Campbell HOFers face off (as dads)

Mike Mangiarelli and Ted Liszka will watch their sons from opposing sidelines.

By John Kovach

HOWLAND — The Canfield-Howland high school football game Friday night will be a nostalgic get-together for two former teammates on the 1969 Campbell Memorial High football team.

Ted Liszka of Canfield and Bob Mangiarelli of Howland will be in opposing camps Friday when their senior sons, defensive end John Liszka and running back Mike Mangiarelli, square off against each other at Howland Stadium in battle of undefeated All-American Conference Red Division teams.

The two 40-years-ago teammates — Ted then a sophomore defensive end and quarterback and Bob a senior halfback — helped the Red Devils to a 6-4 record under coach Tony Cougras.

Both players eventually were inducted into the Campbell Athletic Hall of Fame.

Now, their two offsprings are following in dads’ football footsteps, helping Canfield and Howland to 3-0 records entering the early-season showdown.

John Liszka (6-0, 205) is in his first year as a starter for Canfield, and played offensive tackle and back-up linebacker the first two games before being moved to defensive end for last Friday’s double-overtime, 22-21 win over Dover.

Mike Mangiarelli (6-0, 175), a speedy and prolific running back in his third year and second season as a starter for Howland, scored five touchdowns and rushed for 148 yards in seven carries to power Howland’s 58-0 win over St. John De Brebeuf last Friday in Howland.

Mangiarelli scored on runs of 49, 10, 54 and 18 yards and an 82-yard kickoff return.

In his previous two seasons, Mangiarelli rushed for more than 1,000 yards combined to help Howland to back-to-back league championships and playoff berths. And so far this year, he has some 300 yards and 10 TDs to date.

“We are not sure if we are going to sit together but we be getting together at the game and talk about our sons and old times. That’s what Bob and I usually do,” said Ted Liszka, a starting defensive back who also started two games at quarterback as a sophomore for Campbell in 1969, while Mangiarelli was a starting senior halfback. “We always meet at the concession stand at halftime.”

Mangiarelli, a diminutive 5-5, 142-pound halfback, rushed for almost 2,000 yards in two seasons for Campbell despite missing five games with injuries.

Liszka went on to become Campbell’s starting quarterback the next two seasons, helping the Red Devils to an 8-2 record in 1971.

There also is a family angle to Friday’s game as Mike Mangiarelli will be playing against his cousin, Nick Reinthaler, a senior noseman and captain for Canfield. They are related through Nick’s mother, Linda, and Bob Mangiarelli.

Nick is the son of Joe Reinthaler, a former Cardinal Mooney football player.

“We’ll see [the Mangiarellis] before the game and at halftime but obviously they sit on the Howland side and we sit on the Canfield side.” said Joe Reinthaler of the much-awaited football game reunion.

Ted Liszka said his son and Nick Reinthaller combined to make a key defensive play in Canfield’s double-overtime win over Dover last week.

“I think [John] had about five tackles in the game including a co-sack with senior noseman Nick Reinthaler in the fourth quarter with Dover in field goal range, and this kicked them out of field goal range and sent [the game] into overtime,” said Ted, who believes his son’s main assets are aggressiveness and versatility at playing several positions.

Bob Mangiarelli said his son’s main weapon is speed, just like he unleashed 40 years ago; and that Mike can run the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconcds.

“I was clocked in 4.4 [too] but I think Michael’s faster. My [time] was more running on a track,” said Bob, who won a scholarship to Newbury but had to pass it up because his father became ill and he had to remain home and go to work at Calex.

He went on to get his bachelor’s degree from Youngstown State and master’s degree from Kent State, and now is a vocational rehabilitation counselor at Hillside Hospital.

Ted Liszka said he and another senior teammate during the 1971 season, Walter Vrabel, won football scholarships to Kent State, but Liszka stayed there only one year before enrolling at Youngstown University.

He now is a sales representative for Bridgeford Foods based in Chicago. His sales region consists of Cleveland, Akron and Canton.

“The highlight of the [1969] season for me was beating Struthers in the final game of the season,” said Liszka, also pointing out that the Red Devils beat the Wildcats all three years that he played, winning 3-0 in 1970 and 21-0 in 1971.

kovach@vindy.com