There were no Alle-Kiski Valley teams involved in the recent WPIAL basketball championship games at Palumbo Center.
But that was far from the case 70 years ago.
In 1938, when the WPIAL consisted of only Class A for large schools and Class B for small schools, three of the four teams in the finals were from the Valley area. On March 10, 1938, Ford City defeated Har-Brack, 32-26, for Class A honors in the only time two local teams have ever played for a WPIAL basketball title. Verona won the Class B title with a 48-33 victory over Bellevue.
Both games were played at the Pitt Pavilion, a bandbox-style facility located underneath the grandstand at Pitt Stadium, and both championship teams had to win section tiebreakers simply to get into the WPIAL tournament.
The championship double-header housed 5,000 fans. Tickets had a face value of 70 cents, while scalpers outside the stadium were getting as much as $2 per ticket, a huge price during the final throes of the Depression.
In those days, only section winners entered the playoff brackets, and Ford City had to defeat Vandergrift after both teams ended the section season tied at 8-2. The Glassers, as Ford City was called then, defeated Vandergrift, 41-24, but the victory wasn't as easy as it sounded. Ford City's team bus was involved in an accident on Route 66 South near the Gable's Inn. Players were shaken up, but they had to wait for another bus to transport them to the Har-Brack gym for the tiebreaker game, which started 15 minutes late.
Har-Brack already had clinched its section crown outright with a 26-21 win over Ken High, where 1,000 fans somehow were crammed into its gym with outside temperatures dipping to 7 degrees. Har-Brack defeated a Donora team that included future baseball great Stan Musial to open the playoffs, while Ford City knocked off North Braddock Scott. In the semifinals, Har-Brack recorded a 46-33 victory over heavily favored McKeesport behind Clyde Allen's 19 points, while Ford City needed a buzzer-beater by Coley Jackson to nip New Castle, 32-31.
In the title game, Har-Brack held a 14-12 halftime lead, but Ford City came on strong and rolled to a 32-26 victory to win back-to-back WPIAL titles.
Verona lost its Section 19-B opener against a Springdale team that came into the contest with an 8-0 overall record. The Panthers collected a crucial, 31-17 victory over rival Oakmont on Jan. 25.
Ultimately, Verona had to defeat Etna, 27-23, at Wilmerding High School to break the section tie under first-year coach Clyde Clements. The Panthers collected a 33-30 victory over East Pittsburgh in the WPIAL quarterfinals, setting up a 38-26 romp over Rostraver Township in the semifinals.
Verona carried a 19-point performance by Don (Lefty) Miller to bring home the WPIAL title with a 48-32 triumph over Bellevue, just as workmen were putting the finishing touches on Allegheny River Boulevard.
