May 18, 2026 By Rob Burchianti 4 min read

Jason Tyska was good enough at two different sports to pave a path into the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame

He was an ace pitcher and top hitter for Connellsville baseball who went 10-0 in helping lead the Falcons to WPIAL and PIAA championships under coach Tom Sankovich in 1989, and also won a WPIAL silver medal in golf while in high school.

Tyska is a high school coach who sees a different approach being taken by parents and kids nowadays, and he’s not sure it’s a healthy one, mentally or physically.

“I coached Connellsville golf for a couple years and I currently work at Gateway and I coach the girls and the boys teams there, for about 10 years,” said Tyska, who will be inducted into the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame on June 19 as part of the Class of 2026. “The one thing I think I benefitted from that kids today don’t is playing multiple sports.

“My summer schedule when I was in high school was get up and go to the golf course and be there from about 8 to 4 and come home, get changed and play in an American Legion baseball game. I hear, ‘Oh your golf swing is going to screw up your baseball swing,’ or vice versa. That’s just not true.”

Tyska felt the two sports he played complemented each other and he benefitted from that.

“I think it’s wonderful to play two different types of sports, one that’s very team oriented – you’re relied upon by your teammates and you rely on your teammates – and a completely different sport where it’s all individualized and very difficult mentally more than physically.

“Both of those things gave me an advantage in both sports.”

The specialization of young athletes today can potentially have a negative effect on the body, according to Tyska.

“I also think the younger generation and the injuries, specifically in baseball where 14-15-year-olds have arm problems, they’re playing baseball year around and they’re over-using those muscles, not developing the other muscles in their body that might prevent the injuries that they’re having,” Tyska said. “I don’t ever remember a kid my age having an arm injury. It wasn’t like we didn’t try to throw as hard as we could. We weren’t taking it easy. Nobody worried about how many curveballs you threw. It was just a different era.”

Tyska did usually extend his baseball season into the summer playing in the American Legion league.

“I kind of missed my (American Legion) senior year,” Tyska said. “We had to cancel our season because we went so late into the summer playing in the state championship game. It was bad weather and we were so far behind in the schedule. So I missed having that one little victory lap with some of my teammates playing American Legion ball my senior year.

“It was quite the juggernaut there for a while with the Sankovich boys (Brian and Tommy) and all those different characters that came before me. Herman Welsh coached my junior year. Whitey Stepanic stepped in, father of outstanding Connellsville wrestler Jeff Stepanic and Cajetan Stepanic who played baseball, to help out. It was a lot of fun playing in those Legion games.”

Tyska recalled his days playing under Sankovich.

“You played a little bit in the winter. Coach Sank would sneak us down into the armory in Connellsville where we would do a little bit of hitting in the cages and maybe throwing off a mound,” Tyska said. “But then you’d play baseball in the spring and summer, and when fall came around a lot of our teammates played football and I played golf. You just went on to the next sport. It was a great way to grow up.

“I’m appreciative of that. I would never have had the success I had if I had just played one sport. I’m convinced of that.”