Antuono to coach Hickory football

If enthusiasm has anything to do with football, Hickory High School made the right choice in naming 40-year-old Frank Antuono as its next football coach.

“They just don’t make them like Frank anymore,” said one Hickory fan who believes Antuono will do everything in his power to make the Hornets a highly respectable football team, year-in and year-out.

Antuono is not that familiar with football in Mercer County despite coaching for Lou Falconi at Farrell High for the past six seasons. He was an offensive coordinator under Falconi. Prior, he coached for six years at Neshannock High School where the Lancers carved out a 17-43 record.

Background

Antuono played at New Castle High before starting for three years as a guard at Westminster College. He was co-captain of the 1988 Titan team when he teamed with Sharon native Joe Micchia (quarterback) for an undefeated season while also capturing the NAIA Division II national championship.

At Hickory, Antuono will be blessed with more players that he has ever had as a head coach, starting with close to 80 this season. He is working on a coaching staff as he gears up for the 2007 season.

He replaces Jim Bell, who stepped down recently when he wanted to acquire a few more coaches for the huge influx of Hornet players. The school board said no to his request, a move that led to Bell’s resignation. Last year Bell piloted his team to a 4-5 record. Bell had been at the helm at Hickory for the past five years.

Recently, Antuono was quoted as saying, “I’m excited to be going to a tremendous school district like Hermitage. I’m happy for the opportunity to coach the kids and I’m going to give them everything I have, my heart, my soul, energy and enthusiasm.”

There’s not much more a school board could want. Good luck Frank.

Bill Lenzi

We were saddened recently when we heard of the death of William “Bill” S. Lenzi, one of the inductees into the Mercer County Hall off Fame in January. He was 63 years young.

Bill, who was living with his wife and family in Fredericksburg, Va., was not only a nice guy and a tremendous athlete, but he was extremely intelligent, earning numerous awards in his career of electromagnetic engineering. He was an internationally recognized expert in his field.

I talked with Bill at the banquet about his athletic careers at Hickory and at Youngstown State University. He was a competitor in every sense of the word. He was the playmaker of the 1961 Hornet team that made an exciting run for the PIAA state championship game before the Hornets dropped a heartbreaker to Nanticoke. He scored 297 points his senior year for head coach Frannie Webster. The team set a school record with 25 wins in 27 games that season. Three of Lenzi’s Hornet teammates are members of the Mercer County Hall of Fame including Dr. Gary Roberts, Fred Greene and the late John Crumbacher.

Instrumental in upset

In the state semifinals that season, Hickory staged a tremendous upset of previously undefeated WPIAL powerhouse Mt. Lebanon. Bill triggered the upset with a 19-point performance while cashing in on 13-of-16 free throw attempts.

Not only was he a tremendous basketball player but he a standout on the gridiron, the golf course and the softball field. In fact, Bill was stricken while playing golf at Cannon Ridge Golf Course in Fredericksburg, Va.

At Hickory he finished sixth in the state golf tournament. He is believed to be the first Hornet athlete ever to qualify for the state meet in two sports.

In independent softball in later years, he played shortstop and pitched for the Virginia state championship team in the 1970s. He was inducted into the National Senior Softball Hall of Fame in 1997.

Our sincere sympathy to Bill’s wife, Merry Ellen (Cochran) and the entire Lenzi family.