The greatest basketball season in South Allegheny history ended on a sour note in a 60-51 loss to West Catholic in the PIAA 3A championship game Saturday. However, losing a championship game in which ...

Some time ago, a column in the Mon Valley Independent featured letters Stan Musial wrote back home, mainly from 1939-1946, to Joe Barbao. During that span, Musial was making sure to keep in touch with...

It’s finally one of my favorite days of the year. A day that SHOULD be a national holiday, where kids are off school, businesses are closed and we just all get to enjoy America’s pastime. It’s finally...

When Sally Phillips attended Donora High School, the attitude toward girls sports was almost as if organized interscholastic sports had a sign proclaiming “NO GIRLS ALLOWED.” Title IX was still severa...

Iremember vividly when Scott “Scooter” DeUnger wore the various uniforms of Charleroi’s baseball, football and basketball teams. He stood out to me from the rest of the players for various reasons. Th...

With ‘March Madness’ about to get into high gear, here’s a little food for thought: • This is the time of the year I’m so thrilled to be retired. March Madness and the NCAA Tournament. I can remember ...

WPYFL president Bill Spencer tendered his resignation March 11. The largest youth football league in Pennsylvania is part of a police probe as officers investigate accusations of financial impropriety...

Editor’s note: We are rerunning Part 1 of our Sports Stew feature on Charleroi’s John Hostetler. Below is Part 2. John “Hoss” Hostetler was featured in a 2021 MVI story, but his story is so rich, ther...

Part 1 of the Hostetler story featured him discussing select Charleroi High stars. He continued, moving on to the highly successful Jeff Petrucci. “I didn’t see too much of him during my senior year b...

By now, sports fans throughout the tristate area are aware of the wild melee that broke out during Friday night’s Uniontown-Meadville PIAA playoff game. With just over three minutes to play and Meadvi...

After a few days off I still find myself struggling to get back into the swing of things. It’s First Pitch time, we have new basketball champions and we’re about 8 days away from the start of baseball...

John Kukrak remembers that day in 1995 perfectly. He was in his driveway washing his vehicle when his neighbor and friend, Nick Mahalko, pulled up. Mahalko had been the scorekeeper for Monessen’s boys...

He’s in three area halls of fame for his achievements at Beth-Center, Ringgold and Belle Vernon Area. Billy Connors passed away this week, and a look back at his career vividly testifies to what a ric...

a little food for thought to help Here’s start your week: • Over the many years of his legendary coaching career, Joe Salvino and I had this little moment we used to enjoy. Often times, when I was int...

Here we go again with more parent drama plaguing a successful athletic program in the Mon Valley. And while the Frazier wrestling program has seen a lot of success since it’s creation in 2015, it’s se...

After a weekend of wondering if we needed to build an ark, let’s start the new week off with some food for thought: • There has been a lot of talk about whether the Steelers should trade key players l...

There’s a lot to process when looking through the WPIAL playoff brackets when it comes to our local teams. Needless to say, it was a pretty good season for our Valley teams. Out of the 30 in the Mon V...

In a recent Sports Stew some Valley stars who played for the Steelers were featured. In all, 10 players from our area have worn the black and gold of the Steelers. At least one appeared in each decade...

They just don’t make ‘em like Joe Salvino anymore. The veteran basketball coach announced last week his 41st season as a head coach at Monessen and Belle Vernon Area would be his last. As someone who ...

Now that the so-called “Big Game” is behind us, it is time locally for the real big games to start … high school basketball playoffs. In honor of one of my favorite times of the year, here’s a little ...