Retired WPHS Educator Recalls Opening of the ‘High School on the Hill’
He was a student first, a new Patriot walking inside a mazed world that combined high school civilizations from all corners of the city. Once he earned his degrees in education from WVU and Ohio University, his teaching career quickly brought Pete Chacalos back home to join Wheeling Park High School’s faculty and athletic training staff, where he spent 35 years teaching and caring for the kids of Ohio County. And he recalls his first days and final years very clearly, and that’s why he’s written a book about the history of the high school's football program. "Wheeling Park Football - The First 50 Years" is available now for preorders on the author's website. Not only did Pete Chacalos graduate from WPHS in 1978, but he was also the athletic trainer for the Patriots' football team. “I have seen every team that Wheeling Park has ever played against in football, and since I started as the athletic trainer in 1985, I had a streak at one point attending 340 straight games,” Chacalos explained. “The streak was snapped because a family member passed away and I had to be with my family. Of course, that was a no-brainer. “After I retired from serving as the team’s athletic trainer, I continued to attend every game, and I’ve helped keep stats for the past eight or nine seasons,” he said. “When I was the athletic trainer, I was never a fan of those really cold games, but now that I’m up in the press box, I don’t care as much, but I still think fall weather is the best weather for the game and its players.” Construction crews first broke ground on Wheeling Park High School on February 25, 1975, and the building officially welcomed more than 1,400 students on September 7, 1976, consolidating Wheeling, Warwood, and Triadelphia high schools. Former Superintendent Dr. Henry Marockie did not host the dedication ceremony for the $11 million, 310,000-square-foot structure until December 12, 1976. The members of the Ohio County Board of Education joined Superintendent Henry Marockie (on left in the tan suit) for the high school's groundbreaking. (Photo archived by the Ohio County Public Library) Chacalos was a junior when Park High opened for the county’s sophomores, juniors, and seniors, and, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, a total of 1,427 students were enrolled. “When they started football practice up on the hill, the locker rooms were done, but the road wasn't finished yet,” he recalled. “The first year the team practiced next to Sonneborn Shelter, so they had to walk or jog on gravel while weaving between all of the heavy machinery they were using to build the high school. That road, I know, wasn’t actually paved until a week before school started. “The roadway up the hill from the actual Wheeling Park wasn’t finished either, so a lot of us used the hill off of Edgington Lane down in Woodsdale, and others went the other way through the Springdale area,” he explained. “Most of the roads up there were gravel up until that final week, so it was pretty rough. We survived just fine, and some of us even enjoyed it.” The design of Wheeling Park High School is similar to Wheeling Middle, Woodsdale, Elm Grove, and Middle Creek elementary schools, and the Headstart building in North Park. (Photo archived by the Ohio County Public Library) The Politics of Consolidation It’s been a popular question since the decision was made. Why did Board of Education members Audrey Horne, Steve Grammen, Richard Tomlinson, Dr. Albert Blatnik, and Mary Dolan decide to construct Ohio County’s three-in-one high school “in the middle of nowhere”? The easy answer? Politics, of course. “I have heard a lot of stories about why they built Wheeling Park up on that hill; one story was about how the different communities were arguing about the location because they didn’t want to lose a high school in their area,” Chacalos said. “Plus, I’ve been told the school system could get the land above Wheeling Park for pretty cheap, and if they put it up above Wheeling Park, it would end all of the arguing. One of the primary objectives of the recent list of bond projects included security, and that included the front entrance to Wheeling Park High School. “I guess they thought if they didn’t put the new school in one of the city’s neighborhoods, there wouldn't be anything to debate, and it worked as I remember it,” the retired educator said. “I wasn’t part of those conversations, of course, because I was a student at the time, but that’s what I was told as (an educator) at the high school for more than 30 years.” Chacalos also has heard the BOE members considered alternative plans that did not include the construction of Wheeling Park High School. “There was a lot of talk about expanding Triadelphia, and there was a lot of talk about making two high schools out of the three high schools,” the author recalled. “I don’t remember a ton about the two-school proposal, but some of the people that were involved with that committee did tell me that it was an idea that they had at one time. They apparently discussed a lot of options. “They were either going to build a new school, refurbish the ones they had, and there was also the proposal to make two schools,” he explained. “The ideas that concerned the refurbishing of the three or building two new school buildings fizzled out pretty quickly, I’ve been told.” When Park High opened, it was considered the most massive school building anyone had seen before, but the campus has grown impressively over the last 50 years. (Image: Google Earth) 50 Years, 50 Classes Officials with Ohio County Schools will be celebrating the high school’s 50th anniversary during the annual Homecoming weekend on October 15-17. A number of events are scheduled, including an early-evening parade in downtown Wheeling on Thursday, the football team’s Friday night Homecoming game against Jefferson High at Wheeling Island Stadium, and daytime tours at the high school on Saturday. Please check Ohio County Schools’ Facebook page for additional details as they become available. The high school has undergone a plethora of substantial multimillion-dollar updates since the country’s Bicentennial, including the additions of an indoor swimming facility and the $10 million J.B. Chambers Performing Arts Center, and more recently - and under the guidance of Superintendent Dr. Kim Miller and her staff - a countywide $71 million bond-funded modernization initiative that provided capital improvement projects at each of the district’s 14 schools. Please check back with the Ohio County Schools Facebook page for more details about Homecoming weekend. “The high school has changed quite a bit since that first day in 1976; the pool, the performing arts centers; so much has been added since then,” Chacalos said. “They made a lot of improvements to the athletic facilities, too, and the interior of the school has completely changed. If you are coming into town for Homecoming, you really should make sure to take a tour. You’ll be amazed. “We thought Wheeling Park was an incredible place when it opened,” he admitted. “But it’s completely different now and even more impressive than ever before.” If in print, today’s catalog of classes offered at Wheeling Park High School would measure at least an inch thick because it includes all levels of curriculum and instruction necessary for a county’s school system. That’s why Chacalos believes the facility – and the faculty and staff that work within – continues to be the “innovative learning center” that then-superintendent Marockie hoped WPHS would become. Pete Chacalos was a science teacher at WPHS for more than 30 years, and he was the school's head athletic trainer for 28 seasons, too. “I started my high school years at Triadelphia, and that had a small-town feel to it. It was more of a family-type atmosphere,” he remembered. “But when I went to Wheeling Park, it was so, so different. It exposed you to classes and opportunities that you never could have been exposed to at any of your other schools. “There was a wide range of course offerings, and the technology was incredible,” Chacalos added. “They’ve changed a lot with the layout of the classrooms and the labs over the years, but Wheeling Park High School was definitely a game-changer for the kids in Ohio County. I know as a student, I was able to experience a lot of new things there, and I made a lot of friendships, that’s for sure.” (The cover photo was featured on the cover of the program distributed at the school's groundbreaking ceremony in December 1976, and it's been archived by the Ohio County Public Library.) Read the full article