Overlooked legend: Charleroi grad Saccani was all-time great tennis coach
Richard Saccani cast a big shadow over the sport of tennis in Western Pennsylvania.
His career numbers indicate that he should be in three area Halls of Fame, the Western Pennsylvania 缅北禁地 Hall of Fame, the California University 缅北禁地 Hall of Fame and the WPIAL Hall of Fame. Sadly, he is not in any of them.
Saccani was born in Charleroi, Dec. 15, 1944, where he has been a lifelong resident. His first foray into sports was in baseball. He played baseball until he was nine and then along with a friend, Dan Gottheld, decided to try a different spring sport in high school.
Track became the choice, while Gottheld ended up as the state 100-yard dash champion, Saccani moved on to another sport, tennis.
鈥淚 never gained any notoriety in the other sports,鈥� Saccani offered. 鈥淚 burned out on baseball, my friend Gottheld and I tried track, he was asthmatic, but he still beat me. The only thing left was tennis. I had never hit a tennis ball and the Charleroi tennis coach was Frank DeCoster. I walked down and tried it and I picked it up pretty quickly and had some success.鈥�
During Saccani鈥檚 three years in high school as a member of the Cougar tennis team, the team lost in the WPIAL finals in his sophomore year, and made it to the semifinals in his senior year. He graduated in 1962 with an undefeated singles record, and won the section doubles championship.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have lessons or anything,鈥� Saccani said. 鈥淚 would just watch other players and try to imitate what they did.鈥�
Saccani enrolled at California University of Pa. in the fall of 1962 to major in secondary math education. He had no intentions of playing college tennis, but thought that he might try out for the basketball team. But tennis came back into his life.
鈥淚 never thought about continuing tennis,鈥� Saccani stated. 鈥淚 messed around with basketball for awhile, but my freshman year one of my professors, Alan Welsh, was the tennis coach. He must have known that I played because of articles in the paper. At the end of class one day he said come up and try out for the team and play with us. So I did go play tennis. Once I joined the team I stuck with it for four years.鈥�
During his freshman year, Saccani played doubles on the team. The team won the PSAC Championship and finished fourth in the NAIA tournament. His senior year, the team won the Western Division of the PSAC. Saccani lettered all four years and compiled a 16-1 singles record in the conference.
鈥淚鈥檓 glad I played college tennis,鈥� Saccani said. 鈥淚t was a good experience and I met some real nice guys and I enjoyed it a lot.鈥�
Saccani graduated from Cal in 1966 and was ready for a teaching career. He thought tennis was in the rearview mirror, but fate stepped in again.
Saccani accepted a teaching position at Upper St. Clair High School in 1966. In 1968, he was approached by the administration and was asked if he would be interested in starting a tennis program. He accepted and immediately began to organize a team.
鈥淚 played tournaments around the area, but I had no intention of coaching tennis,鈥� Saccani explained. 鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 have a team at Upper St. Clair and being down there with schools like Mt. Lebanon, so a couple of kids came to me and an administrator and said they wanted to start a team. They saw I had a background and asked if I would coach and I did.鈥�
The rest is history, building a program from the ground up Saccani turned Upper St. Clair into a WPIAL tennis power. Saccani believed that given an athlete, he could develop a tennis player, so he recruited members of the basketball team.
鈥淏ecause of my background in athletics I had a lot of respect for the basketball players, I thought they were the best athletes,鈥� Saccani stated. 鈥淭he basketball players agreed to play and they developed and were a big factor. It was a big help.鈥�
Hard work paid off, and the first-year team finished with an 11-2 record.
鈥淭he only two losses were to Mt. Lebanon,鈥� Saccani recalled. 鈥淲e played them fourth game of the year. Our slogan was 鈥楢 little in our driveway鈥� because when I started I passed out a form and asked about previous tennis experience. Most said none, but one kid named Gordon Edwards wrote 鈥榓 little in our driveway.鈥�
鈥淲hen we played Mt. Lebanon they pointed at us and laughed at us. We didn鈥檛 look like tennis players. I used that as motivation.鈥�
Mt. Lebanon was the kingpin in WPIAL tennis and a heated rivalry soon developed.
The second year brought USC their first section championship, and first ever St. Clair victory over Mt. Lebanon in any sport. It also signified the start of the greatest rivalry in high school tennis in the state of Pa. 鈥� USC vs. Mt. Lebanon. By the fourth year (1971), USC won their first WPIAL Team Championship. Their next WPIAL Championship would come in 1975.
鈥淚t was an unbelievable rivalry with Mt. Lebanon,鈥� Saccani offered. 鈥淚t was a rivalry where they had to AD鈥檚 at the matches. We needed police to direct traffic because of huge crowds.
鈥淲e became a tennis power and we tried to do it with class.鈥�
In 1975, the Pennsylvania 缅北禁地 Hall of Fame (Western Chapter) presented Saccani with their Coach鈥檚 Award. Also in 1975, the Pittsburgh Triangles won the World Team Tennis Championship, led by Evonne Goolagong and Vitas Gerulaitis. They were coached by the legendary Australian, Vic Edwards. Saccani had developed a friendship with Edwards. When Edwards left the team in 1976, he encouraged Saccani to contact Frank Fuhrer, the owner of the Triangles, about the vacant coaching position.
鈥淓dwards and I became very close,鈥� Saccani explained. 鈥淚 was asked to interview, but he sold out in 1976. I continued coaching Upper St. Clair.鈥�
In 1980, Saccani was the recipient of the most prestigious award for a high school tennis coach. The Middle States Tennis Association (Del, N.J., Pa.,W.Va.), a branch of the United States Tennis Association, presented him with the Coach of the Year Award. In this same year, he was also named the Coach of the Year for the Allegheny Mountain Tennis Association.
Saccani retired from coaching at Upper St. Clair after 24 years in 1991. He finished with seven WPIAL Team Titles (No classifications existed during this time. These titles represented a first-place finish out of 152 schools in the WPIAL.) He coached six PIAA State Champions, 16 individual WPIAL Champions, 29 Division I players, and six players on the National Amateur Tour. Saccani compiled an overall 404-41 dual match record, for a .908 winning percentage.
鈥淩etiring was a tough decision,鈥� Saccani said. 鈥淚 loved those kids and to this day I keep in touch with them. I taught math and engineering and I retired in 2001 as a teacher.鈥�
He wasn鈥檛 finished with tennis. In the fall of 1990, three weeks before the start of the women鈥檚 tennis season at California University of Pa., their head coach took ill and Saccani was asked to fill in and run the team. At that time, Saccani was on a half-year sabbatical from Upper St. Clair and was able to accept the position.
Saccani still had the Midas touch and turned the Cal U program into a juggernaut.
鈥淐al U president Dr. John Watkins and AD Jan McConnell asked me to take over,鈥� Saccani said. 鈥淚 took over 15 days before the start of the season and that鈥檚 how I ended up there.鈥�
That first team finished the year with an 8-4 record. The four losses represented the last time that California suffered defeat under Saccani. He put together a team that in 1991 went 22-0, won the PSAC Conference and set an all-time conference record by scoring 34 out of a possible 36 points, won the Eastern Regional Championship in New York City, won the individual Rolex National Championship in Corpus Christi, Texas, and ranked No. 1 nationally in Division II Tennis.
Saccani continued to coach at California for two more years. The team was undefeated in dual matches both years, despite the fact that they played numerous Division I teams. He was named PSAC Conference Coach of the Year in 1991 and 1993. His teams won conference titles in 1991 and 1993 and was runner-up in 1992. In 1992, once again team members qualified for the national and individual championship by winning the Rolex Eastern Regional Championship in New York City.
鈥淚 was there four years,鈥� Saccani recalled. 鈥淚t was tougher there than it was at Upper St. Clair. We really did things the right way at USC. I had to fight some battles when the administration changed after the first two years and Watkins and McConnell were gone.鈥�
Saccani retired from California at the end of the 1993 season with a 51-game winning streak. His four-year record at California was 58-4, a .936 winning percentage. The PSAC chose his 51-game winning streak as one of the top 50 greatest sporting accomplishments in the history of the conference.
Now, 77, Saccani who is not married, resides in Charleroi. He was inducted into the Upper St. Clair Hall of Fame in 2013. Saccani鈥檚 final overall coaching record from 1968-1993 is 462-45, a .911 winning percentage. It is a grave oversite that he is not in the Western Chapter of the Pennsylvania 缅北禁地 Hall of Fame, the Cal U Hall of Fame and the WPIAL Hall of Fame.
鈥淟ooking back I never would have dreamed that coaching would be my way through life,鈥� Saccani stated. 鈥淚t turned out to be a great ride.鈥�
George Von Benko鈥檚 鈥淢emory Lane鈥� column appears in the Sunday 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.