Undo’s Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival Awards Scholarships | News, Sports,

The 2022 Italian American of the Year, businessman Anthony “Herk” Sparachane, also was honored. His family established Undo’s Restaurant in 1983.

The scholarships were made possible by proceeds from the Undo’s Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival.

Students who each received a $1,000 scholarship included: Cora Metz, St. John Central Academy; Brenna Planey, St. Clairsville High School; Brianna Ferguson, Brooke High School; Alexis Cipoletti, Brooke High School; Sofia-Teresa DiBacco, Weirton Madonna High School; Morgan Owens, Weirton Madonna High School; John O’Karma, Steubenville Central High School; Kiera O’Brien, Steubenville High School; Skylar Crawford, John Marshall High School; Trixie Calissie, John Marshall High School; Dominic Cipriani, Wheeling Central High School; and Austin Nestor, Wheeling Central High School. Planey and Crawford were not able to attend the dinner Wednesday.

Each year the festival awards scholarship money to two students from each of Belmont, Brooke, Hancock, Jefferson, Marshall and Ohio counties.

photo by: Photo by Shelley Hanson

Anthony “Herk” Sparachane, the 2022 Italian American of the Year, addresses the crowd during the Undo’s Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival’s Media Night dinner held at Undo’s West in St. Clairsville.

The students took to the podium, thanking the festival board for awarding them the money. Several of the students said they learned a lot about their own Italian heritage while doing research for their essays for the scholarship contest. Many thanked their families, parents and grandparents for pushing them to apply for this scholarship and others.

“My grandma is a hero to me,” noted Cipoletti in her speech.

“I want to thank my parents for pushing me to do my very best,” Ferguson said in her speech.

Co-owner of Undo’s Restaurant Nick Sparachane reminisced about what the first Italian Festivals were like, and what the eatery started out serving in its small booth – fruit cups and pasta.

“There’s a whole new group running it,” Nick Sparachane said of the festival. “I think it’s better than ever.”

This year’s festival is slated for July 29-31 on Water Street at Wheeling Heritage Port.

“Herk” Sparachane thanked the festival board for choosing him as Italian American of the Year.

“I want to personally thank the committee for keeping this alive,” he said of the festival. “Also, this is the biggest tribute for me because of my family.”

According to information provided by the festival, McMechen resident Anthony “Herk” Sparachane was born in 1955, the fourth and youngest child of Jenny and “Undo” Sparachane. He was raised in Benwood with siblings Janice Zelewicz, Joyce LaRue, and Nick Sparachane. He has a daughter, Jennifer Jones, and has a new granddaughter, Emma.

“Everyone living in the Ohio Valley has benefitted from Herk’s generosity and passion for charitable causes. From his blue-collar upbringing and deep-rooted Italian family values, Herk developed a strong work ethic and ‘street smarts’ to build a successful career that he parlayed to improve his community,” according to festival information.

“Herk” Sparachane’s career in the family business began with Benwood’s Flamingo Club in 1973. He also started working at Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel in 1974. Undo’s Restaurant came into being in 1983.

He started his own vending company, Funco, at age 23 and became the first bar owner in West Virginia to operate his own vending machines. Funco merged with Wheeling Coin in 1994 and has grown into one of the state’s largest video operators. In 2005, Sparachane was named president of the West Virginia Limited Lottery Operators Association, which has generated $29 million for the West Virginia Promise Scholarship Fund.

Sparachane also started and sold a ticket brokerage business, won two National Indoor Football League titles as co-owner of the Ohio Valley Greyhounds and now co-owns the Alpha Tavern restaurant.

He also has helped numerous charities and causes throughout the Ohio Valley. He opened a scholarship in his father’s name that is presented annually to a West Virginia University athlete. He also has supported fundraisers for the Dick Kerwood, Debbie Green, and Scott Melko Memorials, as well as sponsored a number of youth sports teams. He also has helped Marshall County Gold Star families obtain their fundraising goals.