Worry was two-sport star at Bellmar, Pfeiffer College
Submitted photo/
Bellmar蘑菇视频 Vic Worry poses for a photo while playing for Pfeiffer College in 1967. Pictured are (from left) coach Joe Ferebee, Worry, Jack Cooke and Monty Montgomery.
Bellmar蘑菇视频 Vic Worry is shown during his playing days at Pfeiffer College.
Submitted photo
Submitted photo
Vic Worry is shown during his basketball playing days at Bellmar High School.
Vic Worry is a forgotten name from the area蘑菇视频 glorious sports history. Worry was a two-sport standout at Bellmar High School during the 1960s.
Worry started at a young age in athletics.
鈥淢y mom and dad never pushed me, they were supportive,鈥� Worry remembered. 鈥淚 played in a recreation league, but my first start in organized baseball was for Perryopolis in the Fayette County VFW Teener League, that was for 13 to 15 year olds.鈥�
On the hardwood Worry was part of some very competitive teams for Bellmar. As a sophomore coming off the bench he was on a team that posted a record of 9-11 overall and 4-10 in Section 5 play in 1962-63. The following season the Hurricanes went 15-6 overall and 9-5 in the section.
In Worry蘑菇视频 senior campaign in 1964-65 Bellmar finished 14-7 with a 10-4 mark in Section 5 action.
鈥淭hat section we were in along with Section 3 with Beaver Falls, Aliquippa and Ambridge were the two toughest sections,鈥� Worry recalled. 鈥淲e were either the smallest or one of the smallest schools in the area. We really were good for a small school, we had a good team and my junior year we had Uniontown on the run on our court. Uniontown coach Abe Everhart would run those two teams at you and press the whole game and we ran out of steam in the second half.
鈥淢y senior year we had a nice nucleus coming back and our center in the second game of the season blew out his knee and that was the end of him. For the size of our school and playing Uniontown, Charleroi, Monongahela and Donora we actually had a pretty good team.鈥�
The 6-foot-3, 180-pound Worry tallied 103 points as a sophomore, 281 points as a junior and 390 points as a senior, for a career total of 774 points. During his senior season Worry had back-to-back, career-high, 30-point games against Monongahela and Donora.
Worry had a very good relationship with basketball coach Ken Clark.
鈥淗e was a good coach, in fact he lived like two streets behind me where I grew up,鈥� Worry said. 鈥淗e was an excellent coach. He stressed fundamentals and we had a pretty nice team, and we all got along with each other.鈥�
Worry was second team All Section in basketball as a junior and first team All Section as a senior.
On the baseball diamond Worry was on Bellmar蘑菇视频 first baseball squad in 1963.
鈥淢y sophomore year was the first year that Bellmar had baseball,鈥� Worry offered. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 do very well, we were middle of the pack in the section that first year. We had to scrounge around to get uniforms. Some of us got uniforms from several schools including the old Marion High School from the 1940s so we looked like a bunch of ragamuffins.鈥�
In 1964 with the legendary Bap Manzini at the helm, Bellmar, in its second season of baseball, tied Monongahela for the Section 15 baseball title, but lost in a playoff game played at Charleroi.
Worry helped lead Bellmar to the school蘑菇视频 first baseball section crown in 1965. The Hurricanes beat Beth-Center in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs, but lost in the quarterfinals to Beaver Falls, 1-0. Worry tossed a four-hitter in the loss. Bellmar finished with a 13-3 record.
鈥淢y junior and senior year the football coach Manzini was our baseball coach,鈥� Worry stated. 鈥淗e was just a good coach and coaches can coach anything.
鈥淗e didn鈥檛 know a lot of the nuances in baseball and my teammates didn鈥檛 know this, but everyday of a game about one o鈥檆lock in the afternoon they would call my name on the PA system to report to the teacher蘑菇视频 lounge, and I would walk in there and go though a haze of smoke and Bap was sitting way in the back and he would have the scorebook and he would say write down the starting lineup because he didn鈥檛 know like number 鈥�7鈥� was left field and number 鈥�5鈥� was third base. So I would write the starting lineups and he would take the book and when we鈥檇 play he鈥檇 read the starting lineup. He knew enough to inspire us. We only had 11 or 12 guys that were on the team.鈥�
Worry had an outstanding career playing American Legion baseball.
鈥淲hat happened was Fayette City and Belle Vernon never had legion teams,鈥� Worry said. 鈥淪o we were able to go anywhere that we wanted to go. Most of the guys on our high school team either went over and played with the Charleroi Magicians or the Monessen Ozarks. I played at Perryopolis and the catcher that I had, Bernie Seruga, and some of the other guys were going up to play in Connellsville to play American Legion ball. Bernie was the best receiver I ever had in my career, so it was an easy decision for me to go to Connellsville.鈥�
Worry tossed a no-hitter versus Point Marion in 1965 for Connellsville, recording 14 strikeouts. He also played in the 1965 American Legion East-West All Star game.
鈥淭he last year I played legion ball at Monessen,鈥� Worry said. 鈥淚 got an extra year of eligibility and had taken a job after my freshman year in college working at a wholesale grocery. I told Connellsville I like to stay closer to home. The problem was Connellsville didn鈥檛 give me a release and I played in seven games and they had a hearing and ruled me ineligible, so I quit after seven games.鈥�
When Worry graduated from Bellmar in 1965 he would up playing college basketball and baseball in North Carolina at Pfeiffer College.
鈥淧ress Maravich was coaching at North Carolina State and he was recruiting around the Christmas break and he saw me play basketball a couple of times and he said he wanted me to come down and work out and see if we can give you a scholarship,鈥� Worry explained. 鈥淭he problem was I went right from basketball into baseball and we had the good team in the playoffs. I couldn鈥檛 get down to NC State until after the school year.
鈥淚 got there the end of May and worked out, Coach Maravich said I鈥檇 like to have you, but I鈥檝e only got one more scholarship left and he had his eye on a big man. He said there is an excellent small college conference in the Carolinas and he knew a coach and he made a phone call and the coach contacted me and then John Miller, who became a legendary coach at Blackhawk High School, went to Pfeiffer and was finishing up his graduate work. When I worked out with him he recommended me and also told me about the excellent baseball program they had. It was almost like a godsend that I ended up at Pfeiffer.鈥�
At Pfeiffer Worry played basketball and baseball.
鈥淚 played four years of college basketball,鈥� Worry stated. 鈥淢y freshman year I was sixth man until about the middle of the season. We were pretty good my freshman year and then my sophomore year we lost a lot of guys. My junior and senior year we were inexperienced and it was a good conference. I played good and averaged double figures.鈥�
Pfeiffer baseball was very good. Worry helped lead Pfeiffer to the NAIA National Tournament in St. Joe, Missouri in 1968. His record was 11-1 and the team was 37-6. Worry led the NAIA with 155 strikeouts. Worry was an NAIA All American as a junior and senior. In 1969 Worry was named to Topps All American NAIA Division.
鈥淭he baseball team was one of the best in the country,鈥� Worry said. 鈥淥ur coach, Joe Ferebee, was a legendary coach. He had over 40 players during his tenure that got drafted by MLB. That 1968 team was inducted into the Pfeiffer College Hall of Fame.
鈥淕oing to Pfeiffer was one of the best things that ever happened to me.鈥�
In 1968 Worry played in the Shenandoah Baseball League and won a championship with Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Worry was drafted in the 19th round by the Mets in the 1969 MLB June amateur draft. The lefty played one season at Marion in the Appalachian League and was 2-0 with an 11.77 ERA.
鈥淚 was older, 21 years old, out of college and they wanted to send me to California. I was getting married and wanted to stay in the East,鈥� Worry recalled. 鈥淭hey sent me to the Rookie League and I started two games and did okay. I went back home for two days and got married. When I came back they put me in the bullpen. I had never pitched in the bullpen and it didn鈥檛 go well. I never adjusted to the bullpen. I parted ways with the Mets, and I was with the wrong team at the wrong time.鈥�
He went into the insurance business with several companies and retired in 2009 after 40 years in the business.
Worry 75, resides in Elverson, Pa., with his second wife Katherine. They have been married 33 years and have one son named Michael.