The Legend of the DeBerardinis Bros.

Major League Baseball has had its share of prolific brother acts such as the three DiMaggios, the three Alous, and even one family which produced five big leaguers – and one a Hall of Famer – in the Delahantys.

One of the Mon Valley’s top brother combos put on dazzling shows for Donora High and Mon Valley Catholic High — the DeBerardinis clan.

The oldest of this stellar quartet is Gene, who played basketball, baseball, football, and took part in several track and field events for Donora High, graduating in 1960.

“Dino was the outstanding basketball player in our family,” said sister Josephine. “But Gene was right behind him.”

Gene began playing in a youth Catholic league for St. Charles.

“That was the first team I was ever on. We were the St. Charles Chargers,” he said.

Next, came junior-high ball. “We were undefeated going into our last ninth-grade game. Coach Ignatius Hokaj had a couple of boxes of candy bars to give us after we won and when we lost, he wouldn’t give us any candy bars,” said Gene with a chuckle.

A Dragon highlight for Gene, a 6-4 senior center, was a section championship.

“Our principal said, ‘If you guys win, I’ll take you to the Eagles club for a steak dinner.’ We beat Charleroi to clinch the title,” he recalled. That time, the team did get its tasty payoff.

That win sent the Dragons to Pitt’s Fitzgerald Field House.

“We lost, 42-41, to South Union in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs,” Gene said.

Still, he impressed coaches like West Virginia’s Fred Schaus who told Gene – a junior – not to play high school football because he had a future as a Mountaineers hoopster. A year later, though, Schaus moved on to coach the Los Angeles Lakers.

“The new coach came in and nobody knew who I was,” DeBerardinis said.

Had Gene played at WVU, he would have been on the same court Jerry West played on until he became a Laker with Schaus in the fall of 1960.

“He got a scholarship to play for St. Francis,” his sister said. “He was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2014.”

Gene played for the Red Flash from 1961-1964. As a senior, he ranked third in the nation for field goal percentage. He hit on 62% of his shots from the field and averaged about 14 points per game.

“I was a co-captain during my junior and senior seasons. We won a Christmas tournament in New Jersey in my senior year,” DeBerardinis said.

Now retired and living in Atlanta, he worked for IBM for 30 years. Later, he went back for another 11 years as a consultant.

Josephine moved on to another brother, Paul. “Paul excelled, playing basketball at Mon Valley (Catholic), graduating in 1961. He worked for U.S. Steel for 20 years and for the Donora Lumber Company for 15 years until they closed,” Josephine said. “In June of 1990, the Holy Name Society in Donora honored him as Man of the Year and our father as the Father of the Year on the same day.”

Paul died in 2022. “He wanted to come to Donora High School to be with me, but Mon Valley had opened up and my parents enrolled him in the Catholic school,” Gene said of his brother.

Meanwhile, Jimmy, a 1977 Mon Valley Catholic grad, also played for the Spartans. Over his years there, he manned all three basketball positions.

“It was good experience. It was fun playing with Timothy Garde and Eddie Senko. I was good at everything,” Jimmy said. “I wasn’t great at anything, but I got to play in the Mon Valley Classic, so that was a highlight for me. My favorite memories are just playing pick-up games with my brothers.”

Dino, a two-time All-State selection, poured in a school record 1,346 career points, averaged 21 points and 14 rebounds per game. It’s no wonder he was selected to play in the Dapper Dan Roundball Classic.

He also holds MVC records for most points in a game, 44, and most points scored in a season, 530.

“He played center for most of his career at Mon Valley, and for a guy his size, that was really unheard of. He was a man among boys,” close friend Jerry LaMendola said.

Despite his lack of height, Dino holds the school mark for rebounds in a game 29. It’s a feat he accomplished twice, breaking a mark set by Joe Hornak.

All of the DeBerardinis brothers got their first taste of hoop competition playing with neighborhood friends like the Galiffa boys and Chucky Guiffrida.