbauer and started the Laurel Highlands High School soccer program in 1987 and coached the Mustangs until 2000.
“I was working and had a business and I didn’t really have the time to start a program,” Lemansky stated. “I had a lot on my plate, I know the sport and they wanted me to take it for one year and start it. I knew that wasn’t going to be the case. I took it because I really loved the game.”
Laurel Highlands flourished under Lemansky, who guided the Mustangs for 14 seasons and compiled a coaching record of 120-113-11. LH made the playoffs in 1992, 1994, 1997 and 1999. Lemansky won coach of the year honors in 1992.
The Mustangs pulled off one of the biggest upsets in WPIAL history in 1992. LH, seeded last in the WPIAL playoffs, stunned top seed Mt. Lebanon, 1-0.
“Jack Smarslak was our goalkeeper and he was very good,” Lemansky recalled. “He was stopping everything, they had 26 shots on goal and we had one. We made a triangle around Smarslak, it was a short one. We brought the midfielders in and made another semicircle and we had one striker at midfield. We made them shoot long and Smarslak stopped everything. They got frustrated because they couldn’t penetrate. He punted the ball out on one play and our lone striker Justin Kurilko dribbled into Mt. Lebanon territory and beat the fullback and the goalkeeper came out and Kurilko dropped it over his head for the winning goal. That was our only shot on goal.”
The Mustangs were blessed with some outstanding players during Lemanky’s reign as head coach: Smarslak was a WPIAL All-Star in 1992, Dieter Davis was an All-Star in 1999. Owen Silbaugh was section MVP in 1998. He had one athlete in Jason Bowers who tallied 31 goals in 1994.
Laurel Highlands was the first soccer program in the county. Lemansky helped organize other high school and junior high teams in the county. He helped organize and coach the Fayette County Youth Soccer Association and YMCA, coached a traveling team on Cup level and one team qualified for state playoffs and premiere status. He helped organize and supervise the South Union Township Indoor Soccer League and was director of the Tri-Star Soccer Camp for seven years.
Lemansky became ill in 2003 and was rushed from Uniontown Hospital to Pittsburgh and went into a coma. He remained in a coma for one month. He was near death, his wife Arlene sent a sock that was touched to Saint Padre Pio’s stigmata. The sock was rushed back and she put the sock on his foot. After that Lemansky recovered and the doctors had no explanation.
Now 69, Lemansky and his wife of 46 years, Arlene, reside in Hopwood. They have one adult son, Bart.
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