Early agate
ON THIS DATE
Nov. 7
1942 – President E.A. Lucas announces that the Washington Redbirds minor league baseball team’s board of directors voted to leave the Penn State League and the team’s affiliation with the St. Louis Cardinals will not be renewed. In the Redbirds’ last season, the team reported deficits in finances as its attendance dropped to 17,486 for the season, down from 70,944 in 1939.
1950 – Branch Rickey agrees to a five-year contract to be general manager and executive vice president of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
1952 – Washington High School completes its first undefeated regular season in football since 1931 by defeating Donora 38-0 at Wash High Stadium. Frank Bonus runs for two touchdowns, including a 74-yarder in the first quarter.
1958 – Waynesburg defeats California 20-0 to complete the Raiders’ first undefeated and untied regular season.
1958 – Angelo Ferrari scores on touchdown runs of 45, 30 and 30 yards as Avella defeats visiting Weirton Madonna 27-0 for the Eagles’ second consecutive undefeated regular season.
1952 – Cumberland Township scores four second-half touchdowns and defeats Glassport 41-12 to finish the regular season undefeated. Larry Krutko scores three touchdowns and kicks four extra points.
1975 – Kevin Bailey and Barry Stotka each score two touchdowns as Beth-Center defeats Peters Township, 34-13, in the first round of the WPIAL Class AA playoffs at South Park.
1981 – Otto Birkhead rushes for a season-high 160 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown, and Waynesburg College sacks Cal State quarterback Chuck Colborn six times as the Yellow Jackets edge the Vulcans, 7-3, at College Field.
1984 – Senior forward Kory Sensky scores three goals and Trinity defeats Erie Prep, 3-0, on a muddy field at Fairview High School in the first round of the PIAA soccer playoffs.
1985 – The Pittsburgh Pirates hire Syd Thrift as their new general manager. The 53-year-old Thrift, a real estate agent in Fairfax, Va., has been out of baseball for nearly a decade. Thrift, a Pirate scouting supervisor from 1957 to 1968, headed the Kansas City Royals’ now-defunct Baseball Academy from 1969 until 1972 then headed the Oakland A’s minor league operations until he left baseball and entered the real estate business in 1976.
1986 – B.J. McClay kicks a 20-yard field goal with 5:21 remaining to give Trinity a 10-7 victory over visiting Derry in the first round of the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs. It’s the first playoff win in Trinity’s football history.
1987 – Pat Aigner passes for 229 yards and two touchdowns as Washington & Jefferson defeats John Carroll 24-3 to cap its first undefeated and untied regular season since 1921.
1988 – The Pittsburgh Pirates hire Larry Doughty as their general manager.
1993 – Chip Sheffield runs for 177 yards and three touchdowns, and Waynesburg College stops a two-point conversion with less than two minutes left, as the Yellow Jackets upset previously undefeated Frostburg State 24-22.
1998 – Peters Township’s Sarah Riske wins her second straight PIAA girls tennis championship by defeating Kristen Nowicki of Greensburg Salem, 6-0, 6-4, in the finals.
2003 – The most successful season for a Washington County volleyball team ends as Beth-Center loses matches to Conneaut Lake and Reading Central Catholic in pool play at the PIAA Class A Championships at Shippensburg.
Nov. 8
1958 – Cal State Teachers, the only undefeated and untied college football team in Pennsylvania, defeats Edinboro 13-0 behind two touchdowns by freshman Phil Clifford.
1975 – Bill McKenzie’s 38-yard field goal with no time left on the clock rallies West Virginia to a 17-14 upset over arch-rival Pitt at Mountaineer Field.
1976 – Undefeated Pitt is ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press college football poll after previous No. 1 Michigan is upset by Purdue, 16-14, two days earlier.
1980 – Rick Hribal scores on a pair of one-yard runs and Mike Rumancik has a 58-yard touchdown as visiting Carmichaels defeats Serra Catholic, 20-18, in the first round of the WPIAL Class A playoffs.
1981 – Pittsburgh’s Franco Harris becomes the third player in NFL history to rush for 10,000 career yards and Terry Bradshaw throws a 90-yard touchdown pass to backup quarterback Mark Malone, but Seattle overcomes an 18-point deficit to beat the Steelers, 24-21, at The Kingdome.
1985 – Despite 219 rushing yards and two touchdowns by McGuffey’s Kirk Stillmark, Swissvale spoils the Highlanders’ WPIAL football playoff debut, 18-14.
1986 – Alan Duda scores two breakaway goals during a three-minute stretch and Peters Township defeats Sewickley Academy 3-0 in the PIAA boys soccer quarterfinals at rain-soaked Mt. Lebanon Stadium.
1988 – A first-quarter goal by sophomore Kevin Ringling is all Peters Township needs as the Indians defeat Sewickley Academy 1-0 in the WPIAL Class AA soccer championship match at Bethel Park.
1991 – Paul Coffey breaks the NHL career mark for goals by a defenseman by scoring in the second period of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 3-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets. Coffey’s 311th career goal breaks the mark set by Denis Potvin, who had 310 for the New York Islanders.
2007 – Quarterback Pat White runs 50 yards for a touchdown with 1:36 left to give No. 6 West Virginia a 38-31 win over Louisville.