Uniontown’s McLee born into athletics
The McLee bloodline cuts a wide swath through Fayette County athletics. The bloodline encompasses not only the McLees, but also included Ernie and Chuck Davis and Ray and Ed Parson.
Reggie McLee, who was a football, basketball and track standout at Uniontown High School, is part of that great family tree.
“Brad, Kevin and Billy were all brothers and they were my cousins,” McLee explained. “Reginald McLee was my grandfather and we share the same grandparents with Ray and Ed Parson, and the family tree includes Reggie’s uncles, Ernie, the Heisman Trophy winner from Syracuse, and basketball star Chuck Davis. We were born into it and they all played ball, and even my grandparents were pretty good athletes.”
McLee was part of some very good Uniontown football teams in the early 1970s. The Red Raiders went 6-4 in 1973, 7-3 in 1974, and posted a record of 9-1 in McLee’s senior campaign in 1975.
“My football career started to take off in ninth grade,” McLee recalled. “We had an undefeated team at Lafayette Junior High School in football, basketball and wrestling, we were undefeated in everything.”
McLee was the recipient of the first Robert L. Fee Athletic Award at Lafayette.
“I came down to the high school as a sophomore, and cousin Kevin was the starting tailback,” Reggie said. “Kevin had a knee injury the second game, and the third game of my sophomore year I became a starter. I started from that year on.”
McLee tallied six touchdowns in 1974 and nine in 1975. He garnered All-WPIAL, All-Western Conference and All-County honors.
“We had a great year in 1975 and I missed two and a half games with a sprained ankle,” McLee said. “I came back strong from that and scored four touchdowns against Keystone Oaks. That was the week after we lost the game to Upper Saint Clair that cost us the conference title. We lost, 16-12, and those were the two best teams in Western Pennsylvania. That’s the last time that Uniontown was sold out. They had ropes and everything for crowd control. Upper Saint Clair won the WPIAL championship.”
McLee was coached by Jim Render during his football playing days at Uniontown and has a great deal of respect for his former mentor.
“Coach Render was my coach the whole way through,” McLee stated. “He came from Sandusky, Ohio, and brought a spread offense that was a college style offense that was pretty dynamic. We ran an I formation with big Davis Hall and the whole backfield went to college on scholarship. We had a strong running game. He was a great coach, he really was poised and showed us football beyond what they had before. They had some down years just before that. He was a very dynamic coach.”
McLee excelled on the Red Raider track squad and was part of a WPIAL championship team in basketball.
McLee was a part of Uniontown hoop squads that went 16-6 in 1973-73 and 27-1 in 1974-75. He didn’t play basketball his senior year.
“We had an unbelievable run to the WPIAL title,” McLee said. “We had the Midas touch. That team operated like a machine and we just kept winning. We had a great group of athletes at Uniontown during that period. You had a feeling of camaraderie, we got along great and the guys all played multiple sports. We enjoyed each other, and we had each others back.
“We had a class that enjoyed each other and I was the first black student body president at Uniontown High School my senior year. Lots of good memories from high school.”
Football came knocking when McLee graduated from Uniontown in 1976.
“I dressed varsity and played JV in basketball,” McLee said. “I didn’t go back out my senior year. I had six schools to visit for football scholarships and I knew a couldn’t commit to hoops.
“I visited Minnesota, Iowa State, Boston College, Syracuse, West Virginia and Pitt. My cousin, Bill, was looking at Penn State and I was looking at Syracuse. The Orange wanted me to come there and wear my uncle Ernie’s No. 44. Boston College called and told me that Syracuse gave 44 to someone else. Pitt had Tony Dorsett, and independently, both Bill and I decided to go to WVU.”
McLee played freshman football in 1976, and then was a backup defensive back for the Mountaineers in 1977 when they went 5-6. He was switched back to the running back spot on teams that posted records of 2-9 in 1978 and 5-6 in 1979.
“They were short of defensive backs in 1977 so I went over to defense,” McLee said. “In the spring after that I went back to running back and had a real good spring, but we had some very good backs like Robert Alexander, Eldridge Dixon and Curlin Beck. We also had guys like David Riley, Fulton Walker and Walter Easley. I made a mark returning kickoffs, I enjoyed playing and that got me on the field. We were loaded with running backs, our issue was we needed more big lineman to compete with Pitt and Penn State. We had great skill people. We didn’t have great line play.”
McLee played in 11 games in 1978 and rushed eight times for 20 yards, he returned two kickoffs for 43 yards. He played in 11 games in 1979 and rushed three times for 10 yards and returned four kickoffs for 77 yards.
“It was a great decision to go to WVU,” McLee explained. “Garrett Ford steered me in the direction and got me into Safety and that got me into a great profession. I stayed two years and got a masters degree in safety and my career has been phenomenal. I made great friends at West Virginia and I met my wife there.”
His professional journey has led him to jobs in Milwaukee as a safety specialist for five years, Corporate Manager of Safety for Perdue Farms for eight years, Corporate Director of Safety and Risk Management for ConAgra Foods for five years, Corporate Director of Fleet and Safety for Pilgrim’s Pride for five-plus years. He became Corporate Director of Safety & Loss Prevention at Wayne Farms in 2010 and was named Senior Director of Safety and Health, Corporate for Wayne Farms in Oakwood, Georgia, in 2015.
McLee, 59, resides in the Atlanta suburbs with his wife of 34 years, Beverly, and they have three children: Erica, Lauren and Reggie III.
George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” column appears in the Monday editions of the Herald-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.