A North Huntingdon teen’s Eagle Scout project at St. Agnes Church in North Huntingdon has special meaning for him and his family.

William N. McCabe, 17, chose rehabbing the area around the William T. McCabe Field because it is named for his grandfather, who founded the St. Agnes Athletic Association in 1963. McCabe, who died in 1997, coached the St. Agnes Rams football team from 1963 to the late 1980s and also served as a North Huntingdon Township commissioner.

“The church was not able to do it. They don’t really have the means to do so. It was getting overgrown. We helped to cut the overgrowth back. There was trash everywhere. We cleaned it up,” said William “Will” McCabe, son of Timothy and Amy McCabe.

The prospective Eagle Scout is a member of Boy Scout Troop 251, which is sponsored by St. John’s United Church of Christ in Larimer. He also is a member of the National Honor Society at Norwin High School.

The Boy Scouts, with a lot of help from volunteers, removed brush from the bleachers and a wooden press box over the first two Saturdays of September. They also removed vegetation from around a plaque that honors his grandfather. Rotted wooden bleachers laying behind a storage shed were removed, as well as pipe that was used for fencing.

The access road was improved thanks to machines from ProLine Pipeline Inc. of North Huntingdon, operated by John Yusko, Timothy McCabe said.

Timothy McCabe, who is Norwin’s assistant high school principal and a former Norwin football coach, recalled the field was once a pasture for cows from the nearby Kerber farm.

The field was laid out in the 1960s by the Army Corps of Engineers, McCabe said. An old newspaper photograph noted the dedication of the field in 1974.

He and his brother, Greensburg attorney William J. “Bill” McCabe of North Huntingdon, played football for their father.

Bill McCabe said his dad did not play favorites when it came to coaching his sons.

He recalled one game in which the St. Agnes Rams ran back the opening kickoff for a touchdown.

Unfortunately, the play was called back because of holding on the receiving team. It was Bill McCabe’s penalty. For his transgression, his father benched him.

As for the teenage William McCabe, he is finishing required paperwork to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout. That is expected to occur in January, Tim McCabe said in mid-December.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)