Brownsville had solid teams with Roebuck on the roster
The name Roebuck is famous in Fayette County baseball annals. Ed Roebuck played professional baseball and Scott 鈥淪kooter鈥� Roebuck did his best to uphold family tradition.
鈥淓d is my great uncle, he was my dad鈥檚 uncle,鈥� Skooter Roebuck said. 鈥淚 heard all about East Millsboro and I heard all the stories.鈥�
Roebuck fashioned a nice athletic career at Brownsville High School in the early 1980s, excelling at baseball and football.
At tight end and linebacker, Roebuck played on Brownsville teams that posted records of 2-7 in 1980, 3-7 in 1981 and 6-3-1 in 1982.
鈥淲e had a good group of seniors in 1982,鈥� Roebuck opined. 鈥淚 think the drop in classification helped, too. We went from Triple A to Double A my senior year. Instead of playing West Mifflin and Thomas Jefferson we were playing Charleroi and Burgettstown. That鈥檚 a little bit different.鈥�
Roebuck played for head coach John DeSimone .
鈥淎ll of us had a good relationship with Coach DeSimone,鈥� Roebuck offered. 鈥淗e was tough, big into conditioning. In the 80s we all played both ways.鈥�
Roebuck had some football highlights for the Falcons, including a fumble recovery in the end zone for a score in 1981 during a 14-7 loss at Steel Valley. In 1982 Roebuck caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from Mike Brown in a 27-0 win at Waynesburg. He also hauled in a 20-yard scoring strike from Brown in a 32-12 victory over Albert Gallatin. Roebuck garnered all-conference honors as a senior.
Baseball was Roebuck鈥檚 signature sport at Brownsville and he was second team all-section as a catcher his senior year. He posted great numbers his senior season, batting .426 with two home runs and five triples.
He had a solid relationship with his head baseball coach at Brownsville, Albert Komacik.
鈥淗e had been there for years,鈥� Roebuck said of Komacik. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know any other high school coach. He was there probably 15 years before I got there and he was probably there 15 years after I was gone.鈥�
Brownsville had some solid teams during Roebuck鈥檚 playing days.
鈥淟ike a lot of teams we just couldn鈥檛 get past Connellsville in that section,鈥� Roebuck lamented. 鈥淚n those days you had to win your section to advance to the playoffs, they didn鈥檛 take two or three teams like they do now. We just couldn鈥檛 out-man Connellsville.鈥�
Roebuck also played American Legion baseball.
鈥淚 enjoyed American Legion baseball,鈥� Roebuck said. 鈥淚 played for Joe Mazurek. He was still coaching the West Brownsville Legion team. It was a little less stressful than high school. We were pretty good and we played Connellsville in the finals a couple of times. I hit a ton of home runs in Legion ball.鈥�
When Roebuck graduated from Brownsville in 1983 he was a recruiting target for college athletics.
鈥淚 was actually getting more recruiting letters for football than I was for baseball,鈥� Roebuck stated. 鈥淚 was small for a tight end or linebacker. I wanted to play baseball more than I did football. The interest for football surprised me.
鈥淩alph Ciabattari was the head baseball coach at Baptist College, which is now Charelston Southern, and he was originally from Burgettstown. He had somebody watching me in high school and especially during the summer when I played Legion ball. They called me up and offered me a scholarship and at that point I just wanted to go south and play. We played some great competition and I played pretty well and hit eight home runs as a freshman and I was batting fifth. I got homesick and I couldn鈥檛 afford to come home that often. I was home for the summer and I called coach Chuck Gismondi at California University, and he got the ball rolling and I transferred.鈥�
Roebuck sat out one year and then played three seasons for the Vulcans. In 1985-86 the Vulcans went 19-25 and Roebuck batted .271. In 1986-87 Cal was 18-21 and Roebuck hit .314 with one home run and 26 RBIs. In 1987-88 the Vulcans posted a record of 23-19 and Roebuck batted .372 with five home runs and 42 RBIs.
鈥淢y senior year I was seeing the ball real well,鈥� Roebuck said. 鈥淭he southern trip of my junior year we were at Lenoir-Rhyne in North Carolina and I had a home plate collision with the catcher and blew out my knee. They patched me up and I played first and then had surgery after the season and switched to first base permanently. It was weird, but my numbers improved my senior year because I wasn鈥檛 beat up from catching.
鈥淲e had some good talent 鈥� Jimmy Burns was our third baseman, Tommy Sankovich was our shortstop. We had some nice teams down there.鈥�
Roebuck compiled a .330 career batting average with 68 runs, 108 RBIs, 29 doubles, six triples, 13 home runs and 52 walks at Cal. He was inducted into the Cal U Hall of Fame in 1988.
鈥淚 was kind of shocked when I heard about the Hall of Fame,鈥� Roebuck said. 鈥淐oach Gismondi had mentioned the Hall of Fame, but I really didn鈥檛 think this would happen. Because I only played the three seasons my career numbers were not that high but it was a great honor and again I was shocked and grateful.鈥�
After earning his bachelor鈥檚 degree in secondary education from Cal U, Roebuck worked for a few years as a substitute teacher and for three seasons as an assistant football coach at Belle Vernon Area High School.
He returned to Brownsville as a full-time teacher in 1993 and became the head baseball coach in 1992. Roebuck was an assistant football coach with Brownsville from 1994 through 2006. He has been Brownsville Athletic Director for 14 years.
Roebuck, 49, still lives in Brownsville with his wife, Andrea. They are the parents of a daughter, Taylor, and a son, Shane.
鈥淟ooking back, athletics gave me an opportunity,鈥� Roebuck explained. 鈥淚 was the first in my family to get an opportunity to go to college and it was all because of athletics.鈥�
George Von Benko鈥檚 鈥淢emory Lane鈥� column appears in the Monday editions of the 缅北禁地. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.