Frank Stanczak, basketball star

BEFORE WILT, there was Frank Stanczak.

Back in 1947, Frank, the standout basketball player for Roxborough High School, set the Public League scoring record when he sank 55 points in a game against Bok Vocational.

The record held for seven years, until the legendary Wilt Chamberlain, of Overbrook High, scored 70 points in a game against Roxborough in 1954.

(Wilt, of course, went on to star as a pro and, as a player with the old Philadelphia Warriors, scored 100 points in a March 1962 game against the Knicks.)

Frank M. Stanczak, who had a brief pro career with minor-league teams, an Army veteran of the Korean War and 42-year employee of the Postal Service, died Tuesday after a long battle with cancer. He was 81 and lived in Roxborough.

Frank was wounded by shrapnel in Korea, where he served with the 2nd Army. He was unhappy with how the Korean War, in which 54,279 American service people were killed, was depicted as the "forgotten war."

He certainly didn't forget it. Among the horror stories of combat he told was the time his company was attacking a hill and had to pull bodies of fellow soldiers out of foxholes before using them. He had photos of the grim scene, which his family discovered after his death.

His son, Frank, said that his father hated the TV series "M*A*S*H." "He knew it was a comedy, but it didn't show the war the way he knew it," his son said.

Frank Stanczak was born in Roxborough, the youngest of the eight children of Martin and Mary Stanczak. Playing for Roxborough High, he made the All-Public first team and is a member of the Roxborough High School Hall of Fame.

After graduating, Frank played for a time with the old Philadelphia Sphas and the Atlantic City Tide.

He also played for a time with the Washington Generals, whose primary purpose was to lose games to and be humiliated by the Harlem Globetrotters.

Through the years, Frank also coached youth basketball and was a Catholic Youth Organization referee.

He was drafted into the Army in 1951 and served two years in Korea, where he won the Purple Heart for wounds.

While in the Army, he also played basketball. He made the All-Japan basketball team when his unit was stationed there.

After his discharge, he joined the Post Office, retiring in 1994 after 42 years of service.

"He put his children through college," his son said. "I don't know how he did it. He didn't make that much money with the Post Office.

"He was all the things a role model should be. He wasn't going to be on a Wheaties box, but he always did the right thing. He was a humble, solid guy, a hard worker and a man of integrity."

Among Frank's passions was his vegetable garden. Although his Roxborough rowhouse did not boast a huge spread, he managed to grow some of the best tomatoes in the city, as well as other produce.

"He and a neighbor would talk over the fence about their tomatoes," his son said. "I used to bring my buddies over to see them. We had these long, skinny backyards, but the soil was very fertile."

Every summer, Frank and his wife, the former Patricia Kyriss, spent two weeks in Wildwood, where he liked to kick back and relax.

Frank was also a passionate supporter of Philadelphia sports teams, especially Big 5 college basketball.

Besides his wife of 54 years and his son, he is survived by a daughter, Trisha Pico-Fazzi, and five grandchildren.

Services: Funeral Mass 10 a.m. Monday at St. Josaphat's Church, 124 Cotton St. Friends may call at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Koller Funeral Home, 6835 Ridge Ave., and at 9 a.m. Monday at the church. Burial will be in Hillside Cemetery, Abington.

Donations may be made to the American Cancer Society or St. Josaphat's Church.