I've never written an essay before with this many topics:
Alle-Catt Baseball
North Tier Basketball
New York State Wrestling
Big 30 Football Game
Potter-McKean Little League Baseball
NYS Track and Field
Professional Minor League Baseball
High School Football
Potter-McKean Teener League Baseball
NYS Tri-County Baseball
I honestly have to state that I didn't plan to write this on Father's Day, but it couldn't be more appropriate. Maybe somewhere deep inside where memories begin and coincidences don't exist, an idea is born.
I met Bob Dunsmore, his son, Stan and Chuck Kovach and his son, Kent through the same venue, little league baseball.
Bob Dunsmore I knew Bob first from watching him as a catcher for the Shinglehouse Alle-Catt team. Chuck was an outstanding pitcher on many of those clubs, but I never saw him pitch. (Believe me, I would have remembered the ex-minor league hurler and his dominance in the A-C League.)
Stan and Kent played for the Shinglehouse Little League during my initial two years of coaching the Eldred LL team. I was still in college, 19 or 20 years old, and for me, possessing the best summer job in the world.
I personally met Bob and Chuck at one of our little league contests, but the time spent was brief. They were not coaches on the team (Jim Wood was the manager of the team and did an outstanding job), but it was obvious that both Stan and Kent had received top-flight instruction and had excellent skills for 11 year-old players.
Chuck Kovach was born in Pittsburgh and attended Mt. Union College in Ohio.
Chuck's final baseball season at Mt. Union was 1962, a year that saw him lead his team in wins (8), ERA (0.93), strikeouts and the all-around player was also his squad's home run leader (4).
He signed a contract with the Cleveland Indians that summer and played for their Class D team in Selma (Alabama-Florida League). The 21-year-old started nine games (5-2 overall), pitching 51 innings, allowing only 47 hits and striking out 66 hitters.
Chuck advanced to the Class A Carolina League in 1963 and the 5'11, 185 pound, right-hander went 17-11 in 27 starts. He threw 195 innings and allowed only 160 hits while striking out 174.
That season earned him a promotion in 1964 and a giant leap forward to the AAA, Pacific Coast League (Portland). Unfortunately, it was a limited year with only 13 innings pitched.
1965 saw Chuck in the AA Eastern League with the Reading Indians tossing 92 innings, finishing 6-8 in 13 starts, but with a 2.84 ERA.
Four of Chuck's 1965 wins, two over Springfield, one against Elmira and Pittsfield.
This clip of Chuck's three-hitter versus the Pittsfield Red Sox mentions Red Sox slugger, George Scott. "Boomer" made his major league debut in 1966 with Boston. He was a three- time ML All-Star and won eight Gold Gloves. The first baseman hit .268 and hit 271 homers in a 14 year major league career.
Chuck Kovach passed away in March 2020 at the age of 79.
Kent Kovach was an 11-year-old left/left first baseman for the Shinglehouse Little League team in 1974. I was only seven years removed from the league as a Potter-McKean LL player in 1967, but now looking at the league from a completely different perspective as a coach.
The structure of the league had barely changed. Shinglehouse, Austin, Coudersport, Roulette, Eldred and Port Allegany were the members with Port Allegany eventually creating two teams (Phillies and Pirates).
The teams were very well-coached with men like Gerald Duffee (Austin) and the before mentioned, Jim Wood plus Ernie Kuratomi (Coudersport), Bill Darush (Roulette), Bob Taylor (Port Allegany) and others with only a few coaching changes during my four year tenure.
I've included some P-M League clippings during my early years in the league. Some of them include some blowout losses by Eldred, especially against Shinglehouse, but fortunately we learned and improved and most impressively, teams like Shinglehouse handled those victories with proper behavior and sportsmanship.
There's no doubt that the league was competitive, but coaches and their teams showed respect and fair play that isn't necessarily present in all venues.
As 11 and 12-year-old players, Kent Kovach and Stan Dunsmore were excellent players, but, maybe it's best explained by Mike Barr, a former player from Roulette and teammate of both Shinglehouse players in all-star competition
1975 Potter-McKean All Star Team in Sayre, Pa. Kent and Stan are in the center of the photo with green hats and sleeves.
"They were great teammates on the all-star squads we played on. They were fun guys with great personalities. They were well-coached and their techniques in fielding and hitting were excellent," Barr stated.
Opening game of District 15 playoffs, 16-6 win for P-M, 1975
All-Star team was coached by Ernie Kuratomi (Coudersport) and Bob Taylor(Port Allegany Pirates) Roster included Dunsmore, Kovach, Mark Meacham and Pete Drake (Shinglehouse), Randy Taylor and Rick Robinson (Pirates), Dan Daniels and Don Black (Phillies), Dan Lutinski (Austin) and John Henry Welch (Eldred) NOTE: Several names are missing.
Kovach, Pete Drake and Mark Meacham homer in another Shinglehouse win and Mike Barr's clutch HR leads Roulette to a victory.
1975 P-M All-Star squad with Jim Wood as manager and Bill Darush coaching.
Kovach, Dunsmore, Roger Dietze and Meacham homer for Shinglehouse.
Line score for 15-14 P-M All-Star win and headlines below. District 15 champs.
Bob Dunsmore was a Philipsburg native and a graduate of Lock Haven University. He also earned his Master's Degree from Ithaca College.
Bob was the head football coach at Bolivar High School (Bolivar-Richburg) for 22 years. His teams were 115-72-5 with undefeated seasons in 1974 and 1979. The '74 team was led by Bob Torrey, running back for Penn State and eventually an NFL player.
Bolivar win seven league titles and made eight appearances in the Section V playoffs.
Bolivar players (left to right)- Bob Torrey, Randy Sloat and Mike Ahl. This was the 1972 season preview for Bolivar, Bob's second year as coach. His opening season was 0-7 as he began to restructure the football program and put them on a subsequent path of excellence. Torrey was a sophomore in '72.
Coach Dunsmore was twice named Big 30 Coach of the Year and is a member of the Allegany County Athletic Hall of Fame and the Section V Hall of Fame.
One of Bob's former players said, "He loved the school and the community, He was tight with a lot of communities. Even though he lived in Shinglehouse, he was always here supporting all sports teams and functions."
Long-time administrator in the Bolivar-Richburg school system, Kelly Lounsberry, also served as Coach Dunsmore's defensive coordinator for a number of years.
Lounsberry remarked, "On a personal level, the one word that comes to mind with Bob is loyalty. I've never seen anybody as loyal to the kids as he was. It was never the kids who lost a game. No matter how well he prepared you, there was going to be an occasional fumble or penalty, but Bob never blamed the kids. He would always say that he had to do a better job of preparing them."
Preview of year #3 for Dunsmore's football program
Another football preview with four of Coach Dunsmore's linebackers: left to right- Dave Button, Barry McKay, Bob Giles and Brian Morrison.
Bob taught physical education, health and driver's education and at various times coached basketball, wrestling and baseball. In later years, he umpired baseball games.
Bob Dunsmore passed away in 2016 at the age of 81.
One athletic competition and a league, rich in tradition, that both dads and their sons participated in was Allegany-Cattaraugus League Baseball (Alle-Catt).
Chuck and Bob were teammates as were Kent and Stan, all playing for their town, Shinglehouse.
The team of Chuck Kovach and Bob Dunsmore teamed up for dozens of wins in Alle-Catt baseball.
1968- Kovach and Dick Lindamer made up an almost unbeatable pitching duo. These two wins made Shinglehouse, 8-0.
Two of the top pitchers in Alle-Catt history slugging it out in this Crosby-Shinglehouse matchup, Lindamer and lefty Jim Thomas. Thomas fanned 16 and gave up only four hits (both unearned) in this 2-0 Shinglehouse win.
Kovach fanned 17 in his weekend win, but a rare loss for Shinglehouse against Franklinville created a weekend split.
No, that's not a misprint! 21 strikeouts for Kovach in game one of the best of three championship series versus Friendship. Kovach, Lindamer and Dunsmore, hitting in the 3,4,5 slots, contributed a total of five hits.
This 1973 headline 'Burning'....... has to be explained and after the following clip about Jim Newton's playoff win with Bob Dunsmore providing excellent defense behind the plate, the Olean Times Herald tries to fill in the blanks addressing a problem that was not an infrequent occurrence in Alle-Catt Baseball-player's eligibility.
The year was 1973 and Johnny Oszustowicz (pictured below) and Tom "Tut" Hanks, both from Eldred were pitchers for the Shinglehouse team. Above: Chuck Kovach has some comments about the league ruling.I had some personal experience with the Alle-Catt player eligibility "rules" as a resident of Eldred also. Johnny, Tut and I all ended up playing for Allegany the next year . I recall being told back then that I was eligible to play for Allegany because somewhere in our geographical universe, the townships of Eldred and Allegany bordered each other. We lived in Pennsylvania and ended up playing for a New York State team. There seemed to be player eligibility issues quite frequently in the league and honestly, it had to be a nightmare trying to keep some semblance of order. NOTE: We enjoyed playing for Allegany for a couple of years. Johnny and Tut eventually moved away from Eldred and Eldred eventually established their own Alle-Catt club.
Oszustowicz, who played for Mansfield University, and Hanks, a Clarion University pitcher, had led the Shinglehouse team to a divisional title and the league championship the previous season.
Maybe it got a little bit easier to keep track of the who, what and where's of the league when the younger Kovach (Kent) and Dunsmore (Stan) played in the early 80's. Both young men were multiple sport athletes in high school. Kovach was a standout basketball player at Oswayo Valley High School and Dunsmore played football (playing for his father), wrestled and competed in track and field at Bolivar Central.
Kent Kovach leading the way with 22 points in win over Otto-Eldred.A list of some of the top scorers in the Big 30 (Feb.'80). Kovach in at 14.9 a game. Rex VanBergen of Coudersport (18 ppg). Todd Lamar and Gerald Duffee of Austin- over 17 points per game. Bob Darling of Bolivar at 15 ppg.
Early season standings in North Tier League, 1980. Emporium was undefeated early in lague competition.
Oswayo Valley upsets Smethport with Kovach scoring 11 of his 23 points in the final quarter (five in the final minute) sparking a 59-57 win.
Emporium edges Shinglehouse, 3-1 with Kovach getting the only two hits, one of them a solo HR vs. Emporium's Bill Leonard. Alle-Catt action.
8-1 Alle-Catt win over Friendship with two Kovach HRs
1982 Alle-Catt All-Stars (Pennsylvania). Kovach and Dunsmore with Greg and Mark Ingram represent Shinglehouse.
It was often said that Bob Dunsmore liked to stay very active, always busy. His son, Stan, certainly followed the same route, especially in his high school athletic career.
Stan Dunsmore- first row, far right. Coach Dunsmore-back row, far right.
Preview of Stan's senior season at Bolivar HS.
Defensive Player of the Week in Big 30.
Football win over Ellicottville.
Stan with a pitching win in Big League baseball (16-18 yr. olds)
Top left: Doug Ewing, Kane-safety. #11-Stan Dunsmore-linebacker. Right-Sheldon Lindgren, Ridgway, Big 30 Defensive Player of the Year. Stan's three year record with the Bulldogs was 21-5.
Dunsmore takes his record to 28-2 and picks up a sectional title. Teammate Rick Gould also wins title.
Stan's senior season of football- team was 9-0, Bolivar losing 7-0 in Section 5 title game.
Some final clips of the Kovachs and Dunsmores.
Chuck- managing Babe Ruth/Teener League team
Kent Kovach taking his average to .415 combines with Brad Mertsock for win over Portville.
1967 playoffs- Sheffield tops Oswayo Valley, 71-64 in a game held at Smethport HS. Wayne Swanson, one of the top scorers in the area hit for 28 points. Swanson was averaging 22 ppg.
A powerful Emporium basketball squad defeats a good OV team in 1967. Dick Peterson leads the way for the Red Raiders.
