Midland has produced some of the greatest athletes in Beaver County’s illustrious history. Tony Bernardi lived up to that legacy and expanded the reach of his athletic exploits, not just locally, but throughout western Pennsylvania.

Tony’s career started at Midland High School where he started on the basketball team as a sophomore and went on to play on two section championship winning teams. He was the Leopards leading scorer in both his junior and senior season and was selected first team All-Beaver County after both years. In his senior year, in addition to scoring a school record 33 points in a game, he was named second team All-WPIAL. He was also a two-year letter winner in baseball for Midland as well.

Tony continued to be a two-sport standout in college, earning eight letters - four in basketball and four in baseball - at Geneva College. In basketball, he played on two Golden Tornado teams that won the state championship and two that finished as runners-up. Tony was a team captain as a senior and averaged 14.5 points a game. In baseball he was also selected a team captain as a senior, batting .396 for a team that was the state runner-up.

Upon graduation, Tony was drafted into the Army and was stationed in France where he played and coached. He was named the French Coach of the Year in 1960 after leading his team to the All Army European Finals. After discharge Tony coached for 14 years, 13 as a head coach, at Shannock Valley High School, where he won 197 games and four section titles. He was named Indian Area and section Coach of the Year four times. He went on to spend 24 years as the athletic director at Shannock Valley.

Tony finished his coaching career as an assistant at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he was an assistant coach for 13 years. In the 1968-69 season, Bernardi was on the staff of an IUP team that amassed a 22-2 record, the best in school history, and in 1974 IUP reached the Elite-Eight of the NAIA National Tournament.

Tony was named one of the Top-50 players in Geneva College history. He was previously inducted into the Armstrong County Hall of Fame, The Midland Athletic Hall of Fame and the IUP Hall of Fame. Professionally, Tony was named Armstrong School District Teacher of the Year in 1995.

Tony and his wife, Rose Marie, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in June and have four children, Margaret, Pasquale, Adele and Angelica. They also have 10 grandchildren.