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Into the Hall: Jack Smarslak

By Rob Burchianti 10 min read
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Jack Smarslak is shown during his baseball playing days at Laurel Highlands where he led the WPIAL with a .560 batting average in 1993.
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Laurel Highlands graduate Jack Smarslak went on to be a two-year starter in baseball for West Virginia.

Jack Smarslak had the unique distinction of playing a major role on three successful teams in three different sports while at Laurel Highlands.

Smarslak helped lead the Mustangs baseball team to section championships in 1991 and 1992, he was named All-WPIAL as a goalkeeper on an LH team that pulled off what many consider the biggest upset in the history of the WPIAL soccer playoffs, and he was the point guard of Laurel Highlands’ 1993 basketball team that put together a perfect 23-0 regular season while also winning a section title.

Smarslak went on to play baseball at Essex Community College in Maryland, Odessa Junior College in Texas and two years at NCAA Division-I West Virginia.

Those credentials have led to Smarslak being a part of the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2024.

It’s an achievement he is proud of.

“Whenever I received the phone call, to say that I was extremely excited would be an understatement,” Smarslak said. “But what really did if for me was when I got off the phone I went to the Hall of Fame website and I started scanning through the list of men and women athletes that have been inducted before me.

“To see some of those names, especially some of the names that I remember my dad telling me about whenever I was a young boy, and to now know that my name is on that same list, to say that I’m honored is another understatement.”

Smarlak is a proponent of participating in multiple sports, although he recognizes it’s less common now than when he played.

“I’m kind of going through the situation with my son right now. I have a son Jacob, he’s in eighth grade,” Smarslak said. “To see how coaches want you to be working at one particular sport pretty much all year round, that was not the case when I was growing up. As the season changed, you changed with whatever sport was in season.

“My dad was the one that really started my love of sports up. He had an extreme love of sports and competition. He enjoyed playing everything. That quickly went over to me. I can’t imagine being confined to just playing one sport.

“It’s kind of a shame the way that sports are being led to that direction right now. I’m glad I grew up when I did. That allowed me to be the best athlete that I could possibly be. I would’ve had it no other way.”

Smarslak’s best sport was baseball at Laurel Highlands. In addition to playing a key part in two section titles, he set the school record for walks as a junior with 22, then led the WPIAL with a .560 batting average in 1993.

“Those were some of the best days for sure,” Smarslak said. “I was really fortunate to play with some really good ballplayers. My junior year we were pretty loaded. There were four in our starting lineup that ended up playing Division-I baseball.

“I hit cleanup for the team. We did well but I wasn’t really satisfied with myself as a hitter.”

Smarslak, who always had “a very good understanding of the strike zone,” decided to forgo his patient approach at the plate that led to his school walk record as a junior for a much more aggressive approach his senior year.

“I knew that I could do more,” said Smarslak. “Without a doubt, best year of my career to that point. It seemed like I was able to barrel up just about every at bat that season. I was hitting above .600 until the last few games of the year. I think I was second in the WPIAL in RBIs and doubles.”

Smarslak fondly recalled playing for LH baseball coach Tom Landman.

“Tom Landman, one of the best,” Smarslak said. “I had him as a teacher growing up and he was my coach for four years at Laurel Highlands. He was a very fundamental guy. He didn’t get overly excited. If things were going well, if things were going badly, he had the same approach, and I think that rubbed off on us.That’s what baseball is. There are so many ups and downs. He understood that and understood how to get that across to his players.”

Smarslak had a love for football as a kid but at a fourth grade tryout he found a weight rule in place that would force him to play as a lineman only.

“I was always a big kid growing up. I grew fast. I was pretty strong for my age,” Smarslak said. “I was not a lineman. I needed the ball. I needed to be the quarterback or running back or wide receiver. So I didn’t even stick around for the tryouts.”

That left Smarslak without a fall sport to play in fourth and fifth grade.

“Finally sixth grade comes around and I remember going to my dad and saying some of my other buddies are playing soccer,” Smarslak said. “I know nothing about it, but can you call the local coach up (Chilly Williams) and ask him if I could be their goalie? Because I knew how to catch a ball. I knew nothing else about footwork or anything else about the game of soccer but stick me in goal and I think I got a chance to be pretty decent.”

Smarslak’s assessment was spot on. He evolved into an outstanding goalkeeper for the Mustangs.

“I was not a technique kind of guy but I understood how to read, how to anticipate and was pretty successful in soccer because of that,” said Smarslak, who played under coach Fran Lemansky in high school

“Coach Lemansky, what a special guy,” Smarslak said. “I was so fortunate to be around just super coaches. What a great guy. He knew how to bring a group of Fayette County kids together and made us compete at a very high level.”

Laurel Highlands needed to play at the highest level imaginable if it wanted to win a WPIAL playoff game in Smarslak’s senior season. The Mustangs were the 16th seed and met up with top-seeded and defending state champion Mt. Lebanon in the first round.

The result was mind boggling and stunning, a 1-0 victory by Laurel Highlands on Mt. Lebanon’s home field.

“Anybody who was there will never forget it,” Smarslak said.

Mt. Lebanon controlled the game throughout and outshot LH by a whopping 26-1.

Smarslak was at his best, however. He stopped all 26 shots from all angles.

“They were on some ridiculous winning streak,” Smarslak recalled of Mt. Lebanon. “They won the states the year before and they were the favorite to go on and win it again. We were the last seed coming in. We were just happy to get into the playoffs.”

Smarslak recalled a talk with Lemansky at halftime with the game still scoreless.

“I still remember Coach Lemansky coming over to me and the rest of the defenders and he looked at us and he said, ‘The only way we’re going to be able to win this game is to get to a shootout. If we can get to that shootout,’ and he looked right at me, ‘I know we’re going to win.’ That kind of confidence that he is giving me as a high school kid meant the world,” Smarslak said. “The defense and me just kind of huddled together and we said hey guys, we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do.”

A shootout wouldn’t be needed as it turned out. Laurel Highlands’ offense seized the one opportunity that presented itself late in the game.

“It was about five minutes to go,” Smarslak said. “Mt. Lebanon was pushing us so far because they knew they had control of the game. Justin Kurilko snuck behind the defense and he got the ball. The goalie had come out to about the 18-yard line so he was way off of his goal line. Justin saw that, chipped it over his head, one bounce, into the goal. All of us are looking at each other, what just happened? We went up 1-0. Never expected that. And those last five minutes seemed like an eternity.”

The Mustangs survived and claimed a miraculous 1-0 victory.

In basketball, Smarslak played under coach Mark John who guided the 1992-93 team, led by Nick Bosnic, to a perfect regular season and a section championship.

The Mustangs fell to Woodland Hills in the first round of the playoffs in overtime.

“That was a tough one,” Smarslak recalled. “We faced Woodland Hills earlier in the regular season at our place and we beat them by eight. Their top player, Michael Keys, had got benched for the first six-seven minutes because he missed practice the day before. So we jumped out to a 10-0 lead in that game but then once Keys was in, they played us neck-and-neck.

“When we saw the draw for the playoffs and we saw we had Woodland Hills, we knew we were going to be in for a battle. You know, we gave everything we had. We went into overtime, we actually went up in overtime and just could not find a way to hold on. That was a disappointment.”

Smarslak was a team captain in all three sports at LH.

“I enjoyed playing that role,” Smarslak said. “I tried to make sure that I had my 100 percent best coming out every night no matter what sport it was.”

Smarslak chose baseball when it came to playing a sport in college.

After playing at Essex and Odessa, Smarslak batted .314 as a starter for WVU his junior year under coach Greg Van Zandt, and added nine home runs and 38 RBIs. An elbow injury hampered him his senior year but he managed to hit .286.

“Odessa was a really nice memory of mine,” Smarslak said. “A lot of people don’t understand the high level junior college baseball that is out there. If that was a Division-I school there’s no doubt in my mind we would’ve been top 10 in the nation. The guys that we had were just top notch.

“At West Virginia, my first year there we had a special team as well. We were just outside the top 25. The highlight of that season, we played a Seton Hall team in the Big East tournament that had a starting pitcher by the name of Jason Grilli, and we beat him. We beat Brad Lidge at Notre Dame that year as well.”

Grilli, with the Pirates, and Lidge went on to be All-Star closers in the major leagues.

The Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2024 will be enshrined at the Hall of Fame Golf Outing/Luncheon/Social, starting with golf at 9 a.m., on June 21 at Pleasant Valley Golf Club in Connellsville. Luncheon tickets are sold out and all spots in the golf outing have been filled.

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