The Big 33 Football Classic celebrated its 50th Anniversary on June 16, 2007, and the history of the classic often described as “The Super Bowl of High School Football” is rich in ties to Fayette County.
Larry Vignali, who graduated from Masontown High School in 1958, was a member of the Pennsylvania All-Stars in the very first Big 33 Classic against the United States All-Stars, and was one of the alumni who came to Hershey, PA for a week of events.

“It was the 50th year since they selected a team,” Vignali explained. “But they didn’t play a game – the first team that played was in 1958 against the United States and we beat them 6-0. The quarterback was Sandy Stephens from Uniontown and I was the right guard and he called a quarterback sneak and made the touchdown running right behind me. That’s a great memory.”

Vignali was an All-Fayette County performer three seasons for the Gunners and an All-State selection his senior year.

“I remember people like Gene Franks – who wasn’t my coach, but he coached right before I started playing,” Vignali recalled. “He had a great influence on me along with John Lozar who was our great coach and we played some real tough schedules for a Class B school.
“Our records were only average 6-4 and 7-3 and we didn’t have any championship teams. They were undefeated in 1959 after I left. I started for four years and I was an offensive and defensive lineman and in my senior year I ended up playing fullback.

“Bill Elias was only a sophomore my senior year, but he played in college and Gerald Lofstead – he was a sophomore also and he played at Richmond. I was the only graduating senior on my team that played college football.”

Vignali was highly recruited coming out of high school.

“I visited many, many schools,” Vignali stated.

“I actually signed with Indiana of the Big Ten and right before I was to leave I had a brother killed in a car accident and after that I didn’t want to leave home. I asked Jack Wiley, from Pitt who recruited me, if there was still an opening for me and I’d like to change my mind and he allowed me to do that. There was an opening and that’s how I wound up going to Pitt.”

Going to Pitt turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

“It was a great decision,” Vignali gushed. “I loved Pitt and they treated me great and I had fantastic coaches – John Michelosen, Steve Petro and Jack Wiley - they don’t come any better than that.”
He played with some great players like Mike Ditka and on some very solid teams.

“I spent three years with Ditka and the great backfield the “Three C’s” Jim Cunningham, Bob Clements and Fred Cox,” Vignali recalled. “We had a definite western Pennsylvania flavor and at that time we had Dennis Dvorchak who played for South Union and Andy Sepsi from Brownsville and Bob Ostrosky who was a tackle from Uniontown and of course Cunningham from Connellsville - we had a lot of Fayette County influence on the Pitt team.”

Vignali who garnered second team All-American honors in 1962 and was a three-time All East selection has some fond memories of those
Panther teams.

“We never lost to Notre Dame in the four years I was there. We were very competitive and we played a tough schedule - we played Penn State, West Virginia, Syracuse - we played UCLA, Southern California, Miami(FL) and Washington. Probably the best team we ever had was 1960.

“It was kind of sad we won four and we tied three games – we tied Michigan State, TCU and Army – we tied all those games 7-7 and we lost two games by one point. Only seven points separated us from an undefeated season,” Vignali stated.

Following his graduation from Pitt – the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Vignali in the tenth round of the 1962 NFL Draft.

“I got drafted and I was already married and in dental school,” he explained. “I played my senior year in football as a freshman dental student. I had a tough workload and I negotiated my contract with Mr. Art Rooney and it was fun talking to him and the first thing he said to me was, ‘you’re kind of small.’

“But he offered me a contract and I went home and talked to my father and he encouraged me not to play. He said if you hurt your hands – you’re going to be a dentist and you are married. He said I should stick with dentistry. I never went to camp.”

Vignali finished dental school and became a very prominent dentist in Fayette County.

He has no regrets about that - “I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”
Vignali has been married twice and has two children by his first wife and both of those boys played college football. He and his second wife Elaine have three children.