Uniontown team won national title in 1959
Fifty-five years ago this August a Uniontown team won a national championship. Not since 1927, when Uniontown High School won a mythical national championship in basketball, had a local team reached so high.
No city, county or regional team has done as well since.
This team of note was sponsored by VFW Post 47, which vaulted to prominence at the end of World War II with the return home of thousands of local GIs.
The summer of 1959 was a golden period for the youngsters on the Post 47 baseball club, an ultra-talented collection of 14- and 15-year olds.
The state VFW Teener championship series was played at Bailey Park, fixed up with a new grass infield, new dugouts, new fencing and a fresh coat of paint on the bleachers; the national championship took place in Hershey, Pa. in the shadow of Hershey Park, the week of Aug. 17, 1959.
After winning the state championship over DuBois by a resounding 15-3 score, VFW Post 47 defeated a team from Endicott, N.Y., squeaking out a 4-1 victory for the national title.
The players, not old enough to drive, came from hard-working backgrounds. There was John Radosevich and Bill Marovic, from Ronco and Leckrone, coal mining communities, respectively; both went on to play baseball in college, becoming members of the West Virginia University 缅北禁地 Hall of Fame.
Third baseman Marshall Feldman became an FBI agent; he taught the game to his son, future major league pitcher Scott Feldman. Ron Sepic, who was not a starter, would famously play basketball at Uniontown and Ohio State University. The tall, sturdy high school All-American was Jerry Lucas’ successor for the Buckeyes.
Several became educators, including the team catcher, Doug Robbins. Following a brief stint in minor league baseball, Robbins became a standout on the gridiron as a Division 1 football official.
(He also became an MLB scout. His son, Alan, was a catcher in the Phillies’ organization for five years. Reader alert: Doug is my brother.)
As a team, they were supremely confident, maybe even a bit cocky. Following the victory over Endicott in Hershey, batterymates Radosevich and Robbins exchanged a telling aside: the catcher told his pitcher that he thought from the very first practices that the championship were in the bag.
The starting rotation was that good.
Radosevich smiled. He said he felt the same way.
Radosevich gathered his share of headlines. A hard-throwing lefty with pinpoint control and a baffling change up, he threw a five-hitter against Endicott for the national title. Signed by the Dodgers after college, he posted a 24-5 minor league record before arm trouble ended his career.
All four starters were lefties. Besides Radosevich, they were Marovic, Bill Vargo, and a kid with a major league name, Sheridan McPherson.
The teams on the national stage were more accomplished than the clubs that had played for the state championship. “I remember Panama,” Doug told me. “They were big strong guys.”
After getting woozy at the sight of the Panamanians, my brother recalled, “we always let Sepic get off the bus first.”
In short order, the local boys became the intimidators, with their combination of outstanding pitching, good defense, and timely hitting.
Still, it was a close call. With the score tied in the late innings of the championship game, Doug smashed a double. Rounding first, he managed to miss the bag. Standing on second, he was panicky until the next pitch was delivered. Eventually Doug scored the go-ahead run.
For a moment in the summer of 1959, the VFW team was a local sensation. Big crowds swelled Bailey Park for every game of the state series – 2,500 were on hand for the game against DuBois.
I was 11-years-old in 1959. I remember the bleachers and the foul lines packed with people. I marveled at the grass infield, the first I had seen outside of Forbes Field.
What was most impressive were the home runs struck by several players over the high rightfield fence. Only a special few kids could hit balls that far and high with wood bats.
The boys – innocents in the whirl of adult ambitions and the follies of the Post 47 gandees – played hard, played well, and played fair.
It was a special time for them and for the city.
Uniontown, national champs.
Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown and is the author of two books of local history: Grand Salute: Stories of the World War II Generation and Our People. He can be reached at grandsalutebook@gmail.com.