Alex Lyons, basketball

Alex Lyons knows he won’t make a career out of playing basketball, but he plans to forge a career based on athletics.
Lyon plays basketball at Frazier and carries a grade-point average that is north of 4.0. He plans to study sports broadcasting at Waynesburg University and has known that for about two years.
“Yes, I am familiar with the program at Waynesburg,” Lyons said. “I went to Lanny Frattare’s sports broadcasting camp two summers ago. I kind of knew I wanted to become a broadcaster from before that, but from the camp, I ended up job shadowing Paul Steigerwald with the Penguins and Greg Brown with the Pirates, so it just kept going.”
And, on his questionnaire, Lyons listed Steigerwald’s job as one he would want to have in 10 years.
“I never knew what sport I wanted to do, but I’m such a high energy guy,” he said. “I like playing deck hockey. Plus, hockey is such a fast tempo sport, something I can really get into.”
Lyons was selected as Frazier’s male winter sports representative in the Centennial Chevrolet Scholar/Athlete Spotlight program. He is a son of Lisa and Barry Lyons of Perryopolis. He has an older brother, Lance.
Alex’s basketball story is a rather circuitous one. He played for the Commodores as a freshman, but went back to playing for his church’s basketball team before returning to the Commodores varsity this season.
“It’s not that I ever stopped playing basketball,” he said. “I started in third grade in my church and we played all the way through eighth grade, but there was no high school team through our church. I played for the school team my freshman year and we had like 10 freshmen on the team that year and there were a lot of good athletes on that team. I just thought it was going to be tough to play for the school all the way through. Then my church got a high school team together, so I started playing for them again.
“Toward the end of last season, I decided that I wanted to play for the school again. I have always had a lot of pride for our school and wanted to play for them again, so I decided to go out for the team my senior year.”
“He’s a very spirited kid,” Frazier boys basketball coach Ed Keebler said. “He gives 100 percent in practices and in games. I’m very glad he decided to come back to basketball. He’s a great kid to have on the team.”
“He’s definitely driven, very prepared. His grades are a 4.0 plus, so he’s definitely qualified for this honor.”
Due to his affinity for announcing, Lyons was granted permission to announce middle school and junior varsity football games at Frazier.
“I do the PA announcing for it,” he said. “It’s great. I love it. It came about after the sports broadcasting camp and I was able to do it and loved it.”
Lyons is also involved in his church, Christian Center Church. “I work in the children’s ministry and in the nursery,” he said. “I do a lot of volunteer work through the church.”