Big 33 memories: Craggette joins list of Fayette stars to play in football classic
Submitted photo
Uniontown’s Ben Gregory (35) runs back a punt for the winning touchdown for Pennsylvania in the Big 33 game.
Submitted photo
Uniontown’s Ben Gregory sits on the sideline during Big 33 game.
Submitted photo
Joe Mona of Washington D.C., US All American end, is tackled by Masontown’s Larry Vignali after he intercepted a pass in the fourth quarter of the Big 33 Football Classic. Leaping over the play is Robert Goodson of Quincy, Florida. Pennsylvania players in the action are Sandy Stephens (15) of Uniontown, Don Senaca (25) of Harrisburg and Ollie Payne (86) of Charleroi.
While channel surfing on my television on Memorial Day I accidentally came across the telecast of the Big 33 Football classic. I wasn’t aware the game was being played and didn’t see any build up to the game in the newspapers.
Back in the day I eagerly awaited the Big 33 game. The All-Star football game through the years pitted the best 33 players from Pennsylvania against players from Maryland. The Big 33 began when a team was selected in 1957, with the first game being played in 1958, featuring an All-USA squad against Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania over the years has played Texas. For awhile the game was played between the Eastern Pennsylvania All-Stars and the Western Pennsylvania All-Stars. From 1993-2013 the Pennsylvania All-Stars faced the Ohio All-Stars.
No Super Bowl has been played without a player from the Big 33 on one of the rosters. The 2020 edition of the annual all-star game was, of course, cancelled due to the coronavirus.
The event traditionally was played later in the summer, but as the game lost top recruits to early college enrollment, organizers in 2019 moved the game to Memorial Day hoping that the game would regain some of its lost luster. This year the game was played at Central Dauphin’s Landis Field near Harrisburg.
“I really like the fact that we are getting some really nice players committed to playing in the game,” Garry Cathell, executive director of the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association said. “With a Memorial Day start, technically our kids are still high school students. When we had the game that second week of June, a lot of the kids would have had to report.”
He recalled four years ago, when 15 Pennsylvania players turned down an invitation because of college obligations. More players seem to embrace this earlier date, he said.
The WPIAL had 13 players in this years 64th edition of the game. Pennsylvania defeated Maryland 20-0. Fayette County had one player in this year’s game, Connellsville’s Ky’Ron Craggette, who had nine carries for 34 yards in the game.
Craggette joins a star-studded list of Fayette County players who made an impact in the Big 33 going back to the very first game in 1958. Former Uniontown great Sandy Stephens led the Keystone Staters on a 52-yard third quarter drive and scored the game’s only touchdown on a three-yard run as Pennsylvania beat the US All-American All-Stars, 6-0. Masontown High School All-State guard Larry Vignali led the blocking on Stephens’ touchdown run.
“The first team that played was in 1958 against the United States and we beat them 6-0,” Vignali, who passed away in 2015, said. “The quarterback was Sandy Stephens from Uniontown and I was the right guard and he called a quarterback sneak and made the touchdown running right behind me. That’s a great memory.”
The late Uniontown great Ben Gregory sparked Pennsylvania to a 12-6 victory over Texas in the 1964 contest.
Gregory wound up with a starring role in the game as the Associated Press account of the game describes.
“Three sensational goal-line stands and an 80-yard touchdown run by Uniontown’s Bennett Gregory sparked the Keystone State to a 12-6 triumph Saturday night over Texas in the 1964 Big 33 high school All-Star football game.
“Gregory’s sensational fourth-quarter touchdown run. The 185-pound speedster took a Texas punt on his own 20-yard line, circled back to the 15, then raced down the left sideline behind a perfect wall of protection as the record throng of 23,251 at the Hershey Stadium roared with approval. Tackles Greg Shelly of Souderton and George Katzenbach of Philadelphia Roxborough threw the key blocks that sent Gregory on his way. ‘All I could think of was those fast Texas guys chasing me,’ the Uniontown star laughed in describing his scoring sprint.”
Another Fayette County star, the late Jim Braxton from Connellsville High School, made his mark in a losing effort in the Big 33 game.
Braxton climaxed his senior year at Connellsville by being named to the All-Foothills Conference first team, second team fullback on the UPI all-state team, All-WPIAL team, and the most valuable back in the Foothills Conference. He was the lone bright spot in Pennsylvania’s 45-14 loss to Texas in the Big 33 game. He rushed for 55 yards on 15 carries and scored on a one-yard plunge. He also caught three passes for 62 yards.
Years later at a banquet, Braxton spoke about what awards meant in his life.
“First you have to please yourself,” Braxton said. “You please yourself and your parents and that will be the reward you can get. I enjoy life, I enjoy football, but most of all, I enjoy people. I came from a small town of 800 people where you can get to know all the people.”
The Big 33 football game has great tradition. Here is hoping it can thrive and survive in these changing times.
George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” column appears 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.