Three’s company

By CHRIS LARICK
For the Star Beacon

Somewhat overshadowed by two higher-scoring teammates at Pymatuning Valley, Gordon (Gordy) Hitchcock was a bit surprised to learn that he has been selected to enter the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation’s Hall of Fame at the group’s 10th-anniversary banquet on March 25.

“It’s a wonderful thing,” Hitchcock said recently. “I never thought it would happen.”

Hitchcock’s brother, Bob, and Paul Freeman, the other studs on the Laker teams of the early 1960s, were more prolific as scorers on those Pymatuning Valley teams. But Gordy’s contributions can’t be overstated, either. Despite standing just 6-foot-1, Hitchcock played forward and sometimes center on a team that also included 6-3 Ray Brown and Gary Horton.

“If anything, I was more known for defense,” said Hitchcock, who still scored 666 points in high school on teams that went a combined 70-21, 56-12 in the three years Hitchcock started. “I played the other team’s best player. At Berlin Hiland, I guarded Andy Helowitz. We pressed the whole game.

“They always called me Moose,” he said. “I don’t know whether it was Coach Shantz or (Star Beacon sports writer) Jim Landis that gave me that. We were pallbearers at Landis’ funeral, me, Bob and Paul Freeman.”

That group of players put a lot of points on the board, thanks largely to the press that coach Joe Shantz utilized. That system required great conditioning, but Shantz had the Lakers prepared.

“We ran out to Andover Hill, then ran up and down, up and down,” Hitchcock said. “That was part of our training. Bob (Hitchcock) was our leading scorer. Offensively, we were a screen-and-roll offense. We’d score 70 or 80 points. There were times when we hit 100.”

Hitchcock was a three-sport athlete at Pymatuning Valley, catching during the baseball season and running the 440 and mile relay in track.

“I pitched sometimes,” he said. “I batted .500 a couple of times. In track, I could never beat Paul Freeman.

He attended Andover High School as a freshman, before that school merged with Williamsfield into Pymatuning Valley in 1960. Most of the Laker big guns of those years came from Richmond — the Hitchcocks, Freeman and Brown.

PV posted some great seasons — 19-4 in 1960-61, 22-2 in 1961-62 and 15-6 in 1962-63, the latter the year after Bob Hitchcock and some of the others graduated. It advanced to the regionals in 1962 when Gordy was a senior, before being ousted by Berlin Hiland in overtime.

After graduation, Hitchcock attended Kent State’s main campus for a year, then transferred to that school’s Ashtabula branch the following year. He played basketball at the extension, where he played with current Conneaut coach Tim Tallbacka’s father.

“Then I ran into grade problems and had to sit out a quarter,” Hitchcock said. “I never went back. There are so many players that say they regret never going to college. I went, so I can’t regret it.”

Hitchcock then took a job at Lincoln Electric. At the time, many considered that a plum job because of the huge bonuses that were given out each year.

“The money was good,” Hitchcock said. “But I didn’t like working inside. I quite before I got the first year’s bonus.

“I went to work for my grandfather, on his farm. Then I bought my other grandfather’s farm in 1969, where I am now.”

Hitchcock was a dairy farmer for 41 years before he retired last April. Now he raises heifers and farms grain.

“I like to work,” he said.

In 1969 Hitchcock married Linda. The Hitchcocks have three daughters and a son. Gordy, 41, who was himself a good basketball player and football player at PV, was redshirted in football at Edinboro before playing four years there, starting as a tight end, then moved to center.

“He was the lightest player on their line,” Gordy Sr. said.

Gordy Jr. is now principal at Maplewood High School, something his father is quite proud of.

Ann, 38, is the CFO (Chief Financial Officer) at a nursing home in Cleveland. Ann got into athletics late, as a senior in track. Throwing the discus, she still qualified for state in the discus.

Kelly, 37, played basketball at Pymatuning Valley and Walsh before her nursing school obligations kept her from continuing. She is now a nurse, living in Middlefield. The youngest Hitchcock, Tracy, is a veterinarian,

“I have been blessed,” Gordy said.

Though Gordy’s family is by no means small, it is dwarfed by the one he grew up in. He has 10 siblings, six sisters and four brothers.

Pepin was one tough Cat

By CHRIS LARICK
For the Star Beacon

The Spencer Wildcats were the talk of Ashtabula County basketball circles in the 1957-58 and 1958-59 seasons.

Coached by fiery Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Famer Al Bailey, the Wildcats went 20-3 in 1957-58 and collected Western Reserve League and sectional championships.

The following year, Spencer topped that, winning its first 22 games before falling in the district semifinal to Northwestern, a team paced by Dean Chance, later a pitcher for the Minnesota Twins, California Angels and Cleveland Indians.

Spencer’s best player those years was Lyle Pepin, who will himself be inducted into the ACBF’s Hall of Fame at the banquet on March 25.

At 6-foot-2, Pepin played guard and sometimes forward on those teams.

“We played three guards and two forwards,” Pepin said. “Gale Alderman, Ed Kropf and I played guards with Ron Randa mixing in there as well. Pete Balint and John Weaver were our forwards.”

Others on those Spencer teams included Dick Pruden and Bill Peters.

“I was a guard-forward.” Pepin said. “I was 6-2 and Pete Balint and Johnny Weaver were about the same height.”

“Those kids were so ambitious,” Bailey once said. “They wanted to play and they wanted to win. The kids worked extra hard.”

Pepin credits Bailey, who went on to coach at college with Duquesne, his alma mater, and in the pros with the Virginia Squires of the old American Basketball Association, with the Wildcats’ success.

“He knew an awful lot about the game,” Pepin said of Bailey, who died in 1987 at age 57. “He had a fiery temper, but he knew a lot about basketball and a lot about life. I think he’s the reason we were as successful as we were, maybe 80 to 90 percent of the reason for our success. We had some talent, but he was able to draw it out of us.

“Bailey also coached track and football, but he wasn’t the head football coach. I don’t think he knew anything about track. He taught history. He was a disciplinarian, but I thought he was a pretty fair person.”

The Wildcats were not a high-scoring team, according to Pepin.

“We controlled the ball and played defense,” he said. “We were a really good defensive team. We were in the (Class) A bracket; we were really a small school.

“We probably scored in the 50s, but our opponents scored in the 20s. Defense was what Bailey stressed. If we had a fast break, we’d take it, but we basically shut them down on defense.”

Pepin doesn’t have his scoring totals, but figures it was in the high teens.

After graduating from Spencer, Pepin went on to play four years at Bowling Green, during some of the Falcons’ best years. He played with Nate Thurmond and Howard (“Butch”) Komives, both of whom played for many seasons in the NBA. Thurmond was a regular All-Pro who played his later seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Komives led the nation in collegiate scoring in 1063-64 with an eye-popping 35.6 points a game and played for 10 seasons in the NBA with several different teams.

“I played on the freshman team in 1959-1960 and on the varsity from 1960-63,” Pepin said.

Pepin’s best season was actually his sophomore year, 1960-61, when he started at guard and averaged 4.5 points a game. Coming off the bench in the following years, he saw little time on the court, though he did manage to score 41 points during the 1963-64 season.

“My junior and senior seasons, I was probably one of the first off the bench,” Pepin said. “Our coach, Harold Anderson, only played five guys. I got in during cleanup time. My senior year, I started three games when Komives got injured. My junior year, we were ranked as high as eighth in the nation. My senior year, we lost three games in a row over Christmas when Komives was hurt. We were probably better my senior year than my junior year.”

After graduating from Bowling Green, Pepin moved on to graduate school at Michigan State, where he earned his master’s degree in economics. From there he entered the U.S. Army for two years, dealing with military intelligence.

“Don’t ask me what I did there,” he jokes. “I’d have to kill you.”

When he got out of the service, Pepin went to work for the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, eventually becoming Corporate Secretary. When Centerior, the parent company of CEI merged into First Energy in 1998, Pepin retired.

“I did well enough to be able to retire when I was 57,” Pepin, who now lives in Madison, said. “I do a lot of different things now. This year, I was treasurer at my church. I play golf and enjoy the grandkids.”

Pepin married Carolyn (Petro) in 1963.

“She was a cheerleader at Spencer, a bright girl,” Pepin said. “She went to Kent State, then transferred to Bowling Green her sophomore year. In 1963 (while Pepin was doing graduate work), she became a teacher in East Lansing, Michigan.”

The Pepins have three children and three grandchildren. The oldest child, Michelle (45) lives in Arlington. Lyle, 43, resides in Chicago, while Erica, 40 lives in Westlake.

Eagle has landed... in the ACBF HOF

By CHRIS LARICK
For the Star Beacon

For years, Brad Ellis was king of the road, trying to find the perfect circumstances for him and his family.

The road eventually circled back to where he started, Geneva. Whatever his expectations, Ellis found you can go home again — and prosper.

“This is where I was meant to be,” said Ellis, who will be inducted into the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame on March 25 as a player and coach.

“I never felt stress at Geneva,” Ellis said of coming back to become a high school head coach again.

BRAD ELLIS: “We had a good administration at Geneva — (principal) Joanna Daniels, (superintendent) Ron Donatone and (athletic director) Norm Urcheck. I had great kids from good families. In eight years, I never had a problem (with stress). I enjoyed my eight years here.”

He couldn’t say the same of his previous stint as a head coach at Hudson, when he thought he was having a heart attack in his second of two years at that post. The pain turned out to be acid reflux caused by tension, but it was enough to get him to step away from the head job and become an assistant at Stow for five years under David Close, the former head coach at Riverside.

Eagle fans enjoyed them, too. Ellis’ success at Geneva in eight seasons at the helm included a 94-58 (.618) overall record, two Northeastern Conference championships and a district final appearance. That followed a span in which the Eagles went 29-88 (.248). Since he left the head basketball job, Geneva has posted a 22-81 (.214) mark.

Ellis showed that he was a basketball prodigy early. His father, Ray, was coaching a Geneva Midget League team and took Brad to practice when he was 7. A youngster had to be eight years old to play in the league, but Brad impressed everyone enough in drills that halfway through the season they made an exception especially for him and allowed him to play.

He played for Geneva’s junior high school team, then moved on to start at shooting guard for three years in high school under legendary Bill Koval, a member of the first class inducted into the ACBF’s Hall of Fame. Koval, now his father-in-law, stressed fundamentally sound play.

“We were very patient and played for a good shot,” Ellis said. “His philosophy was to make the other team play defense, move the ball around, get good shots and not turn the ball over.”

In Ellis’s sophomore year the Eagles went 15-5. They were about a .500 team when he was a junior before hitting their stride the following season, when they went 18-2 and won the NEC championship. That Geneva team started Ellis, Tony Tersigni at the point, then-sophomore Jay McHugh (also in the ACBF Hall of Fame) at a third guard, 6-foot-2 or 6-foot-3 Tony Hassett at forward and 6-foot-5 Mark Legg at center.

“We were seeded number one in the districts but got upset in the sectional championship against Nordonia,” Ellis said. “Mentor wound up winning the district and we had beaten Mentor by 16 points in the regular season. That still haunts me. The other game that haunts me is a sectional championship game when I was coaching when we were seeded number one at the Madison district and lost to Lake Catholic in the sectional championship game.”

During his high school years Ellis was a second-team All-NEC selection as a junior, then was named first team on the Star Beacon All-Ashtabula County and Coaches’ All-NEC squads. He was an all-district selection in addition to being honorable mention All-Ohio.

After graduation, Ellis was recruited by Bowling Green and Miami, both of whom wanted him to walk on and attempt to earn a scholarship. But he wanted to play right away, bringing his choices down to Hiram, Wittenberg and Allegheny.

The deciding factor was the presence of Geneva graduate Ernie Pasqualone, another ACBF Hall of Famer, at that time a senior at Hiram.

“I felt comfortable there and I liked the school,” Ellis said.

The future looked bright for Hiram at the time, with three senior starters returning to long-time coach Bill Hollinger’s team. But one of the three was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident. When the two others found out about it, they chose to transfer. One of those two, Kevin Williams, had led the Cleveland area in rebounding while in high school.

“We really struggled my freshman and sophomore years,” Ellis said. “My junior and senior years we were around .500.”

Ellis started at shooting guard all four years, earning honorable-mention all-star status on the league team as a freshman and as a starter the other three years. His junior year, he injured his knee, but missed just four games thanks to a new (at the time) surgical procedure, arthroscopic surgery.

“I was one of the first they tried it on,” he said of the operation.

By the time he left Hiram, Ellis ranked as one of the top five scorers in school history, averaging 18 points a game as a senior.

“Now, I’m probably 12th or 13th,” he said.

With graduation came a succession of jobs, the first with another ACBF Hall of Famer, Harry Fails. Fails had contacted Koval, by now (or very soon to be) Ellis’ father-in-law. Fails needed a JV coach at Alliance High School and wondered if Gary Kreilach was interested in the job. Kreilach wasn’t, but Ellis, who would go on to spend two years there, was.

Then Ellis caught another break.

“When I was (at Alliance), I went down to Ohio University for a basketball camp,” Ellis said. “I got to know them and I got a job as a graduate assistant at OU, spent 1983 and 1984 there.”

Then it was on to Madison Plains High School for his first head coaching job in London, Ohio, as a special education teacher and head basketball coach.

“The program had won four games in the past five years,” Ellis said. “It was a struggle. The first year, we won three games, the next year, 12. If not for another offer, I might still be there. But Allegheny College was looking for an assistant and called OU. At the time, I wanted to get into college coaching. This was before I had kids. Under John Reynde, we had two great years in the top 10 of the NCAA Division 3. We were 22-8 and 24-6.”

After those two years, over at Hiram, Hollinger was retiring and the school called Ellis in to replace him. Hiram had begun a losing cycle. Ellis’s teams won six games his first year, eight the second and 11 the third.

The program was on the rebound, but Ellis, who by now had two young children, wasn’t happy. Though promised one, he never got a full-time assistant. Doing all of the recruiting was getting to him.

“We were getting better,” he said. “I had recruited five players that wound up in their hall of fame. My first recruiting class won 18 games the year after I left. I recruited Northeast Ohio, Columbus, Erie and Pittsburgh.”

Sick of recruiting, Ellis fled back to high school coaching, accepting a job at Hudson High School as head coach. In two years there, his teams went 16-6 and 13-8, but the stress caused him the previously mentioned fears for his health. He kept teaching at Hudson but worked under Close at Stow until summoned to Geneva, returning in 1999.

This time, stress was not a factor.

“I had great kids who worked extremely hard,” Ellis said. “We didn’t have the best athletes the first two years, so I used a controlled tempo. In my third year, we went 19-5 before losing in the district finals to Mentor.”

That season was probably Ellis’ best coaching job, considering the way the team looked before the season started. It was a squad without much size, speed or great athleticism, sort of a reflection of its coach.

“In the Euclid summer league and in shootouts, I don’t think we won a game,” he said. “I studied films and finally put in the Princeton offense. We had five guards basically. The offense was perfect. The kids worked hard on it and loved it.”

Ellis started Ron and Nick Carimi, Willie Landphair, Tom Davidson and Manny Zayas. Pat Olson, Lou Nicholson, Shaun Parker, Chris Sholtis, Scott Stuckert, Jake Whalen and Nick Brown also played. Both Carimis were good three-point shooters, as was Zayas and Nicholson off the bench. Landphair ran the team from the point. Davison did a bit of everything and, though only 6-foot-2, was a tough rebounder. The Eagles rolled to the NEC championship and all the way to the district finals. At the end of the season, Davidson was named the county and NEC Player of the Year.

Ellis stayed in the head coaching job for eight years, the longest stint of his career, going 94-58. He retired from that job to accept the post of athletic director, thinking that would give him more free time with his family. But he found the time requirements just as demanding.

“That’s why I got out of coaching,” he said. “I didn’t like it (the AD job). It wasn’t what I thought it was.”

Ellis is a good golfer (a two handicap), so when that position opened, he took the head boys job and left the AD job behind. He has been doing it for five years now and has led the Eagles to two league championships. He works at Hemlock Springs Golf Course in the summers.

While at Geneva, Ellis started dating Kim Koval, his coach’s daughter. The two continued a long-distance romance during college, with Brad at Hiram and Kim at Grove City. They married after college graduation, in 1981. Kim is now teaching second grade at Cork Elementary School, while Brad continues to teach at Geneva (Career Based Education).

The Ellises have three children: Elizabeth (26), now a fifth-grade teacher at Geneva-Platt R. Spencer Elementary School; Stephen (24), a sales representative for Mussan Sales, which deals in heating and cooling products; and Mike (19), a freshman at Baldwin-Wallace majoring in early childhood education and special education. Stephen was a standout in golf at Geneva.

Elementary, Mr. Watson

The mastermind behind Edgewood’s great teams of ’30s heads to ACBF HOF

By CHRIS LARICK
For the Star Beacon

Dr. Charles W. Watson packed a lot of living into a very short life.

Watson, who will be inducted into the Ashtabula County Basketball Hall of Fame on March 25, died in 1957 at the age of 48.

But Watson had already made an impression on the county as a teacher, coach and administrator.

Watson coached both the Edgewood boys and girls basketball teams between 1933 and 1943, enjoying great success, especially with the girls team.

Though records from that era are incomplete, we know some details of those years from the scrapbook that Watson kept and his daughter, Beverly (Willis) and son, Ron, preserved.

Most notable was a stretch from 1933 to 1935 in which Watson’s girls team won three straight undefeated Ashabula County Class C League championships. In a two-year span between 1933 and 1934, the Edgewood girls won 29 of 30 games, the lone loss by one point to Austinburg. Records indicate that that team won at least 29 consecutive games; it may have been more.

CHARLES WATSON (back row, third from left) poses with members of his 1934-35 Edgewood squad that won a third-consecutive Ashtabula County championship. Members of the team were (seated, from left) Wanda Gagat, LaRue Fink, Genevieve Scherman and June Bixler, (middle row, from left) Captain Ethel Fedor, Dorothy Gran and Esther Jordan and (back row, from left) Ilene Newbold, Geraldine Mirabell, Watson, principal Wallace Braden, Dorothy Ray, Ruth Mapous and Mary Shislowski.

The leading players on those girls teams included their center and captain, Ethel Fedor, who scored 304 points between 1933 and 1935, in an era in which 20 points for one team in a game was usually enough to win. LaRue Fink and Ilene Newbold were also big contributors, with Dorothy Gran, Wanda Gagat starting and Mary Shislowski adding support off the bench. Other members of the team included Winifred Blake, Genevieve Scherman and Mary Snodgrass.

Watson’s boys teams weren’t quite as successful, though the team of 1934-35 finished tied for the league championship and was second in the tournament. That group was led by Charlie Colantino, Ray Emery and Walter Palm.

The Edgewood squad of 1938-39 also had a very good year, going 14-6 and winning the championship of its league behind leading scorer Joe Colantino (219 points), Vernie Hawkins (140 points), Paul Jenkins, Bob Montgomery, Guy Hastings and Harry Jordan.

Charles M. Watson was born at Orwell on Sept. 7, 1908. He attended the Ohio State University, receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education in 1931, and a Masters Degree in 1934. After graduation, Watson served as a teacher in the Ashtabula County school system from 1931-1955, having taught at Edgewood School until 1943, when he became Superintendent of Schools at Williamsfield. In 1945, he accepted a position as Superintendent of Schools in Jefferson, where he served until 1955. He then moved to Perry Township, where he served as Superintendent until his untimely death on January 30, 1957.

After Watson died so early the Jefferson Rotary Club passed a resolution enumerating his qualities:

• “Charlie had that remarkable talent of being able to do many, many things very, very well. He was a friend of and respected by all of the hundreds of students in his schools. He maintained discipline with dignity and without permitting personalities to bias his decisions.
• Charlie was a good administrator, carrying out the duties of the office which he held without fear or favor, rancor or prejudice; he never yielded a political expediency. His life was an inspiration, not only to those whose destiny he guided, but to his host of friends who learned to respect his judgment and love his character.
• Charlie was always interested in the athletic program of his schools. He was noted for his devotion to fair play, even at the expense of his will to win.
• Charlie loved to sing, to be with his friends. He enjoyed a rich, full life and succeeded in packing more living into his forty-eight years than most men can accomplish in three score and ten.
• Charlie gave greatly to the life of his community. He produced a succession of Minstrels for the benefit of the PTA in Jefferson. He was always a participant, giving freely of himself and of his talents. He gave hours of pleasure to the many citizens of our community who became regular attendants year after year.
• Charles served the Rotary Club in Jefferson as its president. He was ever regular in his attendance at its meetings. He was a Rotarian, in or out of meetings, exemplifying the rotary motto of ‘Service above Self.’ It is often easy to give of material things, but one gives most who gives of himself.
• Charlie Watson was a Gentleman.”

Then the Rotary Club resolved that “with the death of our dear friend, Charles Watson, we, and the great community of mankind, have suffered an irreparable loss; that his death creates a void which will not soon be filled; that we extend our sympathy to his wife, his children, his parents, and to those unnumbered students who will never have the opportunity to enjoy the benefit of his guiding hand.”

At Orwell High School, Watson played baseball for four years, basketball for three and track for two. The Orwell team, according to the records, won two “pennants.” Watson was selected to the All-Ashtabula County basketball teams in 1926 and 1927. He was also class president for three years, a member of glee club and orchestra for three years and had parts in all the school plays during his high school years. In basketball, he played on a team with a pair of double-first cousins, Carleton and Elton Johnson.

Though Watson’s favorite sport was basketball, he was a better baseball player, according to his son, Ron, going on to play catcher for Ohio State. “He wasn’t very tall, about 5-10,” Ron Watson said.

“One day, he heard someone yell, ‘Charlie!’” Ron said. “He turned and the ball hit him right in the mouth, knocked out the four top front teeth and the four bottom front teeth. He was knocked cold.”

When he graduated from Ohio State, Charles Watson took the previously mentioned teaching job at Edgewood, coaching both boys and girls.

“Joe Donatone told me that one of his dad’s brothers played for him,” Ron Watson said. “He met my mom when both started teaching the same year. She had to resign, since at that time married women weren’t allowed to teach. When World War II came, they were allowed.”

Watson also did a lot of refereeing and was considered one of the top officials in the area.

“He was good friends with Ange Candela, Bob Ball and Pat Meehan,” Ron Watson said.

When he moved on to Jefferson, Watson made it a crusade to get the old Memorial Field built.

“He put on shows every year and all the money went toward Memorial Field,” Ron said. “CEI put up the light poles. It was a community effort.”

Though Watson loved Jefferson, he found it impossible to turn down the $15,000 Massillon Perry offered him in 1955. He was making half that much at Jefferson.

“I didn’t want to leave Jefferson,” Ron remembers. “I graduated high school in Canton (Massillon Perry).”

Ron didn’t turn out to be the kind of athlete his father was.

“I was one of the guys that played if we were real far ahead or real far behind,” he said.

Though Charles Watson’s widow, who never remarried, continued to teach, salaries at the time weren’t that good and Charles’ untimely death made for tight finances. But Ron managed to put himself through school, partly with the money he earned at Maple Ridge Golf Course, at the time owned by an uncle (Lawrence Porter).

After college, Ron got a job teaching elementary school in Stark County.

“I coached basketball and football in Stark County as an assistant for four or five years.” he said. “I coached Dan Dierdorf in high school. I taught for a while, then moved into administration. My first job as a high school principal was under (ACBF Hall of Famer) Russ Bethel.”

Ron Watson eventually had to leave Ohio because of his son’s health problems and taught and administered in Colorado, Wyoming and Arizona. He moved back to Jefferson a few years ago and is now on the board of education.

His sister, Beverly (Willis) also worked at Maple Ridge to help put herself through college (Ohio State) and taught at Washington Courthouse, then Stow, where she has lived for the past 45 years. She fulfilled her dream of becoming a librarian several years after she started teaching.

“Ron and I were not such good athletes,” Beverly, whose husband is a professional museum now after retiring as a professor, said. “But our children were very good at wrestling and softball.”

That has continued to this generation. Several of the grandchildren (Charles’ great-grandchildren) are very good athletes, particularly in gymnastics.

Belconis was high-flying Eagle

By CHRIS LARICK
For the Star Beacon

Lori Belconis first made her mark on the Geneva athletic scene at the tender age of 11.

Competing in the Punt, Pass and Kick competition sponsored by Massucci Ford at Carraher Field, Belconis defeated two male opponents to claim first place in her age group, while Pat Massucci, Dale Arkenburg and this reporter looked on in awe and amusement.

Her preparation for the event? Playing football in her front yard with her brother and neighbors.

“There were just two boys, but I was surprised,” Belconis, the daughter of Roy and Esta Belconis of Geneva, said. “Boys are supposed to be better than girls at football. Jimmy Ball and Norm Potter (her competition) always give me a hard time about that. Jimmy will say, ‘All right, I challenge you to a Ping Pong contest.’ His brother Bill wouldn’t let him live it down.”

That may have been the first splash Belconis made athletically, but it certainly wasn’t the last, as she excelled in softball, basketball and volleyball at Geneva High School, then went on to play volleyball at Kent State on a scholarship. Her basketball contributions have earned her a spot in this year’s Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation’s Hall of Fame. She will be inducted on March 25.

The first league sport Belconis played in was baseball, in the Cork Little League with her brother Roy and sister, Robyn. She also gave softball a shot, playing shortstop on the Dodgers team.

“I could hit, too,” Belconis said. “I had a good arm.”

Belconis had watched some good Geneva girls basketball teams as she grew up, teams with ACBF Hall of Famer Anita Tersigni, Nadine Cox and Becky Ritchie.

“I watched them play with my older sister, Robyn,” Belconis said. “She was four years older than me and on the track team.”

When she became a seventh grader, she made the basketball team as a shooting guard. Only 5-8 but a terrific jumper, she also played forward at times when she reached high school.

Sally Toukonen was Belconis’s first coach at Geneva High School, before Jeff Pizon took over the following year. The Eagles had a good team, with Belconis and Michelle and Mary Beth Branham among others.

“My freshman year I had to guard (ABCF Hall of Famer) Diane Davis,” Belconis said. “I can’t tell you how many times she blew by me. I think that was my initiation as a rookie. Ashtabula beat us, 102-28. Our fans wore bags on their heads.”

As her high school career continued, the Eagles became a good team, with Jeanna Coy, Marti Smith, Amy Taylor, Kelly Shannon and Terry Tersigni all contributing.

“I played with (that group) in volleyball as well as basketball, got to know everybody,” Belconis said.

By her senior year (1985-86), the Eagles won the Northeastern Conference championship and advanced to districts before falling.

“A couple of games I had 24 or 26 points,” she said. “I had a 24-inch vertical jump.” At the end of the season she was chosen as Player of Year on the Star Beacon All-Ashtabula County team.

By that time, volleyball had become her favorite sport. Geneva had no junior high team, so she didn’t take volleyball up until she was a freshman.

“My sister was on the team and I always wanted to hit the ball,” she said. “I was fortunate, things came natural to me. I had a natural something; I’m not sure where it came from. My dad (Roy) was a good athlete who played football at Geneva. I always say it came from my five-foot-tall grandmother.”

The Eagles were a very good volleyball team, advancing to the regional finals her senior year. Geneva was on the verge of advancing to state, had Canton McKinley down 7-2 in the third game, when it all came apart. McKinley scored the next 13 points to win, 15-7.

“We choked,” Belconis, who was again named Star Beacon Ashtabula County Player of the Year, said. “We had the better team.”

Colleges were in the process of recruiting Belconis to play volleyball, but there was a hitch.

“I had my first back injury my senior year,” Belconis said. “I went up for a rebound in basketball and came down on my back. The offers weren’t coming in after that. But Kent State did offer me a full scholarship.”

Belconis played for the Golden Flashes her freshman and sophomore years under Zen Goliembiowski, who had worked with the U.S. Olympic team.

“I learned a lot from him,” Belconis said. “I found out my approach was wrong, but he said he didn’t want to mess with it if I hit like (I did). I started as a freshman and sophomore. I was doing well on setting and hitting before it came to an end. I played all-around.”

But the pain in her back became unbearable and she had to quit. Kent State wasted no time pulling her scholarship, so she had to quit school as well. She returned to Geneva.

Not knowing what to do, Belconis decided to teach. She started classes at Lakeland and Lake Erie College, but wasn’t happy.

“I wanted to be a nurse, but I didn’t do that until I was 33,” she said. “I worked as a nurse’s aid with the mentally challenged and in geriatrics. I finally took nursing courses in 2000 and graduated in 2001 from Knoedler at the Vo-Ed School.”

Since then, health issues have prevented her from being a nurse. She has had five back surgeries and three knee operations.

“I have no discs left to fuse together,” Belconis, now 43 years old, said.

Despite her back woes, Belconis attempted to play volleyball on a traveling team, but had to quit.

“I wasn’t able to give 100 percent,” she said. “I couldn’t dive on the floor or play like most people.”

Belconis served as volleyball assistant at Jefferson under Jeanine Bartlett from 1992–1996 and also at Geneva for a while under her former coach, Stan Bielech.

But coaching, along with working, became too painful for her, especially after she contracted fibromyalgia, a very painful ailment.

“A lot of days I have a lot of pain,” she said. “I do what I can, but it’s hard. I have a disability hearing coming soon. I’m hoping to go back to school to do something where I’m not working on the floor. I miss (nursing); nursing overtook my passion for sports. I would much rather work than be disabled.”

Miller stood tall at Bula

The mastermind behind Edgewood’s great teams of ’30s heads to ACBF HOF

By CHRIS LARICK
For the Star Beacon

The feats Eugene Miller accomplished on the basketball court for the Ashtabula Panthers are even more impressive when one takes into account that Miller played out of position his entire high school career.

Not that Miller would necessarily agree.

At 6-foot or 6-foot-1, Miller, who will be inducted into the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame on March 25, played center, taking on much taller players and more than holding his own.

“Yes, I was jumping center, but I could leap,” Miller said. “I could leap higher than guys who were 6-5 or 6-6.”

Miller demonstrated his athletic ability in other sports. In football, he played offensive and defensive end on Wash Lyons’ teams. In track he ran the 100 (yard dash) in 9.9, the 440 in 50 or 51 seconds. He long jumped 21 feet and was good enough in the high hurdles to qualify for the state meet.

But basketball may have been his best sport. He played on a Panther team that included ACBF Hall of Famer Jim Hood, Joey Lyons, Marvin Jones, James Holley, Jeff Craft and Ted Miller.

“All of them were little guys,” Miller said. “But they had a lot of talent. Hood was the small forward. He had a pretty jump shot. He could shoot the eyes out of the basket.”

Ashtabula was then coached by Bob Walters, another ACBF Hall of Famer.

Miller played mostly JV as a freshman, before moving up to the varsity as a sophomore and becoming a starter.

Hood, who graduated a year ahead of Miller (1971 as opposed to 1972), remembers that he played center when he was a senior, with Miller taking over the position after he graduated.

“He played football, basketball and ran track,” Hood said. “I thought he was a very well-rounded athlete.

“He probably could have gone on to the next level (college). He was one of those guys who got the job done. He didn’t do anything flashy, but he knew he had a job to do and did it.”

Though both Hood and Miller were a bit undersized for the center position, it wasn’t a problem for the Panthers, Hood said.

“Back then, we were two big guys when we played.”

“I took quick notice of Eugene when he first came into the old Rowe Jr. High and dunked it in warmups,” Tim Richards, a former Conneaut star who was inducted into the ACBF Hall of Fame last year, said. “He was a three-year starter for Ashtabula, scoring 750-plus points and averaging 15 points a game as a senior. He was first-team All-NEC and all-county his junior and senior years. In my opinion, he was the best athlete from the class of 1972 I competed against.”

After graduating from high school, he moved on to Kent State, where he hoped to play football. But it didn’t work out, and he joined the Marine Corps instead of finishing college.

There, he was able to continue an athletic career while basically working in an office during regular hours.

“I played basketball and football for the Marine Corps,” Miller said. “I made the All-Marine team. We played other service people, traveled a lot.”

In the Marines, Miller became a quarterback in football.

“I could run and throw,” he said. “We won seven out of eight Turkey Bowls. That was on or near Thanksgiving. We played against any team that thought they could beat us.”

Miller left the Marine Corps after eight years when his job was phased out.

Miller had gotten married while in the Marine Corps, to another Ashtabula graduate, Diane Page. The marriage took place in Ashtabula, then the couple returned to North Carolina while Miller continued to serve in the Marines. The couple has since divorced but remain good friends. They have two daughters, Kyla, 32, and Desiaray, 26.

After leaving the Marine Corps, Miller stayed in North Carolina, accepting a job with the city of Jacksonville, N.C.

“I was a heavy equipment operator,” he said. “I also played basketball for them until I was 35 or 36. I worked there for 20 years until I left in 2003.”

At that time, Miller accepted a job working in high security for the Marines at Camp Lejeune, the largest military base on the east coast.

Asked what he does there, Miller said, “I can’t tell you what I do (for reasons of security).”

Puffer had great guidance

Conneaut star played for 2 HOFers

By CHRIS LARICK
For the Star Beacon

Not many basketball players can claim to have played for a Hall of Fame coach for five years.

Jeff Puffer (Conneaut High School Class of 1970) is one of them, having played for coach Harry Fails (Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame, Class of 2005) for that many years, beginning in the eighth grade, as both Puffer and Fails moved up the ladder of playing and coaching.

“Under Harry, we won the NEC (Northeastern Conference) and sectional championships my junior and senior years,” Puffer, whose father, Jerry, will also be inducted into the ACBF Hall of Fame this year, said. “In my junior year, we were 17-5 and beat Ashtabula by two points to move on to the districts. We played St. Joe’s there; we weren’t ready for them.

“My senior year, we went 19-4; the only games we lost were to two Erie teams. In the tournament, we beat Riverside when we were underdogs and Willoughby South when we were heavy underdogs.”

Fails had inherited some very good basketball players when the legendary Andy Garcia (ACBF Hall of Fame, first class) retired. Among them were 6-foot-2 forward Scott Humphrey, who became only the third player in Ashtabula County basketball to score 1,000 points. He entered the ACBF Hall of Fame in 2009. Tim Richards (ACBF Hall of Fame, 2011) was also a member of that team, along with Puffer, Randy Adamick (in Puffer’s junior year), Tom Church and Al Razem. Richards, Razem and Puffer were all guards who stood about 5-11. Six-foot-two John Colson took the graduated Humphrey’s spot in Puffer’s senior year.

Puffer was nearly as slender as his father, Jerry, at 5-11, 130 pounds.

“I think my teammates made me better,” Puffer said. “And I think I made my teammates better. I was a flashy guy. You put the basketball in my hands and I swear I could run faster while dribbling than I could without the ball. People compared me to Pistol Pete Maravich and Larry Bird. I threw behind-the-back passes and no-look passes. If I had the ball and you were open, you got (the ball). If I had the ball, I would dish it off. I was 100 percent totally for the team.

“I think better than all the rewards you can receive was when Scott (Humphrey’s) dad Stan came up to me on the golf course 10–15 years ago and said, ‘Jeff, I have to thank you for all those passes you threw to Scotty.’ That meant more to me than any awards I could have received.”

As good as the Conneaut players were, Fails made them better, Puffer said.

“He was such a smart coach. He taught us everything. We could play the 1-3-1 trap, the matchup zone or man-to-man.”

Fails also thought it would improve his team if it played better competition. So he scheduled scrimmages against Pennsylvania teams like Erie Prep and oft-state champion Farrell, Pa.

“They had all these state (championship) banners hanging there in their gym,” Puffer said. “It got all of us used to obstacles.”

Puffer also credits the Conneaut reserves with making the starters better.

“Those guys showed up every day for practice and helped us get better because they were so tough,” he said. “They would have started on most teams.”

Puffer was selected to the All-NEC and Star Beacon All-Ashtabula County first teams as a senior. He averaged 14.7 points and set a Conneaut record by making 13 (of 16) free throws in a 29-point effort against Harbor. Though assists weren’t kept well at that time, he figures he averaged five or six a game. He shot 45 percent from the field that year.

Playing shortstop on the Spartan baseball team under Fails, he was a “terrific hitter,” batting .454 one year and leading Conneaut to a 22-2 record one year and winning the NEC in the process. The Conneaut American Legion team he played for finished as runner-up in the state, losing to a Cincinnati team.

After graduation in 1970, Puffer went on to Youngstown State, where he was coached by the legendary Dom Rosselli, who coached the Penguins for 38 years and compiled 600 victories. He had gone to Youngstown State as a baseball player, but once he made the basketball team, Rosselli didn’t want him to play baseball.

“He only stood about 4-foot-11,” Puffer said of Rosselli. “I walked on. There were 400 guys who tried out, but I made it.”

Puffer played, though sparingly, as a freshman, then was redshirted the following year. He returned to the team and played from 1972–74.

“I didn’t start a lot of games,” he said. “I worked my way up to a starter in ’72–’73. Then, in winter semester, I got sick and had to sit out. I lost my starting position.”

In Puffer’s senior year at Youngstown, Rosselli brought in several younger players. Puffer didn’t get to play much, but the Penguins did make it to the NCAA Tournament that year.

“That was a lot of fun,” he said.

Puffer graduated from YSU in 1974 with a degree in business administration. He married Gretchen Goodale, whom he had known since he was 4 and she was 2, in 1976.

“We thought we were cousins (at one time), but we were not related,” Puffer said.

The Puffers have two sons, Jeffery, 28, and Scott, 23. Puffer has run an insurance agency in Conneaut Lake, Pa. for the past 24 years. He coached junior high basketball at a number of schools for about 15 years and junior-varsity girls at Conneaut Lake.

“I’ve touched a lot of lives doing that,” he said.

Of his upcoming induction into the ACBF Hall of Fame, he said, “I’m honored, but in another way, humbled. I played with good teammates and good coaches, who weren’t out for themselves but for the team.”

Edgewood's Magic Man

Jon Hall, who set a county record that still stands by averaging more than 11 assists a game in the 1979-80 season, will join his dad and coach, Jon, and Warrior teammate Jeff Cicon in the ACBF Hall of Fame.

By BOB ETTINGER
For the Star Beacon

Jon Hall was raised on the basketball courts by great people. He has been mentored in every aspect of the game, as a player, coach and member of the media, by hall-of-fame personalities.

The 1980 Edgewood graduate can consider himself a member of that fraternity when he is inducted in the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame on March 25.

“No (I didn’t expect to make the HOF), I was only here one year,” Hall said. “It never quite crossed my mind. It was all about settling into a new situation. I just hoped we’d be successful. When I say we, I’m talking about my dad and the team being successful. The only reason (the HOF) happened is because of the guys I got the chance to play with.

“I’m proud for the whole team. It’s a team game. I’m pretty proud of the fact we did OK. We were successful. I’d say that even if we hadn’t been successful in terms of winning or losing.”

At the top of the list Hall will join in the HOF is his father, Jon, inducted as a coach in the very first class 10 years ago.

“That’s really pretty special,” Hall said. “It means a lot because I know he was a darn good coach. It means a lot to our family, especially my mom, June, who is the heart and soul of our family."

Family ties

Hall comes from a hall-of-fame family. That support has always been important.

“I couldn’t ask for any greater parents than mine,” he said. “My mom’s a saint. She’s a coach’s wife. The most important thing my mom instilled was dedication. She was always encouraging me. She always had our game-day stuff ready.

“There were late dinners. That takes a special lady.”

Hall and his siblings, Jeff and Jody, were always behind each other.

“My brother and I would go at each other,” Hall said. “We did everything together. I give him a lot of credit for helping me.

“My sister would cheer us on, along with all the other cheerleaders. She went on to cheer at Bowling Green.”

Though the elder Jon Hall is one of his biggest fans, it was difficult, at times, for Hall to play under his father.

“It’s always hard to play for your father,” Hall said. “I didn’t play a lot at (Kent) Roosevelt as a junior. I split time. He was always harder on me. It was harder to play with dad. The point guard is the general of the team. He’s the one who runs the show. I knew his philosophy and what he wanted done. It was simple, don’t make turnovers, play great defense — which I prided myself on — and get everyone involved.”

JON HALL of Edgewood prepares to make a pass through the legs of Jefferson's Glen Brown during a non-conference game in the old Falcon Gym during the 1979-80 season. Trailing the play are the late Ken Crandall (22) and Falcon teammates Larry Holloway (42) and current Jefferson athletic director Steve Locy (20). Hall will join his father, Jon, in the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame on March 25.

JON HALL (24) and Edgewood teammates carry Warriors coach Jon Hall off the floor after a big win during the 1979-80 campaign.

JON HALL (24) receives instructions from his father and coach, Jon Hall, during a home game in Edgewood's Northeastern Conference championship season of 1979-80. Hall will join his father and teammate, Jeff Cicon, when he is inducted into the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame on March 25.

Early days

Hall was sort of a star, even in his youngest of playing days.

“In intramurals (at Franklin Elementary in Kent), I was named MVP and I guess I remember it because it entitled me to dinner with my teacher, Mrs. Gilley, and the sixth-grade teacher, Mr. Schneider, and the sixth grader who won MVP.”

Hall didn’t just gain a free meal from his exploits, though.

“They called me ‘Mr. Jumpshot Johnny Hall,’ knowing I don’t have a jump shot,” he said.

Two years later, Hall was going to school in New Philadelphia. In eighth grade, he was in Solon. Then, it was back to Kent, where he played for his dad at Kent Roosevelt as a freshman, sophomore and junior.

While in Solon, Hall met one of his greatest influences.

“I got to know Dave Rooney when I was in the eighth or ninth grade. I was at a Westminster basketball camp and he was the assistant.”

That connection would pay off a few years down the road.

“He ended up coaching me at Westminster,” Hall said. “He was a good mentor. I remember he used to make me take charges. I didn’t want to do it. I said, ‘That hurts.’ He said, ‘That’s why we wear pads.’ He taught me a lot about being a man, about life. He also helped me with broadcasting.”

Following his junior year at Kent Roosevelt, Hall’s family moved to Edgewood when his father took the job there. It was the beginning of something special.

“We had a good group of guys,” Hall said. “They took me in and made me feel welcome. It wasn’t about points. I was more of a point guard. I never shot that much. It was just about getting it done. I didn’t care about stats. I just wanted to win. I wanted to get the ball to the right guy.”

Hall took pride in his defense and distribution.

“I wasn’t a big scorer,” he said. “I was a pass-first guy. That’s what my dad wanted. That’s how I played. I took pride in making the right pass and playing defense. I didn’t need the headlines.”

Edgewood won the NEC championship that year and made a run in the tournament.

“We had a heck of a team,” Hall said. “Jeff Cicon was incredible. He could score from anywhere. We had guys who filled their roles. It was a team effort. I was just proud to be part of it.”

After high school, Hall played at Westminster College in Pennsylvania, where he continued his playing and broadcasting journey.

“I had a good experience,” Hall said. “We had some success. I also started doing games on the radio, which turned into a career.”

Hall worked in radio and television for more than 20 years, broadcasting high school and college games, as well as hosting sports talk shows.

“I got to cover everything from high school football to the Browns and Indians,” he said. “I loved it. Sports have been my life.”

Today, Hall is still involved in the game as a coach and mentor.

“I’ve always tried to give back,” he said. “The game has given me so much. I want to pass it on.”

Joining the Hall of Fame brings his journey full circle.

“This is humbling,” he said. “I never expected it. I’m thankful. It’s an honor to go in with my dad and Jeff. I hope it makes my family proud.”

‘I was not a good player’

Despite his self-deprecating look at his many talents, Conneaut’s Dave Sillanpaa was one terrific basketball player

By CHRIS LARICK
For the Star Beacon

It’s not often that a high school basketball player slams an opponent.

But it’s much rarer still when a player downplays his own talent. Especially when that person scored 1,000 points in his high school career, from 1975-1978.

Meet unassuming Dave Sillanpaa, the Conneaut Spartan who will be inducted into the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame Sunday, March 25.

“I was not a good basketball player,” Sillanpaa said. “I couldn’t dribble, I couldn’t pass and I couldn’t shoot.”

So how did Sillanpaa score all those points? Teamwork and a great offense brought in by Harold Rose, the Spartan coach, according to Sillanpaa.

DAVE SILLANPAA of Conneaut (left) battles Tom Hill (13) of Ashtabula for a rebound during a game in the 1977-78 season at Garcia Gymnasium. Sillanpaa will join Hill in the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame on March 25.

“He was really a good coach,” Sillanpaa said of Rose. “We were considered excellent at what we did. We ran the same offense for three years. If the defense was running a man defense we would run the exact same play. Nobody could stop it.

“We did it every time down the floor. It wasn’t hard to learn.”

This was the offense: A guard would bring the ball down court. Playing center, Sillanpaa would run to the high post. One wing (guard or forward) would go to the low post to the strong (ball) side; another would race to the weak side.

The guard would pass to the player on the strong side. Sillanpaa would set a screen for one of the wings, then roll to the basket. The strong-side player would pass it back to Sillanpaa, take the shot, or pitch it to the other wing. If none of those players had a good shot, they would set it up, then run it again. When the shot went up, all five Spartans would hit the boards for a possible rebound.

“In my junior year, I set the screen for Mark Sanford, in my senior year it was for Joe Terry,” Sillanpaa said. “If the ball got to me within five feet of the basket, I knew how to put it in. The high post was the only spot I could play.”

The Spartans weren’t very good when Sillanpaa was a sophomore, but went 13-6 his junior year and 15-5 his senior season.

When he was a sophomore, Sillanpaa played with Bob Greenwood, Jerry and Gary Anderson and Sanford. His junior year was Sanford’s senior season and they played alongside Pat Simpson and Vince Vendetti.

But the best group of players, the ones he started with his senior year, included Joe Terry, Brad Gee, Mark Maire and Jay Bunnell.

“Madison won the (Northeastern Conference) when I was a sophomore. Then it was Geneva and Ashtabula. Nobody (in the league) beat Ashtabula my senior year, though we had a chance at home and on the road.

“In Conneaut, I cost us the game. I missed a layin at their place. When we were at home, it was an even game. Lou Murphy shut me down; him and (ACBF Hall of Famers) Deora Marsh and David Benton were in my pocket.”

Sillanpaa thinks the Spartans could have been even better that year except for the one that got away.

“Danny Boehm moved away my sophomore year,” Sillanpaa said. “He went to South Carolina. He became very good there and their team won the state championship. But we had some good teams. That came from playing with Mark (Maire). Having him on your side was a good thing. The class behind me was a very good team, too. Jim Davin was my buddy.”

‘I was not a good player’

Despite his self-deprecating look at his many talents, Conneaut’s Dave Sillanpaa was one terrific basketball player

By CHRIS LARICK
For the Star Beacon

It’s not often that a high school basketball player slams an opponent.

But it’s much rarer still when a player downplays his own talent. Especially when that person scored 1,000 points in his high school career, from 1975-1978.

Meet unassuming Dave Sillanpaa, the Conneaut Spartan who will be inducted into the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame Sunday, March 25.

“I was not a good basketball player,” Sillanpaa said. “I couldn’t dribble, I couldn’t pass and I couldn’t shoot.”

So how did Sillanpaa score all those points? Teamwork and a great offense brought in by Harold Rose, the Spartan coach, according to Sillanpaa.

DAVE SILLANPAA of Conneaut (left) battles Tom Hill (13) of Ashtabula for a rebound during a game in the 1977-78 season at Garcia Gymnasium. Sillanpaa will join Hill in the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame on March 25.

“He was really a good coach,” Sillanpaa said of Rose. “We were considered excellent at what we did. We ran the same offense for three years. If the defense was running a man defense we would run the exact same play. Nobody could stop it.

“We did it every time down the floor. It wasn’t hard to learn.”

This was the offense: A guard would bring the ball down court. Playing center, Sillanpaa would run to the high post. One wing (guard or forward) would go to the low post to the strong (ball) side; another would race to the weak side.

The guard would pass to the player on the strong side. Sillanpaa would set a screen for one of the wings, then roll to the basket. The strong-side player would pass it back to Sillanpaa, take the shot, or pitch it to the other wing. If none of those players had a good shot, they would set it up, then run it again. When the shot went up, all five Spartans would hit the boards for a possible rebound.

“In my junior year, I set the screen for Mark Sanford, in my senior year it was for Joe Terry,” Sillanpaa said. “If the ball got to me within five feet of the basket, I knew how to put it in. The high post was the only spot I could play.”

The Spartans weren’t very good when Sillanpaa was a sophomore, but went 13-6 his junior year and 15-5 his senior season.

When he was a sophomore, Sillanpaa played with Bob Greenwood, Jerry and Gary Anderson and Sanford. His junior year was Sanford’s senior season and they played alongside Pat Simpson and Vince Vendetti.

But the best group of players, the ones he started with his senior year, included Joe Terry, Brad Gee, Mark Maire and Jay Bunnell.

“Madison won the (Northeastern Conference) when I was a sophomore. Then it was Geneva and Ashtabula. Nobody (in the league) beat Ashtabula my senior year, though we had a chance at home and on the road.

“In Conneaut, I cost us the game. I missed a layin at their place. When we were at home, it was an even game. Lou Murphy shut me down; him and (ACBF Hall of Famers) Deora Marsh and David Benton were in my pocket.”

Sillanpaa thinks the Spartans could have been even better that year except for the one that got away.

“Danny Boehm moved away my sophomore year,” Sillanpaa said. “He went to South Carolina. He became very good there and their team won the state championship. But we had some good teams. That came from playing with Mark (Maire). Having him on your side was a good thing. The class behind me was a very good team, too. Jim Davin was my buddy.”

Despite scoring so many points, Sillanpaa was a reluctant shooter.

“I’d prefer that other guys shoot. I would rebound. I preferred to go get it.”

In his senior year at Conneaut, the Spartans lost only to Ashtabula (twice), two Erie teams and Youngstown Cardinal Mooney in the tournament. One of his lasting memories of that season is Jay Bunnell hitting the winning shot at Harbor when Conneaut was behind.

“We weren’t playing that well that night,” Sillanpaa said.

Sillanpaa was selected for the first-team Star Beacon All-Ashtabula County and All-Northeastern Conference team. Ashtabula’s Tom Hill, a point guard now in the ACBF Hall of Fame, was chosen as Player of the Year.

“If we could have beaten them once, I might have had a shot,” Sillanpaa said. “It was an enjoyable year.”

Sillanpaa moved on to college, but didn’t play basketball there. He graduated from East Carolina in 1983 with a political science major.

“I went into sales,” he said of his time since. “I’ve been in sales forever. I sold insurance in the Cleveland area. We live in Perry now.”

Sillanpaa and his wife, Lori, who went to Bay Village and Bowling Green, have been married for almost 26 years. Lori is an accountant for the pipefitters union in Cleveland. The couple has “two great daughters”: Melissa, a 2011 graduate of Ohio State who now lives in Switzerland six months a year with her “hockey boyfriend” and Megan, a senior at Ohio State majoring in hospitality management.

Sillanpaa wound up with 1,000 points, but makes note of the fact that he got to play only 19-game regular seasons at that time.

“It could have been more,” he said.

Sillanpaa continues to hold Mark Todd, at that time a sports writer in Conneaut, but now a news reporter for the Star Beacon.

“Some of the stuff he did was tremendous,” Sillanpaa said. “He went above and beyond. He was always a good guy.”

Puffer had great guidance

Conneaut star played for 2 HOFers

By CHRIS LARICK
For the Star Beacon

Not many basketball players can claim to have played for a Hall of Fame coach for five years.

Jeff Puffer (Conneaut High School Class of 1970) is one of them, having played for coach Harry Fails (Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame, Class of 2005) for that many years, beginning in the eighth grade, as both Puffer and Fails moved up the ladder of playing and coaching.

“Under Harry, we won the NEC (Northeastern Conference) and sectional championships my junior and senior years,” Puffer, whose father, Jerry, will also be inducted into the ACBF Hall of Fame this year, said. “In my junior year, we were 17-5 and beat Ashtabula by two points to move on to the districts. We played St. Joe’s there; we weren’t ready for them.

“My senior year, we went 19-4; the only games we lost were to two Erie teams. In the tournament, we beat Riverside when we were underdogs and Willoughby South when we were heavy underdogs.”

Fails had inherited some very good basketball players when the legendary Andy Garcia (ACBF Hall of Fame, first class) retired. Among them were 6-foot-2 forward Scott Humphrey, who became only the third player in Ashtabula County basketball to score 1,000 points. He entered the ACBF Hall of Fame in 2009. Tim Richards (ACBF Hall of Fame, 2011) was also a member of that team, along with Puffer, Randy Adamick (in Puffer’s junior year), Tom Church and Al Razem. Richards, Razem and Puffer were all guards who stood about 5-11. Six-foot-two John Colson took the graduated Humphrey’s spot in Puffer’s senior year.

Puffer was nearly as slender as his father, Jerry, at 5-11, 130 pounds.

“I think my teammates made me better,” Puffer said. “And I think I made my teammates better. I was a flashy guy. You put the basketball in my hands and I swear I could run faster while dribbling than I could without the ball. People compared me to Pistol Pete Maravich and Larry Bird. I threw behind-the-back passes and no-look passes. If I had the ball and you were open, you got (the ball). If I had the ball, I would dish it off. I was 100 percent totally for the team.

“I think better than all the rewards you can receive was when Scott (Humphrey’s) dad Stan came up to me on the golf course 10-15 years ago and said, ‘Jeff, I have to thank you for all those passes you threw to Scotty.’ That meant more to me than any awards I could have received.”

As good as the Conneaut players were, Fails made them better, Puffer said.

“He was such a smart coach. He taught us everything. We could play the 1-3-1 trap, the matchup zone or man-to-man.”

Fails also thought it would improve his team if it played better competition. So he scheduled scrimmages against Pennsylvania teams like Erie Prep and oft-state champion Farrell, Pa.

“They had all these state (championship) banners hanging there in their gym,” Puffer said. “It got all of us used to obstacles.”

Puffer also credits the Conneaut reserves with making the starters better.

“Those guys showed up every day for practice and helped us get better because they were so tough,” he said. “They would have started on most teams.”

Puffer was selected to the All-NEC and Star Beacon All-Ashtabula County first teams as a senior. He averaged 14.7 points and set a Conneaut record by making 13 (of 16) free throws in a 29-point effort against Harbor. Though assists weren’t kept well at that time, he figures he averaged five or six a game. He shot 45 percent from the field that year.

Playing shortstop on the Spartan baseball team under Fails, he was a “terrific hitter,” batting .454 one year and leading Conneaut to a 22-2 record one year and winning the NEC in the process. The Conneaut American Legion team he played for finished as runner-up in the state, losing to a Cincinnati team.

After graduation in 1970, Puffer went on to Youngstown State, where he was coached by the legendary Dom Rosselli, who coached the Penguins for 38 years and compiled 600 victories. He had gone to Youngstown State as a baseball player, but once he made the basketball team, Rosselli didn’t want him to play baseball.

“He only stood about 4-foot-11,” Puffer said of Rosselli. “I walked on. There were 400 guys who tried out, but I made it.”

Puffer played, though sparingly, as a freshman, then was redshirted the following year. He returned to the team and played from 1972-74.

“I didn’t start a lot of games,” he said. “I worked my way up to a starter in ’72-’73. Then, in winter semester, I got sick and had to sit out. I lost my starting position.”

In Puffer’s senior year at Youngstown, Rosselli brought in several younger players. Puffer didn’t get to play much, but the Penguins did make it to the NCAA Tournament that year.

“That was a lot of fun,” he said.

Puffer graduated from YSU in 1974 with a degree in business administration. He married Gretchen Goodale, whom he had known since he was 4 and she was 2, in 1976.

“We thought we were cousins (at one time), but we were not related,” Puffer said.

The Puffers have two sons, Jeffery, 28, and Scott, 23. Puffer has run an insurance agency in Conneaut Lake, Pa. for the past 24 years. He coached junior high basketball at a number of schools for about 15 years and junior-varsity girls at Conneaut Lake.

“I’ve touched a lot of lives doing that,” he said.

Of his upcoming induction into the ACBF Hall of Fame, he said, “I’m honored, but in another way, humbled. I played with good teammates and good coaches, who weren’t out for themselves but for the team.”

Hark, for this Herald!

Jim Chiacchiero and his buddies were part of the last great era of St. John basketball

By CHRIS LARICK
For the Star Beacon

If you picture it in your mind, it might resemble the opening to a movie. A solitary boy picks up a basketball, trots out to a suitable distance, squares up and launches a high arcing shot.

As soon as the old basketball leaves his hand, he starts his jog back toward a spot he anticipates it will land, watching all the way as it clears the cylinder and tickles the twine on its way back to earth.

The ball bounces once and the boy is there to pick it up and start the whole sequence over again.

In truth, that was St. John graduate Jim Chiacchiero honing the skill that would one day punch his ticket to the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame.

“I lived on Route 45,” Chiacchiero said. “There weren’t that many kids my age growing up. We had a basketball hoop and I would shoot and shoot. I shot in all kinds of weather. I remember shooting with gloves on my hands and snow on the ground. I remember there were times I had to play the wind. I remember shooting in the rain and having to catch the ball before it landed in a puddle. My dad had installed light up in a tree and on summer nights I would shoot until my legs felt like Jello.

“Back then, I had no clue (it would lead to the HOF). It was just something I enjoyed doing, so I did it. It began then. Looking back, I think I was nuts to do that. But it’s what I enjoyed doing. I loved to do it. I still do.”

Though for different sports and different organizations, Chiacchiero is the second member of his family to be named to a hall of fame. His father, Tony Chiacchiero is a member of the Ashtabula County Football Hall of Fame.

Support system

Chiacchiero was blessed to have a great family behind him with his dad and mom, Joanne, who passed away in 1999, leading the way.

“They were dedicated,” Chiacchiero said. “They were dedicated to me, my sisters and two brothers. They were never over the top, in your face yelling, but they were there to support us. Both my parents are hall-of-fame parents. If everybody had parents like I have, the world would be better off.”

The elder Chiacchiero offered one piece of advice the younger Chiacchiero will never forget.

“I remember I was in fourth grade or so,” Chiacchiero said. “My dad would say if I developed my game, I would be a pretty good ballplayer. He told me good ballplayers could use both hands equally and asked if I wanted to be a good ballplayer.

“Over the next two weeks, I don’t think my right hand touched the ball. That’s all he said to me. Those few words just hit a note with me.”

It wasn’t just his parents, though, who helped Chiacchiero reach lofty plateaus.

“I have to mention my sisters, Connie and Nancy, I don’t think they missed one of my games in high school.

“My brothers, Joe and John, I’ve got to thank them for never letting me win at anything. That just fueled the fire.”

Though, in the end, Chiacchiero got the better of his two brothers.

“If nothing else, it gives me bragging rights,” Chiacchiero said. “I don’t hold a lot of bragging rights, but this is one they haven’t matched yet.”

His coaches made an impact, too.

“I owe a lot to Coach Bowler,” Chiacchiero said. “He had faith in me even though I was only 5-7 and 150 pounds soaking wet. He had a lot of faith in us, not only myself, but everybody.

“My freshman year, the varsity team won six or seven games. To go from six or seven wins to 18 is a big accomplishment. He had to have faith.

“Eventually, it wore off on us.”

There were other coaches who helped, too.

“Larry Daniels was the JV coach,” Chiacchiero said. “He was coaching for like 1,000 years. Though he was the JV coach, he was still in practice every day. He was a heck of a coach.

“In junior high, I had Joe Prugar. Every junior high kid should have a coach like Joe Prugar. He would just pound the fundamentals.”

Setting records

A rule change, adding the 3-point line Chiacchiero’s freshman season, provided St. John coach John Bowler with a formidable threat to go with the inside punch of 6-foot-7 center Steve Hanek. With the new rule in effect, the 5-7 point guard netted 202 career treys in his career to set an Ashtabula County record that still stands on his way to totaling 1,159 points.

During the 1990-91 season alone, Chiacchiero knocked down 80 3-pointers and nine in a single game. The former is a county record and the latter ties the county record.

As much as Chiacchiero might enjoy having achieved those feats, there is one he cherishes above all others.

“We played for the team and the community, but we were also playing for the players over the last 50 years or however long the school had been in existence. It wasn't just about us.”

JIM CHIACCHIERO was always dangerous when he had the basketball in his hands, including at the free-throw line as shown here in the old Falcon Gym in Jefferson.

JIM CHIACCHIERO (15) of St. John battles Ryan Mongenel of Harbor for a rebound during a game at Fawcett Gymnasium.

JIM CHIACCHIERO with his wife, Shaunna, and son, Devin, 7.

“(Those records) obviously (mean a lot),” he said. “But I wouldn’t trade our (Northeastern Conference) championship for them. Without it, there would be something missing. In fact, I would trade those records for another NEC championship.”

That’s right. St. John won a share of the 10-team league championship Chiacchiero’s in sophomore year, 1988-89.

The Heralds were 18-2 in the regular season, sharing the league title with City Series rival Ashtabula. It marks the single-best season in St. John history.

“That was a dream season,” Chiacchiero said. “I think it erased a lot of ghosts, ghosts from when we weren’t even there. St. John basketball had been pretty pitiful. I think the most wins the school had prior to that was 15 counting the tournament. The most in the regular season, I think, was 13.

“For us to get to 18, that was a huge accomplishment. We did things that were never done before. It’s the only NEC championship (in basketball) for the school. The whole season, obviously, we were playing for us (individually). We played for the team and the community, but we were also playing for the players over the last 50 years or however long the school had been in existence. It wasn’t just about us.”

A really good Oman

Soon-to-be hall of famer starred for archrivals, PV and GV

By BOB ETTINGER
For the Star Beacon

Imagine a Buckeye transferring to Michigan and leading the Wolverines to the Big Ten championship game and you might have an idea of what Steve Oman did back in the summer of 1988 when he transferred from Pymatuning Valley over to rival Grand Valley for his senior year.

A Hatfield might have been in a better situation leaving his clan to join the McCoys than Oman was in the summer before his senior year.

Oman made it work and led both the Lakers and Mustangs to district championships games, totaled 1,140 points and 707 rebounds. He will be inducted into the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame on Sunday.

“Coach (Tom) Henson, (who led the Mustangs basketball team for nearly 30 years) told me on Facebook,” Oman said. “My first reaction was, ‘What the hell took so long?’ I thought I was a forgotten soul. Part of me says it’s no big deal and the other says it is a big deal.

“I am honored.”

Switching allegiances

It wasn’t as if the 1989 Grand Valley graduate went looking for a better situation making the switch, he was just playing the cards he was dealt as a high school basketball player.

His father, Carl, ran into a crossroads in his own career as an education administrator and he was caught in the middle.

“My dad was the superintendent at PV,” Oman said. “After my junior year, his contract was up. He was trying to get one more year so I could graduate (from PV), but it didn’t happen. What motivated me was it was a big mess in the summer because PV wouldn’t release me.”

It was hardly easy for Oman to trade in the maroon and gold of the Lakers for the blue and white of the Mustangs.

“It’s a bad situation, being in your senior year and switching schools,” Oman said. “You lose all your friends. It was a tough year. Part of me did it for my dad. At open gyms that summer, I thought the players were going to teach me a lesson. I was surrounded by Hitchcocks.”

Playing in the district championship game in consecutive seasons for different schools is a rare feat, one Oman hadn’t really paid any heed.

“Honestly, I haven’t thought much about it,” Oman said. “I guess it’s cool. A lot of people can’t do it. At PV, we were undefeated until we lost to Hawken. My senior year, we didn’t have a good regular-season record, but we got hot at the end. It’s a cool feat, now that I look back.”

Despite playing for two different schools, the result was the same in Oman’s two trips to the district final. Both ended in losses.

“Against Hawken, my junior year down in Warren, we played against O.J. McDuffie who went on to play (football) at Penn State (before going on to a career the NFL),” Oman said. “We didn’t know anything about him other than he could jump out of the gym. We played conservative and it backfired. I wish we would have put our foot on the gas. I felt we were one of the best teams in the state.

“(Warren) JFK, (beat us) my senior year, I remember it because the foul discrepancy was so bad. It was a real close game and the outcome was decided by foul shots. We were the better team. I felt we should have won.”

Specimen

At 6-foot-7, Oman was simply taller and more athletic than any of the players around him. He used that to his advantage.

“In the post, I felt I could almost score at will,” Oman said. “It was almost boring.

“I did feel invincible. My senior year, it all came together. I felt I could do whatever I wanted. I felt I could score at will. In hindsight, that’s not true.

“I would just jump over people. I could go over them and not touch them. I wasn’t great at boxing out. I just had good athletic ability.”

With that height and his leaping ability, Oman was able to throw down a few dunks in his day.

“It’s awesome,” Oman said. “Going through the layup line was the best time. But you had to make sure the referee wasn’t watching or go about a foot and a half above the rim and let go of the ball.

“The dunk I remember most was against Hawken my junior year. I got the ball in the past, took one dribble and threw it down. It was one hand and in traffic. The crowd went nuts. I was thinking, ‘Wow! I did that!’”

That ability also gave Oman a false sense of the player he was.

“I thought I was better than I was,” Oman said. “Looking back, I would only score 14 this game or that game, but then I would score 35 or 40. I always thought I was better than I was. Looking back, I was not as good as I thought I was.”

Though he knew he was good, Oman did do what he could to improve his game.

“I worked my tail off,” Oman said. “I played ball every chance I got. I had a good frame. I wasn’t muscular, but I was built enough to push people out of the way. Like I said, I could handle the ball. I was just a lot bigger and stronger than everybody else. I wanted to play guard, but I was stuck in the post.”

After the move to Grand Valley, Oman got to sample different aspects of the game.

“I was a post at PV,” Oman said. “At GV, they gave me the freedom to do a little bit of everything to prepare for college.”

The next level

As his senior season was winding down, Oman has aspirations of playing on college basketball’s biggest stage. Twice, he thought he was on track to play Division I ball, but both times circumstances dictated otherwise.

“I thought I would go to a (Mid-American Conference) school, but that didn’t work out,” Oman said. “I ended up at a junior college in Toledo. I didn’t play a lot and scored about seven points per game then 10 or 11 my second year.

“I looked to transfer and, again, I thought I would go to a MAC school, but that didn’t work out. I ended up at IU-South Bend. I averaged 13 or 14 points my first year there and ended up being honorable mention (NAIA) All-American.”

Upon the move to IU-South Bend, Oman thought he had finally escaped the paint. It was short-lived.

“I was recruited as a wing to South Bend,” Oman said. “They had a 7-2 center. I thought it would be cool to pass to him. Two weeks in, he was kicked off the team and I went right back into the post.”

Oman was as effective as ever. He scored 1,040 points in two seasons at the Indiana school. He also had 621 rebounds and blocked 93 shots.

His college career complete, Oman hoped to play somewhere professionally.

“My senior year, I had an offer to go over and play in Malta in the Mediterranean,” Oman said. “I decided not to go. I didn’t get any other offers through April, May and June. I pretty much dropped the ball. I probably would have had to leave (for Malta) the next day. It seemed fishy to me. I kick myself all the time (for not going).”

A final chance presented itself, but fate intervened again.

“I had a chance to play in a camp for small-college players,” Oman said. “I got the invitation and I broke my hand like two weeks before the camp was to start.

“I had a couple opportunities. Things just didn’t work out.”

Every now and again, Oman returns to the court.

“I still get out and play every now and then, but my knees and back fall apart,” Oman said. “I get the urge to play every day, but my body tells me no.

“If I were to go and try and dunk, I can still do it. But it’s not like it used to be and I’d be in bed for a week. I miss it every day. Part of me says I can still play with the young kids. My body says I can’t.”

After the game

These days, he lives in South Bend, has a wife, Sarah, has worked in the pest control business for the last 15 years and has three kids, Talon, 14, Olivia, 5, and Brody, 2.

They all may be athletes one day, but Oman won’t push his kids into a certain sport.

“I kind of don’t want to be pushy and brainwash them to like my favorite sports,” Oman said. “But if they want to pick up the ball and play, I let them. I let them do their own thing. I leave it up to them. I think my oldest is going to be more of a quarterback.”

A true Pioneer
Dutch Cotton’s eventful life of success tipped off during his days as a star at Austinburg

By BOB ETTINGER
For the Star Beacon

When Austinburg High School was swallowed up by the surrounding school districts, it was rumored all of the trophies and records for the athletic programs at the school were destroyed.

Those who were part of those athletic teams thought their past had been erased, lost forever.

Memories existed, as did the records. As they have been unearthed, the exploits of men like Harry “Dutch” Cotton have been rehashed.

Cotton, playing under coach Hiram Safford, led Austinburg to an Ashtabula County championship in his senior season of 1953.

He will be inducted into the Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Fame on Sunday.

“It really means a lot,” Cotton said. “I hate to tell you this, but my memory’s not too good anymore. I read stuff and go sit down and I can’t remember it sometimes. It’s really something being inducted after all these years."

DUTCH COTTON Circa 1953

SOME OF THE MAIN MEN from the 1952-53 Austinburg Pioneers (from left) Larry Brail, Dutch Cotton, coach Hiram Safford and Norm Kikel.

“We thought everything had been destroyed. We were sort of pushed to the back side and thought nobody knew anything. All of a sudden, it came back up.”

Being remembered after he thought he’d been forgotten meant a lot to Cotton and his wife, Barbara, who have been married 54 years.

“That’s wonderful,” he said. “It really livens us up. It took 59 years to get in. I didn’t think I’d ever get in (to the HOF).”

Greatness

Cotton was the catalyst for the county championship and led Austinburg to a Big Seven League title in his junior and senior seasons and led the Big 7 in scoring his final season.

“We were all good players,” Cotton said. “We played all the time. We were all together all the time. When I was a senior, there were 14 of us (on the team) and of those 14, only two weren’t seniors. We had a great time playing ball. We all lived together and played basketball and baseball all the time.”

Offense was a bit different in Cotton’s day.

“Somebody would pick your man, you would go around and get either a jumper or a layup,” Cotton said.

Cotton and his teammate in the post, Al “Red” Schubert, combined to form a formidable duo in the paint.

“Al Schubert was the other forward,” Cotton said. “He was quite a player, too.

“We would block and go. The guards, Larry Brail and Larry Park, could really whip that ball in there. They did a nice job passing.

“Al Schubert was a terrific player, too. He was unreal. I think he scored more than I did. He was a super player.”

In the 1950s, it was largely uncommon to play an uptempo game. Austinburg went against the norm.

“We would get quite a few points ahead,” Cotton said. “We only gave up 1,036 points in 1953 and scored 1,387. We were in the 50s to 80s every game and the highest we gave up was 57.”

A big reason for that was the style of defense Safford preferred.

“We played zone and once in a while, we played man-to-man,” Cotton said. “He was a zone coach. We played zone about 90 percent of the time. We caused a lot of turnovers. We had to move fast.”

Scoring was easy for Cotton. He did it every way imaginable.

“I would make jumpers and one-handers,” Cotton said. “I could drive to the bucket, too.”

Cotton and his teammates were blessed to play for the same coach for six years. He is a big reason the team matured into the county and Big 7 champs.

“Safford was our coach from eighth grade through our senior year,” Cotton said. “He was very nice. He never got blown out of shape. He’d just say we had to go get the win, we had to hustle. I never saw him blow his lid. He was a super guy.”

Answering the call

Cotton had it in his mind to go to college, but answered a more noble cause after graduating in 1953. He served three years in the Army.

“The teachers and coaches would tell us to go into the service first, then go to college,” Cotton said.

Cotton continued to play the game he loved, though the uniform had changed a bit.

“We went into the building and there was a signup sheet for basketball,” Cotton said. “I picked up a form and it said you had to have played in college or the semi-pros. I wasn’t going to sign up, but Lt. Johnson said, ‘Dutch, just fill it out.’ I told him it said that I had to have played in college and he told me to just put down Ohio. I did and I played two years.”

One of the guys was a Harlem Globetrotter.

“When they broke the Army base down at Fort Rucker to make it an Air Force base, we moved over to Fort Benning,” Cotton said. “I didn’t play any more after that. Two years was enough.

“I talked about (playing college), but my teachers and coaches were saying we should go in the service first now because we wouldn’t be happy if we went to college then had to go in the service. I was thinking about (college) but I needed money and a job.”

Playing the game, even in the Army, still had its appeal.

“I loved it,” Cotton said. “I never thought I would make it since they wanted college players until Lt. Johnson told me to fill out the paper and just put, ‘Ohio.’ Those players were unreal. They were all college or semi-pro guys. It was a lot of fun.

“I never went overseas. I took up cooking and baking and they had me teaching it to the younger guys, too.”

After the game

During the summers before he graduated, Cotton laid the foundation for the way he would spend the majority of the rest of his life.

“John Arsulic taught me how to lay bricks,” Cotton said. “I did that in the summers when school was out. I got into Local No. 42 bricklayers and just got my 50th year in.”

Cotton worked 38 years for the late Don Locy — father of Jefferson athletic director Steve Locy — and Buckeye Masonry.

“I loved the job,” he said. “I built houses, schools, churches, you name it. When I retired, I got a nice letter from Don that said what I did for them. He gave me enough of a bonus that I bought a brand new truck.”

When he wasn’t working, Cotton took the opportunity to pass the game on to his kids, Randy and Pam.

“I coached my kids,” Cotton said. “I really liked it.”

He now has six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.