Cecconi led Donora to WPIAL titles in 2 sports
Submitted photo
Louis ‘Bimbo’ Cecconi is shown during his playing days at Pitt.
Submitted photo
Louis “Bimbo” Cecconi is shown during his high school playing days with Donora, who he helped lead to a WPIAL championship in 1945. Cecconi also played a key role on two Donora WPIAL championship teams in football.
Submitted photo
Louis “Bimbo” Cecconi
Louis "Bimbo" Cecconi is shown during his induction into the Pa. Sports Hall of Fame in 2011 along with Steve Russell (left) of the Mid Mon Valley Sports Hall of Fame.
When area football fans think of the great Donora High teams from 1944 and 1945, one of the names that quickly comes to mind is Lou “Bimbo” Cecconi.
The 1944 team was sensational, boasting an unblemished 9-0 record, outscoring opponents by a lopsided 324-42 margin and winning the WPIAL title. During a 2013 interview, Cecconi modestly said, “For some strange reason, our crew was well known, and I don’t know how they still remember us today, but they still talk about us all the time. Our team got an award two years ago from the WPIAL.
“We were recognized as one of the best teams in the country in 1944. We were second, but first in Pennsylvania.”
The team which ranked first was Highland Park High, Texas, which featured Bobby Layne, its quarterback, and Doak Walker, its star halfback. They both went on to become members of the NFL’s Hall of Fame.
The following season, Donora’s starting quarterback Arnold “Pope” Galiffa went on to West Point, and Cecconi, who stood 5-foot-8 and weighed just 160 pounds, took over. The Dragons, 10-0, repeated as WPIAL champs.
Cecconi said, “Coach Jimmy Russell said I was the best passer he ever had. I think Pope was a better passer than me, but Russell thought I got better results. I could move a little bit better than him because I was short, but he could do other things better.”
It’s hard to argue the results. Cecconi put points on the scoreboard as if it were a pinball machine about to tilt. His squad outscored opponents, 297-13, recording eight shutouts.
Incidentally, despite his lack of size, Cecconi was also a valuable part of the 1944-1945 basketball team which won the WPIAL title. Still, his biggest fame came in football as he was on several All-American teams and was also the captain of the All-State team.
Cecconi said that even as a youngster he was knew “I could do things better than my neighbors.” However, when he was around some of his peers such as Galiffa, he made a slight adjustment “to just be part of the team and fit in. When I was on the basketball team with Galiffa, I was a point guard — I’d feed him, give him the ball, and get the ball to the big kids underneath the basket. Then play defense and hustle. When the (upper classmen) left, I had to do both offense and defense. You just do what you have to do, and if you’re fortunate enough to have good people with you, you’re in — and I was very fortunate.”
Cecconi said that when he was growing up, coincidentally many of Donora’s best athletes lived within a very short distance of each other, clustered around Castner Avenue between Fourth and Fifth streets — and that included stars such as standout runner and future NFL star Dan Towler, Galiffa and Cecconi himself.
“I came along at the right time because those athletes were so good, and you become a part of it and you enjoy the success of all that they did,” he said, again with typical modesty.
“We went from one sport to another. No specializing — you went to the sport that was in season. The competition was always good and that led to the success of Donora.”
Cecconi said he did not look upon sports as a way to go to college to wind up with a more comfortable life style. “No sir. We never thought about that at all. The war was on. When you’re 18, you went to the service, period. I went to college because I wasn’t 18 yet.”
There was an athletic pipeline which ran from Donora High to Pitt and Cecconi traveled that route smoothly. As a Panther (1946-1950) he earned a record nine letters in football, baseball and basketball. A starting quarterback and defensive back each season, he was the team captain in 1949, the year he won the Quarterback and Dapper Dan Club Awards. Much later, he was selected to the school’s All-Time team 1900-1970. For 26 years after he left Pitt he coached at the high school and college levels.
Looking back, Cecconi cited the unfair edge many athletes have today when they use illegal performance-enhancing drugs. “They’re abnormal. We ate macaroni and pasta e fagioli and went out to play a game.” Nowadays, athletes also have the advantage of having sophisticated trainers at their disposal. “We never had a place to lift weights. We just went and played.”
Despite such advantages, Cecconi is grateful he played when he did, calling his era better than nowadays. “There’s so much pressure now. We just played.”
And play superbly he did. In 2011 he was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. With a resume such as Cecconi’s, he certainly is one big reason Donora earned the nickname “Home of Champions.”