Winifred Beckwith one of Georges’ best
Over the years the Beckwith family has produced some fine athletes. One of the finest from that athletic family tree was Winifred Beckwith who starred in football and basketball at Georges High School in the late 1950’s. The diminutive Beckwith put up some impressive numbers on Georges’ teams that were competitive, but undermanned. In football, he played sparingly in 1954 as a sophomore, but had a bigger role in 1955 on a team that posted a 1-7-1 record. He scored 9 of the team’s 14 touchdowns as a senior in 1956 on a squad that went 3-6-1.
“We were very competitive,” Beckwith offered. “When I was a sophomore, my older brother James, who was a good athlete, was the quarterback and brother Wilbert was the left halfback. I was just a sub that year. My junior year we had a lot of injuries and struggled.
“We were better my senior year. I played right halfback. Looking back, I have one regret – that we weren’t merged with Fairchance when I played. That happened the year after I graduated. If we would have had Fairchance, we would have been tough. I would have had the Walton brothers. Roscoe Walton and his brother, Johnny, were fabulous athletes, and we would have been tough.”
Frank Sterle was the football coach during Beckwith’s years at Georges Township.
“He was a good coach and he ended up coaching in West Virginia,” Beckwith reported.
Beckwith played on Georges teams that went 10-10 overall in 1955-56 and posted a 5-9 record in Section 11 play in 1956-57. He tallied 379 points as a junior and led Fayette County in scoring as a senior with 602 points for an average of 27.3 ppg. During his senior campaign, he had two 48-point outbursts, against Immaculate Conception and Cumberland Township.
“I was very consistent night in and night out,” Beckwith recalled. “I had a number of 30-point games and some in the 40’s. I wasn’t very big at five foot 10. Once in awhile I would drive to the hoop, but I was an outside shooter. Now days what they call it the three-point shot, back in those days I shot almost all three-pointers. My numbers would have been even better if they had the three-point line when I played.”
Beckwith is proud of his relationship with George “Jock” Adams the basketball coach at Georges Township.
“I had a good relationship with Coach Adams,” Beckwith said. “But he just wouldn’t turn me loose at times. I had shots at setting several records, and he wouldn’t allow me to do it. I often wondered why.”
Beckwith played against some tremendous players on the hardwood in Fayette County.
“South Union’s Chuckie Davis was an outstanding player. We went head to head a lot of times. I enjoyed playing against him very much,” Beckwith said. “Sam Sims was a tremendous player. He was an outstanding player. We had a very small team. Size wise, the tallest team back in those days was North Union with Frank Turpin and that crew.”
Beckwith benefited from the great Uniontown playground system.
“Chuckie Davis, Mel Freeman and Sam Sims … we would all play at East End playground during the summer,” Beckwith said. “We had some real good games up there; it was great competition.”
Beckwith was honorable mention All-County in football as a junior and first team All-County as a senior. In basketball he was All-Section 11 in his junior and senior seasons and received All-State consideration as a senior.
Beckwith excelled at football and basketball, but preferred the hoop game.
“I liked football and enjoyed playing football,” Beckwith offered. “But I loved playing basketball the most.”
When Beckwith graduated from Georges Township in 1957, several schools made scholarship offers.
“When I graduated in 1957 I had 20 college scholarship offers,” Beckwith said. “I didn’t accept any of them. I went straight into the Air Force. Everybody thought I was going to school, but along with a couple of friends we decided to go into the Air Force in 1958. I always wondered what would have happened if I had accepted a scholarship and went on to play college ball.
“At my height at the time, I could have played easily, and I had some folks that wanted me. I had good numbers in football, but most of the scholarship offers were for basketball. I still think about what would have happened if I went on to play college basketball. I was quick, and I could score. I wonder what might have happened?”
Beckwith made a career out of the Air Force.
“I was in the Air Force for 22 years and retired from the Air Force in 1980,” Beckwith said. “I moved to Hampton, Va., and started working for the U.S. Army in civil service at Fort Monroe. I retired from the civil service job in 1998.”
Beckwith, 70, still resides in Virginia with his wife of 13-years, Lorraine. He has three older children from a previous marriage, two boys and a girl.
“I have been the commander for the last several years of the VFW,” Beckwith stated. “We work at the VA Hospital, taking care of the veterans returning from overseas.”
He still has two sisters living in Uniontown.
“I get back to Fayette County to visit my sisters quite a bit,” Beckwith said. “I have great memories of Fayette County and the guys I played with and against. I still remain in contact with a few of them, but I have a lot of great memories.”
George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” columns appear in the Sunday editions of the Herald-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.