Delaware County Daily Times (Newspaper) - June 2, 1976, Chester, Pennsylvania DELAWARE COUNTY DAILY TIMES Wednesday June 15 Ridley wrestler finding friends in time of need Burn victim Marty Schnellenbach eyes comeback By ELLS EDWARDS Staff Writer RIDLEY Carl Schnellenbach s Ws u blinked the ears You'll have to excuse me the Ridley High wrestling coach said softly It was an awkward moment Shared by a couple of hundred Ridley wrestlers parents school officials and booster club members gathered for the school's annual wrestling the ward instant when an athlete's shoulders are driven inexorably into the mat and you wait for the inevitable cruel slap of the hand on the rubber and the sound is frozen forever in vour memory They listened hushed as the man who has guided Ridley's through the last 16 seasons old them about a gutsy thin kid named Jimmy Cooper As a Ridley sophomore Cooper's body withered way His weight dropped from 98 to 0 pounds Forced to sit out his junior year Cooper served a one- year sentence as the team manager but came back this season to wrestle and win a handful of tournaments I saw Schnellenbach said afterward beat the bleep out of him but they couldn t pin him Everybody in the place that night knew that Carl mind was on another kid his son Marty 15 battling for his life against heavy odds after an ex- plosion ripped through the basement of his home Marty with burns over 68 per cent of his body At first I thought he was gonna be said classmate Dave Gaudino who was in a first floor bathroom when the explosion curred Then one of the policemen told me he wasn't gonna make it Ten weeks later however Marty Schnellenbach is winning that battle Winning with the help of a team of doctors nurses and at- tendants at the Burn Center headed by Dr Arthur who work round-the-clock to get him back on his feet Like all of their fantastic salvage jobs it's a slow painful process Harvesting the healthy skin left on his body grafting it over the burned areas If everything goes Carl Schnellenbach said he should be out of there by September But 1 doubt if he'll be in school next year i After I went to see Marty the first Hugh Mooney Marty's guidance counselor and longtime family friend wasn't sure I wanted to go back He was in constant pain They have to clean the wounds in a tub u a very painful thing They shoot him up with morphine before he goes in and before the grafts can be done Only a handful of visitors u covered from head to toe with sanitary disposable gowns have seen Marty who must be constantly guarded against the threat of in- day two weeks ago doctors packed his body in ice when his temperature skyrocketed to almost 106 degrees Blyleven goes to Rangers in deal Even dad mused they won't come out and say he II be alright No doubt though through athletics he's learned to take the punishment He's got a helluva good attitude He wants to get better Listen to the voices on the tape recordings exchanged by Marty and his classmates and you know Marty IS getting better His words are no longer freighted with pain and his friends laughter is no longer brittle Maybe it's true as author Ed Linn observes sooner or later society beats down the man of muscle and sweat But Marty and Carl Schnellenbach are finding out that their friends in the community haven t forgotten them Friends like Ridley assistant wrestling coach Ron Turpak and his wife Linda who opened their home to Carl Schnellenbach If it hadn t been for them I don't know where 1 would have gone Ron s like the true definition of a friend 1 wouldn't have made it through this without him He's always the optimist Friends like Hugh Mooney and John Wolk teachers who are organizing the community lo help defray the staggering medical expenses Schnellenbach must shoulder when his health care benefits run out Youngsters have already collected more than which is probably less than 10 per cent of the bills Schnellenbach will have to foot himself Friends like the Milmont Fire Co volunteers who Friday night are donating their time the fire hall food and drinks or a beef and beer night benefit All proceeds go lo the Carl Schnellenbach fund Tickets for the 8 p.m affair are priced at per couple and for singles Only 430 tickets will be for this first benefit Indeed the are finding out they have friends they don't even know Marty has been deluged with cards and letters including a note from former Olympic wrestling great Dan Gable And Friday night 400 miles away a harness horse named Silk Stockings will be running for Marly Ur Ken Mazik co-owner the champion four-year-old pacing mare and executive director of the Au School for autistic children in Bear Del will donate a day's expenses at for Marty if stockings wins her seasonal debut Friday night at Buffalo Raceway Since one day's expenses are something like that ain t IT isn hay Even though the odds against Marty's recovery let alone his return to wrestling seemed mous two months ago Carl Schnellenbach insists he 11 be back on the Ridley mats I ve been looking forward to him coming up Carl grinned does alot of things wrong Now we'll just have to delay things a year But he's gonna do it He wants to do it There's no doubt in mind that he'll be back BLOOMINGTON Minn AP Bert Blyleven a young man with an future is a man on the spot Blyleven was the key player In a trade Tuesday night that sent the talented pitcher and in- fielder Danny Thompson to the Texas Rangers I know everyone will be expecting a lot of said Blyleven who was playing out his option at Minnesota My goal is to be consistent like I think I have been with the Twins the last six years Minnesota received in- fielders Roy Smalley and Mike Cubbage veteran pitcher Singer and minor league pitching prospect Jim Gideon in the trade I think without any question Blyleven will pitch the way he s capable of at said Twins Manager Gene Mauch His record is impressive and now his mind is clear having all his monetary problems behind The Blyleven will become the Rangers highest paid player having agreed to a three-year contract calling for in salary and deferred payments The last two years or so have really been said Blyleven who had a 90 record since joining Minnesota in June 1970 at the age of 19 He was at the time of the trade I expect to be in Texas a long time and hope to win more than 100 games continued Blyleven I good and think I can help them win They ve got a good club Thompson who also joined the Twins in 1970 JIM GIDEON was elated with the trade The veteran infielder who was also unsigned agreed to contract terms with the Rangers and will receive a salary of from Texas about more than he was offered by the Twins Thompson has a lifetime average of 252 and was hitting 234 this season and enjoying the best year of his career at shortstop While Minnesota players accepted news of the trade skeptically Mauch and Twins owner Calvin Griffith liked the deal I don't think Twins fans MIKE CUBBAGE will really know just how good a deal we really made until some time has said Mauch It's the kind of a deal you'll have to evaluate as time goes by Mauch plans im- mediately to install Smalley at shortstop and Cubbage at third Singer will join the starting rotation and Gideon is being reassigned from Sacramento to the Twins AAA farm club at in the Pacific Coast League DANNY THOMPSON Several Twins players wondered aloud why Blyleven was sent to a teani in the same division Minnesota players were nearly unanimous in their feeling that he would easily finish the year with ween 15 and 20 victories Ryans winning family trait not limited to male sex Cojak may enter Belmont NEW YORK AP A field of six or seven is shaping up for Saturday s Belmont Stakes with Ogden Mills Phipps Majestic Light the latest to join the list of expected to go to the post in the third jewel of Triple Crown Majestic Light worked a mile at Belmont Tuesday under Braulio Baeza and his effort satisfied trainer John Russell He started slowly but finished in a pleasing manner to both Braulio and me said Russell after Majestic Light covered a mile in and galloped out miles in He'll probably run If he does it will bring to six the number of horses going to the post Also expected are Kentucky Derby winner Bold Forbes Another possible entry is Cojak M By BOB FRANKLIN Dally Times Staff Writer of the best known sportsmen in Delaware County are Butch and Bo Ryan a father and son combination with envious playing and coaching records William F Butch Ryan the father was in youth work as an organizer and coach of boys football basketball and baseball for over 30 years William Bo Ryan Jr the son has in five years of coaching climbed to a position as assistant basketball coach at the University of Wisconsin He played for Chester High leading the Clippers basketball team to the state semifinals in 1965 While Butch and Bo were stealing all the headlines Butch's other child stayed quietly in the background playing and loving all sports since she was old enough to pick up a ball and throw it SHE? A lot of people never knew that Butch Ryan had a daughter And of course a lot of people knew he did Because Nancy Ryan aside from being pretty and popular was quite active at Chester High as a cheerleader basketball and player That was back when high school sports for girls were not taken seriously by most administrations and sports pages almost completely ignored them Nancy Ryan who has since become Mrs Ray Sipple and is mother of two girls never let lack of recognition detour her from sports When I was growing up I never thought that I should not play against boys just because I was a girl So I played against them in every sandlot game I could get into she said I even played football Not touch football tackle she said Butch Ryan recalls the many afternoons Nancy came in with patches of soil imbedded in her blue jeans where she had hit the ground or had blood oozing from skinned elbows Her mother or I never worried about her getting hurt She is a competitive girl and we knew that making her stop playing football would break her said Butch We knew also that she was a good enough athlete to compete with boys in her said Butch Now that Nancy is nearing 30 she's doing more coaching and less playing And like the rest of the Ryans she's successful at it At the Aston AA banquet she was honored for leading the Panthers basketball team through an un- defeated season And there's liable to be more to come Undefeated teams and championships seem to be a family trait TIRE BUYING MADE EASY Check Your Type Size Price ENDS JUNE 5 UNIROYAL 2 GLASS BELTS POLY CORDS 78 Series Whitewall Tubeless Ramsay In Wilkens out WHITEWALL ALL 13 14 ALL SIZES PASSENGER CARS AU PRICES PLUS 1.75 to 3.31 RETREADS PORTLAND Ore AP It's going to take a healthy Walton to turn Portland into a winner says new Portland Trail Blazers Coach Frank Ramsay Like I had a healthy one responded Lenny Wilkens who was fired by the National Basketball Association club after completing two years of a four-year contract Ramsay's hiring was announced at a news conference Tuesday making him the fourth coach in the six-year history of the Blazers had heard some rumors the past couple of weeks but I still didn't think anything would Wilkens said in a telephone interview I mean why should We had a lot of injuries other problems I don't think any coach could control Ramsay was dismissed by Buffalo on May 3 after the Braves lost to Boston in the Eastern Conference semifinals He's not fired he s just not Buffalo publicist Mike Shaw said at the time Ramsay coached at Buffalo for four years the Braves reaching the NBA playoffs the last three Wilkens had completed the second year of a year contract The Blazers were the first year their best record ever and the put season despite numerous injuries notably to Walton coached Seattle for three years and played in the NBA for 15 years said he think it was right but he's the one making the a reference to Lawrence Weinberg Blazers president I know that it's a high risk he said but I don't think you can overlook the fact that Walton was hurt and out of the lineup that Geoff Petrie started off well then was hurt and out and that Lloyd Neal was injured and out When you're winning everyone thinks you're a Wilkens said Next year what if he Walton stays Everyone will think he Ramsay is a genius Ironically it could pen Wilkens wasn't wishing Ramsay any ill luck just predicting what might happen next season if the Blazers stay healthy I think this is the best coaching opportunity in professional Ramsay said at the news conference I took the position here for that reason Ramsay's contract is for two years with an ad- option year Ramsay who was coach and general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers for six years said The only mixed feeling I have is that I am replacing a guy for whom I have a great deal of respect At Buffalo his first team was in White Spoke Wheels Size Price 35.95 37.95 43.95 TUBELESS 95 SPIRIT OF 76 ALIGNMENT Front-end safety check Set comber coster Set toe-in toe out Check steering Rood test the car Won can Can Clamont Del fc NEWARK Rt m Sunoco Citco 798 6811 494 3880 All STORK OPEN 81 Tun i 8 S 30 Sat 83
