Jan 11, 2011 By George Von Benko For The 8 min read

Westminster College has a great tradition of recruiting athletes from Fayette County. In fact, four former basketball standouts from Fayette County – Chuck Davis, Jack Jones, Pat King and Joe Lafko – are in the Westminster Athletic Hall of Fame.

Davis and Jones have been profiled previously in Memory Lane. Former Connellsville star Pat King is the subject of this column. In King’s case, Connellsville’s gain was Uniontown’s loss. King was born in Uniontown and lived there until his family moved to Connellsville, where he excelled at basketball, football and track for the Cokers in the late 1940s.

King played on some competitive teams at Connellsville. In 1945-46 the Cokers were 14-11, they went 11-12 in 1946-47 and in King’s senior season, 1947-48, they finished 13-9.

“We were pretty decent,” he offered. “There were a lot of good teams around. Uniontown was always competitive, as well, and Scottdale and Point Marion were good at that time.”

The carrot-topped 6-4 King captured the Section 10 scoring title as a senior pumping in a total of 217 points for an average of 15.4.

“I was happy in the sense that we had a nice team,” King stated. “But I was not pleased that we didn’t win more games and it’s always better if you’re winning as opposed to scoring. It was nice to score and the scores were low, we won some nice games and we lost some. Basically I would have been happier if we had won more.”

Connellsville split with Uniontown in King’s senior season.

“It was always nice to beat Uniontown,” King said. “I was born in Uniontown and lived there until I was 10. I always liked the Red Raiders with Bus Albright and coach (Abe) Everhart, they always had good teams.”

One of the highlights of King’s career at Connellsville occurred when the Cokers won the Fayette County Coaches Tournament with victories over Redstone, Uniontown and Dunbar. King was chosen the MVP in the Class A Tourney. He also garnered All-County honors as a junior and senior.

“I recall winning the tournament and it’s always an honor,” King explained. “As far as I’m concerned we had some top athletes come from that area and it gives you something to be proud of to win.”

King has fond memories of his Connellsville teammates.

“We had Bobby Jones and Bob Mahaney,” King said. “Jack Jones had graduated and we actually wound up playing together in college.”

He also has strong feeling about Ed Spotts, his basketball coach at Connellsville.

“Between Spotts, Bill Dolde and Joe Spak, as far as I’m concerned we had as good a coaching as we could have had,” King opined. “Ed Spotts was a great basketball player, he played at South High School and they won the championship in 1934. They beat Reading 42-29 and Spotts had 23 points in that game. He went to Pitt and played football and basketball. He was a good coach and a wonderful person. He was demanding as far as discipline is concerned, but that’s something that was very desirable. As far as a role model, you couldn’t ask for anything more.”

King also played for the Connellsville football squad. He was a JV player on 1945 when the Coker JVs went 2-0-1. On the varsity, he was on teams that had marks of 7-3 and 2-6-2.

“When Art Ruff came back from the war we were very pleased,” King stated. “John Love had been the coach in his absence and he was also a Pitt guy. Everybody was pleased when Ruff came back, he had great teams before with Lujack and Schroyer and Hart. When he came back, we had a good year at 7-3. Herbie Kurtz was our fullback that year and he went to Penn State after playing two years at California. He played behind Fran Rogel at Penn State and he didn’t play much. Kurtz was an excellent athlete. I didn’t start on that team, but I played linebacker and center.

“My senior year I was the center at the start of the season and then the coaches decided to put me at fullback. Even though we didn’t have a winning season we did beat Uniontown 25-12 that season. I can recall coach Ruff talking to us before the game about how important that game was. He could really inspire you as a player. My brother-in-law and I had the good fortune to visit Ruff when he was 92 in New Stanton at a nursing home and we told him how much we cared for him and respected him as a coach and it was a very emotional scene. My coaches and my teammates are remembered everyday in my prayers.”

King also ran track and was very good throwing the discus.

“I know I set a discus mark in college, I’m not sure about high school,” King recalled. “In high school, Mike Omatick was an excellent teammate in football and track. He was very good. I like basketball and football. I actually took a football recruiting trip with some other Connellsville guys, Joe Vellucci and Joe Galasso, but we decided not to go there.”

Westminster came into the picture and King decided to accept a basketball scholarship.

“I visited there and a few other school,” King remembered. “I really liked the atmosphere and it was a full ride and it was close to home and I decided to go there.”

King played at Westminster for coaching legend Grover Washabaugh.

“A wonderful gentleman who would do anything for you,” King offered. “He was born in Bullskin Township. Two managers that Washabaugh had in high school later went on to become outstanding coaches – Ed McCluskey and Gus Krop.”

At Westminster, King had a stellar career. He scored 29 points as a freshman in 1948-49, when the team went 15-8. In his sophomore season, King tallied 293 points (fourth on the team). In the 1949-50 season the Titans posted a 25-4 record (NAIA national tournament, first time in school history). The Titans lost to Davis & Elkins, 85-75, in the second round of the NAIA tournament in Kansas City. King led the Titans with 17 points. As a junior in 1950-51, Westminster finished 22-6 (NAIA national tournament). King scored a team-leading 504 points (18.0 average) – both school single-season records at the time. He was named first team all-district by the Pittsburgh Press and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Titans lost to top-seeded Evansville, 74-65, in the first round of the NAIA tournament at Kansas City, as King scored a game-high 29 points. In King’s senior campaign the Titans went 15-7 and he scored 318 points, 14.4 average (third on the team). Westminster was invited to the national tournament in Kansas City, but school president Will Orr rejected the offer for two reasons – the season had already lasted longer than what was recommended by the American Council on Education and it wouldn’t be right for the players to lose more study time.

When King graduated from Westminster in 1952 he was the school’s second all-time leading scorer with 1,143 career points (Wes Bennett scored 1,168 from 1932-36) King currently ranks 28th in team history. Also of note, Westminster won 80 straight home games between Dec. 1942 and Jan. 1952, a streak that was snapped during King’s senior year.

He was inducted into the Titan Sports Hall of Fame in 1988 as part of an all men’s basketball class featuring players from the 1940s, 50s, and 60s.

“I was more concerned with the team record at the time,” King said. “Looking back, I take some pride in being on that All-District team. I just loved my teammates and we still get together occasionally and we have luncheons sometimes down at the German Club on the Southside of Pittsburgh. Going into the Hall of Fame was a thrill because we have had a lot of great players there. At that time, we were on a par with Pitt and Duquesne and we used to beat them.”

King played basketball after graduation.

“I went to Akron Goodyear in the National Industrial Basketball League and then went to the Army during the Korean War and played with a very good basketball team, the Fort Meade Generals, in 1952 and 1954. I played with Paul Arizin and Dick Groat came through there and we played together and then against each other. I came back to Goodyear and stayed there until I got married in 1958. I decided to get into coaching and teaching and I did become an assistant coach in Ohio at Akron Central High School from 1958 to 1968 and had some great teams there. Then I took a position with the Pittsburgh Public Schools and was assigned to South High School. I was a teacher and athletic director until I retired in 1989.”

King, 80, resides in Mt. Lebanon with his wife, Clair Marie. They had nine children ranging in age from 39 to 50 and they have 24 grandchildren.

“I do get back to Connellsville, but I had a heart attack and haven’t been back, but I’m doing better now,” King reported. “Connellsville has been wonderful to me and I can’t emphasize how wonderful the people have been to me. I want to tell you that all those guys when I was in the sixth grade and Johnny Lujack and Wally Schroyer and Dave Hart and all those guys played and they were my heroes. Connellsville still brings a tear to my eye.”

George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” columns appear in the Tuesday editions of the Herald-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.