Calvaresi still wonders what might have been
Former Uniontown High School football and baseball standout Paul Calvaresi wonders to this day how his sports career would have turned if not for numerous knee injuries.
Calvaresi excelled at football and baseball for the Red Raiders in the 1980s.
He played on Uniontown football teams that posted records of 3-7 in 1982, 8-2 in 1983 and 4-6 in 1984. The Raiders had a decent backfield during that period.
“It was me and Jeff Spinetti my senior year,” Calvaresi recalled. “Our junior year we had a really good football team, it was sort of running back by committee with Joe Fagan and Mike Jones. We had a good quarterback with Bob Buttermore. My senior Jim Burns played quarterback and got hurt and the season went sideways with some injuries.”
The 5-9, 190-pound Calvaresi was a hard-nosed running back who had a knack for returning kickoffs.
“I liked returning kickoffs,” Calvaresi said. “I was pretty fast, I could run. I had good vision and that was the key to the whole thing. You could see the whole field and see the players coming toward you and you would hit it and go. It was chaos, but you’d see it and hit the right spot and go. Maybe I was lucky, too.”
Some of Calvaresi’s more memorable returns include returning the opening kickoff 81 yards for a touchdown in a 12-9 win over Laurel Highlands in 1982, a 94-yard kickoff return in a 26-7 win over Elizabeth-Forward in 1983 and returning the opening kickoff 85-yards in a 7-6 loss to Keystone Oaks in 1984.
Calvaresi also had some big touchdown runs as a running back his senior season. He had an 88-yard scamper against Steel Valley, a 79-yard run versus Peters Township and 56-yard TD jaunt against Thomas Jefferson.
“That was the toughest game of my high school career against Steel Valley,” Calvaresi said. “Steel Valley wound up going to the WPIAL playoffs that year. We played them tough, we were up on them at halftime and lost 22-13, that was the most physical game I ever played in.”
“We had a close-knit group of players,” Calvaresi offered. “I remain close with Spinetti and Burns.”
Calvaresi was All-Big Ten Conference at running back as a senior.
“I didn’t think much about awards back then, but that was nice,” Calvaresi said. “I loved playing the game, I grew up around football. My uncle coached at Bentworth, Beth-Center and Ringgold. I was four years old dragging the football around.”
Calvaresi had a tremendous baseball career in high school, the county league and in American Legion play.
Uniontown had some very competitive baseball squads when Calvaresi played. The 1983 team finished 20-9 and lost to Shaler 3-2 in the WPIAL playoffs. In 1984, the Raiders went to the playoffs and were knocked out in the second round, and they were third in the section in 1985.
“The 1983 team was probably the best Uniontown baseball team that they’ve ever had,” Calvaresi stated. “We had Mark Edenfield, Buttermore and Spinetti. That was a very good team.”
Calvaresi had a solid career in the county league and in American Legion baseball.
“I started my county league career when I was 14 years old,” Calvaresi said. “I played with the Brownsville Merchants and Pickhandle Mercosky. I played with Dearth the rest of my county league career. In legion ball, I played with Uniontown, we had Uniontown and Laurel Highlands guys. It was a good team.”
Calvaresi was a American Legion All-Star and played in the East-West Classic. He batted .449 in 1985.
“Uniontown coach Ross Orndorf and Connellsville coach Tom Sankovich were instumental in my baseball career,” Calvaresi said. “Coach Orndorf was a good coach, and I got to know Sankovich and his boys when I played county league. He was helpful and we got to be close.”
Football was a consideration when Calvaresi graduated from Uniontown in 1985.
“I was recruited by schools like Youngstown State and St. Cloud State,” Calvaresi remembered. “I could have played football somewhere.”
Baseball was the sport that provided Calvaresi with the best opportunities in college.
“After making the East-West All-Star game a lot of doors opened,” Calvaresi explained. “Oklahoma State started to call me, Arkansas, Indiana and West Virginia. Tom and Dave Holliday were at Oklahoma State and I chose to play there.”
In 1986, Oklahoma State went 56-15 and Calvaresi batted .400 in 14 games with one home run and six RBI. He injured his knees in 1987 and tried to return in 1988 on a team that went 61-8, but he wasn’t the same player. In 11 games he hit .071 with two RBI.
“Oklahoma State was the pinnacle of college baseball,” Calvaresi said. “In February of 1987, I was fighting for the left or right field job and I tore both knees up in batting practice. It was a freak injury. I tried to come back and I got hurt again that summer, the next knee operation was very serious. They really cut me. Right now I have undergone nine knee operations since first getting hurt.
“I wasn’t the same player. It was very disheartening to have my career derailed because of injuries. For two years I hung in there with some of the best players in the country. I still think about it to this day.”
Calvaresi finished his college baseball career at Fairmont State, where he was a WVIAC All-Star as a first baseman. He also played third base.
“Looking back, I played with and against some great players,” Calvaresi stated. “I’m still good friends with Jeromy Burnitz and I still talk with Robin Ventura.”
Calvaresi, 47, has been working in the construction industry after graduating from college. He and his wife, Michelle, reside in Jonestown and have four daughters.