Questions should be directed to brooklineknights@hotmail.com.
The 2008 Season is Coming!!!
Registrations for the 2008
Knights Season were held on June 14. Anyone wishing to sign-up after that date
should contact Joe or Lisa Nicholas. They can be reached at the above email.
Cost: $85/player ($60/additional child) and $50/cheerleader ($25/additional child).
Boys age 7-13 and girls age 8-13 (ages as of July 31).
Click Here for
information on the 2007 season,
including Rosters,
Schedule, Photos and Game Results.
For a complete listing
of league scores and standings
visit the official league website at:
www.southsuburbanfootball.com.
Brookline Knights website designed
and maintained by Clint Burton. Thanks to everyone else who helps out!
2007 Season Recap <> 2006 Season Recap <> 2005 Season Recap,
including Rosters, Team Photos and Game Results.
The Brookline Knights Football
Program has a long-standing tradition of gridiron excellence. This legacy
dates back to their inception in 1974, a year when another Pittsburgh
football team, The Steelers, began their reign as Super Bowl Champions.
Although the Knights may not be as well known as the men in Black and
Gold, these Brookline boys and girls have risen to the top of the local
youth football leagues time and time again over the years.
The Knights enter their 35th
season in the fall of 2008 as a third year member in the South Suburban Youth
League (SSYFL) hoping to carry on that winning tradition. The Knights
list of past champions is as follows: Midgets (2000, 1998, 1997,
1996, 1990), Mitey-Mites (1998, 1978), Termites (1996, 1990, 1979),
Twerps (2004, 2001, 1980). In 2006, the 8-Under and 9-Under teams added
their names to this esteemed group of title holders, and in 2007 the
10-Under team repeated as SSYFL Super Bowl Champions.
When the leaves begin to turn colors
and the men in Black and Gold capture the hearts and minds of the Steeler
Nation, here in our little corner of the 'Burgh it's the boys and girls
in the Black and Green of the Brookline Knights that capture the hearts
and minds of our proud community.
The Knights program is headed by
Joe Nicholas, affectionately known as "Coach Joe." Nicholas enters his
14th season as President of the Brookline Knights Football Association
in 2008. Under his steady leadership the program has become one of the
top youth football programs in the City of Pittsburgh. During his term
in office, Knights teams have captured ten league titles and several
runners-up.
In some ways you could say that
the Nicholas' have become the first family of Brookline football. Joe's
brother, "Coach Brian", is a team coach whose wife Kim was a long-time
cheerleading coordinator. Joe's wife Lisa is the organization's Vice-President
and Treasurer. Lisa is also the chief behind-the-scenes enforcer and creator
of "Lisa's Almost-Famous Hot Sausage," a culinary delight available at the
concession stand. Daughter Nicole is the Midgets cheerleading coach and
team Secretary, and her younger siblings Gina and Jamie operate the
concession stand. Little brother Joey is one of the Knights players. The
Brookline Knights truly are a top-notch organization run by a first-class
family.
This family spirit runs strong in
the Knight's organization. It only begins with the Nicholas clan. Generous
assistance from many community-minded volunteers, along with a strong group of
talented coaches and players round out the Knight's clan, and the program's
future looks bright indeed. It is one of the many things that makes the
community of Brookline a Special Place.
The Brookline Knights Football
Association, has its roots in the Brookline Bears
Football Association, started in 1974 by then-president John Dowling
and secretary Jim Raimondi. The team soon changed their name from "Bears" to "Knights"
and set out to stake their claim to the throne.
From the Brookline Mitey-Mites first
championship in 1978 to the present day Knights and their ongoing quest
for title glory, the Knights organization has built a solid reputation
for turning out top quality players, ready for the rigors of High School
football.
All Knights home games have
been played at Danny McGibbeny Field in Brookline Memorial Park since the
late 1970's. Prior to that the Knights called Moore
Park home. In 2003
the Knights family solidified their claim to McGibbeny Field as their
home base with the construction of a new
concession stand and storage shed, along with the installation of a new lighted scoreboard. It is just one in a long line of additions to the Brookline
Park complex. Take a look back through the decades and see how Brookline
Park evolved from a rundown farm into the fine park we utilize today. Let
the "Brookline Park Renaissance" be your guide.
Youth football in Brookline
has its origins long before the Knights program was introduced.
Dating back to the 1930s, Brookline fielded a sandlot team called the
Brookline Merchants, who played other Pittsburgh area teams. The local
American Legion Post #540 sponsored a sandlot team for many years, dating
back to the 1940s. City League high schools, like South Hills, fielded teams
as far back as the 1920s. Even the local elementary schools, like Resurrection,
St. Pius and Brookline, all had varsity teams from the 1940s through the 1960s.
Other sandlot teams that had their heyday in the decade of the 60s were the
"West" Brookline Royals and the "East" Brookline Quaills, a rivalry that
still evokes emotions from those who slugged it out in the mud at Moore
Park.
Also, dating back to the 1950s and
1960s, Brookline fielded teams that were organized by the kids
themselves. Coaches were recruited and sponsors were found to help with
the costs of equipment, referees, and travel. These were neighborhood
teams, like East Brookline, Moore Park, Bellaire's Golden Cue and the
Milan Eagles, who scheduled their own games and formed their own
leagues. These teams only lasted for a year or two until the players
moved on or formed teams in other age groups.
Here are a few
pictures of youth teams from the Brookline area:
1930 - South Hills High School
Varsity.
1932 - The Brookline
Merchants.
1947 - American Legion Post #540
Sandlot Team.
1951 - Resurrection Elementary
Varsity.
1952 - Resurrection Elementary
Varsity.
1954 - South Hills High School
Varsity.
Date Unknown - Resurrection Elementary
Varsity.
1960 - Brookline Royals Sandlot
Team.
1964 - "The Golden Cue" 12-13 year
olds.
1968 - Brookline Quaills Sandlot Team.
1966/1971 - Brookline Royals Sandlot Team.
If anyone has information on
the Brookline Knights or other Brookline teams from the pre-Knights era,
please contact us via our guestbook. We'd be glad to include this information
here on our website.
 |
