Francis Kender

Francis Kender, of Drums, passed away on Saturday, May 16, 2009.
Born in Tresckow, on May 18, 1933, he was a son of the late Anthony and Mary (Cortez) Kender. Francis graduated from Hazleton High School, Class of 1951, where he was a member of the baseball and basketball teams from 1949 to 1951.
He continued his playing career at Penn State Hazleton Campus and graduated from East Stroudsburg University, majoring in history in 1959. College was interrupted when he entered the Army to serve his country during the Korean War in 1953. He was stationed in Fort Collins, Colo. His outstanding athletic ability allowed him to earn spots on the baseball and basketball USO touring teams.
Immediately upon graduation, he began a career as a teacher, head baseball coach and assistant basketball coach at Hazleton High School. He was also a pitcher for the Jeddo Stars, a local minor league baseball team.
Additionally, he served as a scout for two major league baseball franchises, the Chicago White Sox and the New York Mets, from 1960 to 1966. In 1960, Francis, known to his family and many friends as Chippy, took his considerable reputation as a player and coach to Saint Gabriel’s Catholic High School, then at Birch and South Wyoming streets, where he mentored some of the finest young high school basketball players of that era.
In his second year at St. Gabriel’s, when regional basketball in this area boasted 13 teams, Chippy’s G-Men, as they were called, achieved what sports writer Ron Marchetti called “perhaps the greatest upset in the history of St. Gabe’s basketball, knocking off the unbeaten Hazleton High School before over 2000 fans” with a score of 65 to 61.
Chippy left teaching and began a new career with the ILGWU/UNITE from 1966 to 1995 as a business agent and, eventually, assistant manager.
During retirement, Chippy taught as a substitute teacher at Bishop Hafey Catholic High School and mentored many students during his tenure. Active in the greater Hazleton community, he was a past member of the Hazleton Lions Club, Can Do Inc., Helping Hands Society, the Hazleton Federal Teacher’s Union, the Hazleton Board of Health, Penn State Hazleton Campus Advisory Council and a founding member of both the Volunteer Center of Greater Hazleton and Celebrating Mothers event.
He was the husband of the former Alice Palermo, to whom he was married for 51 years; and the father of Anthony Kender and his wife, Anne, of Downingtown; Nancy and her husband, Gary Hill, of Pittsburgh; and Traci and her husband, Louis Aita, of Drums. He is also survived by grandchildren David Zak, Stephanie Kender, William Kender, Katelyn Kadekak, Allison Kadelak, Antonia Aita and Nicholas Aita; a brother, Joseph Kender, and his wife, Marge; and a sister, Marilyn Maldonado, and her husband, Gerry; family members Joseph Palermo, Ohio; Angelyn Barth, Plains Township; Paul and Doris Marsicano, Allentown; Don and Jeanne Tombasco, Hazle Township; Bob Palermo, Drums; and many nieces and nephews.
The funeral will be held on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. from the Fierro Funeral Home, 26 W. Second St., Hazleton, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. in the Good Shepherd Church, Drums. Interment will follow in Our Lady of Grace Cemetery, Hazleton. Relatives and friends may call today, from 5 to 9 p.m., at the funeral home.
Memorial donations may be made to The Castle Auditorium Fund, c/o The Luzerne Foundation, 140 Main St., Second Floor, Luzerne, PA 18709.