Timing was right for LH’s Kumor
Some say timing is everything in life. For former Laurel Highlands High School baseball standout Larry Kumor, good timing resulted in a college scholarship.
Kumor overcame injury problems in high school and lettered for the Mustangs in 1981. LH, coached by Tom Landman, posted a record of 8-8 that season.
“It is hard to believe that with a Division I player and a professional baseball pitcher that we only won eight games, but that’s how it is,” Kumor said. “Connellsville was the high school baseball power back then, along with Ringgold, and Belle Vernon was pretty good. Connellsville was always tough to beat, they were well coached with Tom Sankovich.”
The professional player that Kumor referred to was Terry Mulholland, who went on to have a long career in Major League baseball.
“I played with Terry. I think they moved into the area when I was 12, and we played all the way up through high school and then went our separate ways,” Kumor stated. “To have two left-handed pitchers that threw the ball around 90 miles an hour, coaches would go crazy for that now, but sometimes things didn’t work out.”
Kumor excelled on the mound and at first base for the Mustangs.
“My ninth-grade year I was coming over from North Union and ended up not being able to get to practice, and I didn’t play my ninth-grade year,” Kumor offered. “My 10th-grade year, I clipped the end of my finger off and didn’t get to play. My senior year, I hurt my back, so I was only a one-year letterman in high school.”
Kumor played some basketball for coach Horse Taylor at LH.
“I played basketball, but, at the beginning of my senior year, I realized that I was basically a seventh man,” Kumor said. “I knew that wasn’t my best sport. I played JV and one year of varsity basketball. I was 5-11 and 180, but baseball was my best sport. I did well my senior year.
Kumor has a soft spot for Landman.
“I tell everybody that if I was running for mayor or governor, I’d have him running my campaign,” Kumor offered. “He has nothing but nice things to say about people, and I always liked him as a head coach. He was kind of new in his career there, and we were kind of feeling each other out. He did fine by me.”
American Legion baseball played a big part in Kumor’s development.
“I played American Legion baseball for two years,” Kumor said. “I had 16 strikeouts a couple of times and recorded 20 strikeouts against Masontown. I played for Tom Frankhouser and Dee Dee Ciaramella for the Uniontown Legion team. We had Mullholland and John Hamborsky from Uniontown. We had three quality left-handers, and we did okay. Connellsville was the Legion power.”
Several junior colleges had expressed interest in Kumor. Here is where good timing enters the picture.
“West Virginia came to see Mulholland pitch,” Kumor explained. “Frank Pryor was the assistant and he came to watch Mulholland pitch, and I hit a couple home runs or a double and a home run and he liked my hitting. He came again and I had another good game, and he offered me a scholarship.”
Kumor’s hitting prowess led to a position switch at WVU.
“When I went to West Virginia, my freshman year, I led the team in hitting in the fall,” Kumor recalled. “I pitched real well, but they needed a right fielder and I said I’ll try, and I got in the starting lineup as a right fielder and pitching was history. If I had it to do all over again, I would have stuck with pitching. I was an average to maybe above-average college hitter, but I was a better pitcher, I believe.”
During Kumor’s time in Morgantown, the Mountaineers went 24-23 in 1982 and won the Eastern 8 tournament and went to the NCAA tournament and lost a three-game series at South Carolina. In 1983, WVU finished 22-10. In 1984, they were 22-11-1 and got knocked out of the Atlantic 10 tournament by Temple.
Kumor was injured and only played in two games during the 1985 season.
“The second game of the year we were playing at Georgia Southern and a fly ball behind first base, in no man’s land, and nobody could call for it, and the second baseman dove for it and I flipped over him and separated my shoulder,” Kumor stated. “Since I played in less than 10 percent of the games, I was redshirted.”
Kumor batted .235 in 1982, .342 in 1983, .364 in 1984 and .290 in 1986, when the Mountaineers had a 24-14-1 record. His career batting average in 131 games was .307, with five home runs and 93 RBI.
“My sophomore and junior years I batted third,” Kumor said. “I had a guy that followed me named Bob Bernardo, who could crush the ball. Basically, there was no where to hide through the first four guys in the lineup, and I’d get on base and Bernardo would bring me in.”
Kumor had a great relationship with the late Dale Ramsburg, his coach at West Virginia.
“I loved coach Ramsburg,” Kumor said. “He and his wife were like my parents.”
Overall, Kumor was pleased with his college career.
“We were competitive,” Kumor said. “We played great competition, guys like Franklin Stubbs at Virginia Tech. Looking back, you always wish you would have done better, but I did OK and I had a nice career.”
Kumor, 51, resides in Uniontown with Pam, his wife of 13 years, and has three sons: Jacob, Dominic and Nicholas. He is employed by United Dairy.