Today, as we remember and pray for the all of victims and the families who lost loved ones on 911, I’d like to dedicate a personal tribute to an old classmate and teammate of mine in my one year at Penn Charter H.S, Peter Ortale. Although, I only spent one year with Peter, we became pretty good buddies during that freshman year. We played freshman football together, we had some of the same classes together and for a brief time, we were on the wrestling team together. Maybe we got along so well because we came from similar backgrounds as we both came from union families, my father, Joe, and Peter’s uncle, Pete McDonough, were both union iron workers out of (the union that I would eventually join) Iron Worker’s Local 401 and ironically they would also both serve together as union officials at 401 years later.
When I think back to the brief period of time we spent together, I have several fond memories of Peter. I remember he was a good student in the classroom and a fierce competitor on the athletic fields, I remember he was a really cool guy and he was fun to hang out with but, as I think back to those days of our early youth, the 2 things that I will always remember most about Peter Ortale were his smile and his positive energy. He was always an up beat type of kid that made you feel good about yourself. No matter the situation, he was a smiling face that you could always depend on for encouragement.
Case in point, the Freshman year wrestling team. Pete and I had just finished playing football in the Fall and had looked forward to having the winter season off before baseball and lacrosse tryouts in the Spring. Unfortunately, the freshman wrestling coach at the time, I think it was Mr. Mellor, had other plans for us when he approached us both in the hallway and recruited us to fill the voids on the freshman wrestling team where they needed 2 guys to wrestle at the 147 LB and the 139lb weight classes. Well, as much as I didn’t want to do it, Peter was pretty diligent in his efforts to convince me that, for some reason, it was a good thing. I remember telling him, Pete, there’s one thing your forgetting, the wrestling season starts in like one week and neither one of us has ever wrestled a day in our lives. Are you crazy? Well, Pete won out and some how convinced me to give it a shot and I wish I could tell you that the rest is history and we both went on to have stellar high school, college then Olympic wrestling careers but this is not ESPN or the Biography Channel and this sports moment had a much different, albeit more humorous conclusion.
The next thing you know we were struggling at our first wrestling practices, which by the way, were so hard that they made football practices seem like a day at the beach. Finally, after a week of the practices from hell, it was the day of the big first match and we sat next to each other on the chairs watching, talking and waiting for our turn to wrestle. We were competing against the number one wrestling team in the public league, Simon Gratz, and from what I remember, it was a real tough match. We won some of the early matches and we lost some. Anyway, finally it came down to the last two matches, Pete’s and mine. Pete went first and he used his athletic ability to wrap up and pin his opponent in the middle of the second period just like that. It was awesome. I was thinking man, that doesn’t look too hard. I can do that! Well, as it was, the fate of my short lived wrestling career would take a vastly different turn than Peter’s as I went out on to the mat on that cold winter day and gave it the best 47 seconds of my life. Ultimately, I ended up in some kind of pretzel move that had me staring face to face with my lower extremities LOL! I remember when I got back to the bench, I was pretty dejected and Pete was the first to greet me with a pat on the back and encouragement saying that it was OK and that I almost had the guy or something like that!!! It was classic Peter Ortale, exactly the way I remember him. He didn’t want me to feel bad about myself.
After my freshman year, I transferred to Roman Catholic HS and Peter stayed at Penn Charter and we saw each other only occasionally at H.S. sporting events and he was still the same great guy that gave you a warm hello and friendly smile. After high school, we kept in touch only via well wishes at the union hall through his uncle Pete McDonough, Hey Pete, Tell Peter I said, hi! Hey Joey, Peter Ortale said to say hello!
The last time I saw him, I ran into him randomly at the Cottman Mall in Northeast Philadelphia and we talked about old times and mutual friends from Penn charter for about 15 minutes like time had never skipped a beat. As we said our good byes, I can still remember his warm and comforting smile that once again made you feel better for the experience.
Peter Ortale was 37 and working for Euro Brokers on the 84th floor of the South Tower on Sept. 11, 2001. After the attack, he made three phone calls: to his wife, his mother and a friend in California before heading for the stairs. He did not reach the bottom.
Peter you are missed by many but never forgotten. Our prayers are with you, your family and all of those taken from us on that unthinkable September Day!
Rest In Peace Old Friend!
Sincerely,
Joe Dougherty
PhillyLabor.com
For a remembrance of Peter Ortale, go to – https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#search/Ortale/1326a2be8c7a65bc
