Former North Union standout Ray Yauger takes a look back
Ray Yauger hasn’t played football since 1970, so the former North Union and Laurel Highlands star, who was in Uniontown on Jan. 12 for a reunion of Laurel Highland’s 1967 basketball team, was surprised to learn that after all these years he still ranks seventh on Clemson University’s All-Time rushing list with 2,439 yards. “There have been a lot of good players there and I didn’t realize that. I don’t follow that,” Yauger marveled. “But it amazes me. I guess I had a lot of good guys playing with me for me to get the numbers up to where they are.”
Yauger was a standout in football and basketball at North Union High School, which merged with bitter rival South Union in 1967 to form Laurel Highlands High School.
Despite being separated until a new high school was built, the Mustang basketball team helped bring two schools together. The first LH team went 23-0 in the regular season before falling in triple overtime to Mt. Lebanon in the WPIAL semifinals, 82-75.
Yauger was pleased to get together with his former teammates to celebrate that great season.
“It was great,” Yauger stated. “I loved it. It’s an honor to come back and see all these guys.”
Despite being bitter rivals, the athletes from the two schools bonded nicely.
“When we joined together, I guess you never thought as far as this guy being from North and this guy being from South,” Yauger recalled. “It never entered anybody’s mind. Whoever was the best player was going to play and that’s the way it was.”
The highlight of the 1967 season was the first meeting between Uniontown and Laurel Highlands on the basketball court and the beginning of a great rivalry.
Laurel Highlands stunned Uniontown that night with an 83-73 victory. That snapped Uniontown’s 88-game home court winning streak and was the first section loss for the Red Raiders in 59 games.
“I haven’t thought about it for 40 years,” Yauger reminisced. “The crowd was so large and so loud and I guess Horse Taylor just kept us under control. … With Wilbur and Hobgood and the way they played we just kept it under control and took the game.”
Yauger remembered his coach Harold “Horse” Taylor fondly.
“I loved Horse and I wish he were here to enjoy this reunion. He is sitting down and watching it, but I wish he could be here. I loved him and loved playing for him.”
The triple overtime loss to Mt. Lebanon ended the Mustangs’ run that year and to this day is the subject of many debates.
“I don’t know what overtime I fouled out, but everybody kept fouling out and I think at the end we had Hobgood left,” Yauger said. “One after another, we all fouled out. We gave it the best shot and what an outstanding game.”
The loss prevented a match-up with eventual state champion Ambridge, a match-up many basketball fans wanted to see.
“It would’ve been great for us to play those guys,” Yauger pondered. “With our team as far as what we had it’s too bad you can’t go back in time to play a game like that and get to play those guys. Because I followed all those guys and two or three of those guys played in the Atlantic Coast Conference and I went to Clemson and it was great following those Ambridge guys. I got to see them play and it would have been great, but we didn’t get to do it.”
Yauger was a good basketball player, but the football field is where he really made his mark.
He looked back at the first Laurel Highlands football team – a team that posted a 2-7 record.
“That was another case as far as a lot of good guys came over from South Union and I guess it wasn’t the right time as far as the team was concerned,” Yauger explained. “Winning and losing, we didn’t win that many games, but I think we were competitive overall.
“So many good athletes from North Union and Uniontown and South Union, there were so many good athletes that played at North Union and played at South Union and then played at Laurel Highlands – just a lot of good athletes.”
One of the highlights of the 1967 football season was the first game against Connellsville. The Falcons, led by their great running back Jim Braxton, downed the Mustangs, 37-6.
“Braxton, in my opinion, was one of the best players ever to come out of this area,” Yauger recalled. “When we played Connellsville my senior year, he hit me harder than any player that I’ve ever been hit by. He was just a great player.”
Yauger decided to accept a football scholarship to Clemson.
“I guess it was a case of Southern hospitality. The people just treated you so nice and you just felt welcome down there. It was like a second home,” Yauger said.
Yauger had a solid career for the Tigers and his name still dots the Clemson record book. Among his accomplishments, Yauger tied for the most rushing attempts in one game, recorded two 200-yard rushing games (against Wake Forest and North Carolina), was the team’s scoring leader in 1968 and 1969 and ranks 17th in career scoring, led the team in rushing in 1969 and 1970, averaged 96.8 yards/game in 1969 which is eighth best in school history, ranks seventh on Clemson’s all-time rushing list with 2,439 career rushing yards and ranks sixth in Clemson history in rushing attempts.
An injury cost Yauger a shot at pro football.
“My whole thought was to play some professional ball,” Yauger explained. “At spring practice in April of 1970 and just about the second or third practice from the end I’m cutting down the sideline and I was hit from the side and tore my ACL. I had surgery in April and came back and played in August and tore my hamstring and never came back.
“Some scouts were looking at me and I thought about it, but my stock as far as going to the pros dwindled after that and that was it.”
Following his graduation from Clemson, Yauger worked with Shell Oil Company for 10 years. He owned a business for 23 years before selling it. Now he is involved with electronic systems for cars.
Yauger is married with two grown children, a daughter (Robin) and a son (Ray), and has six grandchildren. He resides in Roswell, Ga.
“I love Uniontown,” Yauger said. “And I love coming back here and it’s an honor to be on this 1967 team that we celebrated. Every guy on that team made me a better person.”