Into the Hall: Rich Bierbower
Rich Bierbower impressively was a varsity starter as an underclassmen in both baseball and football at South Union High School but it was his career as a coach and teacher in the Uniontown school district that is his claim to fame.
Bierbower was a head coach and assistant coach in football for Uniontown, and a head coach in basketball for Lafayette Junior High School and an assistant for Uniontown, most notably under Dave Shuck when the Red Raiders won the 2002 WPIAL championship and played in the PIAA final for the second time in three years.
Bierbower’s resume was enough to earn him a spot in the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2026. It will be the second induction for Bierbower who was enshrined last year as part of that 2002 Uniontown boys basketball team.
“I was very pleased and honored,” Bierbower said of his reaction to his impending induction on Hall of Fame co-founder George Von Benko’s Sports Line Talk Show on WMBS Radio recently. “I’m looking forward to it. Since then people have been very nice in congratulating me.”
Bierbower, who recently turned 80, has drawn accolades from his former players in the past.
Darrin McLee, a 1984 Uniontown graduate, recalled playing for Lafayette in junior high.
“My coach was Mr. Bierbower and we went undefeated,” McLee said in a 2024 interview. “We didn’t lose a game and I ended up getting the Robert Fee Award. Lafayette was a big part of my life.”
Terrance Vaughns, the leader of the 2002 Red Raiders squad, gave much credit to Bierbower for the team’s success.
“There was no lack of toughness to Mr. Bierbower,” Vaughns said last year. “He would challenge you. I can still hear his voice ringing in my head right now, ‘Bounce pass Mr. Vaughns.’ Always very respectful, always coaching and teaching. He was just equally a part of that run of four years.”
Bierbower is a 1964 South Union graduate and made an impact in athletics there, earning letters in baseball, football and basketball.
“In ninth grade I was chosen to be a starting pitcher on the varsity team, Coach Okey Ryan, and Jerry Meadows was a sophomore,” Bierbower said. “We continued up through and had quite a bit of success.
“My sophomore year I started at quarterback on the football team and thoroughly enjoyed it, Coach John Pringle.”
Bierbower also played basketball under Marty Fagler. “Not as well, but I played,” Bierbower said.
Bierbower is one of two of the Class of 2026 who were mainly assistant coaches in high school, the other being Ron Fudala, who he gave credit to among coaches he learned from.
“Mr. Fudala, I had him in class at South Union High School,” Bierbower recalled. “Coaching, football he did and basketball mainly. He was one.”
Bierbower noted the slew of talent in the area as he was going through high school.
“At South Union, Rich Novak and Tom Rae were ahead of me. I looked up to them. They were quite a duo of athletes,” Bierbower said of the two, who both went on to play football at Maryland. “Fred Mazurek, I remember him quite well out at Redstone. We were blessed.”
Bierbower went on to graduate from college at then California State, but did not pursue participating in athletics after high school.
“I did not play sports in college because I had gotten married and I was needed at home,” Bierbower explained. “I went to California State and I got my degree teaching English. In 1968 I started teaching at Lafayette Junior High underneath Bill Barron who was quite an individual also.”
Bierbower had an eye on keeping himself involved in sports after college which was one reason he went into education.
“It’s something I wanted to do because I wanted to get into coaching,” said Bierbower, who went on to be an educator at Uniontown for 31 years.
Bierbower was a head coach for Uniontown football and also served as an assistant to Joe Yourchik, Jim Render and Larry Bielat. He also lauded Uniontown basketball coach Abe Everhart while the two were at Uniontown as a humble man and, “just a great individual.”
Bierbower, with Shuck, and Fudala, with Laurel Highlands boys basketball coach Harold “Horse” Taylor, will become the first coaching tandems to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
“I was blessed with all the coaches, starting with Joe Yourchik, just a great individual,” Bierbower said. “Basketball-wise, Dave Shuck, he thought of everyone else but himself and it showed.”
Bierbower was on the coaching staff for some outstanding Red Raiders basketball teams but deflected credit to the players.
“They made me look like a good coach,” Bierbower said. “They were quite good and we had them every year it seemed like.”
Bierbower, now retired, takes joy in seeing former players.
“It makes my day when I run into them and see them,” Bierbower said. “I am blessed. It’s gone too quickly.”
To purchase tickets for the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame luncheon/social or to register for the annual golf outing, both of which will take place on June 19 at Pleasant Valley Golf Club, contact Katie Propes by phone (724-460-9231) or email (katie.propes@bldr.com).