Mast was a classic late bloomer, overachiever
By his own admission, Norm Mast was a classic late bloomer and overachiever.
鈥淚 would probably characterize myself as a late bloomer all throughout my athletic career,鈥� Mast stated. 鈥淧hysically, skill wise, it took me longer than a lot of the other guys on the team to get to the point where I was really ready to be a varsity basketball player.鈥�
Mast played basketball at Belle Vernon High School in the late 1960s and was part of teams that went 15-7 in 1966-67 and 14-8 in 1967-68.
鈥淲e were competitive and we were playing in an era when if you didn鈥檛 win your section you didn鈥檛 go to the playoffs,鈥� Mast recalled. 鈥淓very team I played on at Belle Vernon would have been a playoff team under today鈥檚 rules.
鈥淲e had very good talent. We were the first group that played all of our three years as Belle Vernon after the merger as a combined team. We had some talent guys like Rich Planey, who was an excellent ballplayer and great shooter, and Luther McIntyre, who was a wonderful point guard, Terry Cotter, Darrell Wilcox, a big guy. Yes, we had a nice team, we had good balance.鈥�
The 6-foot-2, 160-pound Mast played sparingly as a junior, but blossomed his senior season in 1967-68 and tallied 276 points as a starter, including the high-point game of his career, 24 points in the final game against archrival Monessen.
鈥淏elle Vernon coach Don Asmonga nurtured me as a player more than I deserved to be nurtured,鈥� Mast explained. 鈥淗e stuck with me through thick and thin. I can still remember the start of my senior year and I think the first game I played for him I was so nervous I couldn鈥檛 even dribble the ball and chew gum at the same time. I had just a horrible game, and he never lost confidence in me. After the game he took me aside and said I know you can do better than this and he said I expect it and you are going to do better and away we went. I had a great season after that.鈥�
Mast had a great relationship with Asmonga.
鈥淗e was a second father to me,鈥� Mast said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the best way I can describe it. He was not only a basketball coach, he went way beyond being a coach to being a mentor and someone that I really looked up to. At that time in my life he was someone that offered me guidance and he was really an important part of my life at that time.鈥�
Mast was thrilled with his big senior season for the Leopards.
鈥淲ell, it was a long time, but it was worth the wait,鈥� Mast said. 鈥淚 initially made my mark on that team as a defensive player, someone that could defend very well, and as the season went on I got more confident in my playing ability and the offense came along, but as far as the defensive end of it the highlight for me was when we played Laurel Highlands and I think we held Wil Robinson to his lowest point total of the season with 16 points.鈥�
Area basketball during this period was fantastic.
鈥淢y senior year we played Laurel Highlands and we played Donora twice in section play,鈥� Mast offered. 鈥淟aurel Highlands played Donora and beat them to win the WPIAL title and LH went on to win the state championship. It was an honor to play against those teams and players.
鈥淕rowing up, I was aware of the great teams that Uniontown had. The Uniontown player that I got to know after high school when I was at Penn State was Willie Bryant. In fact, he was one of my closest friends on that Penn State team and we spent a summer as roommates between my junior and senior year.鈥�
Mast went to Penn State after graduating from Belle Vernon in 1968 and he did it the unconventional way with basketball as a walk on.
鈥淚 was an overachiever, a classic gym rat,鈥� Mast stated. 鈥淚 remember the first time we had a tryout for the freshman team. There were like 50 kids there from all over the state of Pennsylvania and beyond. I was flabbergasted that I even made the freshman team, but then the following year I tried out for the varsity. I just loved basketball and I loved the idea of being on the team for my social life as well as my athletic life. I was proud to be a walk on at Penn State.鈥�
Mast walked on the Penn State freshman team and was a walk-on for coach John Bach on the varsity in 1969-70 when the Nittany Lions went 13-11 and 1970-71 when the posted a record of 10-12.
He played sparingly as a walk-on, appearing in two games as a sophomore and one game as a junior. He scored three points in his career with the Nittany Lions.
Mast had great respect for his varsity coach at Penn State, John Bach.
鈥淏ach was a New Yorker through and through,鈥� Mast said. 鈥淗e was always organized. He was interested in the military and his background was military, and he was well organized. He ran a very precise military kind of team.鈥�
Mast graduated with a degree in Liberal Arts from PSU, then when to Pitt and got a degree in Exercise Science as an exercise physiologist. He worked as an exercise specialist in cardiac rehab at Allegheny General Hospital and Mercy Hospital (where he met and became friends with Nellie King during is recovery from his heart attack). Mast left Mercy for Lutheran Service Society where he was a program director and IT coordinator for the agency until he retired in 2016.
He coached Assumption grade school basketball for 10 years and was a basketball official for 10 years in the Golden Triangle Chapter.
Mast, 67, now retired resides in Avalon, Pennsylvania, with his wife of 39 years Janet. They have two grown children, Alex and Naomi, and one grandson Angelo.