Mapletown’s Zaleski played on two undefeated teams
Charley Zaleski is shown during his football playing days at Air Force Academy.
Charley Zaleski wrestled for the Air Force Academy.
It is an accomplishment to play on one undefeated team in an athletic career. Former Mapletown High School football and wrestling standout Charley Zaleski played on two undefeated teams in his career, one in high school and one in college.
Zaleski was the son of longtime Mapletown football, basketball and baseball coach Joe Zaleski. He played football and wrestled his sophomore year at Mapletown in 1953. The football squad posted a record of 1-7, the lone win was 33-0 over East Washington.
鈥淲e won our last game of the season,鈥� Zaleski recalled. 鈥淚n wrestling I was only able to wrestle in three matches. I hurt my back, my lower back went out and that became a chronic thing for me and I finally got over it. In college it didn鈥檛 bother me at all.鈥�
Zaleski played his junior season at Gainesville, Fla. High School. The Hurricanes were undefeated that season and won the conference championship.
鈥淎t Gainesville High School I played right guard,鈥� Zaleski explained. 鈥淲e were unbeaten, I didn鈥檛 wrestle because they did not have a wrestling program. My Dad needed to get a masters degree to get a raise and he picked the place with the best fishing, also my grandad was living in Key West, Fla. We spent the holidays in Key West fishing and in Gainesville they had these potholes filled with water and we鈥檇 catch bass. It was the best fishing year of my life.
鈥淎fter my Dad got his degree we moved back, but not to Pennsylvania. My Dad coached and taught at Mapletown, but we moved back to Morgantown, W.Va. He had played for West Virginia and was a big star for the Mountaineers, he graduated from WVU in 1935, he played football, baseball and track. He was also a boxer. I played my senior season at University High School.鈥�
University High had a so-so season 1955, but Zaleski garnered a first team position on the All-Northern West Virginia football team. He also was the state wrestling champion in the unlimited weight class.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have a very good record in football,鈥� Zaleski stated. 鈥淚t didn鈥檛 take much to win the state championship in wrestling. I didn鈥檛 lose any matches, but I didn鈥檛 think the competition was very fierce either.鈥�
Zaleski wound up going to the Air Force Academy and that is an interesting story.
鈥淢y Dad was in the Navy,鈥� Zaleski explained. 鈥淗e said if you go to the Naval Academy it is free. My Mother said the newspaper editor Bill Hart at the Dominion News and Morgantown Post owed our West Virginia family a favor for an unknown reason, and arranged my appointment to the USAFA. I took a test for the Air Force Academy, there were thousands of guys taking the test for 300 spots, but in West Virginia nobody even heard of the new Air Force Academy, so I didn鈥檛 have much competition and I took the test and got in. I was a part of the first class at the Academy.鈥�
Zaleski played football and wrestled for the Falcons.
鈥淚 was being considered as a tackle and at first and I was wearing number 77 instead of my right guard number 64, which I wore all four years as the first team right guard and played middle guard on defense. I was co-captain of the team for two years; once with our All American Tackle, number 75, Brock Strom; and once with our fullback, number 34, Larry Thomson. Brock was the sole captain our senior year, because that is how Coach Ben Martin wanted it.鈥�
Air Force Academy football started from humble beginnings, but that first class at the academy went on to accomplish great things. Here is an excerpt from a 缅北禁地 Illustrated article 鈥榯he United States Air Force Academy, trotted 55 strong to play its first game ever. The place was not Soldier Field but the cleat-scarred, dust-slaked University of Denver stadium. The opposition was not Army but a bumbling if willing band of U. of D. frosh and the crowd 鈥� while a respectable 17,785 鈥� would hardly have filled one end zone at the Army-Navy game. Only the score gave a hint of the future: Air Force 34, Denver Frosh 18.
鈥楾he academy had fielded a hand-picked team 鈥� all-state high school stars from the fertile football fields of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, sprinting stars from the West Coast, and lanky, sure-handed tacklers and pass-receivers from Texas and Dixie. It was probably the only freshman football team in history to have an ex-professional football coach as tutor 鈥� the incomparable Buck Shaw whom the San Francisco 49ers wish they had back.'鈥�
That first game was October 8, 1955, playing freshman squads the Falcons posted a record of 4-4. In 1956 they went 6-2-1, they were 3-6-1 in 1957. In 1958 that first class that entered the academy in 1955 produced a 9-0-1 regular season record and then battled to a 0-0 tie with TCU in the Cotton Bowl.
鈥淲e were undefeated our senior year,鈥� Zaleski said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e never had another undefeated season. We had Rich Mayo a sophomore at quarterback and an All American tackle Strom. Ben Martin came into coach my senior year and he did a great job. The tie during the season was against a great Iowa team in the second game of the year. We had played together so long that we had the perfect storm that senior season.鈥�
Zaleski was also a top notch wrestler for the Falcons. He won the first championship medal ever won by a USAFA cadet. He won the Rocky Mountain AAU Wrestling Tournament, at 177 pounds, at Laramie, Wyo., in the winter of 1956. Zaleski was the captain of the wrestling team all four years.
When he graduated in 1959 Zaleski, Strom and Thomson had their first assignment in the Air Force as MIT grad students in Astronautics.
鈥淥ur USAFA dean of faculty bragged about the quality of the education at the USAFA by saying, 鈥業f my football players can get thru MIT, what do you think my students can do!'鈥�, Zaleski said.
Zaleski served in Air Force until 1965. He worked at Hughes Aircraft until 1969. Then he started in sales with Connecticut General Life Insurance Co. for 10 years, then 10 years with Penn Mutual, 10 years with Northwest Mutual and now works for Mass Mutual. He is retiring on November 15, 2014.
Now 76, Zaleski lives in Palos Verdes, Calif. with his second wife, Pat. Zaleski has three children, two daughters, Kelly and Kristin, and a son, Mike. He has six grandchildren.
鈥淚 loved athletics and grandchildren,鈥� Zaleski said.
George Von Benko鈥檚 鈥淢emory Lane鈥� column appears in Monday editions of the 缅北禁地. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.