Plevin excelled in three sports
Former Fairchance-Georges standout Tom Plevin is a throwback to a different era when athletes didn鈥檛 concentrate on one sport, but played several.
Plevin excelled on the gridiron, the hardwood and the baseball diamond for the Runners in the 1960鈥檚.
鈥淚 lettered three years in each sport,鈥� Plevin recalled. 鈥淎t that time we didn鈥檛 have freshman football eligibility, but I did play for the junior high team starting in the eighth grade.鈥�
Plevin was a part of some competitive Fairchance-Georges football squads that posted records of 6-3 in 1962, 4-4 in 1963 and 1-7 in 1964.
Plevin started out as an offensive lineman, but was switched to fullback his senior year. He scored two touchdowns in the Runners鈥� lone win in 1964, a 26-6 victory over South Union.
鈥淚 got clipped in that game against South Union by a childhood friend, Fred Sauers,鈥� Plevin stated. 鈥淗e was the punter for South Union, he clipped me and I didn鈥檛 know it at the time, I felt something snap, he took out my ACL and PCL. I played the rest of the season, I didn鈥檛 miss a game. Doc Umbel over on Dixon Boulevard got me ready. They taped me up and he taught the manager how to tape me. I was taped for every practice and every game. He gave me an exercise program that built up the quads and it pulled the knee joint tighter and I wore a brace.
鈥淚 played offensive guard and defensive end my first two years at Fairchance-Georges, I started as a defensive end as a sophomore. I was 165 pounds as a sophomore, about 180 as a junior and went to 195 as a senior. When they switched me to fullback I still played defensive end. I loved the defensive end position and I loved playing defense. I liked playing fullback and I scored three touchdowns that year. I think I would have done a lot better had I not been injured.鈥�
Plevin enjoyed playing for his football coach at Fairchance-Georges, Joe Barkley.
鈥淗e was fair and he gave a lot of guys opportunities to play,鈥� Plevin said. 鈥淗e wasn鈥檛 afraid to play young kids.鈥�
Plevin also played basketball for the Runners on teams that went 8-12 in 1962-63, 1-18 in 1963-64 and 5-16 in 1964-65. He scored 13 points in limited action in 1962-63, tallied 117 points as a junior and had 181 points during his senior season.
鈥淭he high school burned down my junior year when we went 1-18,鈥� Plevin recalled. 鈥淲e practiced and played our games at German Township High School. I played one year for Tamer Joseph and two years for Tom Marano.鈥�
Fairchance-Georges had a pretty good baseball team when Plevin was in high school. Plevin was a first baseman who also was a Fayette County American Legion All-Star.
鈥淭amer Joseph was an excellent coach and I don鈥檛 think he gets enough credit for what he did,鈥� Plevin opined. 鈥淗e was the baseball coach and unfortunately we didn鈥檛 play in the WPIAL, we played in what they called the Fayette County Baseball League, it was us, North Union, South Union, St. John鈥檚 and Frazier. We won three championships during my sophomore, junior and senior years. We had good baseball teams. We were known for our baseball.鈥�
When Plevin graduated from Fairchance-Georges in 1965, he wound up going to Maryland along with two other Fayette County players: Larry Vince from Brownsville and Ron Maletta from Redstone.
鈥淢aryland and the Air Force Academy were recruiting me,鈥� Plevin explained. 鈥淚 had a chance to go to the Air Force Academy. Ben Martin called me after I had signed with Maryland and he said he had a congressional appointment for me. I signed with Maryland because of assistant coach Hal Hunter. He was a great guy and pointed out all the advantages of going to Maryland.鈥�
Plevin played freshman football at Maryland in 1965.
鈥淲e had a very good freshman team,鈥� Plevin said. 鈥淚 think we were 4-1-1. Tom Nugent was the head coach when I was a freshman. Then Lou Saban was there my sophomore year, he was probably the best coach I ever had. He went to the Denver Broncos and Bob Ward became the coach.鈥�
Plevin played on Terp squads that posted records of 4-6 in 1966, 0-9 in 1967 and 2-8 in 1968.
鈥淚 hurt my knee against Syracuse in 1967,鈥� Plevin recalled. 鈥淚 missed the next game against North Carolina State and after surgery they taped me up and I played on goal line and some other situations the rest of the way and then came back to start as a senior. In 1967, it was a disaster and the losing continued. To suffer through 16 consecutive losses was probably the most down I鈥檝e ever been in sports. We lost our quarterback, Alan Pastrana, for the entire season in 1967, that turned everything upside down. We snapped the losing streak against North Carolina, beating them, 33-24.鈥�
Plevin, who played defensive tackle and defensive end, won the Jim Tatum Memorial Award as the Terps鈥� top defensive lineman in 1968.
鈥淚t was a great honor,鈥� Plevin stated. 鈥淭wo Fayette County guys have won that award; me and Tom Sankovich.鈥�
Plevin was pleased with his career at Maryland.
鈥淚t a great choice to go to Maryland,鈥� Plevin offered. 鈥淚 got a great education and got a business degree and really enjoyed my time there.鈥�
After graduating from Maryland, Plevin went into the banking business with American Securities and Trust Company. He went in to business with his wife at that time, her uncle in Florida, and was in the restaurant and bar business. He did that from 1974 to 1986. In 1986, he went to work for Waste Management in Florida and was with them for 20 years until he had a massive heart attack.
鈥淚 had five blocked arteries,鈥� Plevin said. 鈥淭en days of my life I don鈥檛 remember, they restarted me five times. I was in Clarksburg, West Virginia at the time and was lifeflighted to Ruby Memorial Hospital. I beat the odds and survived.鈥�
Plevin, 68, is retired and divorced, and living in Uniontown. He has two children from previous marriages and has two grandchildren.
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.