Out of the Past
North Union won hoops undergrad tourney in 1964 Hold everything! Baseball might be the main topic this time of year, but basketball was still going to have its one last fling.
Go awayyyy back to this week in 1964, and North Union was making some basketball news.
NU, coached by Gene Burke, had entered the Donora Undergrad Basketball Tournament, and passed its first test by beating host Donora, 61-50. This moved them to the quarter-finals where they promptly disposed of Bentleyville-Ellsworth, 63-57, led by Rich Holbrook with 22, Gene Painley 16, and Ben Hall 11.
Next came the semis, and an easy rout of Monongahela, 70-48, and since NU was the only undefeated team, this earned an automatic trip to the finals. Painley scored 21, Holbrook 18, and Hall 13.
The final test was with Monessen, and it went right to the wire before NU won, 65-63, to become tournament champion. Hall, Ted Martin, and Bob Swaney got free throws in the final seconds to ice the championship. Painley led scoring with 28, while Holbrook and Hall led in rebounding.
In other sports that week:
-Dave Stolarik (Frazier) earned honorable mention on the all-state “B” scholastic basketball team. Stolarik scored 555 points, and had 1,041 in three years for Coach Henry DiVirgilio’s 3-time Section 17-B champions. His highs were 46 against Sewickley, and 31 in the Geibel, Dunbar Twp., and Fairchance-Georges games.
-Southern Methodist University won its 8th consecutive Southwestern Conference swimming championship, under the coaching of A.R. (Red) Barr, formerly of Connellsville.
-St. Rita’s won the Connellsville Church Basketball League championship with an 11-3 record. The champions’ roster included head Coach Pete Salatino, assistant coach Jim McGarrity, Jim Harvey, Ed Wandel, Bob Martray, John Hartz, Dave Wandel, Richard Sidow, A.J. Salandra, Rocco Brienza, Jim Carbonara, Richard Rosendale, Gene Wojtanowski, Pino Cagnina, and Joe Prudente.
-West Virginia swept a doubleheader from George Washington U., 8-4 and 7-1. John Radosevich (Ronco) pitched a four-hitter in the opener, and hit a 2-run homer.
In the nightcap, he pinch-hit another two-run shot. Bill Marovic (Leckrone) had two hits and a stolen base in each game. In WVU’s previous game, an 18-3 rout of Catholic U, in Washington, D.C., Marovic had four this and three steals.
-Greenwood United Methodist won West Division scoring honors (50.6 per game) and Connellsville IC won in the East (55.2), to lead the Connellsville Church Basketball League scoring.
Zeke Zaksek (Central Methodist) averaged 22.1 to win individual West Division honors, and Pat Farrell (Sacred Heart, Dawson) won in the East (18.1).
-Dunbar Twp. opened track workouts with Coach Tom Rozzi greeting 11 lettermen – Vince Maher, Roy Upton, Jim Hileman, Bill McCargo, Bo Steich, Ron Karpiak, Chuck Maher, Charlie Matsko, Lonnie Dull, Rich Vorassi, and Sam Joseph.
-Coach Wilmer Burkholder has eight lettermen back for Connellsville track – Dick Tikey, Ed Bennett, John Taylor, Jim Betters, Dan Findley, Merrill McFadden, John Hartz, and Fred Petrilla.
-Track prospects at West Virginia include long jumper Maurice Moon (Vanderbilt, Connellsville High) and distance runner Joe Kubic (Scottdale).
-WVU also started spring football workouts, with the roster including freshman guard Joe Tacconi (Nemacolin).
-Pitt presented individual most valuable player awards for the past sports year, with the football honor going to QB Fred Mazurek (Republic), who set a new school record for total offense.
-And how about this story out of Nairobi, Kenya, Africa.
Seems that witch doctors were getting into sports, and raising problems for Kenya’s soccer referees that were not covered by the rulebooks.
Some teams had their own medicine men roaming the sidelines, weaving spells, and muttering incantations, and some teams even asked referees to change game balls because they suspected the ones in use had been hexed.
The opinion here is that if those witch doctors, et al, had wanted to see a real incantation, they should have been around when Lash was in high gear. Nobody could out-incantate him!