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California’s Popelas was a gym rat

By George Von Benko for The 6 min read
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Former California High School basketball standout Andy Popelas was a self-proclaimed gym rat.

“I started playing when I was six-years-old. We played constantly,” Popelas said. “Looking back, I would have put even more into it.”

Popelas played on Trojan squads that posted records of 13-7 and 8-4 in Section 5A in 1965-66, 11-10 and 8-2 in Section 14B in 1966-67 and 17-6 and 10-0 in Section 14B in 1967-68.

“We were in Section 5A when I was a sophomore,” Popelas recalled. “The games against Uniontown were the most exciting games I was involved in. It was amazing the guys that they had were really good. They were very intimidating.”

The Trojans lost to Braddock, 60-52, in the WPIAL playoffs in 1966-67, and defeated Knoch, 64-50, before falling to Tarentum, 60-53, in the WPIAL playoffs in 1967-68.

“It was fun, it was exciting,” Popelas said. “We had a lot of good talent in Marty Foster, Todd Edwards, Dale Horvath, Tom Gedda, Dave Campagna. We did pretty well. We knew everything about each other. We knew where we were going to be on the floor. It was exciting. Ever since junior high we had played together all the way up until we were seniors.”

Summer basketball was also a big factor in the development of team chemistry.

“We always played in Rosco at a playground,” Popelas stated. “We always played in tournaments during the summer.

“It was a close-knit group. We were all good buddies. Every weekend we did something together. We went to Cal U and played basketball on Saturday and Sunday. That was good competition and a good experience. It’s always better to play with someone better than you or equal to you.”

The 6-foot, 150-pound Popelas put up some good numbers for the Trojans. He tallied 226 points as a sophomore, including a career-high 27 points against Albert Gallatin. He scored 252 points as a junior, and was All-Section as a senior when he notched 420 points. He finished his high school career second to Roger Hotz in California High School All-Time scoring leader at the time.

“I didn’t score a lot of points, but I was consistently in double figures,” Popelas said. “I enjoyed passing the ball to somebody to make a basket more than I did scoring. I loved making good passes.”

Popelas loved playing for his head coach at California High School, the late Bucky Bolyard.

“He knew everything,” Popelas offered. “He knew exactly what you were supposed to do and he was a tremendous basketball player.

“I just loved him. He listened to you, he taught you well, and if you needed something, even out of basketball, if you went to see him he would take care of you. When I was playing we used to wear Converse, and I used to get blisters on my feet from those shoes. He bought me a pair of Adidas, which we couldn’t afford in high school. He just went out and bought them for me.

“He cared about you as a player and a person. He cared about your life and your family. He was always there for you.”

When Popelas graduated from California High School in 1968, he decided to attend a junior college.

“I was recruited by some school that were too far away,” Popelas explained. “I needed to get my grades built up to go to a bigger school. I decided to go to Robert Morris, which was a junior college power at the time.”

Popelas was part of a couple of great teams at Robert Morris. During his freshman season, the Colonials finished 30-1. They lost to Paducah, Kentucky, in the NJCAA championship game, 79-76.

“That was a great season,” Popelas gushed. “We had outstanding talent like Perry Johnson, Cleveland Edwards and Dave Werthman. I delivered the ball well. The game against Paducah was just amazing with the two teams just going back and forth. Paducah was a great team that was loaded with shooters. The place was packed with 18,000 fans in Hutchinson, Kansas.”

Popelas enjoyed playing for the late Gus Krop at Robert Morris.

“Coach Gus Krop was something else,” Popelas stated. “I will never forget him. If you didn’t play or do what he told you to do, you are on the bench. He took no baloney off anybody. He coached really well and it was great.”

In 1969-70, Popelas was part of another outstanding Robert Morris team as a sophomore. The Colonials posted a record of 23-4 and were the regional runner up.

Popelas’ name dots the Robert Morris juco record book. He ranks third in free throw percentage (.763) and second in career assists with 244. He dished out 151 assists his sophomore season.

After two seasons at Robert Morris, Popelas decided to finish his education at Penn State.

“The assistant coach at Penn State, Casper Voithofer, played at California High School and got me to go to Penn State,” Popelas said. “When I went there it was supposed to be a fastbreak team, but they changed in the middle of my junior year and they slowed down. That wasn’t my style. I liked the fastbreak. I also got hurt, both my foot and my shoulder.”

Popelas played his junior season and averaged 2.3 points per game on a squad that went 10-12. As a senior, he played in 14 games and averaged 2.1 points per game, as the Nittany Lions finished 17-8.

“I got my degree,” Popelas stated. “I wanted to be a physical education teacher and that’s what happened.”

Popelas taught for five years at California Middle School, went Monessen Mill for nine years, and it closed. He worked various jobs after that. Popelas worked at Mon-Valley Hospital for 27 years before retiring in 2014.

Popelas, 69, lives in Rosco with his wife of 40 years, Barbara. They had three children: Chaley, Andrew and Lindsay, who passed away in 2005. They have four grandchildren: Christian, Chatham, Oliver and Simon.

George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” column appears in the Monday editions of the Herald-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.

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