Herb Curley
- Post by: mcalibrary
- December 18, 2023
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INDUCTEE
In mid-September 1932, a meeting took place which changed athletic picture at Mount Carmel Catholic High School. Father James Clark, later Monsignor Clark, called a gathering at Joe Young’s Drug Store at Second and Oak Streets. Mr. Young incidentally was the son of Joe Young, Dr., who was Mount Carmel’s first big league baseball player with the old St. Louis Browns.
At that time, Mount Carmel Catholic had only a two-year high school, and wanting to make it a four-year school, Father Clark thought he needed something to attract male student athletes, and decided to add a football program.
At that first meeting, in addition to Joe Young, were Mr. Young’s son, John, who was one of the two Juniors; Francis Crawford, who later became Father Francis Crawford, and was honored by the Hall of Fame; Jerry Breslin, who became Mount Carmel Catholic High School’s first football coach, and; Herb Curley, who from the very beginning was a trainer, friend, confident, and father confessor to Mount Carmel Catholic High School athletes. The first squad had only fifteen to eighteen players and had to invite various town teams in order to hold practice scrimmages. Herb was an assistant coach, but more importantly, as a trainer, had a tremendous job trying to keep eleven players healthy enough to play.
With the same gently fatherly approach that characterized all his dealings with kids, Herb was able to get a team ready for Mount Carmel Catholic’s opening game. The brand new team played its first game in a brand new stadium- the Mount Carmel Silver Bowl. The game was played as part of a double header, in which Mount Carmel Catholic played Pottsville Catholic, followed by the Mount Carmel Township Golden Bears vs. the Susquehanna University Reserves.
Herb Curley was a integral part of Our Lady’s School and Mount Carmel Catholics sports for the next 25 years. There is not a single athlete who played at Mount Carmel Catholic who does not have fond memories or a favorite Herb Curley story to tell.