Out of The Past
Let’s return to this week in 1963 Baseball season might have been under way locally, but scholastic track had one last fling left for this week almost two-score years ago.
Continuing from the last look back, let’s return to this week, awayyyyy back in 1963.
Penn Hills ran away with the WPIAL-A track championship, 87 points to 19 by closest pursuers West Mifflin North and Ford City. Uniontown (10) was eighth, and Brownsville (3) tied for 12th. Brentwood (46) won the “B” title, with Scottdale (18) fourth, Dunbar Twp. and Mohawk (5) tied for 11th, Frazier and West Allegheny (3) tied for 13th, and South Union, Burgettstown, and Washington Twp. (1) tied for 16th.
Uniontown had two winners. Randall Cramer won the 880 in 1:57.8, just one-tenth of a second off the WPIAL record, held by Joe Thomas, of Uniontown, and the mile relay team of John Manning, Allyn Curry, Gary Coldren and Cramer won in 3:27.
DT’s Tom Martray set a new WPIAL-B 440 record, with a :51.8 win, but the record still stayed in Fayette County. The old mark was 52.5, by South Union’s Fran Novak, in 1961.
In “B” action, Sam Bair (Scottdale) set a new record of 1:57.9 winning the 880 (old mark, 2:01.1 the previous year). John Wable, Tom Bowman, Bair, and Tom Bambrey were second in the mile relay, but it took a new record of 3:32 by Oakmont to beat them.
All qualified for the state finals a week later.
n n n
On a sad note for that week, funeral arrangements were being made for All-American running back and Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis, of Syracuse University, who had previously signed with the Cleveland Browns. Davis, 23, who died from leukemia, was born in Uniontown, and later moved to Elmira, N.Y.
n n n
In scholastic baseball:
-North Union and South Union stayed 2-3, as South collared Connellsville IC 11-0, and North edged St. John’s, 6-4.
SU’s Jerry Meadows pitched a 2-hitter, struck out 15, and was given a 6-run cushion in the first. Lin Bierer hit a home run and two singles. The only IC hits were Bob Goodman’s triple (3rd), and George Alberts’ single (7th). Meadows walked only one, George Rulli in the first.
Steve Bartock hit a triple and single, Tom Barnett two singles, and Gene Painley a double and fanned 11 to lead NU.
n n n
In County League Baseball:
-Smock stayed unbeaten, 6-3 over Filbert, Uniontown handed Pals Club their first loss, 5-0, and Brownsville outlasted Revere in a 19-11 slugfest.
Dick Cole pitched a 5-hit shutout for Uniontown, three by Bill Jones.
Frank Gleason had three hits and Joe Locke a double to pace Smock. Marsano hit two triples and a single for Filbert.
Kracik hit a grand slam for Brownsville, Lincvavage and Bucknell homered, and Bell had four hits to give Paul Redzanic the win over Bernie Magerko. For Revere, Moscovits, Wendell, Guty and Gary Brain homered, and Joe Skocik had three hits.
n n n
In Fay-West Baseball:
-Mill Run hammered Connellsville, 10-4, and took over the lead, Scottdale got two in the last of the ninth to edge Trotter, 5-4, and Wooddale tripped Breakneck, 4-2.
Bugs Orndorff homered and tripled, winning pitcher Oscar Harbaugh and Bradley Bryner had two hits to pace MR. Bob Myden tripled and Nate Fisch had two hits to pace Connellsville.
Bob Kendrish had three Scottdale hits, his last driving in Doodles Lann with the clinching run.
Don Cooper pitched a 4-hitter for Wooddale, and Waide Hayes had three hits, and Karl Hesson and Cooper two. Augie Reich doubled for Breakneck.
Then Mill Run padded its lead with a 4-3 edging of Wooddale, as Harbaugh came on for some clutch relief work, behind Hughey Bigam. Manager Marlyn Dull was 3-for-3, and Van Kooser, Orndoff, and Bigam had doubles.
n n n
In other sports:
-Pitt played baseball at West Virginia, and this area was well represented, with Fred Mazurek (Republic) and Al Ricciuti (Beth-Center) in the Pitt lineup, and Bill Marovic and John Radosevich (German Twp.), Joe Hatalla (Nemacolin) and Joe Jeran, who played for Pals Club, in the WVU lineup.
-Don Ashton (Dunbar Twp.) was a double winner for Bethany College in the Presidents Athletic Conference Track finals with a new conference record of 9.7 in the 100, and a 21:6 win in the 220.
-Grove City College won the West Penn Conference track crown, their 96 points, including seven by Dave Marovich (Hopwood, South Union), with second in the shot and third in hop-step-jump. Waynesburg was fourth, seven of its 11 scored by Jim Lowe (McClellandtown) with a third in the long jump and a second HSJ.
-Investigation is under way in Pittsburgh to determine the circumstances in the death of famed Steelers defensive lineman Gene (Big Daddy) Lipscomb.
-Connellsville tennis standout Jack Trump finished second in the WPIAL finals, losing for the second year in a row to 3-time champion Jack Waltz of Mount Lebanon. Then it appeared that Trump might get another shot at the title when the WPIAL disqualified Waltz for having played with Mount Lebanon in the Pittsburgh Inter-Club Tournament while the WPIAL event was in progress, something not allowed under District 7 rules. However, the PIAA (State) and WPIAL got together, then reversed that ruling, and Trump had to settle for second.
-NOTE: A spelling correction from last week’s column. That was Lee Bero pitching for South Union, not the name we misread from the files. Reader comments are always welcome. Thank you.
Jim Kriek is a Herald-Standard sports correspondent.