Mark Rinkus, of the Hazleton Soccer Club, was a member of the Greater Pocono Mountain Soccer League all-stars who played a team from Fulda, West Germany, at Wyoming Valley West Stadium in 1980.
Times Leader file photo
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Soccer wasn’t even in its infancy locally in 1980. In fact, it wasn’t even close to being born.
The Wyoming Valley Conference was a few years away from a boys soccer league. A girls league was a decade away. Yet, that didn’t prevent a group of area players from taking on a team from West Germany.
An all-star team from the Greater Pocono Mountain Soccer League accepted the challenge to play a squad from Fulda, West Germany, in an exhibition game at Wyoming Valley West stadium. The hastily formed team didn’t stand a chance as Fulda won 14-2.
“They are good players but not a team,” Fulda coach Eberhard Strott said.
The local all-stars included players from the Back Mountain Soccer Club, the Hazleton Soccer Club and Pittston Soccer Club. The Greater Pocono Mountain Soccer League was in its first year. John Isaac coached the team.
Sal D’Amico, of Pittston, scored one goal. Dave Moore, of Back Mountain, had the other goal. A pair of Hazleton keepers – Frank Forte and Chris Kokinda – made some excellent saves, but the team could not hold off Fulda. Fulda led 4-0 less than 20 minutes into the game.
1955
Luzerne’s Rocky Castellani lost a split decision to Sugar Ray Robinson at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Castellani was the No. 1 contender in the middleweight division. Robinson was a former champ who was in his fifth boxing match after taking nearly three years off to pursue an entertainment career.
One judge and the referee scored the fight 56-54 in favor of Robinson. The other judge gave the fight to Castellani 56-54.
Castellani knocked down Robinson in the sixth round with a left-right combination to the head. Robinson got off the canvas when the count reached six.
Castellani boxed from 1944-57, finishing with a record of 69-14-4 according to boxrec.com, although another website had him with 65 wins. He boxed several times at Madison Square Garden.
1962
Duryea hurt Dupont’s chances at a championship with a 3-0 victory in Suburban League baseball.
Tom Brown hit a three-run homer to account for all the runs. Winning pitcher Ivan Tylawski threw a one-hitter and struck out 11.
1979
John Szela was appointed the first-ever men’s basketball coach at College Misericordia. He would also work in the admission’s office as the college attempted to increase male enrollment.
Szela graduated Dallas in 1969 and played four years of varsity basketball.
1983
Tim Richmond won the pole for the NASCAR Winston Cup Like Cola 500 at Pocono International Raceway. Harry Gant qualified second.
2006
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers had a new quarterback but the same result. The local af2 team lost for a fourth consecutive time, 55-34 at Quad City. The Pioneers fell to 8-7 in a game that had Tyre Young and Leroy McFadden ejected.
To make matters worst, Quad City was quarterbacked by former WBS starter Tim Hicks. Hicks, who started for the Pioneers in 2014, torched his old team for 320 yards and six touchdowns. He also ran for a TD.