Brookline Knights history website designed
and maintained by Clint Burton. Thanks to everyone else who helps out!
♦ Brookline Connection ♦
Knights News * Seasons In Review
2014 <> 2013 <> 2012 <> 2011 <> 2010 <> 2009 <> 2008
2007 <> 2006 <> 2005 <> 2000 <> 1998
including Rosters, Photos, Game Results and more.
Tradition and Excellence
The Brookline Knights Football
program nurtured a long-standing tradition of gridiron excellence. That legacy
dated back to their inception in 1974, a year when another Pittsburgh
football team, the Steelers, began their initial reign as Super Bowl
champions. Although the Knights may not have been as well known as the men in
Black and Gold, these Brookline kids rose to the top of the local youth
football scene time and time again over their forty-six year run.
The 13-Under Midget team celebrates after
a playoff win in 2000. These Knights went on to win the WPSYFL title.
Brookline
Knights teams claimed twenty-one league championships!
In eight years of SSYFL football (2006-2013),
the 2006 9-Under, 2007 10-Under, 2009 13-Under, 2010 13-Under, 2011 11-Under, 2012 10-Under, 2013 11-Under and 2013 13-Under teams combined to bring home a total of eight Super Bowl championships.
The 2006 8-Under team
added a Conference championship, finishing as Super Bowl runner-up. Brookline's 2012 9-Under team also felt the thrill of Super Bowl competition.
The Brookline Knights 1979 WPMFL Termite
champions went 9-0. They were Brookline's first undefeated team.
Prior to joining the SSYFL, from 1974
to 2005, Brookline's list of past champions included: Midgets (2000, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1990),
Mitey-Mites (1998, 1978), Termites (1996, 1990, 1979) and Twerps (2004, 2001, 1980). Along with these distinguished title holders, the Knights fielded
several teams that finished runner-up in league championship games.
The 10-year old Brookline Knights repeated as
Super Bowl champions in 2007. These Mighty Knights
returned to win the title again in 2009 and 2010, making them four-time
SSYFL champions.
"Let's Go, Knights!"
In addition to the girdiron warriors,
there were also the generations of talented cheerleaders. Year after year, these
energetic ladies kept the fans engaged with an assortment of sideline cheers, zany
antics and fabulous halftime routines. Their spirit and dedication added color
and charm to the Brookline Knights gameday festivities.
Coach Joe And Lisa Nicholas
After nineteen seasons, beginning in
1995, as the President and First Lady of Brookline football, Coach Joe and
his wife Lisa retired from active participation with the Knights. Under their
steady leadership, the program has become one of the best in the City of
Pittsburgh. Following the 2013 season, Joe and Lisa passed the mantel of
President and First Lady on to Steve Mescan and his partner Tamara
Lefcowitz.
This did not mean that the two most
familiar faces in Brookline football took a permanent leave of absence.
Coach Joe continued in his 22nd year on the sideline, leading the 11-Under
team to a Super Bowl berth. He also took a behind the scenes role as
Past-President. Lisa, too, worked in the shadows providing the guidance that
came from two decades of dedicated service. After that first year helping
with the transition, Joe and Lisa moved on, confident in the knowledge that
the program was in capable hands.
Coaches Joe and Joey Nicholas
led the 11-Under team to a 2014 Super Bowl berth. As a coach, Joe led
his teams
to five league championships. During his term as president, the Knights
earned sixteen team titles.
A Family Affair
The Brookline Knights would like
to acknowledge the entire Nicholas family for their many years of tireless
dedication and devotion to Brookline Knights football. This includes
Joe's brothers, Brian and Rick, and their respective families.
Also involved as both players and
cheerleaders, then club officers and coaches, were the Nicholas children,
Nicole, Jamie, Gina and Joey. Nicole continued as cheerleader coach until
the completion of the 2017 season. These kids grew up as Brookline Knights,
and as adults worked hard to carry on their proud Knights tradition. The
entire Nicholas clan will forever be recognized as the First Family of
Brookline Knights football.
Joe, Nicole, Gina, Jamie, Joey and
Lisa Nicholas in February 2014.
In honor of their two-plus decades of
service to the Brookline community, the Nicholas' were selected as local
recipients of the 2013 Jefferson Award, considered to be the Nobel Prize for
Voluteerism. It was well-deserved recognition for a family that has done
so much for the neighborhood they call home.
Many Years Of Dedicated Volunteers
A kindred spirit always ran strong
in the Knight's organization. Generous assistance from decades of
community-minded volunteers, along with a long list of talented coaches,
rounded out the Knight's family. For those who slogged through the mud
on Saturday mornings and ran the hillside in the early evening hours, or
worked for hours in the hot concession stand, this motto rings
true: Once a Knight, always a Knight.
For forty-six years, from 1974
to 2019, the Brookline Knights Football Association was one of the
things that helped to make the community of Brookline a such a special
place.
In the Beginning - The Brookline Bears
The Brookline Knights Football
Association has its roots in the Brookline Bears
Football Association, started in 1974 by John Dowling and Jim Raimondi. After the first season, the team changed it's
name from Bears to Knights.
Others who figured prominently in the
birth of the Brookline football program were Chuck Senft, Bud Cambest, Jim
McGrath, John Boris, Tony Ravoli, Sam Achille, Mike Betrose, Ted Gielas and
Don Tarr. These founding fathers helped establish the solid foundation from
which Brookline Knights football has grown over the years.
From the first Bears team in 1974
to Knights of the new millenium, the organization earned a strong reputation
for turning out top quality players, ready for the rigors of High School
football. The 1996 Knights took that a few steps further, boasting
two future NFL players, Bruce Gradkowski and Ray Ventrone.
Other former players
to achieve NFL status are two-time collegiate football National Champion Don Graham of the
1977
Knights, and Ross Ventrone of the
1998
Knights.
Linebacker Don Graham had a three-year
career (1987-1989) with Tampa Bay, Buffalo and Washington. Defensive Back Ross
Ventrone played for six years (2010-2015) with New England and Pittsburgh, and
was a member of the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI. His older brother, Defensive
Back Ray Ventrone enjoyed an ten-year career (2005-2014) with New England, New
York (Jets), Cleveland and San Francisco, and was a member of the Patriots in
Super Bowl XLII. The longest tenured NFL Knight was Quarterback Bruce Gradkowski,
whose eleven-year (2006-2016) career was spent in Tampa Bay, St. Louis, Cleveland,
Oakland, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.
Don Graham |
Ray Ventrone |
Bruce Gradkowski |
Ross Ventrone |
The Ventrone Brothers - Knights in the NFL
Danny McGibbeny Field
All Knights home games are
played at McGibbeny Field in Brookline Memorial Park, located along the 1400 block of Brookline Boulevard. Back in the
1970s, the Knights games were held at Moore Park, located on Pioneer Avenue.
The Knights home field is named for a
Brookline man, Danny McGibbeny, who spent several years working with the
neighborhood kids before passing, in 1977, at the age of twenty-six.
The Brookline Park complex was founded
in 1947, when the land was purchased from the Anderson family. Take a look back
through the decades to see how Brookline Park has evolved from a twenty acre farm
into the multi-purpose park in use today. Let the "Brookline Park Renaissance" be your guide.
The 1977 Brookline Knights Termite team
gathers for a photo after the final game of the season.
 
 
 
Before the
Knights
Youth football in Brookline
has its origins long before the Knights program was introduced.
Dating back to the 1930s, Brookline fielded a sandlot team called the
Brookline Merchants, who played in the city leagues. American Legion Post
#540 sponsored a sandlot team for many years, dating back to the 1940s.
City High Schools fielded teams as far back as the 1920s. Even local
elementary schools, like Resurrection, St. Pius and Brookline,
had varsity teams from the 1940s through the 1980s.
The Brookline Royals were the premier team in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan League
from 1967 to 1971.
Two local sandlot teams whose
heyday was the late-1960s were the "West"
Brookline Royals and the "East"
Brookline Quaills. It was an intra-neighborhood rivalry that still evokes
emotions from those who slugged and slogged it out in the mud at Moore
Park. These games were classic Brookline bone-crunching gridiron
brawls.
The Bellaire Place 13-Under football
team from 1964, sponsored by "The Golden Cue" bar and grill.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Brookline
also sported teams that were organized by the kids themselves. Coaches
were recruited and sponsors helped with equipment costs and referees.
These were neighborhood teams, like the Lynnbrook Lions, Jacob Jets,
Bellaire's Golden Cue and the Milan Eagles of 1963/1964. They formed their
own league. These match-ups only lasted a year or two until the players
moved on to sandlot ball. The memories have lasted a lifetime.
 
Backyard brawls between neighborhood
teams and friends were commonplace in 1958, as were team practices.
Some
pictures of youth teams from the Brookline area:
1930 - South Hills High School
Varsity
1932 - The Brookline
Merchants
1940 - The Brookline
Merchants
1947 - American Legion Post #540
Sandlot Team
1951 - Resurrection Elementary
Varsity
1952 - Resurrection Elementary
Varsity
1953 - Resurrection Elementary
Varsity
1954 - Resurrection Elementary
Varsity
1954 - South Hills High School
Varsity
1960 - Brookline Royals Sandlot
Team
1961 - Pittsburgh Newells Sandlot
Team
1964 - "The Golden Cue" 12-13 year
olds
1964 - Brookline Junior
Royals
1965 - South Hills Catholic
High School Freshman Team
1968 - Brookline Quaills Sandlot Team
1966/1971 - Brookline Royals Sandlot Team
1975 - St. Pius X Elementary
Varsity
1976 - South Hills High School
Varsity
1978 - St. Pius X Elementary
Varsity
1982 - St. Pius X Elementary
Varsity
1984 - St. Pius X Elementary
Varsity
The 1974/1975 St. Pius X Saints Diocesan
Varsity football team.
If anyone has information on
the Brookline Knights or other neighborhood teams from
the pre-Knights era, please contact us on the Brookline Connection Guestbook or
send us a message or post on the Brookline Connection Facebook Page.
We'd be glad to include this information here on our website.
End of an Era
The COVID pandemic forced the closure of the
program in 2020 and 2021. When the
2022 season rolled around, there was no effort made to restart the program.
After forty-six years, Brookline's Knights had fought their final battle.
It was the End of an Era, and what a grand era it
was.
The End
Oh yeah, all right
Are you going to be in my dreams
Tonight?
And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love you make
Dedicated coaches will do just about
anything to keep the
game balls warm and dry. Thanks Jerry and Joe for
your many years of service to the Knights ...
and for the grandest of grand finales.
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