Early agate
ON THIS DATE
Feb. 18
1965 – The Trinity High School wrestling team edges Waynesburg 27-18 to finish the season with a 14-0 record. Undefeated Ray Day (112 pounds) wins by fall for the Hillers.
1972 – Mapletown clinches the Section 22-C basketball championship with a 48-46 victory at Fairchance-Georges. Four of Mapletown’s five starters score in double figures, led by Denny McIntire with 13 points.
1972 – Muhammad Ali jabs and shuffles his way past four opponents in an exhibition before 6,400 at the Civic Arena. The bouts were staged as a preliminary to an American Basketball Association game between the Pittsburgh Condors and New York Nets.
1976 – Bill Tornabene, who guided Peters Township to the WPIAL Class AA football playoffs, resigns as the Indians’ head coach to become offensive line coach at Virginia Military Institute.
1978 – Despite a WPIAL playoff-record 49 points by Immaculate Conception’s John Abel, Burgettstown defeats the Comets 83-75 behind 29 points from Harry Pappas.
1982 – McGuffey’s Bobbi Belleville scores 18 points, including the 1,000th of her career, as the Highlanders defeat Avella 59-37.
1990 – San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana is named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for 1989.
1995 – Canon-McMillan and Jefferson-Morgan both win their fifth WPIAL wrestling team tournament championship. Canon-Mac defeats Section 5 rival McGuffey 37-12 in the Class AAA final, and J-M becomes the first Class AA team with five titles by defeating West Allegheny 46-12.
1997 – Rich Tranquill converts a rare four-point play with 27 seconds remaining to give Avella the lead and the Eagles upset Monessen 52-51 in the first round of the WPIAL Class A basketball playoffs at Trinity High School.
2001 – Dale Earnhardt, the greatest stock car star of his era, is killed in a crash on the last turn of the last lap of the Daytona 500. Earnhardt’s teammate, Michael Waltrip, wins the race.
2011 – Josh Valentic scores 34 points and 13th-seeded Trinity dominates in a 54-26 victory over Mount Pleasant in the preliminary round of the WPIAL Class AAA basketball playoffrs at Belle Vernon.
2012 – In a WPIAL boys basketball playoff game that was unusual even before it bag, Peters Township overcomes a digit-digit deficit and upsets Woodland Hills 61-45 at California University’s Convocation Center. The game starts 46 minutes late becase the Woodland Hills bus driver made a wrong turn. In the foruth quarter, Woodland Hills’ Shakim Alonzo runs onto the court from the Wolverines’ bench and slugs PT’s Gabe Pritz, who would score a game-high 30 points. The fourth quarter includes five technical fouls, two ejections and 24 free throws attempted by Peters Township.
Feb. 19
1952 – Washington High School wins its 21st consecutive basketball game and finishes the regular season undefeated by beating Trinity 86-32. John Riser scores 24 points for Wash High.
1966 – Trinity wins its first section basketball championship by defeating Washington 44-36 to bag the Section 5 title. Joe Lynch scores 18 points for the Hillers.
1966 – Joe Paterno is hired as the 14th head football coach at Penn State, one day after Rip Engle retired as the Nittany Lions’ coach.
1973 – Hayden Buckley, an assistant at West Virginia, is named head football coach and athletic director at Waynesburg College.
1977 – California State’s Bill DePaoli remains undefeated by decisioning defending champion Pete Morelli of Clarion 6-4 in the 118-pound final at the Pennsyvania Conference wrestling tournament.
1977 – Norm Nixon scores 29 points and Duquesne upsets 15th-ranked Detroit 95-88 in double overtime at the Civic Arena. Detroit, coached by Dick Vitale, has its record drop to 22-2.
1980 – Michael Seibert of Washington and Judy Blumberg finish seventh in the ice dancing competition at the Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, N.Y.
1985 – Undefeated Washington (21-0) extends its basketball winning streak to 48 games and clinches the Section 18-AA-A title with an 85-49 victory over visiting Bentworth. Tony Ellis scores 20 points for the Prexies.
1992 – The Pittsburgh Penguins acquire Rick Tocchet, Kjell Samuelsson, Ken Wregget and a draft pick from the Philadelphia Flyers for Mark Recchi, Brian Benning and a draft pick. The Penguins also trade Paul Coffey to the Los Angeles Kings for Brian Benning, Jeff Chychrun and a first-round draft choice.
1994 – West Greene heavyweight Dude Bennington decisions Southmoreland’s Jason Hawse 8-5 in the match’s final bout to give the Pioneers a 27-24 victory in the WPIAL Class AA Team Tournament championship at Charleroi.
1996 – Avella pulls off the biggest upset so far in the WPIAL boys basketball playoffs, defeating Cornell 70-60 in a Class A first-round game at Trinity High School. Rich Tranquill and Shaun Sweder each score 18 points for the Eagles.
2000 – Beth-Center’s Malissa Mort becomes the first female wrestler to advance to the WPIAL Championships with a 7-6 decision over Brownsville’s Brian Gildea in the 125-pound consolation finals of the Section 3 and 4 tournament at West Greene High School.