Time to forgive Deuce, Red Raider fans
If you鈥檙e a longtime Uniontown basketball fan odds are you recognize the name 鈥淒euce鈥� Skurcenski.
And not in a good way.
For those of you who don鈥檛 know the story, the Red Raiders were playing Farrell in a PIAA state basketball playoff game in 1988 when Deuce, serving as the official scorekeeper, mistakenly credited a Farrell player with a basket that was actually scored by Uniontown蘑菇视频 Dana Vaughns. The two players wore the same number, which caused the confusion.
The error affected the outcome of the game as Uniontown, which should have led by four as time expired in regulation, found itself tied and headed to overtime, where it lost.
It would be the last game for legendary Uniontown coach James 鈥淟ash鈥� Nesser, who died later that year.
Most Red Raider fans never forgave Deuce for the mistake. He was so hated by them that not only did many blame Deuce for that loss but some also, inexplicably, blamed him for Nesser蘑菇视频 death.
Deuce Skurcenski died on Tuesday night at the age of 73.
Uniontown fans may disagree but his death was a sad day for high school sports, and if you still hold some hatred for Deuce, it蘑菇视频 probably time to let it go.
Let me explain why.
First, yes, he made a horrible mistake in the Farrell game, but the blunder could鈥檝e easily been corrected.
The bigger mistake was made by WPIAL executive director Chuck 鈥淎ce鈥� Heberling. You see, by all accounts, the error was caught shortly after it happened. Deuce knew he had made a mistake, as did all parties involved. The logical thing to do then was to simply correct it.
Heberling, however, would not, saying it was an 鈥渦ncorrectable鈥� error, which is what he told the two officials doing the game, Jim Julian and Walter Szala.
Heberling was the one in error, though. The mistake was, indeed, correctable. You could also put some of the fault on Julian and Szala, who should鈥檝e known it was a correctable error.
Had Heberling or either of the officials known the rulebook, any one of them could have set the score right at that time.
It蘑菇视频 too bad Uniontown native Gene Steratore Sr. wasn鈥檛 an official there.
Steratore ran into the same situation years later in a PAC basketball playoff game involving Waynesburg that he was overseeing. A Yellow Jackets鈥� basket was incorrectly given to the opponent. Steratore knew he could correct the score and did so, not wavering despite strong protests from a coach and scorekeeper.
Had Steratore been on the Uniontown-Farrell game I鈥檓 convinced the outcome would鈥檝e been different and Deuce would鈥檝e never received, as he did for years and years, the wrath of Uniontown fans.
Another thing Red Raider fans may not know is that the mistake bothered Deuce. He admitted to me he was embarrassed and saddened by it. This wasn鈥檛 a case of a man trying to cheat another team. He simply made a mistake, one that he always regretted.
Those who knew Deuce knew that he loved high school sports, especially football and basketball, with a passion. He went to thousands of games.
When I first met Deuce, you could see he was rambunctious and loud to the point where he would annoy some of the people around him, but the bottom line was he was an extremely nice and friendly guy who was passionate about sports.
Always smiling, he would spew funny, sometimes corny sayings, but his trademark was an 鈥淎hhhhhh Yeeeeah鈥� he would bellow when he saw a spectacular play. While some would frown, I would always smile at just about everything he said. I was amused by how much fun the guy could have at any game no matter what the score.
Deuce seemed to have a good memory when it came to people. The first time I met him I introduced myself and he never forgot my name. I鈥檇 walk into a game after that and Deuce would see me and immediately say 鈥淢r. Burrr-chan-ti鈥� in a loud, gravelly almost sarcastic voice, and usually add 鈥淗ow are things in Uniontown?鈥� And I鈥檇 always smile and tap him on the back.
Every year that I went to a WPIAL pairings meeting, he would say my name and tell me 鈥淚鈥檝e got something for you,鈥� and scramble to pull out a complete list of every WPIAL coach for that sport and hand it to me. It was a useful list that I always looked forward to securing from him.
While many others would shy away from Deuce, I never minded sitting next to him. His volume level never bothered me, and he was obsessed with keeping just about every statistic he could. If I wasn鈥檛 sure how many rebounds a player had or how many passing yards, he would have it right there and enthusiastically tell me not only what I asked for but a few other stats as well.
Deuce was a good-hearted guy who never meant any harm and enjoyed high school sports immensely.
So if you鈥檙e a Uniontown fan who has never forgiven him for that Farrell game in 1988, perhaps you should think about putting that behind you now.
If I know Deuce, he蘑菇视频 probably up there right now trying to find Lash to tell him he蘑菇视频 sincerely sorry for the mistake he made. And I could see Lash fake like he蘑菇视频 going to hit him with his cane 鈥� but then stick his hand out and say, OK, all is forgiven.
Then Deuce would probably go look for a high school game to watch up there somewhere.
Sports Editor Rob Burchianti can be reached at rburchianti@heraldstandard.com