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. |