Henry Popko to be inducted into Monaca Community Hall of Fame

For the past four years Henry Popko has lived in a Fallbrook retirement home, but the town of Monaca, Pennsylvania, will honor Popko’s past contributions by inducting him into the Monaca Community Hall of Fame.

Popko was a teacher and athletic coach at Monaca Junior High School from 1937 to 1953. He is the only coach to win junior high Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League championships in two sports in the same year.

The Monaca Community Hall of Fame induction banquet will take place October 14 in Monaca. Although Popko will be unable to attend, his son Gene will make the trip to Pennsylvania and accept the honor on his father’s behalf. Some of Popko’s relatives who still live in Pennsylvania also plan to attend the induction.

Henry William Popko was born on October 6, 1914, in Gypsy, Pennsylvania, which is about 150 miles from Monaca. He was the oldest of six siblings, three of whom survived to adulthood. His parents were Polish immigrants who arrived in America in 1912 and spoke no English when their first child was born. The Popko family moved to Monaca in 1924, and Henry Popko’s father opened a shoemaker’s shop.

Henry Popko had summer jobs at the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation in Aliquippa, and he also played varsity football for Monaca High School before graduating from that school in 1932. A year later he enrolled at Slippery Rock University and was on the varsity football team for three years. He also played class basketball and football as a freshman and sophomore at Slippery Rock and was the business manager of the school yearbook. Popko also became vice-president of his senior class at Slippery Rock.

Popko, who later would repair clocks after his retirement from the education field, earned the nickname “The Watch Charm Guard” at Slippery Rock. In 1936 Bloomsburg College named Popko to its all-opponent team for the year.

After graduating from Slippery Rock with honors in 1937, Popko took a teaching position at Monaca Junior High School. In addition to coaching sports, he taught science and math and also provided guidance counseling.

While Popko was at Slippery Rock his parents took in Pauline Lutsock, who had been living with Popko’s maternal aunt in Urie, a town adjacent to Gypsy, after Lutsock’s own mother passed away. Popko married Lutsock in 1939 and had two sons, Gene and Richard. Gene Popko has lived in Fallbrook for the past ten years and followed his father into the education and coaching field, and Richard Popko worked for an advertising agency and currently lives in St. Helena in the Napa Valley.

Popko became an assistant football coach for Monaca Junior High School in 1942 and an assistant coach of Monaca High School’s football team in 1945. In 1948 Popko became the head coach of the junior high school team, and although Monaca Junior High School didn’t win a game in Popko’s first season he led the team to undefeated seasons in 1950, 1951, and 1952. Popko took over the junior high school basketball team for 1950-51 and led the team to a 32-0 record as well as the junior WPIAL championship. Monaca also won the 1951-52 basketball championship after winning a tiebreaking game with Aliquippa.

Popko credited some of his success to off-field activities such as an athletes-only study hall to provide extra review for his players and keep them eligible to play and an athletes singing group which met regularly after school to keep his players out of trouble.

The Popko family took a vacation to California in 1953, and Henry Popko opted to investigate educational opportunities in Southern California. His first interview was with the Inglewood Unified School District, and he was offered a position there. Popko accepted that offer and taught at Monroe Junior High School from 1953 to 1957, and after completing his administrative credential in 1957 he became the vice-principal of Woodworth Elementary School and Warren Lane Elementary School before becoming principal of Warren Lane in 1959.

Popko spent 17 years as the principal of Warren Lane Elementary School before retiring in 1976. In 38 years of education Popko never took a sick day or was absent for any other reason.

Popko pursued clock repair between 1976 and 1997 and also remained active in local Inglewood activities. He now has four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. His activities at Silvergate have been limited due to the adverse effects of a hip replacement operation six years ago.

The Monaca Community Hall of Fame held its first induction in 1985 and has already inducted 84 members. The Monaca Community Hall of Fame has four categories: sports, civics, fraternal, and professional. An inductee must have lived in Monaca for at least five years. Any person other than a committee board member may nominate a person for the Monaca Community Hall of Fame; Popko was nominated by his sister Virginia Swink, who still lives in Monaca.

Nomination applications are reviewed by a 15-member board, and a candidate must receive at least 75 percent of the eligible votes for induction. This year’s meeting which elected Popko to the Monaca Community Hall of Fame was held July 24.

The recipients will receive a watch and a plaque. A separate plaque will be displayed at the Monaca Community Hall of Fame building, which is on Monaca’s main street and also houses other town memorabilia.