Family cheers for both sides

Flathead principal's son plays for Glacier High

When the Flathead Braves take the field at Legends Stadium on Friday night, Principal Peter Fusaro will be there to support his team.

But he also will be cheering for the Glacier Wolfpack's No. 22 - his son, Wiley, a sophomore running back.

Father and son were divided when Glacier High School opened this fall. Instead of attending school under his dad's watchful eye, Wiley Fusaro went to Glacier.

"It's different. It's very different," Wiley said. "But it's something that we can handle, my dad and I."

While it has impacted both of them, particularly in the amount of time they dedicate to attending activities at the other school, neither believes attending rival high schools has hurt their relationship.

Except for good-natured teasing about which school is best, the Fusaros' dinner-table conversation hasn't changed much since Glacier opened.

"We hardly ever take our Glacier and Flathead rivalries home," Wiley Fusaro said. "We give each other crap here and there, but it's good."

Their relationship is as friendly as ever, Peter Fusaro agreed.

"We give each other grief sometimes, [but] it's all in good fun, as far as the rivalry and different things," he said.

He laughed. "He's pretty happy he's at Glacier, because he doesn't have to worry about his father looking over his shoulder all the time."

Fusaro's wife, Mary, a kindergarten teacher at St. Matthew's School, agreed the rivalry's impacts on her family have been minimal.

"Work is work, I think, no matter where you are," she said. "Pete talks about Flathead and Wiley talks about Glacier. It's pretty much normal family conversation."

Having a family member at both high schools has meant they all put in extra after-school hours. Peter attends his son's games and Wiley is on hand for his dad's activities. Mary Fusaro is at all of them.

"As far as the family goes, I support both schools tremendously, of course," she said. "I'm used to definitely being a Bravette, a Bravette mom. But I'm excited to be a Wolfpack mom also.

"And Pete reminds me also that we're still big Flathead High people."

They've been Flathead people for years; their daughter, Ashley, attended the school when her father was an assistant principal there.

"When you're the principal where your kids go to school, you're able to be a real close part of their education and their activities," Peter Fusaro said. "With Wiley at Glacier, that changes a little bit. It's been a little tougher on me than I thought."

While Wiley loves attending Glacier, he's happy to support Flathead as well.

"I feel I still am part of it, because I know someone there I'm related to," he said. "I try to do as much as I can for both."

He recently attended the dedication ceremony for Flathead's new commons area, at which his father gave a speech.

"I was right there in the crowd," Wiley said. "I was proud of him for all the hard work he's done. It was something special to me, and he knows it."

That attitude goes both ways, he said.

"My dad has supported me 110 percent the whole way," he said. "That's just something that's really special to me."

Having a son at Glacier has meant long hours for the Flathead High administrator. As principal, Fusaro attends as many Flathead events as he can. As a dad, he wants to be at his son's games as well.

"You're kind of stretched thin," he said. "You want to go to activities at Flathead High School, but as a parent it's also important to be at your own child's games, supporting your own child."

Since football season began, Peter Fusaro has been at nearly every game. He has served as the announcer at several Wolfpack games, which allows him to support the school district's new high school as well as watch his son.

It's a gesture Wiley Fusaro appreciates.

"It's good, it's very good," he said. "It's something I love hearing him doing."

It's been good for maintaining relationships between the two schools, he added, to have the Flathead principal supporting Glacier's team and leading the crowd in "Wolfpack howls."

"It's helping with the support, that's really what it is," he said. "It's making sure that we're still Kalispell - and that's really what it's all about."

Someone else will have to lead the howling at Friday's game, Peter Fusaro said.

"That's one I said I will not announce for," he said. "I will be watching my son playing. I will be rooting for my son, but at the same time I will be rooting for Flathead, too."

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com