Nov 20, 2022 8 min read

Andy Retucci learned the value of hard work at a young age.

He lost his father when he was 10-years-old and he watched his mom, Josephine, labor in the cafeteria of the local junior high school in the Bethlehem-Center School District during the week and scrub floors in other homes during weekends.

It is how she provided for her children, made them dinner each day and a good life for them. She did a lot of heavy lifting to make it work for her family. Andy took notice. Work was essential in the Retucci way of life in Millsboro.

Andy learned about putting time into something and seeing the rewards in many ways.

His friends know him as a tireless worker, a man committed to whatever he is into, helping others and being focused on his passions.

“My mom,” he answered to the question about who he admired most and who taught him most.

“That was all hard work, that’s where I learned about it and understood it – from her,” Retucci said. “I saw what she did after losing a spouse and taking care of young kids 10- and 8-years old. I don’t think anyone can inspire you more than that. Everyone loved her and she did what she did every day with a smile on her face.”

The lifestyle both hardened and softened Andy Retucci.

He wanted to be a Beth-Center Bulldog. His efforts to be one as a football player, wrestler and a member of the track and field team started in junior high school.

It centered of his lifetime passion – lifting weights. That all made him physically and mentally strong. He lifted to be a better player. He lifted to be good. He lifted to be a champion.

Retucci eventually became a world champion weightlifter – a menacing power lifter and a king of the bench press.

Only in the small-school setting can a kid about 5-feet, 8 inches and 165 pounds be a mauler and a brawler as an offense guard and linebacker. Retucci was that.

He became a starter and vital member of Beth-Center’s undefeated WPIAL Class AA championship football team in 1975. Retucci was a better than average wrestler and he studied the sport and continues to follow it today.

He admittedly joined the track team because his football coach, Bill Connors, wanted him to participate in a spring sport. Retucci said it was a way to stay in shape. While Retucci gained a scholastic reputation and respect in football and wrestling, his most amazing athletic accomplishment would be achieved as a weightlifter – a power lifter.

He was not going to be denied. His determination and grit were the foundation of his athletic being.

“I’m proud of what I accomplished,” Retucci said. “I later (in life) coached with Bart (the late Don Bartolomucci) at Beth-Center. I ran the weight room and coached the junior high with (the late) Mike Bozick.

“I was proud to coach and help kids. We had a good response from them. I lifted alongside of them as I taught them.”

Retucci always strives to do things the right. When he decided to be a competitor in the World Natural Powerlifting Federation, he picked it because it was a non-steroid organization that required drug testing for its placewinners.

The nearly 64-year-old Retucci, a Houston resident, won the 2012 state, national and world powerlifting titles in his age division, 50-54, in the WNPF. That came after taking a nearly two-decade break from a full competition schedule.

As a younger man, he lifted into his late 20s and competed with varying degrees of success but stopped when his schedule got to be too burdensome. Much of his time was taken up working on his accounting degree at California University, which he finished in 1992.

“I got out of competitive lifting but continued to train five days a week,” Retucci said. “I always loved lifting. He returned to competition again when he turned 40 and chose the World Natural Powerlifting Federation because he wanted to be sure everyone was on the same level as him: free of any enhancements.

Retucci has always denounced using enhancements.

“Steroids are scary,” said Retucci. “I’ve seen young kids use them to get big, and it’s not going to last. The only way to retain true strength is to do it without steroids.

“I stayed away from. I don’t have health problems.”

The Retucci Legend

It all started on the Corazzi family’s back porch.

Retucci was 14-years-old. He lifted with his high school friends – Jeff Connors, the son of former Beth-Center, Ringgold and Belle Vernon football coach Bill Connors, and the late Mike Corazzi.

The trips he and Jeff Connors would take in later years to Tennessee for wight-lifting competitions were born on that porch.

“Andy was clean,” said Connors a power lifter and a former strength and conditioning coach in NCAA Division I athletics. “He had the body type (barrel chested), short arms, that meant he didn’t have to move the weight as far, the mentality and work ethic to be successful.

“He came to Mike’s porch after practice dayafter-day and he just worked. Andy was a guy with two feet in and 100 percent committed.

“He came from a tight family. His mom was revered and she made a great impression on him.”

Randy Miller was a 1975 graduate of Beth-Center, a year ahead of Retucci. The two were long-time friends.

“It all stems from the way he grew up,” Miller said. “His dad was a hard worker. His mom was tough as hell. She was a strong lady and Andy became a strong man at a young age.

“Physically, he had great strength as well. He had great upper body strength, He was great at bench pressing. Jeff pushed him and brought the best out of Andy.

“He was put together and he was an outstanding lineman. In wrestling, he could throw some guys around the mat. He could do damage with his arms.”

Jim Pritts was a teammate on the Beth-Center football team. He still marvels at Retucci’s abilities in the Bulldogs’ offensive attack, which featured counters, traps, deception, precision and grit. Retucci’s drive and determination started at home, Pritts said.

“Andy’s life has not been easy,” Pritts said. “He lost his father. Because of his mother, he had strong family roots. Andy worshiped his mom. He lost Mike and then lost his brother.

“He was proud to be a Bulldog and he pushed not only to make himself better but the teams he played for better. Andy was determined and gritty. He was not big but when he pulled and he go into a defensive end, he was into them.”

Pritts tells a story that clearly defines Retucci’s essence as a player and teammate. Beth-Center had advanced to the 1975 WPIAL semifinals against Beaver. The season was on the line. The Bulldogs’ hopes literally rested with the linemen.

“Andy was going up against a defensive tackle who was headed to Pitt, Ken Anderson,” Pritts explained. “Coach felt we should double-team Anderson because of his ability and decided size advantage.

“(Anderson) had a signature move, smashing his forearm up under the opposing lineman’s chin. Andy constantly went at him and went at it with him. He was doing such a good job in the first half, Leon Pagac (a former standout Bulldog player) told coaches from the press box that, ‘We didn’t have to double team (Anderson) anymore’ because of how Andy was doing against him.

“At one point, (Anderson) blasted his forearm up into Andy’s chin. Andy was bleeding. He never left the game. He kept attacking (Anderson). That was Andy. He wasn’t leavingthe fight. He would not leave his brothers’ sides. After we won and we’re filing onto the bus (Pagac) went on the bus, hugged Andy and told Andy what a great job he had done and how proud he was of him.

“That was the epitome of Andy Retucci.”

Once, Retucci benched pressed 225 pounds (his weight at the time) a record 39 times; in his 50s.

Retucci said the success he enjoyed in lifting “took a lot of time and dedication.”

He added: “I enjoyed each step.”

These days, Retucci continues his accounting and financial career working for Pinnacle Accounting after working for Bayer for several years. He also continues to hone his abilities and skills in making Italian food.

Earlier this year when the ’75 Beth-Center football team was inducted into the Washington-Greene Co. Chapter Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, one of the places where the team celebrated was Retucci’s home in Houston.

“He always cooks for us,” Pritts said. “He’s proud of his Italian cooking and he doesn’t hold back.”

Said Jeff Connors: “I always take a to-go container. It’s so good.”

Retucci won’t let his friends and teammates down in any way.

“I make homemade raviolis every time Jeff comes home,” Retucci said. “I had them over to my house before the Hall of Fame banquet.

“I try to make a batch of raviolis anytime one of them is in the area. I do it the old way – using my old pasta maker and the whole deal. It’s not exactly how my mother made them. I do try and keep her recipes alive, all of them. I lost my sisters year ago so I’m the only one left of my (immediate) family. I’m trying to teach the recipes to my nieces and nephews.”