"Wherever you go, if you say you are from Waynesburg, people will remember the Waynesburg Mohawks," said Bob Marraccini, one of the athletes who graduated from Waynesburg High School.
The Waynesburg Mohawk basketball team went to state seven times, and the team, along with the school's football and baseball teams, won many county championships throughout the years. That is the reason the Mohawks are known throughout the area. It is also the reason why the basketball team is still listed in the Ohio High School Athletic Association's list of top teams in the state.
To commemorate the Mohawk's success in sports and to remember the glory days of Waynesburg High School, the newly-formed Waynesburg Area Historical Society recently set up a night to videotape the athletes, cheerleaders and band members of the past.
Past Mohawk basketball players who attended included members of the 1951-52 basketball team, which was the last to advance to state. They were Don DelCorso, Don Gruber, Ervin Carpenter and Andy Marko, who was an assistant to coach Water Headley. That Mohawk team took an undefeated record into the Class A semifinal game of the state finals before losing 45-43 to Nelsonville.
Interesting article...I grew up 15 minutes from Waynesburg in Carroll County and would drive through it on my way to Canton. Waynesburg is now part of the Sandy Valley School District.
That was my senior year in high school at Gallipolis Gallia Academy.
Nelsonville's Greyhounds won the Southeastern Ohio Athletic hardwood title that year under Coach Lowell Cole.
If I remember correctly, NHS finished last or next to last in the then eight-team SEOAL during the 1950-51 campaign.
But Dick Hubbard and company went on to advance the the title game that year, losing to Lockland Wayne High School out of the Cincinnati area.
Hubbard later played at OU, then became a banker in the Nelsonville area. He also was a member of the SEOAL Radio and Sportswriters Association, broadcasting Greyhound athletic contests until NHS consolidated with Buctel-York to form Nelsonville-York.
The Greyhounds were a charter member of the SEOAL, and ater consolidation, remained a league member for three years before joining the Tri-Valley Conference.
Although NHS was tough in basketball and baseball while a member of the SEOAL, the Greyhounds never could compete on even terms in football except 1929 and 1955.
After joining the TVC, Nelsonville-York has won numerous league crowns and state championships in football. The last year NHS was in the SEOAL in 1967, I believe they won the state baseball title.
One of Nelsonville's greatest grid wins was an 18-14 shocker over GAHS in the first league game of the 1949 campaign, wrecking the Blue Devils three-year 21 game winning streak and 14 straight SEOAL wins. It was a revenge win as the Blue Devils piled up an 86-0 win over the Hounds in the final game of the 1948 season.