Wildcat Field & The Mt. Lebanon Wildcats: A lesson in Mt. Lebanon History

Since I haven't been able to get any help from the commission liaison of the Mt. Lebanon Historic Preservation Board or the Board itself, I contacted Jim Wojcik, president of The Historical Society of Mount Lebanon. Jim is fantastic! Here is what he sent to me. I am reprinting it with his permission.

Elaine,

In searching our collection I have uncovered some interesting things about the Mt. Lebanon Wildcats, a youth sports association that organized football and baseball teams in Mt. Lebanon in the 1940s.  I didn’t uncover any information that tells me which came first, the athletic field or the athletic teams.  So I don’t know which one was named after the other.  I was not able to determine when Wildcat Field was named Wildcat Field.

The Wildcats team was organized by Bob Prince and two brothers; Jim and Ave Daniell.  Ave Daniell played for the Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears.  Ave Daniell played for the Green Bay Packers.  Bob Prince is a well know Pittsburgher, who was the long-time voice of the Pirates for 28 years.

I’ve attached a few pages from a December 1946 sports magazine from our collection that included the program from the Fourth Annual Porridge Bowl Championship game where the Wildcats played a team from Brushton at the “Mt. Lebanon High School Field” on Thanksgiving in 1946.  That same magazine has an article by Bob Prince about the Wildcats.

On another file is a page from another magazine about the Wildcats coaching staff.  I’m not sure of the date of this article.

The last file is a photo taken in 1951 that references Wildcat Field.

I’ve been told that while the Wildcats existed that there was some “bad blood” between them and the School District Athletic Department because the Wildcats were competing with the school district for the same Mt. Lebanon players.  That’s from a person I spoke to who lived here in the 1940s.  I can’t verify that, but it sounds very plausible.  I was also told that Wildcat Field was named after the sports teams that played there, but as I said earlier, I couldn’t verify that in any document.

All in all, the name Wildcats seems to have a history in Mt. Lebanon sports that goes back as far as at least the 1940s.

Best Regards,

-          Jim Wojcik

-          President

-          The Historical Society of Mount Lebanon