A standout 112-pounder (flyweight) in the 1930’s, he won a place on the 1936 U.S. Olympic Team by capturing the flyweight title in the Chicago Olympic trials, then went to Berlin to battle his way to the bronze medal. At the conclusion of the competition he was awarded a special trophy for being selected cleverest boxer in the Games.
A national AAU All-American center in 1943, Frances Kaszubski began her career in 1934 as a member of the Polish Falcons. Went on to play for Blepp-Coombs, No-Kolds and Fisher Foods in the Cleveland Muny Women’s Class A League. Was MVP of the Inter-city Tournament in 1936 and scored seven points in 59 seconds in an international series the next year when a center tipoff followed each goal.
Starred for 22 years as a hardhitting catcher for Rosenblum’s, Factory Furniture, Naiman Wrecking, J. Schrader and LaRiche Ford. Elected to the All-World teams in both hardball and softball in 1966. Played in five World Tournaments.
In an era of great success for Euclid High baseball, Tom Murphy was one of its brightest stars, pitching the Panthers to the 1963 Class A Ohio state high school championship. He then moved on to Ohio University where over his sophomore and junior seasons he built a 16-1 record, helping the Bobcats to a pair of Mid-American Conference titles and winning second team All-American recognition at the close of the 1966 season. That earned him a berth on the national team coached by the legendary Rod Dedeaux of USC, which faced teams from Japan, Korea and the Philippines in Hawaii. More importantly, it would lead to his selection in the first round (sixth pick overall) in the secondary phase of the major league draft by the California Angels in January, 1967. He was sent to the Seattle Pilots immediately after his graduation in June and one year later he made his major league debut against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park to launch an 11-year career in the majors with the Angels, Kansas City, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Boston and Toronto. As a starter for the Angels from 1969-71, he averaged 226 innings per year, winning a career high 16 games in 1970. Converted to a reliever by Milwaukee in 1974, he won 10 games and saved 20 while compiling a 1.90 ERA in 70 games to earn Fireman of the Year honors, then recorded another 20 saves the following season. He ended his career in 1979 with 67 wins and 59 saves while pitching in 439 games. He is now following a career in Commercial Real Estate in Southern California, specializing in Tenant Representation. He makes his home in Coto de Caza, CA with his wife Kriss.
It was supposed to be a one-year fling when Merle Levin walked into the converted barbershop which was the office for the Fenn College Athletic Department in 1955, found a typewriter, and assumed the part-time duties of the school’s first sports publicist. Somehow the Glenville High grad, an ex-sports editor of the University of Michigan Daily, needed 38 years to get the sports writing bug out of his system. The part time sports publicity job evolved into a full time post as Administrative Assistant to the Athletic Director when the state transformed Fenn into Cleveland State University in 1964. He became the department’s utility man, handling the duties of numerous jobs yet to be filled by the understaffed office. Later he would play an active role in helping to form a mid-major athletic conference, the Mid-Continent, for CSU teams to play in, paving the way to compete for berths in NCAA and NIT basketball tourneys. Along the way, Levin triggered the start-up of the school’s first endowed athletic scholarships, helped create CSU’s Athletic Hall of Fame, and filled advisory roles in the planning of CSU’s Physical Education Center and acclaimed Convocation Center. He also made time as Sports Information Director to oversee media activities for five NCAA National Swimming and Diving Championships hosted by CSU, plus numerous regional tournaments in basketball, soccer, and wrestling and to produce several team publications named best in nation by his peers while his job title morphed into Assistant Athletic Director. Calling it a career in 1992, he became Executive Director of SMACO (Sports Media Association of Cleveland and Ohio), helping to raise nearly $500,000 for charity in the next decade. He and his wife, Dolores, make their home in Gates Mills.
(Deceased)
One of the most successful college basketball coaches of all time, with a record of 523-126, John McClendon, Jr. is enshrined in the National Basketball Hall of Fame. His milestone 500th victory came at Cleveland State where he coached from 1966-69. Earlier he coached the Cleveland Sweeny Pipers (1959-61) to NIBL and national AAU championships. John learned the game as a student of its creator, Dr. James B. Naismith, at the University of Kansas. Won an unprecedented three consecutive NAIA titles at Tennessee State. Also coached at Hampton Institute, North Carolina Central, Kentucky State and the professional Denver Rockets of the ABA, and served on the coaching staffs of three U.S. Olympic teams. After 21 years as a national and international basketball consultant, he returned to Cleveland in 1991 and became a special assistant to the athletic director of Cleveland State and is a Professor in the University’s Black Studies program.
For more than 40 years, Clinton Martin has trained amateur boxers on the local, national and international levels, tutoring some of Cleveland’s finest pugilistic products. Among them were Jeff Stoudemire, 1978 Golden Gloves champion and 1979 national AAU champion and Golden Gloves titlists Henry Hughes (1981), Sanderline Williams (1982) and Todd Hickman (1982 and 1983). Twice he was selected to coach USA amateur teams against the national teams of Cuba and Russia. Since 1990 he has served Cleveland as Commissioner of Boxing and Wrestling and in 1996 he was elected vice president of the local governing body, ABA of the USA, for the Northwestern Counties of Ohio.
Norbert “Nobby” Lewandowski’s athletic career began at St. John Nepomucene Elementary School in Slavic Village and never ceased to be an influence on his life’s activities. As a player, he not only starred at Benedictine High and Kent State University, he worked his way up the Cleveland Baseball Federation ladder from Class F to AAA, becoming, according to one Plain Dealer writer, “the most dominant pitcher in amateur baseball in Ohio during the 60’s.” When age and business commitments eventually ended his playing days, they did not end his allegiance to the CBF. He has remained a strong advocate of the City’s sandlot program, serving for many years on the board of the CBF and raising thousands of dollars for its programs. He has been equally supportive of his high school’s and college’s athletics departments and has received high honors from both.
John Kuhel was born in Cleveland and developed his skills on the city’s sandlots. He played professional baseball for the Kansas City Blues at the age of 19, helping them to the Little World Series title in 1929. He was sold to the Washington Senators for the then-huge sum of $50,000 in 1930 and in 18 seasons with the Senators and the Chicago White Sox he hit .277 and was tabbed one of baseball’s all-time best fielding first basemen. His finest season came as a member of Washington’s 1933 American League champions, when he hit .322 and drove in 107 runs. He went on to manage the Senators in 1948 and 1949, then managed the Blues for two years before entering private business.
Norbert “Nobby” Lewandowski could have served as the poster boy for Cleveland’s lauded amateur baseball program in the mid-20th century. He began competing in the program’s Class F league as an elementary school student in Cleveland’s Slavic Village and worked his way up to the Plain Dealer-sponsored AAA league. Along the way, using the skills he developed on the sandlots, he earned four baseball letters at Benedictine High, which in turn earned him Kent State University’s first baseball scholarship and four more letters there. He pitched in the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system from 1960-1962, then returned to the sandlots in 1963 to start for perennial league champion Wenham Truckers until 1970. During that time he was called “the most dominant pitcher in Ohio amateur baseball during the 1960’s era” by a Plain Dealer sportswriter.