McKeesport Little Tigers a big success story
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At 13, Gerald Grayson was a local legend, a premier running back for perhaps the premier youth football team in the eastern United States, the McKeesport Little Tigers.
One day, after he and his teammates hammered an opponent throughout the first half, Grayson was euphoric heading to the locker room ... until his coach, Bill Lickert, strode over.
"We were up, 40-0, and I had four touchdowns," Grayson said, recalling this otherwise nondescript game from 1962. "We were going up the steps to the locker room and coach started ripping me apart, yelling and screaming.
"We were winning, but he didn't want you to get a big head."
Lickert was equal parts disciplinarian, father figure and savvy football guy. He also was the founder of the Little Tigers, and he built that team of 12- and 13-year-olds into a powerhouse that was the envy of youth coaches almost everywhere.
Though that isn't the case anymore, the program remains vibrant. In fact, it has grown. In fact, in its 50th anniversary season, it remains golden.
A half-century of Little Tigers football will be celebrated today at Weigle-Schaeffer Stadium, home of the McKeesport High Tigers. Games featuring the organization's four teams will begin at 1 p.m., starting with the local Pee Wee team (ages 6 and 7), followed by the Baby team (8-9), Middle team (10-11) and Big team (12-13).
Former players and coaches will be honored before and at halftime of that final game, expected to start around 6.
The Little Tigers' history is rich. It includes a 67-game winning streak during the '60s and trips to Mexico, Texas and Florida for games with local juggernauts -- many of them McKeesport victories.
These were accomplishments of the team of 12- and 13-year-olds, which, for the first 15 years or so, was the only one the Little Tigers sponsored. That squad was intended for residents of the McKeesport school district, although youngsters from other nearby communities were accepted.
A number of players on McKeesport High's PIAA Class AAAA championship teams in 1994 and 2006 blossomed with the Little Tigers, including Brandon Short, now a linebacker with the New York Giants.
Curtis Martin, the NFL's fifth-leading rusher now on injured reserve with the New York Jets, also played for them. So did former Steeler Russell Stuvaints.
Lickert, now 86 and living in North Versailles, got this started. He said that after the McKeesport youth team was disbanded in the early 1950s, high school coach Duke Weigle asked him to form a new one. The McKeesport Optimist Midgets played for two years before becoming the Little Tigers in 1956.
Lickert coached them through 1979 ... through that lengthy winning streak, through the lengthy trips that other youth teams did not make, through a generation of change.
All along, he preached an edict of self-discipline and dedication.
"Bill wanted you to be more than a football player," said Grayson, who was known as "Puddin' " as a Little Tigers player and was much bigger than many of his peers.
Grayson also was Swin Cash's high school basketball coach. He led the McKeesport girls' team from 1985-98. Grayson quit as the girls' coach at Duquesne High after last season.
"You had to be a good person in the community, or he would come at you hard," Grayson said of Lickert. "He had zero tolerance for not working hard in the classroom."
Lou Washowich succeeded Lickert as coach of the Little Tigers' Big team, while he was mayor of McKeesport. He has similar memories.
"Some people fail to realize, especially those who are critical of the program, is that we focused on things beyond football," Washowich said.
"For 30-some years, we took kids up to Laurel State Park, in the mountains, for a week and they'd learn how to rough it. We worked them hard up there, but they probably never had an experience like that before or after."
Dennis Robinson is in his first season as coach of the Big team, only the sixth in 50 years. He played for the Little Tigers and McKeesport High, and is striving to maintain traditions.
"We tell our kids that attitude and hard work are what this is about," Robinson said. "Growing up, you always heard about the Little Tigers."
Lickert, who retired as Teamsters Local 205 president just four years ago, will not attend the festivities today because of health issues. His memories are positive, with one lament.
"I guess I was tough," he said, "but if I had to do it over, I'd be different. I put too much emphasis on winning. Maybe that was a little too much stress."
If so, the Little Tigers might not be the Little Tigers.
1961 photoBill Lickert (center), former coach of the McKeesport Little Tigers. The player on the left is Corky Greco and on the right is Gerald "Puddin' " Grayson.
Click photo for larger image.
First Published October 21, 2006 12:00 am
