Frank “Greb” Grabuski

• Post by: mcalibrary
• December 18, 2023
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INDUCTEE

“Greb” Grabuski was a terrific three sport athlete at Mount Carmel High School in the late 1930’s. He was a catcher in the first organized High School Baseball Team at Mount Carmel High. He also played two years of varsity Basketball for the “Big Red”. He was a four year starter on the Football Team that “Greb” found his niche.

He was known for his toughness and strength. A battering ram of a fullback on offense and a defensive end that could not be blocked, he constantly was targeted as the man to stop teams who played Mount Carmel in the four year period.

People who played with Grabuski, and others who saw him play talk over and over about the respect opponents had for him. Jerry Kornacki, whose brother is one of our nominees, recalls a story about attending a track meet years later and having a person he met there want to talk about playing against “Greb”. The ultimate compliment was paid him by the Shenandoah Merchants Association. After a 60 minute war between the “Tornadoes” and the “Blue Devils”, which was finally settled wen “Greb” tackled a Shenandoah runner in the end zone to give Mount Carmel a 2-0 win; the Shenandoah squad and their merchants awarded Grabuski with one of their own Blue and White letter sweaters.

Grabuski was given an athletic scholarship at Wake Forest University and planned to attend. As in the case with so many others, the war and family obligations intervened and his dreams of playing college football never materialized.