Decisions tough to make on this ballot
Voting is a tough job sometimes. You scan over the candidates, you ponder, hedge, weigh each option and, finally, you decide which one deserves your vote.
What? You think I’m talking about Tuesday’s Election Day?
No, no, no. That stuff is easy. Dems vote for Dems. Republicans vote for Republicans. Don’t even get me started on politics.
The day at the polls helped me recall filling out my Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame ballot a few months ago. The Hall’s co-founders, George Von Benko and Jes Hutson, don’t know what torture they put voters through.
Or maybe they do.
As lifetime member, I’ve voted every year for the Fayette Hall of Fame. The decisions are always tough. This year’s ballot made it extremely agonizing, however.
If you don’t know, members receive a ballot in the mail with four choices in several different categories — this year there were eight — along with a separate list of nominee information to assist you in voting.
I’m not going to tell you who I voted for (that’s clearly a no-win situation), but I am going to go through each category just so local sports fans out there can relate to what a difficult process this is. The athletes who were chosen for this year’s class of inductees are in bold.
I’ll also give you a scale of 1-10 on my degree of difficulty (DOD) in making my decision.
How many of the actual inductees did I vote for? I was four of eight.
Feel free to take a guess at who I voted for (I’ll only tell you how many you got right) or to tell me who YOU would’ve voted for. Just email me at rburchianti@heraldstandard.com.
Let’s start in the “Coaches” category, because this one got my emotions going, tugging me in all directions. The four nominees were George Bortz, Don “Doc” Franks, Rudy Marisa and Ken Misiak. I covered many games of three of these coaches and saw many games as a fan of the other one (Franks).
Bortz coached Geibel Catholic to five WPIAL girls basketball titles, including four in a row, nine section titles and two undefeated WPIAL seasons.
Franks was a six-time conference coach of the year and a Dapper Dan Award winner while guiding Albert Gallatin football to a 178-50-11 record in 24 seasons, and led the 1974 Colonials — one of my all-time favorite teams as an AG grad — to the WPIAL title.
Marisa coached basketball at Dunbar Township and Albert Gallatin, but became legendary at the college level by winning 565 games and seven NAIA district championships at Waynesburg University, good enough to have Waynesburg name its gymnasium after him.
Misiak, the second-winningest basketball coach in WPIAL history, rang up an astounding 734 wins in 49 years at Immaculate Conception and Geibel Catholic, leading the Gators to a pair of WPIAL titles and one PIAA championship.
All four of these coaches should be inducted at some point.
DOD: 10.
n n n
Franks’ 1974 team was also included in the “Teams-Big Schools” category, along with Uniontown HS basketball of 1981, Connellsville HS baseball of 1973 and Uniontown HS football of 1962.
The Colonials were 10-1, the Red Raiders basketball team was 32-2 and won the state title under James “Lash” Nesser, the Falcons were 23-1 and won the WPIAL title under coach Tom Sankovich, and the Red Raiders football team was 10-0 and won the WPIAL crown on Gardner points under coach Bill Power.
DOD: 9.
n n n
The “Teams-Small Schools” category consisted of Dunbar HS football of 1965, German HS basketball of 1974, Frazier HS basketball of 1969 and Masontown HS football of 1950.
The Mules went 9-0 under Stan McLaughlin but missed playing for the WPIAL title thanks to the Gardner points system, the Uhlans went 16-7 under Ed Colebank and won the WPIAL title, the Commodores went 25-3 and won the WPIAL crown under Henry DiVirgilio, and the Gunners went 9-1 and won the WPIAL championship under Gene Franks Sr.
DOD: 7.
n n n
There were four “Individual” categories, the first of which included athletes in the 1900-59 range. They were Jack Jones, Henry “Hank” Oppermann, Joe Pavlikowski and Bill Thomas.
Jones (Connellsville HS), a basketball star, is aready in the Westminster Titan Sports Hall of Fame. Opperman (Connellsville HS), a three-sport star, was a Penn State football captain. Pavlikowski (Redstone HS) starred in football at St. Bonaventure. Thomas (Perryopolis HS) was a three-year starter at Clemson in football.
DOD: 6.
n n n
The 1960-69 category included Don Law, Bill Marovic, Jules “Buddy” Quertinmont and Robert “Bo” Scott.
Law (Brownsville HS) was a four-sport star who played football at Michigan State. Marovic (German Township HS) was a baseball star who started at WVU. Quertinmont (Point Marion/Albert Gallatin HS) was a 1,358-point scorer in basketball in high school who started at WVU. Scott (Connellsville HS), a three-sport star, went on to play football at Ohio State and with the Cleveland Browns.
DOD: 8.
n n n
The 1970-79 category included Tom Hull, Greg Pastors, Ralph Still, Rod Wheeler.
Hull (Uniontown HS) was a two-sport star in high school who played football at Penn State and in the NFL. Pastors (Connellsville HS) was a three-sport star in high school who excelled at baseball and played at Oklahoma State. Still (German HS), a two-sport mega-star who played football at Pitt, was so popular that when he made an appearance at a rival high school (AG) while in college he quickly drew a crowd worthy of a rock star. Wheeler (Laurel Highlands HS) was a two-sport star who ranks fifth on Waynesburg University’s all-time scoring list in basketball.
DOD: 8.
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The 1980-94 category included Greg Beckwith, Jason Bodnar, Sam Mannery and Becky Oglevee.
Beckwith (Laurel Highlands HS) was a basketball star who started on two NCAA tournament teams at Richmond, where he is the all-time leader in assists and steals. Bodnar (Laurel Highlands HS), a distance runner, won two WPIAL gold medals in track and one in cross country before starring at Pitt. Mannery (German Township HS), a four-sport star, was a four-year starter at quarterback for Cal U. and is the Vulcans’ all-time leader in passing yards with 8,680. Oglevee (Uniontown HS), the only female on the ballot, was the Lady Raiders’ first 1,000-point scorer in basketball and ranks 10th on Duquesne University’s all-time scoring list with 1,293.
DOD: 7.
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The “Deceased” category included Henry DiVirgilio, Bennett “Pope” Gregory, Bill Power and Sam Sims.
DiVirgilio totaled 457 wins in 30 years at Frazier and his 1969 team was a state finalist. Gregory (Uniontown HS), a three-sport star who helped the Red Raiders win two WPIAL and two PIAA championships in basketball, went on to play football at Nebraska and for the Buffalo Bills in the NFL. Power coached football at Point Marion (28-6) and Uniontown (107-35-2), leading the Red Raiders — who named their stadium after him — to a trio of Western Conference titles and a WPIAL crown. Sims (German Township HS) was a three-sport star who scored 2,138 points in basketball.
DOD: 10.
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So there you go. Not so easy is it? That’s due, of course, to the very deep pool of athletic and coaching talent that has come out of Fayette County over the years.
It’s always a tougher ballot than any one you’ll see on an election day.
This year’s Fayette County Hall of Fame banquet will held on June 21.
Rob Burchianti can be reached at rburchianti@heraldstandard or follow him on Twitter (@rvburch).