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It’s quite possible that no one alive has watched more Aliquippa football than Shirley Hines.
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“I haven’t missed a game since 1955,” the soft-spoken Hines said with a blanket draped over her lap as she prepared to watch the Quips take on visiting Our Lady of the Sacred Heart on Friday.
Hines has witnessed all of the many great Aliquippa football players in her 86 years, one being Mike Ditka, a person she described as being a “good guy” who graduated from the school two years before her.
Ditka’s family announced Friday that the legendary former player and coach had passed away at the age of 86, and Hines, along with members of the Aliquippa community and the football world, remembered him fondly.
Before the game, Aliquippa played a video tribute to Ditka on its scoreboard and held a moment of silence; the team’s athletic trainer, Mike McGarvey, sported a Ditka Chicago Bears jersey; and folks could be overheard passing along Ditka stories to one another.
Many associate Aliquippa with its greatness on the football field, and Ditka, a 1957 graduate, helped put the small steel town on the map.
“He was the Godfather of Aliquippa football,” Aliquippa coach Mike Warfield said before Aliquippa’s 52-0 win.
No high school in the country has produced as many Pro Football Hall of Famers as Aliquippa’s three, but long before Ty Law and Darrelle Revis, there was Ditka, a no-nonsense guy who not only won a WPIAL title as a player, but also Super Bowl titles as both a player and coach.
“It’s sad, but it happens,” Hines said. “But when it happens to one of the ones who put the town on the map … He was one of them.”
Ditka grew up in Aliquippa’s Linmar housing project and, in athletics, it was quite the project to slow down a three-sport standout who also played basketball and baseball. As a junior in 1955, Ditka, a tight end-defensive end, helped lead the Quips to their second WPIAL football championship. The program now has 21 titles, more than any other school.
Dan “Peep” Short is another Aliquippa great, who, just like Ditka, played collegiately at Pitt. Both are enshrined in the Beaver County Hall of Fame.
“When I played Pop Warner football, Mike Ditka was always my hero,” said Short, a longtime Aliquippa assistant coach.
Growing up, Short said he always made sure to pick out jersey No. 89, the same as Ditka’s.
“My father used to say ‘Watch some of the greats,’ and that’s a guy I would always channel in on,” Short explained. “I tried to pattern my game after his a little bit. I just wasn’t as good as Mike.”
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Few were. As a tight end, Ditka led Pitt in receiving for three seasons and also excelled as a defensive end and punter. A team captain, Ditka was a unanimous All-American as a senior in 1960 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986, two years before becoming first tight end enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“Mike Ditka was the embodiment of a Pitt man. He brought the toughness and pride of western Pennsylvania to the University of Pittsburgh, became one of the greatest players in the history of our program and carried the Pitt name with him to the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” Pitt athletic director Allen Greene said in a statement. “He achieved everything as a player and a coach, yet he never lost his connection to where he came from. On behalf of the entire Pitt Athletics family, I extend our deepest condolences to the Ditka family.”
Despite living a life of fame, Ditka never forgot where he came from. It’s a common sentiment shared by many who knew him.
“Aliquippa is a place you can’t forget. He loved Aliquippa,” said Aliquippa mayor Dwan Walker, who works at Aliquippa’s Heinz Field during home games.
“He was Aliquippa. He was us to a T. Tough times don’t last, but tough people do. My dad said he was an animal. He said [Ditka] would fight his own mom to get a scrap at the table.”
Jerry “Mole” Malesky was among those remembering Ditka on Friday. In 1986, just months after Ditka coached the Bears to a Super Bowl title, Ditka was asked by Malesky and John Evasovich about starting a celebrity golf tournament.
“We were so lucky because we asked him to do a testimonial the year before they won the Super Bowl,” Malesky said. “So he did that, and then he said, “Is there anything else I can do?’ So I said, ‘Mike, how about a celebrity golf tournament?’ He goes, ‘No problem. Arrange it, and I’ll be there.’ “
Ditka would then return annually for 20 years to play in the event at Aliquippa Country Club. Malesky still has a picture of Ditka from that very first year.
“When he had his golf tournament, he was always accessible to us,” Short said. “He was still mean on the golf course, too. He was a no-nonsense person, man. You couldn’t slow play with him.”
Ditka spent 12 seasons in the NFL, playing for the Bears, Eagles and Cowboys. He was a six-time All-Pro and was the first tight end in NFL history to collect 1,000 receiving yards in a season, which he did as a rookie in 1961. Ditka won Super Bowls as a player in 1972, as an assistant coach in 1978, and as a head coach in 1986. He was a head coach for 14 seasons.
“Mike Ditka epitomized football over so many years,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “He brought intensity, authenticity, and an unmistakable personality to everything he did. As a Hall of Fame player, Super Bowl-winning coach with his beloved and iconic Bears, and as a broadcaster, Mike served as an ambassador for the game and inspired generations of fans.”
Ditka was a larger-than-life figure whose success and personality made him well-known all over, but it all started in Aliquippa, and the Quip faithful said they are thankful that he played a big part in their success.
“Everyone always talks about the standard. He was the standard. He created the standard. Sixty years later, we’re still trying to live up to that standard,” Warfield said. “He’s a blessing. What he’s done for the community, what he’s done for the kids. Just giving us the sense of direction that it’s possible, it’s priceless. He was a great man.”
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This story was originally published October 11, 2026 at 2:43 AM.