Mar 18, 2021 4 min read

March 19

1938 – The finals of the first PIAA Wrestling Championships are held at Penn State’s Rec Hall. Canonsburg’s George Custer (95) and Philip Ahwesh (185) win individual titles.

1943 – Sammy Angott of Washington wins a 10-round decision over featherweight champion Willie Pep in a non-title boxing match at Madison Square Garden. The loss drops Pep’s record to 62-1.

1955 – Trinity puts four wrestlers into the finals and wins two state titles in the PIAA Championships at Penn State. The Hillers’ Ronald Taggert (112) defeats Shamokin’s Ralph Littleberry, 2-1, and Trinity’s Bill Gallo edges Clearfield’s Russ Triponey, 4-3. Canonsburg’s Nick Dano (185) also wins a title, beating Muncy’s Don Baylor, 4-0.

1955 – Dick Ricketts and Si Green combine for 56 points to lead Duquesne to a 70-58 triumph over Dayton in the NIT championship.

1958 – Jim Chacko makes a free throw with three seconds remaining to give Charleroi a 46-45 victory over Washington in the WPIAL Class basketball championship game at the Pitt Field House. A potential game-winning basket by Washington’s Don Ferrell is negated after being ruled it came after time expired.

1960 – Waynesburg wins its second straight team title in the Southwest Regional wrestling tournament at Washington High School. The Raiders have two champions, Bill Lapping at 103 pounds and Tom Baily at 133. Trinity had the most champions with three: Jerry Lattimore (88), George Reese (138) and Nick Stellavato (165).

1977 – Trinity’s Ken Evans wins his second state wrestling title with a 6-4 decision over Bob Siar of Shaler in the Class AAA 132-pound title bout in the PIAA Championships held at Penn State. Evans is Trinity’s first back-to-back state champion in 23 years.

1973 – Don Clendaniel, who guided Chartiers-Houston to four WPIAL football championships, is hired as head coach at Washington.

1979 – Jeff Hostetler scores 27 points and Conemaugh Township defeats cold-shooting Bentworth 65-54 in the PIAA Class A Western Region semifinals at Altoona.

1979 – Bill Connors, who built Beth-Center’s football program into one of the best in Class AA, leaves the Bulldogs to become head coach at Ringgold.

1983 – Canon-McMillan’s Craig Dellasoro decisions Saucon Valley’s Sean Finkbeiner 3-1 to win the Class AAAA 132-pound title at the PIAA Wrestling Championships.

1988 – Darrin Walls scores 30 points and Harold Hamlin has 18 as Waynesburg College routs Dordt (Iowa), 87-66, to advance to the NAIA basketball tournament’s Final Four at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City.

1988 – Avella’s Ryna Sella wins the PIAA Class AA 98-pound wrestling championship with a 5-1 overtime victory over Chris Rickard of North Schuylkill in the finals.

1994 – Four area wrestlers – McGuffey Jeremy Hunter (103) and Canon-Mac’s Keilan O’Daniel (16) in Class AAA and Jefferson-Morgan’s Travis Makel (130) and Chartiers-Houston’s Corey Walker (heavyweight) in Class AA – win state titles at the PIAA Championships In Hershey. It is the second state title for Hunter.

1994 – Jen and Melissa Guna each score 11 points, and Peters Township ends the game on a 9-3 run, to defeat Seton-La Salle 43-41 in the PIAA Class AAA quarterfinals at Chartiers Valley.

2001 – After guiding Peters Township’s boys basketball program to 11 postseason appearances in 13 seasons, head coach Rick Bell leaves to take the same job at Canon-McMillan.

2005 – Mike Gansey scores 29 points, including 19 in the extra periods, as West Virginia overcomes a double-digit deficit to upset second-seeded Wake Forest, 111-105, in double overtime in an NCAA basketball tournament game in Cleveland.

2011 – Butler upsets top-seeded Pitt, 71-70, in one of the wackiest finishes in NCAA tournament history. After Butler’s Andrew Smith gives Butler the lead with 2.2 seconds to go, Shelvin Mack inexplicably runs into Pitt’s Gilbert Brown as Brown tries a half-court desperation heave. Brown makes the first free throw to tie the score at 70 but misses the second, and Howard grabs the rebound only to be fouled even more inexplicably by Nasir Robinson with 0.8 seconds left.