Old photos of Division Avenue High School athletes; Pete Cybriwsky, Jim McGrath and John Koehler were among the early standouts

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* 1960 baseball team stars included (L-R) Pete Cybriwsky, John Shibilo, John Koehler shown here with coach Joe DiMaggio.

* Class of 1960 voted most athletic: Pete Cybriwsky and Penny Stone.

* Jim McGrath, class of 1960, in 1958 as a sophomore with coach Floyd Kenyon (left). Jim wrestled at about 103 lbs. and was one of Long Island's best. With them is district athletic director Hugh Jack.

* Football standout John "Chez" Echezuria from the class of 1962.

* Artie Dorrmann on the freshman baseball team in 1957. He graduated in 1960.

Sports in the early years at Division Avenue High School featured a mixed bag of good teams and really bad ones. Wrestling and baseball were outstanding from the very beginning. It took a few years to establish football and basketball generally sucked.

Some interesting early Blue Dragons athletes are depicted here. Pete Cybriwsky, a fantastic pitcher, was the first Division graduate to play professional baseball. He had a brief minor league career and died tragically in his mid 20s. He is among the most fondly remembered of those in the pioneer class of 1960.

John Koehler, all league in baseball and football, was the first Blue Dragon to play varsity football in college. Now a resident of The Villages in Florida, running back Koehler started as a plebe (freshman) for Kings Point (United States Merchant Marine Academy) on Long Island.

Jim McGrath made a career out of his sport, wrestling. After winning many honors for Division, he wrestled at Wayne State in Nebraska. After college, he became a highly successful and influential high school coach in the Cornhusker State. Jim is retired, still lives in Nebraska and is grooving on the success of his son Nicholas, a high school star in, of course, wrestling.