Welcome Page

The goal of this web site is to celebrate the great history of WPIAL and PIAA athletics and keep that history alive. This web site it the product of 20 years of research. I have posted this archive, at my own expense, with hopes of finding a financial sponsor that will allow me to continue this site into the future.

In 1999, I designed the WPIAL web site with the goal of giving all sports, boys and girls, the publicity they deserve. I served as the WPIAL's webmaster for five years. At that point, the WPIAL decided to update the web page in house to save money.

In 2006, I began work on a history web site that features WPIAL and PIAA results in a sport-by-sport format. This site is much different, more detailed, and much easier to navigate than the WPIAL web site. Plus, I've done a lot of research to pick up additional results, charts, and brackets that cannot be found on any other web site.

This history site currently has more than 8,500 files and is divided into 350 folders. The site features tournament brackets from each of the WPIAL’s 25 sports from the past 18 years, along with champions lists that date back to the early 1900's. I also have PIAA brackets dating back to the 70's and results from all the individual sports dating back at least 20 years. I recently compiled individual champions lists for track & field, swimming & diving, gymnastics, volleyball and wrestling that go back at least 40 years.

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The web site will feature something different every day, either a story or a chart. Below is a breakdown of our schedule.

* On Monday, we will feature a story titled - "This week in the WPIAL". The story will feature what's going on in the WPIAL that week, including a game of the week in football, soccer and volleyball.

* On Tuesday, I will take a closer look at fall high school sports with one of many historical charts.

* On Wednesday, we will visit with a current WPIAL champion.

* On Thursday, we will visit with a former WPIAL champion, a feature athlete from the past who has been out of high school for at least 10 years.

* On Friday, we will visit with coach who has led his/her school to WPIAL titles.

* On Saturday, I will do an update on changes that were made to the history site during that week.

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A project of this size and scope requires help from different sources.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and its Sports Department have been a huge help, with special thanks to: David Shribman, Matt Kennedy, Mike White, Brad Everett, Ken 'Agate King' Mrazik, Joe Greiner, and Jim Hosek.

My thanks to the WPIAL and former Executive Secretary Larry Hanley for giving me the chance to build the WPIAL's web site in 1999 and serve as its webmaster for five years. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. It gave me the chance to work with Jim Collins, who gave me the title of WPIAL Historian, and Jackie Kramer, who ran the WPIAL office for more than 30 years. I also want to thank current Executive Secretary Tim O'Malley and the Board of Control for allowing me to use the URL of wpialarchive.com.

Two WPIAL Committee chairmen provided great assistance to this project. Swimming chairman Jamie Morton and Gymnastics chairman Amy Caprino provided champions lists that were of great help.

Others who provided assistance were: Kris Scigliano, Rod Frisco, Bob Hower, Norm Palovscik, Bob Craig, Bruce Closson, Ron Garrison, Bob Miller, Rich Schall, Frank Vulcano Jr., and the PIAA web site.

This web site features thousands of bracket sheets that were posted by the WPIAL and PIAA. The brackets can easily be found by linking to indexes for each sport. All the results are at your fingertips.

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I want to dedicate the page to my parents, Reuel and Lois Wunderley, who supported me and encouraged me to reach for my dreams. This web site has been a labor of love for me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed compiling it. Thanks for your support. Ken 'Stats' Wunderley.

Please send any additions or corrections to statco@comcast.net