years of the Storied league couldl be better than it has ever been I
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By Torn GJ'O(JSCh3n/Enquirersiaffwritcr
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oger Staubach won the Reisman Trophy ! and two Supe~ Bowls.J!e still cre~its his :::~ success to hts formative years m the ,.~ Greater Catholic League. \. U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), another GCL"'" ~ alumnus, also has vivid memories of a league he · calls the best in Ohio.
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The GCL, celebrating its 75th anniversary this season, has long been one of Ohio's top leagues. The league also has made frequent claims as Cincinnati's best, including Monday when GCL team Moeller (11-0) moved up from No.2 to No.1 in the Enquirer Division I area coaches' basketball poll. The Crusaders this Friday visit No.3 St. Xavier which had been ranked No.1 most of this season- in a monster GCL South division game. Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Staubach (Purcell class of 1950) and Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Bunning (St. Xavier '49) are among many famous GCL alumni. GCL schools have won 110 Ohio state "team" championships in the league's 74 previous years. "We competed at probably the highest level in high school, real· ly, across the country," Staubach said recently, speaking by telephone from his business office in Texas. "Everything I was taught was at Purcell. That was the building block for my life." Bunning, known as one of the fiercest competitors ever to take the pitching mound, said the GCL was not for the meek. "It was really intense," Bunning said, speaking via telephone from his Senate office in Washington. "I don'tthinkanybodywill dispute it was the best league in Ohio, whether it was baseball, . tennis, golf or whatever."
Utri3d inerasts The GCL also counts baseball's Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Larkin (Moeller) and Olympic swimming gold medalist Joe Hudepohl (St. Xavier) among a galaxy of sports greats. U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot (La Salle) and actor Martin Sheen (Dayton Chaminade-Julienne) also hail from GCL mem· ber schools. When Staubach was at Purcell - which is now Purcell Marian he also played basketball and baseball. He later won the football Reisman Trophy at Navy and quarterbacked Dallas to two Su· per Bowl wins. Staubach is now a successful businessman, chairman of the Dallas-based Staubach Company that deals in commercial real estate. But he still attends annual reunions with about a half-dozen former Purcell teammates, and the old GCL juices start flowing. "We beat Elder when I was a senior, and make sure you tell them I didn't step out of bounds on that 75-yard bootleg (touchdown)," Staubach said, laughing. That was a 20-14 Purcell win at the Elder "Pit." Bunning, who also played basketball at St. Xavier, is a Northern Kentucky native (Southgate). He attended St. X in an era when Ohio permitted non-residents to play prep sports. See G1:L, Page C5
Roger Staubach's ca• ..:c; began at f ~ •.. , . -' a Heisman Troph}< end two Super Bowl titles. Hudepohl
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The Greater Cathnic League began 75 years ago with four
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-;;11 · members- Elder, Pu,.cell, Roger Bacon and St. Xavier. The
league originally was called the Greater Cincinnati League and was al!-male Schools. · MembeTShip changes have included school ~--:....:_ --~! mergers, With Roger Bacon and Purcell Marian goLarkin • . ing co-e::l mthe 1980s. By 1990, the GCL had ex· panded t:: include Dayton-area schools and split ' ·. __ . . into its current North (smaller schools) and South (larger scrools) divisions: '
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GCL soum '
Bder la Salle Moeller s:. Xavier
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GCL V.ORTH Badin Chaminade-Julienne Kettering Alter McNicholas Purcell Marian Roger Bacon
~Jim Bunning went from St. Xavier to
) ':he big leagues to the U.S. Senate.
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