Every fall, being named to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Fabulous 22 has represented one of the biggest individual honors a high school football player in Western Pennsylvania can receive. The list dates back to 1980 and recognizes 22 of the best players from the WPIAL and City League. Look through the history and you’ll find some of the greatest football players Western Pennsylvania has ever produced.

But there is one year missing. 1992. Not because Western Pennsylvania didn’t have enough talent. Not because the Fabulous 22 was discontinued.

There was no team because of the Pittsburgh newspaper strike.

And more than three decades later, that missing team represents a group of players who never received the opportunity to earn an honor that could have followed their names for the rest of their lives.

A Season Without a Fab 22

The Pittsburgh newspaper strike began on May 17, 1992, shutting down normal publication of the city’s major daily newspapers. It stretched through the entire 1992 high school football season.

The Post-Gazette’s own historical Fabulous 22 archive explains the missing year simply: 1992 — No team selected during newspaper strike.

Then the Fabulous 22 returns in 1993.

It’s one sentence in decades of Western Pennsylvania high school football history. But think about what that sentence actually means. For the seniors playing football in the fall of 1992, there was no next season.

They had one opportunity to put together a senior year worthy of Fabulous 22 recognition. They played the games. They put up the numbers. They won championships. They earned scholarships.

But when the season ended, there was no Fabulous 22 team waiting for them.

More Than a Newspaper List

People who didn’t grow up around WPIAL or City League sports might not understand how much honors like the Fab 22 in football and Fab 5 in basketball meant.

These weren’t just lists you looked at for a few days and forgot about. They became part of your résumé. They became part of your school’s history. And decades later, they’re still part of the conversation when people debate the greatest athletes Western Pennsylvania has produced.

You could win games and championships. You could earn a college scholarship. You could go on to have a great career. But being able to say you were a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Fabulous 22 selection was something nobody could ever take away from you.

That’s why I feel for the players from 1992.

Somebody was one of the best 22 players in Western Pennsylvania that season. Actually, 22 players were. We just don’t have an official Post-Gazette list telling us who they were.

They Didn’t Lose the Opportunity on the Field

That’s what makes the missing 1992 team different. Those players didn’t miss out because somebody had a better season. They didn’t miss out because their teams weren’t successful. They didn’t miss out because they weren’t talented enough. Circumstances completely outside their control eliminated the opportunity.

The games were still played. Touchdowns were scored. Tackles were made. Championships were won. College coaches were still recruiting. Western Pennsylvania football didn’t stop. But one of the region’s traditional forms of recognition did.

Who Might Have Been Part of the 1992 Fab 22 Conversation?

More than 30 years later, it would be wrong to simply create our own Fabulous 22 and present it as something official. Nobody today knows exactly which 22 players the Post-Gazette’s scholastic sports staff would have selected.

But we can look back at all-state recognition, individual awards, statistics, championships and what players accomplished that season to identify some athletes who clearly would have had strong cases for consideration.

And one name immediately jumps off the page.

Chico Williams — Aliquippa

Chico Williams had already established himself as one of Western Pennsylvania’s premier running backs before the 1992 season. He made the Fabulous 22 in 1991. Then he returned for his senior year and finished his Aliquippa career with 5,417 rushing yards, putting him among the most productive running backs in WPIAL history. Williams also received Pennsylvania small-school player-of-the-year recognition for the 1992 season.

Had a Fab 22 been selected, Williams would have had an opportunity to become a repeat selection. Instead, we’ll never know.

That’s another part of the 1992 story that gets overlooked. The strike didn’t only affect players trying to make the list for the first time. It also affected established stars trying to add another Fab 22 selection to their legacy.

Rodney Wilson — West Greene

Rodney Wilson provides another fascinating example because we know what happened immediately afterward.

Wilson was only a junior in 1992, but he earned all-state recognition and helped West Greene advance to the WPIAL semifinals. He eventually finished his high school career with 6,304 rushing yards and 75 touchdowns.

Then, when the Fabulous 22 returned in 1993, Wilson was selected. Does that guarantee he would have made it as a junior in 1992?

No.

But an all-state junior who became an official Fab 22 selection one year later certainly would have had a résumé worthy of consideration.

What About the Championship Teams?

Individual statistics aren’t the only place to look when wondering who might have received recognition in 1992. That season also featured some tremendous teams.

Upper St. Clair captured the WPIAL Class AAAA championship and advanced to the PIAA championship game before falling to Cumberland Valley. Blackhawk won the WPIAL Class AAA championship, shutting Knoch out 20-0 in the championship game, and also advanced to the state final before losing to Berwick. East Allegheny won the WPIAL Class AA beating Riverside 33-13 In Class A, Rochester won its second consecutive WPIAL championship, defeating Clairton 28-12.

Those teams undoubtedly featured players who were among the best in Western Pennsylvania. Under normal circumstances, their top performers would have had an opportunity to have their names debated and considered alongside the region’s other stars.

Again, that’s the point.

We don’t know who would have made it. They never got the chance to find out.

The Forgotten Class

This isn’t about rewriting history. It’s about remembering a part of it that is easy to overlook. When you scroll through the Fabulous 22 selections, you see names associated with different eras of Western Pennsylvania football.

Then you reach 1992.

Nothing. And then the list continues.

But there wasn’t nothing happening on Western Pennsylvania football fields that fall. There was one of the WPIAL’s great running backs finishing his career at Aliquippa. There was an all-state junior at West Greene who would make the Fab 22 the following season. There were WPIAL champions and state finalists. There were undoubtedly other players whose names deserve to be part of this conversation.

That’s why the blank space matters.

An Honor That Lasts Forever

I’ve spent a lot of time going through old Fabulous 22 football teams and Fab 5 basketball teams.

One thing becomes obvious when you look back at those lists: Recognition lasts.

Thirty or forty years later, people still mention that somebody was Fab 22. They still mention that somebody was Fab 5. Those honors help tell the story of an athlete’s high school career long after the final whistle. That’s something nobody can take away from you.

And that’s why 1992 bothers me.

An entire group of athletes played their season without knowing that one of Western Pennsylvania high school sports’ most recognizable honors wouldn’t be there at the end.

For the seniors especially, that opportunity was gone forever.

A Blank Space That Tells a Story

Go through the history and you’ll see Fabulous 22 teams year after year.

Then you reach: 1992 — No team selected during newspaper strike.

And then 1993.

It’s only one line. But behind that line were hundreds of high school football players and 22 spots that were never filled. We’ll never know exactly what the 1992 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Fabulous 22 would have looked like.

Maybe that’s why it’s worth talking about. Because the games were played. The stars were there. The accomplishments were real.

They just didn’t get the list. And more than three decades later, the least we can do is make sure that generation isn’t forgotten.

The 1992 Fabulous 22 will forever be the team Western Pennsylvania never got to see.