Waynesburg wrestling great Karpency had passion for boxing
Submitted photo
German graduate Tom Karpency Sr. (left) wrestles in a college match for Waynesburg. Karpency compiled a career record of 69-17-1 with the Yellow Jackets.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Tom Karpency Sr. holds the heavy bag for his son Tommy during training.
Submitted photo
German graduate Tom Karpency Sr. is shown during his college wrestling days at Waynesburg.
Tom Karpency Sr., the patriarch of a very athletic family, was a multi-sport athlete at German Township High School and had a great wrestling career in college.
He used his love of boxing to fashion an outstanding career teaching “The Sweet Science.”
Karpency played football, baseball and wrestled for the Uhlans in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
“My last two years in high school I played baseball and my first two years I ran track,” Karpency stated. “I played four years of football and wrestled varsity my junior and senior seasons. German wrestling was so strong back then that I wrestled JV as a freshman and sophomore.”
Karpency was on German football squads that went 1-8 in 1959 and 4-5 in 1960. They went 7-3 in 1961 and 5-5 in 1962, Karpency’s senior season.
“John Katusa took over in 1959 and made a lot of changes and things didn’t go well,” Karpency offered. “He coached until my senior year and Ray Rifenberg, who was also the wrestling coach, became head football coach. Albert Gallatin was the big rival back in the day.”
Karpency wrestled at 145 pounds for German his junior and senior seasons.
“I remember who beat me when I was a junior, it was Ed Janco from Jefferson, he was a tough kid and we went at it for two years,” Karpency said. “I won the section my senior year at 145, beating Janco, and then lost in the WPIAL semifinals to Rich Celli from Chartiers Valley. I had two defeats my senior season.”
Karpency played left field and pitched for German in baseball.
“We were competitive,” Karpency said. “We didn’t win the section, we were probably in the middle of the pack.”
“When I ran track for two years I was a pole vaulter,” Karpency laughed. “Adam Donnely was the track coach.”
Karpency graduated from German Township in 1963.
“My plan was to go to West Virginia after I graduated, I was accepted,” Karpency explained. “Two weeks before school started Clayton Ketterling, the wrestling coach from Waynesburg University, came down and offered me a full scholarship. It was something that I couldn’t say no to and I ended up going to Waynesburg.”
Waynesburg was an NAIA wrestling power at the time.
“When I was in ninth grade coach Rifenberg took us to watch a Waynesburg college wrestling match,” Karpency recalled. “I sat there and I thought I could never be that good.”
Karpency made a splash immediately with the Waynesburg wrestling program.
“I was a four-year starter, I started my freshman year,” Karpency recalled. “We had elimination matches and I had a match with a fellow that was a senior and I barely beat him, like 3-1 or 3-2. The next day he quit and I was so happy, he was tough. Two former German wrestlers, Bob Gary and Joe Tindall, were on those Waynesburg squads with me.
“I moved up to 160 pounds at Waynesburg. Cutting weight was killing me. My last two or three years I would basically wrestle 160 at tournaments and I moved up to 167 in a lot of matches and I even wrestled heavyweight twice.
“Ketterling was a very good organizer. Team-wise we were in the NAIA top ten all four years that I was there. My sophomore year were were number three in the country.”
Looking back on things, Karpency is pleased with his college career. He compiled an outstanding career record at Waynesburg of 69-17-1.
“Yeah it was probably the best decision I ever made to go to Waynesburg,” Karpency opined. “I never thought that I would end up wrestling all four years at a college program. I never really envisioned that.”
Karpency graduated from Waynesburg in 1968.
“Immediately after I graduated I was hired at German Township as a high school civics teacher,” Karpency said.
Karpency taught at German, Fairchance-Georges and Albert Gallatin. He retired from teaching in 2000. He was an assistant football coach at German and served one year as a head coach.
Boxing is a passion for Karpency and he stepped in the ring at a young age.
“I got started when I was in high school with Tommy Shaffer’s Boy’s Club,” Karpency explained. “I had a couple of amateur fights and one pro fight. I won and I quit. I was a light heavyweight. The fight was at the Pals Club baseball field in Masontown in 1971 or 1972.
“I was at Fairchance-Georges for two years teaching and the principal, John Robba, he insisted that every teacher have a club. I suggested a boxing club and that’s how I started teaching. I trained amateurs in an old basement that I converted into a gym. I trained guys and Tommy Shaffer wanted to put on amateur shows my boys against his boys and it was a big draw.”
He started a gym in Adah at an old post office and then moved to the former St. Albert’s Church.
Karpency trained his three sons, Thomas Jr, Jerimiah and Daniel. The cumulative record for all three sons is 55-16-3. The boys have won the following titles in the ring:
Thomas Jr.: WBA Fedecentro Light Heavyweight Champion, WBA NABA Light Heavyweight Champion, Pennsylvania Light Heavyweight Champion.
Jeremiah: Ohio Heavyweight State Champion.
Daniel: NABA-USA Super Welter Weight Title.
Karpency has a daughter, Rachel, who is the oldest child. Not to be outdone by her brothers she starred in basketball at Albert Gallatin and played at Saint Vincent.
Karpency, 76, resides in Palmer with his wife of 38 years Christy.
It has been quite a ride for Karpency.
“I still train the boys and that’s about it,” Karpency said. “I’ve scaled back some.”
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.