Apr 4, 2015 1 min read

Doug Narigon wrote a letter (March 22) suggesting Catholic schools have their own classification in PIAA athletics. He assumed Catholic schools choose the athletes who attend those schools.

I attended Pittsburgh Central Catholic and saw no recruiting from our parochial school. As a student we had two choices, Penn Hills or Central Catholic, which in the 1960s were both good schools. At Central, I found most other students (all male) lived in the city of Pittsburgh and their choice was either Central or a city school. Even then, city schools were poor choices and a better education was available at Central. Admission to Central required passing an entrance exam and Central was only allowed to accept students from a specific area, not the entire Pittsburgh region. We had poor facilities, no pool, no football stadium and no transportation system. Most of the students at Central were not good athletes but were good students. Not one student-athlete from my elementary school who was accepted at Central ever played a varsity sport.

I am willing to bet that Mr. Narigon is a school-choice supporter when it suits him, but he missed the point here.

George Dawes

Washington