Labriola

The founder of the region’s most popular summer basketball league and an ambassador for all sports is being fondly remembered.

Tony Labriola passed away Saturday morning after suffering from Parkinson’s Disease for the past several years. He was 81.

While vacationing in Wildwood, New Jersey in the 1960s, the coach, teacher and later administrator saw a summer league in action and brought the concept here for a 1968 launch.

The league was played at Mansion Park until 2019 and has been at Lakemont Park since.

Labriola often praised current league director Skip Dry — now in his 47th season — and remained a resource.

“Tony started something back then that nobody knew how big it would get,” Dry said over the weekend. “We just ran with his idea. As the founding father, he was somebody who contributed and continued to support us.”

Labriola was never concerned about his own recognition, and in fact would show up at the finals to watch and make sure other early instrumental figures with the Altoona Recreation Commission (now the Central Blair Recreation Commission) — such as Stu Nolan and Dick Hankinson — got their due.

“A lot of people don’t know those awards were paid for by Tony out of his own pocket for years,” Dry said.

Labriola was the head coach at Keith Junior High from 1969-73. He coached Johnny Moore, Altoona’s first NBA player who called Labriola, “one of my favorite people in the world.”

Moore was both touched and at peace upon learning of Labriola’s passing because he knew his former coach had been struggling.

“He’ll be with the Lord, and I celebrate his life,” Moore said Sunday night from his home near San Antonio. “He was a man of integrity.”

In addition to being his coach, Moore said Labriola was a friend. When Moore’s father, Bill, was laid off, Labriola paid for Johnny’s tuxedo to attend Keith’s ninth-grade social.

When Moore left the University of Texas to join the Spurs, he was a few credits shy of his degree. Labriola promised him a graduation suit when the work was completed, and Moore proudly achieved that a few years later.

“He bought me a new suit from the Young Men’s Shop,” Moore said. “I still have it. But it wasn’t just me. He laid the foundation for all his players.”

Labriola was an assistant coach at both Altoona and Bishop Guilfoyle, riding shotgun with Bill Gaffey when the Marauders won the Pennsylvania Catholic Interscholastic Athletic Association title in 1967 and then later working under John Swogger and Art Taneyhill with the Mountain Lions.

Williamsburg’s Don Appleman attended Saint Francis with Labriola.

“It’s a sad day for the community,” Appleman said. “When I think of some of the great Altoona people, Tony right away comes to mind. He was a special friend who is going to be missed. He was a spokesman and goodwill ambassador for Altoona sports — Altoona and Bishop Guilfoyle. His son played at Altoona, and he had grandchildren play at Guilfoyle.”

In the heyday of the popular Altoona YMCA postseason tournaments in the 1960s, Labriola was a coach-general manager-player. He would assemble the top local players with Saint Francis standouts like Norm Van Lier and Larry Lewis but always left room for himself and his brother, Pat.

“He loved doing that,” Appleman said.

Labriola played despite a life-long limp due to being born with a dislocated hip.

“That never prevented him from trying sports and loving sports,” his sister, Judy (Labriola) Rossi, said.

Judy and Pat Labriola credit one of Tony’s friends, Ralph Muller, for encouraging their brother at a young age.

“Thank God that Ralph was the kind of kid he was,” Pat said, near tears. “He never looked at Tony like he was handicapped. He made him feel accepted and comfortable. And that helped give Tony his determination.”

Prior to getting into coaching, Labriola worked with John Koza on the radio at WVAM, broadcasting BG games. That’s when he met Gaffey.

Labriola also spent two years as head coach of the Mount Aloysius men’s basketball program from 1981-83. Through his friendship with Moore, Labriola connected with Wendell Davis.

“Coach Labs was a like a father figure to me in so many ways,” Davis said. “He hooked me up with Johnny (Moore), who helped me go to school, and he (Labriola) told me, ‘All I want from you is to help someone else.’ He was a true mentor.”

(For Labriola’s obituary and visitation hours, please see Page A4).