Warren Area High School athletic director Jon Sitler, left, and Warren County Sports Hall of Fame director Nate Sandberg display the school’s state championship boys gymnastics team from the 1940s. Submitted Photo

Did you know that many years ago, Warren Area High School boasted its first-ever Pennsylvania State team championship? And, no, we’re not talking about the legendary WAHS cross-country team that took home the PIAA State title in 1966. This is regarding the relatively unknown, and less talked about, Warren High School boys gymnastics team that won three consecutive Pennsylvania State titles in 1940, 1941 and 1942. Yes, that is correct, the first-ever state team title in Warren Area High School history, per the 1940 Dragon yearbook, was in boys gymnastics. As three-time Western Regional champions, the Dragons were undefeated in the state championships, defeating Bloomsburg in 1940 and 1941, and Pottsville in 1942.

“There is so much sports history in Warren County, and we are trying to do our part in reviving the past athletic achievements that have been lost to time,” Warren County Sports Hall of Fame director Nate Sandberg said. “We are working on a 1,000-point scorer board for boys and girls basketball, and want to update the wrestling board at WAHS as well.”

Per the archives of the WAHS library, the boys gymnastics team (known as the ‘Tumbling Team’) started in 1938 under the legendary Warren County Sports Hall of Fame coach Homer Fleming. For a couple of years prior to 1938, there were only two sports at Warren Area High School — football in the fall and basketball in the winter. Boys track and baseball teams were not in some of the yearbooks in the mid-late 1930s, but were very popular in the early 1900s to the mid-30s. The addition of the gymnastics team in the spring of ’38 allowed boys to once again be involved in sports every season of the school year. Due to a group of boys from the “Beaty Mat Club” showing interest in tumbling, they helped form the team at the high school that turned into the boys gymnastics team. The gymnastics route to the state championships was very similar to what the PIAA does for the modern-day sports it recognizes. All teams had to qualify via the district and regional meets. Once the Western Regional contest at Slippery Rock University (formerly Slippery Rock State Teachers’ College) was won, a trip to the state championships in State College was on deck. The Dragons consistently outperformed their opponents every year en route to their three-peat.

The legacy of Warren gymnastics is nothing short of incredible. Coach Fleming was the catalyst who kicked off the career of future Olympian, Raymond Sorensen. A 1940 WAHS graduate and WCSHOF inductee, Sorensen went on to have a very successful career at Penn State, where he led the Nittany Lions to their first-ever NCAA team title in 1948. Sorensen also won the individual all-around title that year, but he was just warming up. Later that year, he qualified for the 1948 Summer Olympics. Representing the United States at the 14th Olympiad in London, Sorensen competed in every event, and finished 63rd in the all-around.

Another gymnastics legend and protege of Fleming was William Meade, also a WCSHOF inductee. A WAHS class of 1943 graduate, Meade founded the gymnastics program at the University of North Carolina, coached at Southern Illinois University for 33 years, and was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame Class of 1974 as a coach in the men’s artistic discipline. He also competed in six Olympic games in coaching or administrative roles.

Harold Zimmerman, “…the prize tumbler…” (The Dragon, 1940), carried his athletic career to Penn State where he earned a bronze medal at the 1942 NCAA Gymnastics Championships, and helped the Nittany Lions to a runner-up team finish. He also won the 1942 Amateur Athletic Union national championships in the parallel bars.

Although the tenure of boys gymnastics at Warren High lasted less than a decade, Coach Fleming helped produce four individual state champions in Zimmerman, Gene Pring, Jack Bean and Lewis Conroy. Zimmerman won the 1939 title in tumbling, the 1940 titles in tumbling and parallel bars, and was awarded the prestigious Eugene Wettstone Trophy. Wettstone was the Penn State head gymnastics coach from 1939-1976, and coached the United States men’s gymnastics teams at the 1948 and 1956 Summer Olympics. Pring was the 1941 tumbling champion. 1944 saw Bean take home individual gold in parallel bars and mats, and Conroy won the side horse title. There were no 1943 state championships due to the strict nationwide rationing of gasoline and rubber to support World War II efforts, and 1944 was the final year for the WAHS boys gymnastics program.

It is apparent that Fleming had a substantial impact on his kids, per the yearbooks. The 1941 Dragon yearbook quote stated the following, “A great deal of credit and appreciation should be given to Coach Fleming who has, through hard work and sacrifice, put gymnastics in Warren on such a high plane.”

Another yearbook quote from the 1942 Dragon stated, “The members of the Warren gymnastics team worked tirelessly to win the state title, but no one contributed more time and effort than did their coach, Mr. Fleming. It was through his brilliant coaching that gymnastics finally found the place they deserved among the other athletics of Warren High School.”

Coach Fleming and the Warren boys gymnastics legacy will live on forever in the Joseph A. Massa Gymnasium at Warren Area High School with a banner that will be proudly displayed for all to see.