Game Films
Among the many items that the Donora Historical Society has in its collection are 125 game films - (32) basketball games and (93) football games of Mon Valley teams from 1955 to 1979. They are original 16mm films that are in the process of being converted to DVD. We launched a project in 2015 to start to transfer the films to DVD to not only get them in a usable format to be added to our artifact collection and our presentation offerings, but to get these games in the hands of the players that played in them some 35 to 65 years ago. To date, 24 out of 32 basketball games and 80 out of 93 football games have been converted. For those games dealing with Donora, 3 out of 3 basketball games and 45 out of 45 football games have been converted so far. For those games dealing with Ringgold, 15 out of 23 basketball games and 14 out of 14 football games have been converted so far. All proceeds benefit the Donora Historical Society in completing this project. As you can see below in our inventory list, all of the Mon Valley teams are represented in most years. Some of the legendary Donora players include Larry Crawford, Malcolm Lomax, Bernie Galiffa, Ken Griffey and Ulice Payne. Some other players include Joe Montana (basketball) from Monongahela playing for Ringgold and Fred Cox (football) from Monongahela.
The most recent articles in the newspaper about our Game Film project can be viewed by clicking on this link: Tribune Review - Game Films The most recent articles in the newspaper about Donora football can be viewed by clicking on these links: Herald-Standard - Donora Football - part 1 Herald-Standard - Donora Football - part 2
The most recent articles in the newspaper about our Game Film project can be viewed by clicking on this link: Tribune Review - Game Films The most recent articles in the newspaper about Donora football can be viewed by clicking on these links: Herald-Standard - Donora Football - part 1 Herald-Standard - Donora Football - part 2
GAME FILM NOTES:
- We have not viewed the raw 16mm footage of any of the games on an old 16mm projector for fear that we would ruin the film, so they have NOT been previewed. We leave that to the professionals.
- The games were filmed using either one reel or two reels (see the REELS (TIME) column.) In most cases, the games do not show those portions of the game without game play, so depending on how much the clock was running without play determined the length of the film footage. In the lists below, if the games were rather quick, they only took one reel and are denoted with a "1". If there was more game play, they are denoted with "1 & 2" meaning two reels. A few of the games are denoted with "2" which means that it took two reels to film the game, but reel one is missing and the only footage that we have is likely the second half of the game. In some cases when the games were decided early, either reel "2" is missing or the filming was cut short.
- The games that have already been converted are denoted below in the CONV column with a YES or Not Yet.
- For games that have been converted (denoted with YES), the cost of a purchased copy can be found in the PRICE column. Most complete games cost $25, but some of the costs were adjusted down depending on the quality or the length of the game.
- The appearance of the DVD is identical to the picture above and is done by a professional film converter.
- For games that have yet to be converted (denoted with Not Yet), there is a cost to transfer to DVD that includes a copy charge. This charge can range from $40 to $70 depending on the game's length. If you are interested in a particular game that hasn't been converted and don't want to pay the full transfer charge, please let us know your interest and we can add you to the list of other interested people, and perhaps we can coordinate something where you can split the transfer charges with those others.
- If you know where other DONORA games may be and have a contact, please pass that on to us and we'll see if we can work with them to add to our film collection.
- If you know where other non-Donora games may be and have a contact, we would be willing to help you get the games converted providing you can get the games to us. We would expect to charge a fee for our efforts. We do not have the interest to search for non-Donora games that we don't have with a contact that may or may not have games.
- An additional Shipping and Handling charge will be added for DVD's that have to be mailed.
- There is no sound. These are silent films.
- These games may have issues playing on some Blu-Ray Players.
- These games are the property of the Donora Historical Society.
BASKETBALL
24 CONVERTED out of 32 TOTAL
FOOTBALL
80 CONVERTED out of 93 TOTAL
To Donate to the Donora Historical Society and Smog Museum, please use our PayPal option to the right.
If you would like to add a note along with your donation, please consider sending an email to:donorahistoricalsociety@gmail.com
If you would like to add a note along with your donation, please consider sending an email to:donorahistoricalsociety@gmail.com