Uniontown celebration to include 1925 team, 1,000-point scorers
There will be a lot of history on hand when Uniontown鈥檚 boys basketball team hosts Gateway Friday at A.J. Everhart Memorial Gymnasium.
The Uniontown Area High School Academics, Arts and Athletics Hall of Fame will honor the Red Raiders鈥� four PIAA championship boys basketball teams as well as its 1,000-point scorers before the Section 1-5A game.
The centerpiece of the event is Uniontown鈥檚 1924-25 team, which won the school鈥檚 first state title a century ago.
鈥淭his marks 100 years since the 1925 team won the state championship and we鈥檙e celebrating that, No. 1,鈥� said Uniontown Hall of Fame chairman Tony Mercadante. 鈥淏ut since we only have two surviving relatives from that team 鈥� one is coach Everhart鈥檚 grandson who will be there, and Les Cohen, who can鈥檛 make it 鈥� we decided we鈥檇 honor the 鈥�62, 鈥�64 and 1981 state championship teams and also the 1,000-point scorers. We鈥檝e got 10 or 11 of the 1,000-point scorers coming, a couple guys from the 鈥�62 team, one from the 鈥�64 team and about seven from the 鈥�81 team.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to hold a get-together with some food at 5 p.m. in the cafeteria before Friday鈥檚 game, then introduce everybody in a pregame ceremony.鈥�
Three of the most recent Red Raiders鈥� 1,000-point scorers will be there, as Jamire Braxton and Notorious Grooms hit the mark last season, and Calvin Winfrey III this season. Grooms and Winfrey are current members of the team.
The 1924-25 team went 23-1, with its lone coming to the Pitt freshman team. In the WPIAL playoffs, the Red Raiders defeated Homestead, 24-22, behind 12 points from Charlie Hyatt, Tarentum, 47-27, thanks to 17 points from Cohen and 16 from Hyatt, and Edgewood, 23-16, in the district final, with Cecil Connelly scoring nine points.
In the PIAA playoffs, Uniontown beat Erie East, 30-20, with 12 points from Cohen, Lock Haven, 30-21, and Williamsport, 21-14, in the state final.
The 1924-25 team then was invited to play in a de facto high school national championship tournament in Chicago where it went 2-1.
There will be a couple vintage clips shown at the pregame event.
鈥淲e have one of the 鈥�25 team coming back from the train in Connellsville (after winning the state championship) and one of Ron Sepic, who was on the 鈥�62 state title team, on the Ed Sullivan Show with the high school 1963 All-American team, with Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar),鈥� Mercadante said.
Mercadante also owns a letter that Jabbar sent to Sepic when he was ill on March 20, 2020. Sepic died 11 days later.
鈥淜areem found out Ron was sick and sent that note out to him, which I thought was amazing by him,鈥� Mercadante said. 鈥淩on鈥檚 wife gave me a copy of the letter. Ron was the only Uniontown player to earn that All-American honor.鈥�
Uniontown鈥檚 list of 20 1,000-point scorers is topped by Terrance Vaughns with 1,721 but Grooms is threatening that mark. The senior鈥檚 career total was at 1,524 going into Tuesday night鈥檚 game at McKeesport.
Marc Vassar (1,420) is third, followed by Ray Robinson (1,406), Don Yates (1,344), Billy DeShields (1,329), Dierre Jenkins (1,244), Winfrey (1,231), Braxton (1,201), Greg Gabriel (1,156), Chris Jacobs (1,131), Jordan Pratt (1,108), Mel Freeman (1,103), Junior Mays (1,092), Arnie Belt (1,087), Earl Minor (1,076), Sepic (1,071), Darrin McLee (1,060), Chris Polumbo (1,059) and Kevin Kozup (1,008).
There are four girls who have scored 1,000 points for Uniontown, the most recent being Mya Murray in 2020. Jocelyn Chandler is the school鈥檚 all-time leader scorer, boys and girls combined, at 2,048. Murray finished with 1,363, and is followed by Becky Oglevee (1,261) and Kelsey Sleighter (1,245).