Trying to figure out ‘why now?’
Thirty years ago, thirteen student-athletes from Father Geibel Memorial High School and a couple of coaches, as well as the school and local communities, added to the athletic lore of Fayette County with an undefeated season and WPIAL and PIAA Class A basketball titles. Three years later, Uniontown, the most storied program in the county, followed up with another state basketball crown while the Gators had a championship run in 1980 with an exhilarating victory over Fairchance-Georges for the WPIAL title and falling a game short of another state final appearance.
Fast forward to the summer of 2008. As the nine seniors on that first and only state championship squad prepare for their, gulp, 30th class reunion word is out, from a story broken by Herald-Standard sports editor Mike Ciarochi, the man who coached that magical season, Ken Misiak, has been apparently, and on the surface, unceremoniously, ousted from the position he has held for 49 years.
Recently retired after 50 YEARS as a physical education/health teacher at Immaculate Conception/Geibel Catholic High School, Misiak was looking forward to one more year as the Gators’ head coach. (There’s always one more class a coach wants to see through.)
I haven’t been alive for 50 years. I can’t imagine what it’s like to work only one job for half a century. No one in today’s economy will ever know that feeling, unless Dad owns the company.
Not much fanfare with the decision. When the Penn Hills school board handed down a similar fate to highly successful football coach Neil Gordon, at least those men and women stood up and were counted for their decision. Rightly or wrongly, they met the scrutiny for their public decision. On the surface, Mr. Misiak (sorry, he’s just one of those folks that will always be ‘Mr.’ to me) was not accorded the same consideration.
Like so many other educators, especially those in Catholic education, Misiak ‘bought’ into the ‘approach.’ He didn’t make the big bucks, at any point in his career. Schools came calling for his services, but he stayed at what he felt was the perfect job for him.
Someone made the decision and needs pony up. I’ve seen nothing about the situation in any other local newspaper and am unaware of any press releases.
He actually had a hand in three WPIAL titles when George Laskey won the district golf championship in 1987 at Oakmont, despite the fact Misiak doesn’t golf. Misiak didn’t want the school to drop the sport, one of the many added during his tenure as athletic director, so he took over the program until a coach could be found.
I have had classmates contact me to find out what’s going on. The upright and decent approach to life so impressed on the 45 years of graduating classes might just come back and bite those as the inquisitive seek out the answers.
Some might suggest the game has passed the veteran coach by. How? Players aren’t taught how to shoot two-handed ‘Bob Cousy’ set shots. Pulling up from 20 feet in transition was often known as a “Geibel lay-up” long before the 3-point line was instituted.
(Nice to be remembered, isn’t it Joe?)
At 6-7, Dave Timko was a ‘point forward’ long before it became vogue.
What has passed him by is not the happenings on the court, but those off the court. Pressures and issues not involved with zone traps and free throws dramatically changed over his six decades as coach. Unfortunately, most veteran coaches would agree on this point.
I believe a bit of our personality, for good or bad, rubs off with those we interact with. My approach to coaching is an amalgamation of those who coached me, like my dad (and mom), Jack Columbus, Harry Soisson III, Leo Lowney, and Bob Fedorko, as well as those I coached with, such as John Mongell, my brother Pat, and, my newest associate, Dr. Frank Jacobyansky.
No, I didn’t play for Ken Misiak. I was given my outright release in November, 2007. Apparently the Gators met their quota for near-sighted, poor-shooting, slow-footed guards.
Mr. Misiak is one of four coaches in Pennsylvania to win over 700 basketball games. When you win that many, you had to lose a few along the way, and he has with over 300 losses.
A coach worth his salt doesn’t care to lose, and it doesn’t have to be Bobby Knight tossing a chair. Check out the determination of a Coach K or rival Roy Williams.
I suspect Mr. Misiak will take this defeat, should it come to pass, the same as the other 300-plus defeats – with the same dignity and pride he displayed before and after each one of his team’s games.
Jim Downey is a sportswriter for the Uniontown Herald-Standard and can be reached at jdowney@heraldstandard.com.