Published: November 14, 2009 11:30 pm      

Windber fan leaves school collection of memorabilia

WINDBER — When Geno A. Stevens died in August, he left the bulk of his estate to St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church.

But he left his heart to his beloved school. Windber Area School District is the beneficiary of Stevens’ immense collection of sports memorabilia.

Stevens attended Windber High School and entered the military upon graduation. An auto accident later in life left him with a brain injury, but he still worked at his father’s shoe repair shop and eventually came to run the shop himself.

He was 80 when he died on Aug. 10.

Stevens had decorated his store with sports memorabilia from his alma mater and became infatuated with the school system in general.

At one time, Stevens was a school board member.

“He had a different sense of reality than others,” said district Superintendent Rick Huffman. “To him, 1950 was as real as 2009.”

Stevens’ legacy is carried on through his memorabilia.

Six boxes of pictures, yearbooks and photos are being housed in Windber High School, and a permanent display is in the works.

“It’s like a snapshot into what made the area what it is today,” Huffman said.

Huffman hopes that a display of the items will influence and inspire students. He said that if students recognize names and faces of community leaders and athletes from the past, they may relate to how successful the former athletes are now. Some of the former athletes went on to coach football at the college level, while others are prominent members of the Windber community.

Other pieces of Stevens’ collection include tapes and reels from Windber High School football games.

The oldest one in the collection is a 1933 game between Windber and Johnstown.

Huffman wants to get students involved in preserving the documents in the collection. He also hopes to blend technologies to keep the memory of the collection alive.

The superintendent said that one way he wants to preserve the videos and reels is to have students convert the tapes to digital format. If that can be done, the digital videos may be put on the school Web site for members of the community to see.

“His legacy through his collection will live on for an indefinite number of generations,” Huffman said. “His collection will influence education.”

Although the collection is not valuable from a dollar standpoint, the value comes from its history, Huffman said.

“I truly believe this is something he would be happy with,” Huffman said.