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Red Raiders soared to 1962 PIAA title

By George Von Benko for The 6 min read
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With the PIAA basketball championships wrapping up let’s take a trip back in time to 1962 and Uniontown’s second state title.

The Raiders had made many trips to the WPIAL tournament in the 1950s and into the 1960s, but hadn’t won a state championship since 1925.

Don Yates, who was a two-time all-state selection during his time with the Red Raiders, was a senior and it was his last shot at winning a PIAA title. After suffering disappointments in 1960 and 1961, Yates was a man on a mission in 1962.

“We had a great team my sophomore and junior years,” Yates explained. “We lost to Farrell my sophomore year, they had Willie Somerset and Brian Generalovich, and my junior year we fell to Mount Lebanon. We were supposed to win it all and it did not happen.”

Yates was the lone senior starter along with four juniors: Ron Sepic, Allyn Curry, Pete Smith and Tom Fee. Sepic had started the year before as a sophomore and Smith, Fee and Curry were newly minted starters.

“We came together quickly,” Sepic said. “especially after we lost to Monessen that year. We lost to Monessen the first game in section play and after that we really came together.”

“That was my senior year and those guys were juniors,” Yates said. “At the beginning we did jell, but once we settled down and figured out that it’s a team, we jelled and took off for a championship.”

“We had been so close the previous years,” Curry said. “We were four juniors and Yates and we knew how bad he wanted to win the state championship. He was a great player and we were focused because we knew how bad he wanted to win.”

“That was the greatest season of my high school years,” Yates recalled. “We played an exhibition game at Bethlehem and we lost. We come back and we lose our first section game to Monessen. We didn’t lose anymore. We beat Monessen at the end of the season and ended in a tie for the section. We go to the Field House and we beat Monessen and then we beat every other team after that by 15 points or more.”

Uniontown posted a 29-2 record on its way to a state championship.

“I think it was a very unselfish team,” Sepic said. “We relied on Yates so much as a scorer, we didn’t have guys that shouldn’t be taking shots. I think it was because we were such an unselfish team and maybe because we were young as juniors. We were willing to do whatever it takes to win. I also think after we beat Monessen in the first game in the playoff … we grew very confident. When we beat Fifth Avenue we knew we could go all the way.”

Uniontown faced Norristown in the title game. It was a big challenge with 6-foot-9 Jim Williams posing a big road block. The Eagles also had a dynamic point guard in Don Cartwright.

“What shook us up was the first play of the game,” Curry remembered. “Coach Everhart decided not to press and they came down and Cartwright threw that alley-op to Williams and he dunked it. Coach Everhart called timeout and said we’re pressing.”

Uniontown’s vaunted press stymied Williams, who wound up with 16 points to go along with 20 rebounds. The Red Raiders held their own on the boards and both teams finished with 32 rebounds.

“We pressed Cartwright and hounded him,” Curry said. “Also by pressing that took Williams away from the basket, he had to help break the press.”

“During those playoffs we always tried to pressure the point guard, especially the kid Cartwright from Norristown,” Smith recalled. “We had to keep him from getting the ball inside to their big man. That made a big difference.”

Uniontown won going away, despite the fact that Yates was in foul trouble and eventually fouled out. He only played less than 16 minutes, but he still tallied 22 points and 11 rebounds. The Raiders picked up the slack with Yates on the bench.

Smith scored 13 points and Curry notched 12 points. Sepic contributed nine points and led the Red Raiders in rebounds with 12. Ben Gregory also had nine points off the bench for the Raiders.

“Yates was in foul trouble,” Smith said. “We were a team and we could adjust, if somebody had a tough time then someone else would pick it up.”

“Yates was a scorer,” Curry said. “He was the main guy for us, but we had to make up for him when he was on the bench.”

“The foul situation is what I remember most and that was sad,” Yates said. “That was my last Uniontown Red Raiders basketball game and I fouled out. The other guys picked me up. That was the philosophy — when one goes down the others step up.”

Uniontown, fueled by a 12-3 spurt in the first three minutes of the final quarter, posted a convincing 70-57 win over Norristown. It was the Red Raiders’ first state championship in 37 years.

“It was special,” Yates said. “Because growing up every year Uniontown would go to that doggone Field House and that’s all they would do is win in the first or second round and never got beyond that. As a senior I dedicated myself to winning a championship.”

The win gave Abe Everhart a state title matching his father, who had guided Uniontown to its first state championship in 1925.

It’s a big thrill to win something your dad has won,” Everhart reflected after the victory. “Yes sir I’m real happy.”

“You wanted to win for Coach Everhart and Coach John Kruper,” Smith said. “They worked really hard throughout the year. That was a real positive from that standpoint.”

“Coach Everhart never brought that up that this is one for my dad,” Sepic said. “He was very steady and did his job, he was a very humble coach.”

“Little did we understand what we were involved in back then,” Tom Fee said. “Of course being 18 years old you don’t think of the big picture. It was a great time for Uniontown during that era.”

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.

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