Four share spotlight with Valley Golden Panthers

(Editor’s Note: During these unprecedented times, the sports staff at the MVI will republish stories from the Valley Independent archives.)

By BRIAN HERMAN
Sports Editor
Sherm Brizzi, Babbie Flock, Ray Weatherspoon and Aldo Bartolotta.
They shared the spotlight at the second annual Mon Valley Pitt Golden Panthers Saturday night at Peasant Village Restaurant in Rostraver Township.
Brizzi received the Mon Valley Person of Distinction Award while Flock and Weatherspoon were honored as Pitt’s area senior athletes and Bartolotta was handed a special award for his contributions to the Mon Valley Golden Panthers.
“I’m shook up,” confessed Brizzi, a former West Newton and Monessen High principal and most recently an acting superintendent in the Yough School District. “I’ve been sweating this out for a month. This is hard to handle.
“I thank you from the bottom of my heart,” he went on. “I’m overwhelmed by this. I think there are other people more deserving but I’m proud you chose me for the award. I thank God for so many people who made my life the way it is.”
Brizzi was joined at the head table by his wife, Rose, while three of his five sons, Sherm, Pat and Wayne, were in the audience.
He also introduced his four sisters who he said “spoiled me rotten.”
A moment later, his lone grandchild, four-year-old Jacquline, Pat’s daughter, shouted “you’re the one who spoils me rotten” which broke up the crowd of over 300.
“A lifetime may be only a moment in eternity,” closed Brizzi, “But you have magnified it 1,000 times tonight.”
Flock, a Belle Vernon Area High graduate who broke the school record on the balance beam, made her acceptance speech short and sweet.
“I’d like to thank Bud Giannini, my first gymnastic coach, my parents (Mr. and Mrs. Robert Flock) and my brother, who encouraged me a lot. I’d just like to thank everybody.”
Flock received her award from her Pitt coach Donna DeMarino Sanft, a Monessen native.
“Babbie was one of the most determined young women I ever worked with,” she claimed.
Weatherspoon, a Clairton High product who played strong safety the past two seasons for the Panthers after transferring from Penn State, acknowledged his mother, Gloria.
“She’s my first love and someone extra special in my life,” he noted. “I’m extremely and profoundly honored to get this award and honored to be in the midst of such great people. I hope my younger brother (junior defensive back Jim) will carry on the Weatherspoon tradition at Pitt.”
Making the presentation to Weatherspoon was Pitt’s defensive coordinator Bob Junko.
Bartolotta, a Monongahela businessman and Pitt booster since 1939, was caught off guard by his award near the end of the program.
“What can I say?” he asked. “I never expected this to happen. This is one of the most important things that’s ever happened to me and I’m so elated. I never dreamed this would happen. I’m so grateful. This is a very emotional moment for me.”
Other speakers included Pitt’s athletic director Dr. Edward Bozik of Donora, Pitt head football coach Foge Fazio, Mon Valley Golden Panther president Bill Leithold and Mon Valley Golden Panther banquet chairperson Loretta Manus.
Among the guests introduced by toastmaster Jim O’Brien, Pitt’s assistant athletic director and sports information director, were former Donora and Pitt grid standout Lou (Bimbo) Cecconi, who received the first Mon Valley Person of Distinction Award a year ago, Ringgold High senior all-state gridder Vernon Kirk, who’s headed to Pitt next year, Pitt’s associate athletic director Dean Billick of West Newton,, former high school football coaches Joe Gladys of Monessen and Ed Hogan of Rostraver, Belle Vernon Area athletic director Jim Weir.