1958 Division Avenue High School baseball letter winners

Junior varsity team - First row: Richie Lohman, Richie Bernhardt, John Reardon, Jack Leahy, Frank Barning. Second row: Mr. Bob Simes, Steve Patascher, Jim Beebe, Artie Kornfeld, Mike Caldararo, Doug Gibson.

The document pictured above is more than 50 years old and was provided by Jim Anton '61. It is a page from a sports awards banquet program and is a piece of Levittown history.

The photo is of the junior varsity baseball team and it is used not because I am in it, but because I do not have a varsity baseball photo. In fact, there are very few team photos in my collection of early Levittown people and places. Concerning the junior varsity, there were no star players in this fine bunch, but it does include a doctor (Doug Gibson) and the co-creator of Woodstock (Artie Kornfeld), plus a policeman (John Reardon) and a teacher (Mike Caldararo). Our coach, Mr. Simes, was a respected math teacher. Note the baggy flannel uniforms and some great haircuts.

Looking at the varsity roster, all of the guys continued at Division except two. Tom Young's family left town and he graduated from Roslyn High School. Tom played football at the University of Toledo and became a lawyer. Joe Forte, a gifted athlete, transferred to Levittown Memorial High School and won numerous honors in baseball and basketball. Forte, now retired, was a long-time National Basketball Association referee.

Two of the boys listed, Carl Opitz and Ed Fagan, graduated from Division in 1961. Both made their mark in football for the Blue Dragons. For reasons I do not know, both graduated with different last names. You may remember them as Carl Kielbasa and Ed Thomas.

And this has been your Division Avenue history lesson for today.