Remembering Paul Rusko: Uniontown grad had major impact on Maryland wrestling
Submitted photo
Pictured is the Anne Arundel County 缅北禁地 Hall of Fame plaque awarded to Uniontown graduate Paul Rusko in 1994.
Submitted photo
Paul Rusko
Perusing my mailbag recently I found a note informing that former Uniontown Red Raider Paul Rusko passed away on Dec. 16, 2020, at the age of 86.
Rusko was a link to the Red Raiders glorious past. He played football and wrestled in the early 1950s. He was a part of some pretty good Uniontown football squads.
In Rusko鈥檚 sophomore season in 1949, the Red Raiders posted a record of 7-3. In 1950, Uniontown went 9-1. The lone loss was 20-7 to Latrobe in the final game of the season in front of 7,000 fans at Latrobe.
The Red Raiders bounced back in Rusko鈥檚 senior campaign in 1951 to post the first undefeated season in school history at 10-0. They avenged the Latrobe loss in 1951, swamping the Wildcats 46-0. Uniontown didn鈥檛 win the WPIAL title because of the Gardener points system. Farrell and Munhall beat the Red Raiders out by a few points. Uniontown garnered 127 Gardner points.
Uniontown notched three consecutive Fayette County Class AA titles. Thirteen players from the 1951 squad went on to play college football.
Wrestling is the sport where Rusko made his mark. In an article in the 缅北禁地 in 2011 Rusko explained how he got involved in wrestling.
鈥淚 went to high school in Uniontown and wrestled two years for Max Zane at 147 pounds. In those days, the ninth graders were not at the high school, they were still in the junior high building.
鈥淢ax had wrestled at Waynesburg College, and he came to Uniontown in 1949 when Bill Power came over from Point Marion. One day Max brought his wrestling team to Ben Franklin to put on an assembly for us, and that was the first time I had ever seen scholastic wrestling.
鈥淲hen I got to high school, I went out for the sport and ended up wrestling two years for Max.鈥�
Rusko had a couple of good seasons wrestling for the Red Raiders.
鈥淚 was doing pretty good my second year on the varsity,鈥� Rusko recalled. 鈥淚 was undefeated for a while, until the regionals. I remember Chartiers and Trinity had some good teams. I wrestled Ed DeWitt, who went on to wrestle for Pitt and the United States in the Olympics, and was doing well against him until late in the bout when he reversed me.鈥�
Rusko after graduating from Uniontown in 1952 eventually wound up going to school at Lock Haven.
After high school, Paul 鈥渢ook a year off and helped my uncle, Lou Genovese with his race horses, but one year of that was enough for me. I wanted to get into college. John Kruper, who was then at Uniontown, had graduated from Lock Haven and he recommended me to Hubert Jack, who was coaching wrestling there.鈥�
He then went on to wrestle three years at Lock Haven at 157 and 167 and earned second place in the Pa. State College Tournament at the latter weight. He also played fullback on the Bald Eagles football team.
After U.S. Army service, Rusko accepted a position with the Severna Park High School system in Maryland, where he started the school鈥檚 wrestling program, and later on organized the first public school wrestling tournament in Maryland.
Rusko then took some time off and went to Springfield College (Mass.) to do graduate work, along with coaching the freshmen wrestling team.
After earning his master鈥檚 degree, Rusko returned to the administrative office of Anne Arundel County as Assistant Superintendent of Physical Education. He held that position until 1970, and then joined the Maryland State Dept. of Education as Supervisor of Physical Education and secretary of the Maryland Secondary Public Schools Athletic Assn. While there, he started the first Maryland state wrestling tournament.
Rusko also was a longtime wrestling official. Rusko served on the National Federation Wrestling Rules Committee, Region Two, which embraces Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. He retired in 1991.
鈥淚 had a lot of good years in wrestling,鈥� Rusko stated.
Rusko was inducted into the first class of the Maryland State Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1975 and received the Lifetime Service to Wrestling award from the Maryland Chapter of The National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2005. He was inducted into the Anne Arundel County 缅北禁地 Hall of Fame in 1994.
鈥淧aul Rusko鈥檚 legacy is one of devotion to students, to athletics, and to the values of sportsmanship and fair play,鈥� Bob Mosier, chief communications officer for Anne Arundel County Public Schools, said in a statement. 鈥淗e made an indelible mark on our school system and our county that will never be erased, and we are saddened by his passing.鈥�
Rusko died at Peninsula General Hospital in Salisbury, Maryland from complications due to a thoracic aortic dissection that occurred while he was playing tennis.
Rusko left a big footprint on wrestling in Maryland. It鈥檚 a strange twist of fate that his love of the sport started by attending a high school assembly.
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.