Feb 13, 2022 7 min read

The talent and coaching were unquestioned.

Performance was at a high level all season.

Two dual meet losses made them less than perfect, and some individual defeats in the postseason slowed them just a bit. Yet, nothing was going to stop the 1981-82 Chartiers-Houston Bucs wrestling team from going all the way that year.

The Bucs took four individuals to the state semifinals but only one – two-time PIAA champion Phil Mary – made it to the finals. Semifinalists Jim Vulcano, Chris Mary and Brian Bell came back to place third – a huge accomplishment that pushed Chartiers-Houston to the team title.

Chartiers-Houston, a Class 2A team in terms of enrollment wrestling in Class 3A, repeated its WPIAL team championship from the 1980-1981 season. These Bucs trumped that by winning the PIAA title.

They wrestled with the big boys and became the biggest boys.

The championship was sandwiched between two state team runner-up finishes in 1981 and 1983.

Tim Mousetis was the coach. Clearly, he was in charge and had total control. None of the wrestlers were recruits or transfers from Pennsylvania or another state.

“We were all Buccos,” said Phil Mary, a two-time PIAA champion and the current principal at Chartiers-Houston High School. “We came up through the system together.”

Mousetis, a WPIAL champion and PIAA runner-up in 1974 for Washington and a Southeastern Conference champion and All-American in 1977 for Kentucky, was hired to succeed Dave Cook – who left Chartiers-Houston for Canon-McMillan.

Mousetis had a bevy of standout wrestlers and his coaching style meshed with the Bucs’ attitude and desire to be great.

“I wanted them to be the best they could be,” Mousetis said. “Nobody beat us on conditioning. None of our guys were unbeatable but every one of them had a great attitude. I didn’t want any of my kids to fall short.”

The 1981-82 Bucs were not about to fall short.

Chartiers-Houston won three consecutive dual meets to open the season with wins over Fort Cherry, Elizabeth Forward and Keystone Oaks before losing to Shaler (27-21). The Bucs won seven straight, the most notable wins against Trinity (29-18), Washington (33-18), the eventual WPIAL Class AA champion, and Waynesburg (35-18).

The Bucs suffered their final loss of the season to North Allegheny (28-23), then reeled off eight consecutive dual meet wins including victories over Canon-McMillan (36-20), McGuffey (43-17) and Mt. Lebanon (40-12).

Chartiers-Houston defeated Hempfield in the WPIAL semifinals, 24-19, then Connellsville, 28-8, in the championship.

“We knew we belonged in Triple-A,” said Chris Mary. “Our (enrollment) numbers said we were Double-A. But Chartiers-Houston was a Triple-A wrestling program.

“We just peaked at the right time. We were healthy and tremendously coached. It was a talented and committed group of wrestlers. We were ready to win. That was our mindset.”

Vulcano, another team standout who became the Bucs’ winningest wrestler during his career, said Chartiers-Houston earned the respect of all teams around the WPIAL. He said it happened because of the hard work put in by everyone within the program.

“What we accomplished as a Double-A school in Triple-A wrestling is so meaningful,” Vulcano said. “Wrestling teaches you a lot of discipline and we had that. We earned the respect of others through working hard and having an excellent coach.

“Our competition in the (wrestling) room was better in some cases than what we saw on a lot of nights on the mat. There were guys in our practice room who could beat guys on varsity. You had to keep working and getting better not to lose your job.”

The acceptance of the rigor of the sport and the one-on-one nature of wrestling makes or breaks a participant. Mousetis said the Bucs of the early1980s embraced those truisms.

“A lot of kids can’t take the one-on-one battle that wrestling is,” Mousetis said. “It’s a controlled fight. You can’t point to anyone else. Those kids loved those battles.

“I can’t remember being disappointed in the effort of that group of kids.”

Bound together forever

Members of the 1981-1982 championship teams, other former Bucs wrestlers and others associated with the program held a 40-year reunion Feb. 5.

It was a celebration of the greatest era of wrestling in Chartiers-Houston history.

“From midgets to junior high and varsity, we had great coaches and great support,” Vulcano said. “We were coached by the likes of Jeff Paxton, Dave Day, Jim Neuman and Dave Cook. Then Timmy. How much better could you do than that?”

Chris Mary added that there was much reminiscing at the reunion and a lot of smiling and laughing.

“We had a lot of special moments back then,” Chris Mary said. “We were a great team. We have a lifelong bond because of the great moments and championships.

“Even those who were on the team but not big contributors take a lot of pride in it and rightly so. Those kind of relationships and shared experiences are forever.”

In addition to winning the PIAA and WPIAL championships, the 1982 Bucs won the Section 6 title and placed third in the California State College Tournament (now known as the Powerade Tournament).

The team’s WPIAL placewinners were Chris Mary (champion), Vulcano and Phil Mary (runnersup), and third-place finishers Kurt Kesneck and Bell.

Section champions were: The Marys, Vulcano, Bob Amon, Kesneck, Bell and Rob Castelli. Tim Gump was a runnerup.

Other team members included, starters Bill Woods, Mark Provenzano, Scott Byrd and Sam Avolia and reserves Barre Bell, Bill Marshall, Patsy Vulcano, Don Clendaniel, Phil Renko, Ebby Phillips, Rick Fabian and Jeff Engle.

Phil Mary, one of the organizers of the reunion, said seeing almost everyone together again made the event “special.”

“We grew up as friends and teammates,” he added. “We always had each other’s back. Even if you suffered a tough defeat, you’d get yourself together to root for the next guy.”

Two of the ancillary parts of the program and team then – Rich Hall, who is a longtime member of the school board and supporter of Chartiers-Houston wrestling, and George Lammay, a coaching volunteer to Mousetis in that era, said the reunion was a glimpse of a former time and era of wrestling.

“I enjoyed the reflection of those who spoke,” Lammay said. “It was a unique experience. To see what a group of talented young men was back then come together as men and express themselves was a great experience. They did what it took to win in that particular time in wrestling history in the state.”

Said Hall: “Those were great times for the kids, all the coaches who helped them in the youth program and the community. It was a wonderful time.”

Mousetis said the rollercoaster of emotions at the 1982 PIAA Championships made winning the state title more special than it normally is.

“The year before, we had two state champions (Phil Mary and Bell), a third and a fifth-place finisher. In ’82, we took those four kids to the semifinals. Phil advanced and won another state title. The other three (Chris Mary, Vulcano and Bell) lost tough semifinal bouts. It’s a testament to their ability, desire and toughness to come back and all three finish third. That is hard to do. It was amazing.

“Our kids always figured they were as good as anyone else. Sports demands a lot of time, effort and sacrifice. We had a special group of athletes and young men. They were willing to do anything we asked of them to give the team and themselves a chance to win.”