Dream fulfilled: Duncan realized quest of playing for Red Raiders
Submitted photo
Uniontown graduate Brandon Duncan is shown during his playing days at Bethany College.
Franka Bruns
Brandon Duncan (left) is shown during his playing days at Uniontown.
Growing up in New Salem, Brandon Duncan dreamed of wearing the Maroon and White of the Uniontown Red Raiders.
Duncan’s basketball journey began at a young age.
“I was the youngest of four boys,” Duncan offered. “For me I always just wanted to play with the older kids and my house had the basketball hoop in the neighborhood and we were the meeting point for everybody. Literally every single day was about basketball. I played other sports growing up, but my passion was basketball. As I started getting older that home court was where I honed and crafted my game.
“I was also a product of the playground system. My next oldest brother was four years older than I was. Before I had a license he was able to drive me around. Even between New Salem and Uniontown there’s courts at Dunlap Park. Also we played at Leith and other playgrounds. We expanded beyond our hoop at our house and it was always fun playing against older competition.”
Duncan played junior high basketball at Ben Franklin.
“Being from New Salem with two working parents it’s hard to be involved with basketball,” Duncan said. “Back then the Redstone Rec Center wasn’t there. If you wanted to be involved with organized basketball you had to go into town. With both parents working it’s difficult to get that ride into town that I needed.
“I actually didn’t play seventh with the school. I played in YMCA League and piece mill with different members of the family trying to get me to games. Ironically when I was playing in one of those games Joe Galley, who was the seventh and eighth grade football coach, came up to me after a game and said I need to go out for the team. The next year in eighth grade I worked with my family and got a schedule so I could go out for the team.”
Uniontown basketball was already a part of his life.
“Red Raider basketball when I was in seventh and eighth grade, I would read the newspaper about them and follow them closely,” Duncan stated. “They were like the Harlem Globetrotters because to me that was always the Mecca of basketball.
“The funniest thing was when I finally made the varsity team as a sophomore I actually slept in my jersey for the first week because I couldn’t believe it. I was jersey 30 and for me that was one of my favorite players, Scott Winfrey, who had graduated. I always had an appreciation for the Winfreys because of their demeanor on the court, and he was known for great defense and taking the big shot.
“To plug the gap between when I started playing in eighth grade, that’s when Dierre Jenkins, Chris Jacobs, Terrance Vaughns and David Winfrey all started playing as freshmen. For me as closely as I followed them making the varsity team seemed so out of reach for me. Making the varsity was so very special for me.”
Duncan saw action in 2000-2001 as a sophomore on a Uniontown team that went 11-1 in section play and finished 25-6. In the WPIAL playoffs they beat McKeesport, 63-48, Penn Trafford, 54-51, Shaler, 51-39 and were knocked off by Chartiers Valley, 59-55, in the final. In PIAA play the Raiders beat Penn Hills, 75-59, and Pine Richland, 71-63, before losing a heart-breaker to George Junior Republic, 71-70.
Duncan tallied 132 points as a sophomore.
“My sophomore year I actually did start 11 games,” Duncan said. “Jenkins was dealing with some nagging injuries that year. Coach Dave Shuck inserted me and we went 10-1 with me as a starter.
“I was comfortable with my role as a sophomore and a junior. My role was not a scorer, my role was to play good defense and try to take care of the basketball and I knew if I was able to do that and occasionally hit a shot when those opportunities presented themselves I was going to help put our team in a position to win because we already had the scorers on our team. We had great chemistry, that was the magic.”
In 2001-2002 the Red Raiders went 12-0 in Section 2 play and finished with a sparkling 30-2 record. In the WPIAL tournament they downed Pittsburgh Central Catholic, 69-61, Mt. Lebanon, 72-52, and won the WPIAL title beating New Castle, 60-57. In the PIAA playoffs the Red Raiders knocked off Trinity, 70-55, Pittsburgh Central Catholic, 52-49, Erie Cathedral Prep, 48-45 and New Castle, 65-47. In the state championship game they fell to Harrisburg, 69-62.
The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Duncan scored 139 points as a junior.
“My role was as a role player,” Duncan said. “But I really enjoyed it. The whole ride was awesome. Coach Shuck purposely put us in that Las Vegas Tournament to compete against the best and we had one loss and finished in third place. We knew what the expectations were. Harrisburg was an incredibly tough loss.”
Coach Shuck retired following that season and Rob Kezmarsky took over as head coach.
“Coach Shuck could be load, but he was the same guy that would talk fishing in West Virginia streams,” Duncan recalled. “I appreciated coach Shuck from high school more as I moved on. I wish I would have been more mentally strong and soaked it in more than I did.”
Duncan’s role changed drastically his senior season.
“At the beginning of the season we lost five starters and inserted five new people,” Duncan remembered. “Only me with significant experience. It was a difficult transition for me from coach Shuck to coach K. I was a role player, coach K spent time with me on mechanics and on the mental game. I went from being the guy that shot only when I was wide open to everything revolved around me.”
Duncan responded with an outstanding senior campaign, tallying 489 points. He finished his Red Raider career with 760 points.
The 2002-2003 Red Raiders posted a 13-1 section record and finished 20-4 overall. They were upset by Hampton in the WPIAL playoffs, 63-48.
“Kudos to Hampton for having a great game plan,” Duncan lamented. “I was averaging about 20.9 ppg and I had finished my senior year five out of the last seven games scoring 30 or more points a game. I had 39 against Belle Vernon, including 11 three-pointers. Shots didn’t fall against Hampton, kudos to their game plan.”
Duncan cherished the hoop rivalry with Laurel Highlands.
“There is no other game that I would like to go back and relive just the fan experience than the Laurel Highlands-Uniontown game,” Duncan said.
When Duncan graduated in 2003 he played in the Pittsburgh Hoops Classic. He had not played AAU basketball and his college opportunities were limited.
“I didn’t play AAU and didn’t have a ton of exposure and then we lost in the first round of the WPIAL,” Duncan explained. “Stats were nice, but I didn’t have a bunch of opportunities. I had a little interest and 11th hour was offered by Bethany.”
Duncan played two years for Bethany on teams that went 18-9 in 2003-2004 and 24-4 in 2004-2005. He scored 539 career points for the Bison. Injuries and circumstances led him to give up basketball. He graduated from Bethany with a physical education degree in 2007.
He taught physical education at Albert Gallatin and was an assistant basketball coach for three years. He moved in 2010 to Crestwood Local School in Ohio for a year and then embarked on a wide-ranging career in business.
He then worked in the Marcellus Shale industry with T-O Land and Minerals. In 2015 he went to work for Uber Advanced Technologies Group in Pittsburgh with self-driving cars. He went to Argo AI in Pittsburgh in 2017 and left them in 2019. He went back to Uber Technologies Group and he is now with Smith and Nephew in the medical robotics industry.
Now 37, Duncan lives in Pittsburgh with his wife Nicole. They have been married since 2013 and have a baby daughter Mjemjay.
“I use the lessons I learned playing basketball in my job today, building teamwork,” Duncan said. “I try to recreate the core foundation pieces I learned in sports.”
George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” column appears in the Sunday editions of the Ăĺ±±˝űµŘ. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.