West Virginia daily

In the past, there have been requests on such varied topics as trolley cars, steamboats, locks and dams, the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie railroad, Jones & Laughlin Steel, the labor movement, and the histories of West Aliquippa, Coraopolis, Woodlawn, Hopewell Township and other areas of Beaver County.

I've mentioned the recent one from Matt Allego, who is writing a book about the 1943 merger of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles, the team known as the Steagles that year.

Within the last year, Sam Allen from the Research Center for Beaver County and Local History in Beaver Falls called to tell me he had inquiries from a man in New York, Mark Kriegle, who was writing a book about Aliquippa native and star athlete Press Maravich.

He told Kriegle to contact me, which he did. I suggested that he call other people, one of whom was Larry Maravich, Press' cousin who played basketball with him on various teams, especially with the Aliquippa Serbs.

I also suggested that he contact Joe Pukach, who played for Press at Davis & Elkins College in West Virginia and also was an assistant coach with him at Aliquippa High School. Pukach is also a close family friend and helped Press' son, the late "Pistol Pete" Maravich, conduct basketball camps in various locales in the East.

Another name given to him was Pete "Pecky" Suder, who played with Press in high school. They were both recruited by the blooming mill department of J&L Steel as players on their mill basketball team that won championships around 1935 to 1937.

Suder went on to a baseball career, playing 12 years as a second baseman in the American League for the Philadelphia Athletics. He and his infield teammates, shortstop Eddie Joost and first baseman Ferris Fain, hold the Major League record for double plays turned in a season: 217 in 1949. And that was when teams played 154 games.

I'm surprised that New Yorker Kriegle is interested in writing the book about Press, who had a great career as a player, coach, father of the famous "Pistol Pete" and one of the best minds in basketball. He wrote a number of books on the subject of basketball himself and is considered one of the foremost innovators of the game.

Kriegle recently called again and wanted some clarification on the bitterness between Maravich's high school coach, Nate Lippe, and Ambridge legend Moe Rubenstein. I sent him a copy of an article I wrote about the two in 2001 that contained the photo showing them as teammates on the 1925 Geneva College basketball team.

The reason behind their deep-seated hatred is an even better story. Both were courting the same woman, and, depending on whom you talk to, either Rubenstein or Lippe emerged as the successful suitor and married the sought-after damsel. The bitterness continued until their deaths.

This is cache, read story here