Most sports fans know about the famous athletes who served during their professional careers. Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and Willie Mays would have even more impressive stats if not for their military service. Football fans know the stories of Rocky Bleier and Pat Tillman. Boxer Joe Louis even volunteered to serve in an Army that was still segregated. But how many know of those young men in Greene County that gave up the prime years of their athletic careers to serve a greater cause?
Here in Greene County, Rogersville baseball legend Bert Crouse was considered the best pitcher in the county at the close of the 19th century. This was during an era when a handful of local players went on to play professionally. However, Crouse enlisted to help fight the Spanish-American War. He went on to pitch Company K to the regimental baseball championship in the Philippines in 1899 during a lull in the fighting. Many other young men in the area also answered the call to service in the Pacific, which caused Waynesburg College to pause its new athletic programs.
Even more young men answered the call for World War I. Waynesburg High School’s first football teams played well against much larger schools such as Uniontown and Charleroi. Two of the best players on those teams were James Farrell and William Throckmorton. After graduation, they postponed college and enlisted to fight with Company K. Farrell became the first casualty from Greene County in the Great War, and Throckmorton was ill-fated to be one of the men of Company K killed in France on Rain Day, 1918. Farrell had been the high scorer in a spirited basketball game in which Company K defeated Washington’s Company H right before the units departed for Europe. During this time, the smaller county high schools cancelled most of their fledgling athletic programs. Waynesburg College also saw its enrollment dip dramatically in those years. On a Saturday night in 1917, a large crowd witnessed the Waynesburg College basketball team get blanked 21-0 by Waynesburg High School. Most of the college boys had joined Company K and the war effort.
The Second World War involved four times the number of American soldiers as the previous war. Here at home, the high school football seasons of 1942 and 1943 were shortened to five games because of gas rationing; West Greene contributed to the war effort by turning the athletic fields at Golden Oaks Park into cornfields. The Waynesburg City League was one of the few baseball leagues in the region to survive the shortage of players during that time. Throughout the 1930s, the 12-team league was awash with talented players who flocked to the area to play for company sponsored teams. By 1945, there were only four teams left in the league: Army-Navy, The Waynesburg Pirates, the Little Mikes and the Old Timers. With most of the young men involved in the war effort, the players ranged in age from 15-55. The Little Mikes beat the Old Timers for the championship.
Fred “Budge” Tustin pitched for Waynesburg High School from 1934-37, where he set the WPIAL career and season strikeout records. He left Waynesburg College after his freshman year to enter the Brooklyn Dodgers’ organization. He then spent three years in the minor league Pennsylvania State Association. By 1944, he had risen to Class AAA ball playing for the Albany Senators, which was a Pirate’s affiliate. He went 15-4 that year, but he entered the army after the season. While in the Pacific, he had an 18-5 record for the Fifth Air Force team. Upon his return, he was 28 years old and failed to make the final leap to the majors.
On the gridiron, Jack Wiley played for Wind Ridge High School and Waynesburg College. He started for the Jackets in the first televised football game against Fordham in 1939. After graduation, he joined the army and rose to the rank of captain. When he returned after the war, he made the Pittsburgh Steelers’ roster, despite his age, in an amazing display of determination. He started at tackle from 1946-50 and was one of the first football players to have his likeness on a trading card. Wiley returned to Waynesburg to coach the Jackets from 1951-54.
In 1941, the Jackets started with only 19 boys left on the team after the draft. Despite the rebuilding effort, the Jackets won a “moral victory” when they lost to WVU 13-7 on a last-minute touchdown. That Mountaineer team lost to Penn State, Army, and Michigan State by a combined 10 points. That Jacket squad finished 4-4-1 and saw Nick George became the school’s first All-American. After losing even more players to the war effort, the 1942 team finished 3-5 under coach Mark Booth. A close game against WVU was considered a moral victory because the following week they beat Penn State 24-0. The Mountaineers had also defeated South Carolina and Kentucky before fighting powerful Tennessee to a tie. Coach Booth reported to the U.S. Navy immediately after the final game, and all athletic programs were suspended for the duration of World War II.
Mike “Mo” Scary also played football and basketball at Waynesburg College in that era. When the Jackets hosted the Duquesne University basketball team in 1941, the game had to be moved to the new high school gym because the Armory could not hold the crowd. Scarry was the team’s leading scorer but was drafted mid-season and reported immediately for duty. After his service, he went on to play football for the Cleveland Rams in 1944 and 1945. Scary came back to Waynesburg to coach the Jackets from 1963-65 and went on to win two Super Bowl rings as a line coach for the Miami Dolphins.
In 1941, Dan Abraham of Canonsburg was the Jackets’ first wrestling recruit who had won a state championship. He was followed by Waynesburg’s state champ Bucky Murdock. The two formed a nucleus that started the transition of the program into a national power. The season ended with a 6-1 record and victories over WVU, Kent State, and Akron. Murdock finished the season undefeated and won the Tri-State Intercollegiate Championship. After that season, the program was suspended until after the war. Murdock entered the army and put his education on hold. He became one of the nation’s first helicopter pilots and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for rescuing a downed pilot in Burma. After the war, he returned home and became the Jackets head coach from 1947-63 (except for two years when he returned to the military for the Korean War). His teams regularly defeated Pitt, West Virginia, Ohio State, and Purdue. In fact, they never lost to a Big 10 team. Four times his teams were ranked in the Top 10 in the country.
Murdock’s two greatest recruits also saw their careers interrupted by the Korean Conflict. George Lewis was a three-time Pennsylvania state champion. After coming to Waynesburg College, he won the 1948 NCAA Title and became a two-time All-American after finishing fourth in 1952. His education and career had been put on hold for three seasons while he served in the U.S. Army. Wash High’s Tony “Babe” Gizoni was undefeated for seven years in high school and college, winning 108 straight matches. He went on to win back-to-back NCAA Division I Championships and finished with a career 52-0 record. He was also voted Outstanding Wrestler in 1950 when, as an unseeded wrestler, he defeated a two-time defending national champion in the finals. He repeated his junior year: however, he left his competitive days on the mat behind in 1952 when he decided to serve in the army where he earned a Bronze Star for bravery in combat. In addition, Waynesburg High School’s Tom Alberts won state titles in 1949 and 1950. However, the NCAA Title he won at Pitt would have to wait until 1957 because he spent four years in the United States Navy.
On the diamond, Carmichaels’ John “Tommy” Masuga debuted for the Cleveland Indian’s Pittsfield affiliate in 1948. In his second year, he had 20-8 record, which was followed by a solid 12-7 campaign for Wilkes-Barre. However, after that season, his career was cut short when he was called to the Army to serve during the Korean War. Steve Korcheck, another Mike, attended George Washington University before playing parts of four seasons with the Washington Senators. Korcheck had scholarship offers from every major college, but he chose George Washington because they allowed him to play baseball and football. In 1953-54, he was named an All-American in football and the Southern Conference Player of the Year in both sports. He was drafted with the 35th overall selection by the San Francisco 49ers. However, he decided to play baseball. He appeared in 58 games for the Senators from 1954-59 as a catcher. However, his career was interrupted by a two-year military stint in 1956 and 1957.
In September of 1958, Jefferson High School’s Chuck Coles played five games in the outfield for the Cincinnati Reds. He was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers at a try-out camp in Carmichaels in 1950 and started his career in the Georgia- Florida League, where he was named an All-Star and Rookie of the Year after leading the league in hitting (.355). He made it to the AA Mobile Bears of the Southern Association before a two-year military stint interrupted his career. Coles’ teammate at Jefferson High School, Dick Gray also started his career as a third baseman with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1950. He was with the Miami Sun Sox before he too was called to military service. Eventually, he became the starting third baseman for the Dodgers in their opening series in 1958 against the San Francisco Giants. He hit the first home run in Los Angeles Dodgers history in that series. Upon the team’s return to the cavernous LA Memorial Coliseum, Gray became the first person to homer in that historic venue.
Finally, Fred Hughes played football at Waynesburg High School and received a scholarship to the University of Louisville as a center. His college career was cut short when he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1952. After his discharge, he played for both the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams in several preseason campaigns but never made the final cut. Like all these young men, I’m sure he wondered what might have been if fate and Uncle Sam had not intervened. However, I am confident all these heroes, and the thousands of other Greene County men who served, fully understood the relative importance of athletics versus service to their country. Given their commitment, it is important we remember their sacrifice and, in fact, the service of all our military veterans.