The "Super Team"

With the arrival of the crisp, invigorating month of October, the beauty of autumn surrounds us with it’s lovely leaves and brings back memories of Halloween trick or treating – as participants and again later as we relived the magic of make-believe ghosts and goblins through our children. In addition, and more central to the subject of this article, October is the month when high school football reaches it’s full stride and players realize that their pre-season dreams and expectations can still come true or that it is unlikely they will be fulfilled during the current season.

In the fall of 1946, sixty one years ago, ( can it really be that long? ), Coach Gerry Stigall and his Wellston football team were still in the running to do what no other Wellston team had ever done, or has done since; -- complete a perfect regular football season. (Although both were also truly outstanding, the1942 team lost to St. Charles and the 1950 team lost to University City in regular season games.)

The team’s success had not really come as a surprise. There was an air of excitement and expectation during the August pre-season practices. This was due in large part to the fact that this senior class had a number of excellent experienced athletes, like co-captains Bill Houston and Al Niewald, Phil Cortopassi, Morton Seymour, Don Kossman, Ray Robert, Phil Crowley, Al Berry, Bob Kemp, Fran O’Shaughnessy and Don Hammond. They were ably assisted by a number of capable underclassmen, including Juniors Bob Griener, Jim Currall, Leon Payton, Charles Oellerman and Richard Jennerjohn, and Sophomores Ed Glover, Levi Swindle and Bob Smith.

And there was an additional "wild card" in the mix, brought on by the end of World War II and the return to school of several ex-G.I.s who had joined the services prior to completing high school. Now, they were older and more mature and many of them chose to return to athletic competition until they graduated or their eligibility ran out.

Practically every high school had at least a few of these returnees, but Wellston was especially fortunate in the Trojan "men" who returned. They included Jack Keller, Wray Hambrick, Bill Harper, the afore-mentioned quarterback, Bob Grenier and, perhaps most important of all, triple threat star Aldo Rossini.

Other underclass team members, Al Lloyd, Jim Faulconer, Connie Grooms, Ken Hawkins, Dick Purviance, Russ Stagner, Vernon Taylor, George LaValle, Bill Voos, Roy Wren and Bob Ziegler, filled out the ranks, gaining valuable experience and the pride of being on a winning team while providing "cannon fodder" for the first team to practice against every day. When they had opportunities to go into actual games as substitutes, they generally found the going much easier than against the Wellston first team in their daily practices.

The person who organized, taught and inspired this team was Coach Gerald Stigall, the universally respected leader of the Wellston athletic program, who every Trojan player considered the best coach in the metropolitan area. He was ably assisted by new Wellston teacher and Assistant Coach Peter Palumbo.

Even before the actual season began these players had meshed into a unit that put the team before any individual player, but they were to undergo harsh challenges in the first two weeks of the 1946 season.

Although this "super team" went through the regular season undefeated, the first two games were extremely hard fought and the outcome was still in doubt until the end of each game. The first, on a hot September afternoon at Kirkwood High School, was a grueling defensive battle, with the Trojans finally prevailing 6-0. The second game, against Maplewood, ended in an identical 6-0 score in favor of Wellston.

At that point, the Trojan offense began to jell and to catch up with the already sterling defense, which, after having shut out opponents to this point, allowed only one touchdown to be scored against it for the entire regular season. That came on a blocked kick by a Webster team that was 33 points behind and playing largely against Trojan reserves.

After Webster, the Trojans beat a good Ritenour team 13-0 and followed that victory with a lopsided win over St. Charles 47-0, with the first four touchdowns made by Aldo Rossini, who scored on long runs every time he touched the ball.

Country Day fell next, 27-0, followed by Clayton, 33-0; both on rainy afternoons and soggy playing fields that helped keep the scores from being higher.

Team members garnered many honors for their sterling play throughout the season. Fullback Bill Houston received the James Gould trophy as the most valuable player in the district. (Former Wellston great, Eric Pellerin, also received this award in 1942.) Houston also was named to the St. Louis All-District Team, The Quarterbacks Club All-Star Team and the All County Team. Left end Fran O’Shaughnessy, left tackle Don Kossman and left guard Al Niewald were also named to the All County Team and the Quarterback Club All-Star Team.

Triple-treat back Aldo Rossini, whose eligibility ran out before the season ended, (because of the time he had spent in service during World War II), would certainly have been named to all-star teams had he been able to complete the season. However, he was singled out for special honor in recognition of his outstanding gridiron achievements.