Pappasergi hired to guide Charleroi athletics

A Charleroi staple, Bruno Pappasergi was hired as the district’s athletic director Tuesday.

When Ashley Abbott left her job as the athletic director at Charleroi to return home to a similar post at Conneaut High School, Charleroi was left without an AD for the first time in three years.

The district turned to a longtime employee with deep roots and reached out to Bruno Pappasergi, who was hired by the school board Tuesday by a 7-0 vote with one abstention.

“The district called me and I’m not sure they wanted to get a teacher to take the job and maybe have to pull that person out of the classroom,” said Pappasergi. “Superintendent Dr. (Ed) Zelich encouraged me to take the job. After talking it over with my family, I accepted it.”

Pappasergi, 69, was given a three-year contract. Financial terms were not available.

Pappasergi is no stranger at Charleroi, where he has been retired as a teacher and has been part of the baseball coaching staff since 1984. He also served as the game announcer during football season for many years.

He is gearing up for his 50th season as a basketball coach in a career that included stops at Mon Valley Catholic, Charleroi, California and now at South Park, where he is part of his son Chad’s staff.

While he will be giving up the announcing gig, he will continue as a basketball assistant at South Park.

“That was one of the stipulations of taking the (AD) job,” he said. “I truly enjoy coaching with my son and we have a good thing going at South Park. Dr. Zelich and the board were very receptive to my concerns and said when there is a schedule conflict and I can’t be at our game, there will be a game manager in charge.

“Really, I’m blessed to have some fine people at Charleroi to work for and with.”

Pappasergi has never been an AD before, but he said he had seen how “some of the good ADs went about their business,” citing past area ADs Lee Hall, Phil Pergola, Bill Wiltz, Chris Minerd and South Park’s current AD Pat Colligan.

“I’ve really been picking the brains of Chris Minerd, who is at Waynesburg, and Pat Colligan,” he said. “Those two and Dr. Zelich have really been a huge help to me.

“It’s a job I’ve never done before, but I’m pretty confident I can do it.”

He paused for a moment and said, “I never realized how intricate the job was until I started to dig into it. But I have a good support system.”

He praised the help he has received from the district as various secretaries had already begun working on schedules and buses for the upcoming school year.

“Like I said, there are some great staff employees at Charleroi,” he said. “I’m blessed for that.”

He also praised Abbott for the job she did at Charleroi before leaving at the end of the recent school year.

“I can understand her wanting to go back home,” he said. “She did a terrific job here and I can only hope to fill her shoes adequately.”

His first official task as athletic director will come this evening when he meets with all of the district’s coaches in the Alumni Room.

“I’ve been trying to get acquainted with the coaches I didn’t know very well going in and (today’s) meeting will allow them to understand what I expect and how we are going to work together to do things at Charleroi.

“It should be a good meeting. I’m actually kind of excited.”

He said the only drawback about taking the post is giving up the football announcing job.

“I really enjoyed that,” he said. “I did it a long time and my wife, Elaine, was my spotter in the press box. It’s something I always looked forward to. But when the district called me about my interest in this job, well … I’ve always had a problem saying ‘no’ when it comes to the kids of this district.”