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Happy birthday to Matthew Baggett!

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<p>BERWICK &#8212; The line ran down the main aisle at St. Mary&#8217;s Catholic Church on Monday morning. Then it curved behind a set of pews and snaked through the entrance.</p><p>Outside more mourners waited, extending the line &#8212; quite appropriately &#8212; easily the length of a football field. All had come to pay respects to a man who turned Berwick into a high school football power.</p><p>George Curry died Friday at 71 from complications of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig&#8217;s Disease. A Mass of Christian Burial was held Monday, and an estimated 2,000 mourners came to pay their final respects.</p><p>Visitation at the church was to begin at 9 a.m., but started just after 8 a.m. due to the large crowd already gathered. The family &#8212; Curry&#8217;s wife Jacqueline and his grown children among them &#8212; greeted people about 20 minutes past the scheduled 11 a.m. start for funeral services.</p><p>Among the mourners were several coaches, including current coaches like Central Columbia&#8217;s Scott Dennis and Dallas&#8217; Rich Mannello, who also had a few players from his team. Past coaches included Coughlin&#8217;s John Joseph, Dallas&#8217; Ted Jackson, Northwest&#8217;s Carl Majer and Parkland&#8217;s Jim Morgans. Many former Berwick players were also in attendance.</p><p>Just before the mass started, members of Curry&#8217;s final Berwick team lined up to offer condolences to the family.</p><p>A painted portrait of Curry kneeling on Crispin Field and wearing the well-known Berwick WETSU t-shirt was on the alter by an urn with his ashes. There were also pictures of his family.</p><p>Rev. Francis J. Tamburro conducted the services and was the only person to speak about Curry. There were no other eulogies.</p><p>&#8220;He was a great, great person, did so many things for guys and never took any praise,&#8221; said Bo Orlando, a former Berwick player who went on to play in the NFL and met with Curry weekly as his former coach battled ALS. &#8220;He didn&#8217;t want any of this. He just wanted to be cremated and gone. But he did so many things for guys.&#8221;</p><p>Tamburro said the three most important things in Curry&#8217;s life were faith, family and football. He also noted the order he mentioned them, showing what was truly important to the coach.</p><p>&#8220;He would come to mass every single morning, daily mass,&#8221; Tamburro said. &#8220;He had his favorite seat &#8212; front row on my right, right near the door. After mass, he&#8217;d make a beeline for the door. &#8216;Got to go Father. I have to get down to the field. I can&#8217;t help clean up today. It&#8217;s driver education.&#8217;</p><p>&#8220;See ya tomorrow, George.&#8221;</p><p>The story produced some laughter in the church, which was filled to capacity and had some people standings along the walls.</p><p>Tamburro, though, touched on Curry&#8217;s dedication to St. Mary&#8217;s. Curry served as a Minster of Communion, participated in fundraisers and did stay after church at times to help out.</p><p>&#8220;On Friday, our lenten fish fry,&#8221; Tamburro said. &#8220;Don&#8217;t get in his way. It had to be hot when it was served. He fried many potato pancakes. You better follow George&#8217;s instructions on how to fry those pancakes. These are some of the wonderful ways George radiated the love and the care of our Lord God, our loving Jesus, for anyone and everyone.</p><p>&#8220;Many of stories have been told about his kindness and he never grabbed a single headline about helping the people in need. He didn&#8217;t do it for the glory, he did it for God and his fellow man.&#8221;</p><p>Curry was diagnosed with ALS midway through this past football season. He finished his 46-year career with 455 coaching victories, most by any Pennsylvania high school football coach. His victory total is the fourth highest ever by a football coach in the nation.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">A line of mourners wait to pay their respects to the family of George Curry on Monday morning. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_TTL040516Curry6-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>A line of mourners wait to pay their respects to the family of George Curry on Monday morning. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_TTL040516Curry1-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Former Berwick player Gus Felder hugs those attending the funeral service for Berwick football coach George Curry on Monday morning. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_TTL040516Curry1-3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Former Berwick player Gus Felder hugs those attending the funeral service for Berwick football coach George Curry on Monday morning. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_TTL040516Curry4-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A line stretches down the parking lot of the St Mary&#8217;s Catholic Church in Berwick for the funeral of Berwick football coach George Curry on Monday morning. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_TTL040516Curry4-3.jpg</photo2><caption2>A line stretches down the parking lot of the St Mary&#8217;s Catholic Church in Berwick for the funeral of Berwick football coach George Curry on Monday morning. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By John Erzar</p><p>jerzar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Funeral held for Berwick football coach George Curry