Marty Petroskas

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In the 1930s, Marty Petroskas was a member of the Fordham University front line which was dubbed ‘The Seven Blocks of Granite” because of its virtual immovability. Petroskas was All-Scholastic as a lineman at Luzerne High School and Fordham University. Fordham was among the top college teams in the country in those days. The team was coached by Jim Crowley, who not too long before had captured his share of collegiate glory as a player when he was one-fourth of the fabled “Four Horsemen” backfield at Notre Dame. Petroskas followed up his All-Scholastic achievement at Luzerne by making the All-American honorable mention roles at Fordham. For five years Petroskas was the highly successful player-line coach of the defunct Wilkes-Barre Bullets pro football team. Petroskas was a teacher-coach at his Luzerne High alma mater for several years before embarking on a sales career. When former Luzerne High School all-scholastic-1935 Marty Petroskas was a guard on the Fordham University Juggernaut, the team’s other guard was a guy by the name of Vince Lombardi. Petroskas remembers him as a hardnosed player who avoided the limelight. Vince Lombardi became the head football coach of the Greenbay Packers, who happened to be the best football team in the world. Petroskas served in the army for three years, most of which time was spent as a master sergeant in the China-Burma-India Theatre. After graduating from Fordham University, he became a sales representative for Giant Portland Cement Co. in this area. Marty Petroskas was married to the former Gerri Harris of Luzerne. They were the parents of two daughters, Peggy Ann and Georgine.