Hidden Figures: Brownsville’s Alvin Biddle and Buck Grover
Submitted photo
Buck Grover is shown during his playing days with the Lafayette Oilers baseball team.
Submitted photo
Alvin “Dutch” Biddle is shown during his playing days with the Brownsville Independents football team.
Submitted photo
A sketch of Alvin “Dutch” Biddle from the Mid Mon Valley Sports Hall of Fame.
Fayette County has a rich sports history and unfortunately the stories and exploits of many great players and coaches have been lost and forgotten by the sands of time. This is the first in a series of articles that will explore some of these hidden figures. We will start with two from Brownsville: Alvin “Dutch” Biddle and Darwyn “Buck” Grover.
Alvin “Dutch” Biddle was an outstanding baseball and football player who was born on Nov. 1, 1899, in Monongahela. His family moved to Brownsville in approximately 1921 when his father John went to work as a superintendent of a barge building firm. Dutch Biddle’s high school accomplishments have been lost and forgotten over the years, but he was an outstanding all-around athlete at home in football, basketball, baseball and the boxing ring.
Biddle really made a name for himself playing for the Brownsville Independents semi-pro football team in from 1921 through 1926. He was a tremendous halfback and he was recognized as one of the greatest punters and drop kickers in the Tri-State area. Biddle’s punts reportedly ranged between 40 and 50 yards, and his dropkicks were the stuff of legend.
In a 1924 game against Christy Park, Biddle booted a three-pointer which traveled 60 yards.
The Brownsville Independents were run by a colorful character named Billy Long and drew big crowds back in the day. The Independents were crowned independent football champions in Western Pennsylvania on several occasions.
In a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article from April of 1968, Pete Giatilis who ran the old Paradise Restaurant in Uniontown for many years, extolled the exploits of Biddle.
“He was a pro in a semi-pro era,” Giatilis stated. “He was one of the best players in the district. Biddle kept all his foes in the hole with his kicking. He could punt the ball out of bounds on the two-yard line instead of kicking it into the end zone. Because of this Brownsville needed only a touchdown or a field goal by Biddle to win its games.
“Brownsville used to beat Art Rooney’s teams, also Valley-Strip. Brownsville beat Valley-Strip four times with two other games ending in 0-0 ties and another in defeat.”
Biddle was regarded as a football marvel at the time and led the Western Pennsylvania Independent League in scoring in 1923 with 12 touchdowns. He was on Western Pennsylvania All-Star teams from 1923 through 1926. He went into coaching with two semi-pro football teams, the Brownsville Trojans and the Brownsville Sons of Italy.
On the baseball diamond Biddle played for many outstanding teams in Fayette County, most notably Allison, and he also managed several Fayette County teams.
Bidle worked as checkweighman at the Bridgeport Mine in Brownsville for a number of years before retiring. “Dutch” also served as a town constable for 16 years and desk clerk at the Brownsville police station. He married the former Kathryn Chuey in 1923 and they had six children.
Biddle was inducted into the Mid Mon Valley Sports Hall of Fame in 1967. He passed away on Dec. 23, 1968 in Brownsville at the age of 69.
Our second hidden figure from Brownsville is Darwyn “Buck” Grover who was an outstanding football, basketball and baseball player at Brownsville High School.
Grover was an end on Brownie football squads that posted records under Coach Warner Fritsch of 5-5 in 1952 and 6-4 in his junior year when they handed Uniontown its only loss. In 1954 they were 9-1 with the lone loss to Duquesne 19-7. The Brownies played that game without Grover who had a fractured wrist and missed the first three games of the season.
Grover pulled down some hardware on the gridiron. In 1953 he was second team All-Fayette County and All-Big Six. His senior campaign in 1954 Grover was first team All-Big Six, second team All-Fayette County and was named third team All-State by UPI.
On the hardwood Grover was a solid performer. He finished second in Section 5 scoring in 1953-54 with 171 points, an average of 17.1 points per game.
Grover was an outstanding pitcher for Brownsville baseball.
Brownsville had not won a baseball section title since 1941 but Grover was on the team that ended that streak in 1953. The Brownies lost to California in the WPIAL playoffs as Wayne Campbell out-dueled Ron Forsythe and beat Brownsville 4-2.
The Brownies were Section 20 champs in 1954 and fell to Charleroi 1-0 in the WPIAL playoffs. Cougars ace Adam Vlanich tossed a four-hitter and recorded 10 strikeouts.
One of Brownsville’s great football players who went on to play at Penn State, Steve Garban, had high praise for Grover.
“Buck Grover may have been the single best athlete I’ve ever seen in my life. He could do it all — he played football, basketball and baseball and he was absolutely outstanding in all of them,” Garban said.
When Grover graduated from Brownsville in 1954 he decided to play football at Clemson. He played there his freshman year and then played at Salem College in West Virginia.
Grover played minor league baseball after signing a pro contract with the Chicago Cubs. He compiled a career record of 22-26 with a 4.77 ERA in his 97-game pitching career with the Lafayette Oilers, Lafayette Bulls, Paris Lakers, Rochester/Winona A’s and Duluth-Superior Dukes. He began playing during the 1956 season and last took the field during the 1963 campaign.
Grover had a tryout with the Pittsburgh Steelers at training camp in 1960.
Late in camp Coach Buddy Parker of the Steelers called Grover into his training camp office at California State College and notified him that he was being given his release. The newspapers reported the cut this way.
“Buck, I have four veteran defensive ends on this ball club and it’s almost impossible for any rookie to win a defensive end job,” Parker told Grover. “However, I believe you’re capable of making the grade in pro football, and so I phoned Coach Paul Brown of the Cleveland Browns, who is in need of defensive ends.”
Grover headed to the training camp of the Cleveland Browns at Hiram College in an effort to win a berth on the squad, but he was unsuccessful. He had another shot in 1961 with the AFL Boston Patriots after a recommendation from Clemson football coach Frank Howard. Grover was cut by the Patriots. He played the 1965 season for the Pennsylvania Mustangs of the NAFL. They finished in second place in the Northern Division with a 4-4 record.
The right-handed Grover was a standout pitcher for many years in the Fayette County baseball league. He was the staff ace for Coolspring which back in the day won two straight regular season and two straight playoff championships.
Grover went on to become a well known official and umpire in the area. He was born in 1937 and passed away according to available information in 1996.
Dutch Biddle and Buck Grover two outstanding athletes from Fayette County sports history.
George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” column appears in the Sunday editions of the Herald-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.