Remembering Paul Lancaster, a true pro
When former California Area Athletic Director Chris Minerd reached out Tuesday to inform me that Paul Lancaster had passed away, it took several seconds until I could respond.
Not Paul, one of the most selfless people I have ever met.
Our connection started almost 20 years ago when I would cover games that he was officiating or umpiring.
The games were always well-called and were never about him, which is what you look for in an official.
It was a given that if Paul was on a game, it was going to be called down the middle.
When I was the freshman basketball coach at Charleroi and then at Belle Vernon, we would often play games at Laurel Highlands.
It was then that I really got know Paul, who would often officiate the games there.
I quickly learned why Paul was a tremendous official and even though we did not always see eye to eye on calls he made, we would always laugh about the friendly disagreements later.
Knowing that his sons went to Laurel Highlands, I would always playfully roll my eyes when I would see him on games there and I would remind him that I knew we weren鈥檛 going to get any calls! It was all done in fun and with complete respect, even when I coached against one of his sons and Paul was on the game.
Never once did the thought of any of his calls favoring his son cross my mind.
He was the epitome of what officials should be about, and more times than not people didn鈥檛 even notice who was officiating because Paul was that fair.
In recent years, he would reach out to me when he was looking for Penn State football tickets when he would go up to visit one of his sons.
My most recent communication with Paul had been in July when I shared a piece I did on the passing of legendary Monessen girls basketball coach, Major Corley.
Paul replied back, 鈥淕od bless him. Always enjoyed working his games! A class act! He will always be remembered.鈥�
It is ironic that he used those exact words about Major because I guarantee there are many who are saying the exact same thing about Paul now.
A highly respected college baseball official, I tried for a few years to do a piece on Paul for the 缅北禁地, but he would always tell me about someone else who deserved the coverage.
One example was his dear friend Joe Volpe, another official/umpire that I have the utmost respect for.
Paul called me in 2018 and told me that Joe had just umpired his second NCAA Division II Collegiate World Series.
For over 20 minutes, Paul tried to sell me on doing a story on Joe, who I consider a mentor and friend, but little did Paul know that I was sold the second I answered the phone.
Paul would do this occasionally with others who he felt deserved some recognition in the paper, but he never did let me do that feature on him.
With Paul, it was never about himself.
Paul put his family before himself, he put his friends and peers before himself and anyone who knew Paul will never have a bad word to say about him.
Sure, it can be said that with calls, officials can only make half of the fans happy half the time.
But with Paul, he wasn鈥檛 worried about who was happy with his calls as he strived to make the right call every time.
When it came to the sports he officiated, Paul always wanted to be in the background.
But for this one time, hopefully Paul is grinning down and realizes that his professionalism and character set a great example not only for his sons to follow, but also for those of us lucky enough to know him.
This isn鈥檛 the type of feature I wanted to do on Paul, and I am sure he is looking down shaking his head as if to wonder why I am not giving the space to someone else who 鈥渄eserves it more鈥� than he does, like he would always say to me when I tried in the past.
That is the Paul I will always remember, the type of person who always made everything about anyone but himself.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Paul鈥檚 wife Jackie, their sons Matt (and wife Danielle), Nick and Greg, and grandkids Donata and Jude, as well as all of their family members and friends.