•
Willie Somerset – Former NBA & ABA Basketball Star
•
Jack Marin – former NBA Basketball Star & Duke All-American
•
Judson Flint – Former NFL player
•
Hugh McKinnis – former NFL player
•
Adrian Capital – former football and track
•
Julius McCoy –Basketball All-American
•
Jimmy McCoy – Basketball All-American
•
Lorenzo Styles – former NFL player
•
Eddie McCluskey – legendary basketball coach
•
Randy Crowder – former NFL football player & PSU All-American (father of current NFL player Channing Crowder
•
Dave Johnson – Basketball All-American Cincinnati
•
Eugene “Jim” Pratt - football and wrestling University of Florida
•
Nick Canone – Purdue football
•
Brian Sanders – Arizona State football
•
Dr. Koller - Marquette Basketball
•
Dave Stewart - All State Basketball
•
Larry Prince - All State Basketball
•
Dave Sudzina - 2-sport star at Westminster College
•
Lou Falconi - one of the greatest high school football coaches in Mercer County history.
•
Anthony Aiello - At Farrell he had the distinction of having played on and coached for a WPIAL championship team.
•
Dr. Brian Generalovich- Pitt Basketball All American After graduation, says Generalovich, the New York Knicks, Boston (now New England) Patriots, and Pittsburgh Steelers recruited him to play professionally, but he again decided to stick with Pitt, enrolling in the University’s School of Dental Medicine.
Do You Remember?.....
•Playing softball at Farrell city park,
• The haunted house behind John Hetra school,
• The white face diary,
• Jerry's boulevard dairy candy store,
• The 5 and 10 downtown,
• Walking to school uphill both ways in the snow,
• Luigi's Pizza on Idaho Street,
• Schusters Drive thru,
• The bell in the old Junior High Cafeteria,
• The band Earth Child,
• The band Ocean,
• The Little League Field,
• Isalys Dairy,
• Buring Leaves in the fall,
• Playing Escape,
• Going to Cedar Point on Class Day,
• Bowling at Sunset Lanes,
More to come....
A Short History of
my Hometown Farrell, Pennsylvania
Hello and Welcome to my home
town page. This is where I was born and lived until I moved to Southern
California. My home town is Farrell which is in the Shenango Valley of
Western Pennsylvania right off of route 80. It is about 70 miles north of
Pittsburgh and about 70 miles south east of Cleveland. Farrell(known as
South Sharon back then) started as a tract of land that was, at that time,
Hickory Township -nestled between Sharon and Wheatland-that had a large
bottom land (river and swamp). Frank Buhl started the Sharon Steel Company
and was sold to Carnegie Steel two or three years later(1902). With the
influx of millworkers of various ethnic backgrounds, many churches and
corner bars were built. No wonder years later, Ripley's "Believe It Or
Not" listed Farrell at having more churches and beer gardens than any city
its size in the country! In 1912 the people of South Sharon decided to
incorporate and change its name to Farrell, after the president of United
States Steel Corporation J.A.Farrell. Named the Carnegie Works, Sharon
Steel, Roemer Steel and Caparo Steel, the works supported nearly 20,000
during World War II before shrinking to barely 6,000 today. For a number
of generations the steel works was, and still is, known as "the mill".
This hill town on the steep, eastern slope of the Shenango Valley was
sulphurous, smoky gray and gritty(its banner of industrial prosperity).
The town's pulse was literally the constant rumble (and startling blasts
of trapped gases!) from giant whitehot billets of steel being flattened in
the rolling mill . At night the skies had an amber glow from the dumping
of red hot slag. Today the skies are blue, the air is clear, and the
complex of sad smoke stacks and blast furnaces in the valley are but
ghostly silhouettes. The mill is almost closed employing only a few
hundred and the downtown is in a rebuilding mode trying to attract new
business. Farrell has always been known as a great sports town with many
state titles in basketball and volleyball. Farrell is located in the Shenango Valley which is
known for the Worlds Largest Shoe Store (Ryers), The Worlds Best Chicken
Wings(Quaker Steak & Lube), The America's Only Free Golf Course, The
Vocalists Hall of Fame and the inventer of the Club, (anti thief device)
and his outlet store The Winner.
A Guide to
Translating The Western Pennsylvania Language
Arn - the
appliance that you use to press clothes, or the first name of a certain
Pittsburgh ale, as a Arn City. Babushka - scarf. Beer Garden -
Bar. Bumbershoot - umbrella. City chicken - pieces of pork.
Chipped-chopped ham - finely sliced boiled ham, unheard of in other
parts of the U.S. Chit-chat - conversation. Clothes cupboard -
closet. Dinge - a small dent. Gum bands - rubber bands Grinny
- a ground squirrel or chipmunk. Iggle - our national bird.
Jaggerbush - a thorn bush of any kind. Jumbo -bologna. Mill -
either where you used to work before it closed, or what you eat at lunch
or dinner. Nebby - nosy. Onion snow - a light snow in early
spring. Peep - a baby chicken. Pop - a soda , as in 7up or pepsi.
Red up - to clean quickly. Sammich - something that is made up of
two slices of bread with meat or cheese. Stillers - Pittsburgh's
football team. Some thing the cat drug in - a non-complimentary
description of someone who is dirty or disheveled, used with the
introduction, "you look like....." Yunz - you, you guys, you all.
"what da yunz want to do?...."
note: It is also necessary to learn
to slur words together, thus mashing consonants and vowels into one strong
sound. Practice by learning to say,"Jeet jet? No , Jew?" That means, "Did
you eat yet? no, Did you?
Here are a few excerpters from " My Short Sayings Dictionary" By
Tony Liscio Note Meaning follows= ' I wouldn't trust him any farther
than I could throw him' = He is not to be trusted. 'Your Doggone right'
= Your absolutely correct. "He's a bad apple' = He has a bad
attitude. 'This thing is like a slow boat to china' =the car is very
slow. 'She is the cats meow'= She is a beautiful person. 'She was as
good as gold'= She was well behaved. 'He has a Jalopy' = His car
doesn't run well or look good. 'He's a Happy Go Lucky Guy'= He doesn't
worry about
anything.
"Hey Yunz Guyz" is your traditional
greeting. You know the time and location of every Wing Night in a 10
mile radius. You only own three spices: salt, pepper, ketchup. You
design your Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit. You eat out at
least once a week at an Italian owned pizza parlor. You have 10
favorite recipes for venison. Driving is better in the winter because
the potholes are filled with snow. You think sexy lingerie is tube
socks and a flannel nightie. You owe more money on your snowmobile than
your car. Your father has worked for the same company for over 20
years. The local paper covers National and International headlines on
1/4 page but requires six pages for sports. You think the start of deer
hunting is a National Holiday. You head south to go to your
cottage. You know which leaves make good toilet paper. You find 20
deg. F "a little" chilly. The trunk of your car doubles as a deep
freezer. You know the four seasons: Winter, Still Winter, Almost
Winter, and Construction. You have 101 favorite recipes for kolbassi
and saurkraut. You still have pork and sauerkraut on New Years
day. You don't understand how anyone could watch a football game
without either halupki, halushki, or kielbosa. You remember fondly days
of youth known as "Snow Days". You don't understand why all sports
commentators don't sound more like Cope. You think only God has the
proper resume to take over after Joe Paterno leaves Penn State. Words
like: gumband; buggy; hoagie; chipped ham; and pop actually mean something
to you. You can use the phrase "Firehall Wedding" and not even bat an
eye. Your grandmother, of any nationality, wears a babushka. Plaid
gives you Catholic school flash backs. You can easily spell and
pronounce last names like Wojciechowsky and Ricigliano. You don't
think a stripping hole is an adult club. You don't understand what all
the hype is about for Rolling Rock beer, You've been drinking it for
years. People wonder why you'd bet dollars to donuts on anything.
You're the only person on your street that "straightens the house"
before guests come over. You're the only person on your street that
"reds up the house" before guests come over. You can dodge potholes at
55 m. p. h. You get misty-eyed when you see Mrs. T's pierogies in the
frozen food aisle.
Jeff Foxworthy on Pennsylvania:
If you consider it a sport to sit in a treestand all
day long with a bow or a gun just to put food in your
freezer... you might live in Pennsylvania.
If you're proud that your region makes the national
news 96 nights each year because Bradford is the
coldest spot in the nation, you might live in
Pennsylvania.
If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November
through March, you might live in Pennsylvania.
If you instinctively walk like a penguin for five
months out of the year, you might live in
Pennsylvania.
If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they
don't work there, you might live in Pennsylvania.
cause you're all so damn friendly.
If you have worn shorts, sunglasses and a parka at the
same time, you might live in Pennsylvania.
If your town has an equal number of bars and churches,
or if you are in church and your priest or minister
asks you to pray for the STEELERS , and wants to get
you all home for 1 p. m. kickoff you might live in
Pennsylvania.
If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with
someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in
Pennsylvania.
YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TRUE Pennsylvanian when:
1. "Vacation" means going up north past I-80 for the
weekend.
2. You measure distance in hours.
3. You know several people who have hit a deer more
than once.
4. You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same
day and back again.
5. You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during
a raging blizzard, without flinching.
6. You see people wearing camouflage at social events
(including weddings).
7. You install security lights on your house and
garage and leave all the doors unlocked.
8. You carry jumper cables in your car and your
girlfriend knows how to use them.
9. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over
a snowsuit.
10. Driving is better in the winter because the
potholes are filled with snow.
11. You know all 4 seasons: almost fall, winter, still
winter and road construction.
12. You can identify a southern or eastern accent.
13. Your idea of creative landscaping is a concrete
statue of a deer next to your blue spruce.
14. You were unaware that there is a legal drinking
age.
15. Down South to you means MORGANTOWN W V.
16. You find 0 degrees "a little chilly."
17. Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his NEW
FORD F150.
18. You go out to fish fry every Friday and bingo
every Wednesday.
19. Your 4TH of July picnic was moved indoors due to
frost.
20. You have more miles on your snow blower than your
car.
21. You actually understand these jokes, and you
forward them to all your Pennsylvania friends.!
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me
Last Update 122608
