The 1975-1976 Portville HS basketball team- front row, left to right-bottom row: Ray Aumann, Barry Crocker, Jeff Nix, Fred Caya, Tim Yanetsko, Tom Yanetsko and Coach Ray Deland. Top row, left to right-top row: Dieter Harl, Clark Pytcher, Tim Hinman, Dick Larson, Jim Cughan, Don Sweigart and Tom Rasey.Portville (N.Y) is located seven miles from my hometown, Eldred (Pa.)
From our family house, it was only a mile less than the daily trip I took to attend Otto-Eldred Jr.-Sr. High School. Outside of the other small towns that made up our school district, Rixford and Duke Center, Portville was the closest town-just over the state line.
Thinking back through my pre and early teen years, I can't recall one person that I knew from Portville. My parents had driven to and through town many times. When we stopped it was usually at the Springhill, Red's and Trudy's, an ice cream/ tastee-freez shop or the library on the corner of one of the intersections to the main street. (I wonder why I remember three eating establishments?)
My unfamiliarity with any of the residents of this pleasant town were the results of only two factors. One, we did not have any family members in Portville, but probably the central reason was we didn't play youth baseball against any Portville teams.
I climbed the ladder of development with my friends and teammates. First, little league ball from 9-12 years old.
Eldred was a member of the Potter-McKean Little League. It was a six team league with Shinglehouse, Port Allegany, Austin, Roulette and Coudersport joining us. It was interesting that Port Allegany and Shinglehouse were our closest opponents, in terms of mileage, both almost twice the distance of our New York State neighbors.
Babe Ruth baseball (13-15 years old) included teams from Smethport, Crosby, Otto and Foster Brook or Rew. At least one year, Limestone was in our league and I definitely did not know where they were located, only that they gave us our only loss of the summer.
I do recall going to Portville to watch my cousin play high school football against one of Bob Connell's early teams, maybe '67 or '68, when I was 12 or 13.
My first experience playing against Portville and some other New York State schools came as a sophomore in high school. We always had a couple of NYS schools on our football schedule and Portville was now in the Border Conference and they were a regular seasonal opponent.
Allegany and Bolivar were two of the Empire State schools we played during my senior high years along with the league contests against Portville.
New York State schools; Cuba, Allegany or Portville usually kicked off our basketball schedule preparing us for North Tier League competition. We hosted a holiday tournament and usually had a NYS representative (Scio,etc.) as one of the four competing squads.
Competing against teams from New York State was different for several reasons, especially when we were on the road. We were visiting a school many of us had never seen before and definitely had not played on their field or court.
We had never seen most of the players and knew little about them, except for what we may have read in the Olean Times Herald or Bradford Era.
It didn't take long to discover that the teams and many individual players were very good and we had our hands full each time we played one of the NYS schools.
Playing football against future NFL player, Bob Torrey, and basketball vs. Portville's Paul Dorman (2nd leading scorer in school history) quickly opened our eyes.
I was a junior in college when I returned home one weekend to see Portville host Otto-Eldred in one of the most anticipated games in the Big 30 that '75 season. It was a beautiful fall afternoon, both teams were undefeated, the stands and sidelines were packed and the game seemed like the game could be a "toss-up"
The Panthers left no doubt. A 30-0 win over O-E, a team that finished the season at 7-1-1, was just one of Portville's steps to a 9-0 season, a Border Conference Championship and legitimate claim as one of, if not the top HS football team in the Big 30 area.
NOTE: I have to mention for the O-E fans that read this piece that the next school year ('76-'77) was one of, if not the best football/basketball year in school history. There was a convincing football win over Portville and only a last game of the season loss to Bradford Central Christian prevented the Terrors from an undefeated season (8-1). The basketball team was playoff bound with 18 regular season wins.
I'm certainly a bit partial, but the 1970's were a great decade for area sports with a host of standout players in baseball, football and basketball, some players competing in three or four sports (golf, track and field, etc. included).
The area job market was better than today thus more people lived in the host of towns in Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania. High school graduations classes were twice (if not three times) as large as present day-thus more athletes participating in an atmosphere of highly competitive games.
Jeff Lloyd (Emporium) and Bob Torrey (Bolivar) eventually played in the NFL. Kerry Snow(football-O-E), Fran Gleason (football-Bradford Central Christian) and Matt Grimone (football-Emporium) were highly sought Division I players.
Randy Cooney (baseball- Austin/ Emporium Legion) signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Rich Bisso(Emporium), Rob Maynard (Smethport), Pat Atwell (Andover), Gordon Enderle (Cuba) and Paul Dorman (Portville) represent just a sample of players who had outstanding high school careers leading to collegiate opportunities.
For every name listed there are probably two more players who had outstanding high school careers and followed up with numerous college accolades.
Every sports decade had had their share of stand-out players, coaches and teams. There is always room for welcome-debate and great coffee talk.
Little 3 basketball was well-represented with John Karuch (Olean Bishop Walsh and Niagara), Bill Leonard (Emporium and Canisius) and Bruno DeGiglio (Olean Bishop Walsh and Saint Bonaventure).
Another future Little Three player, a 1976 Portville HS graduate and a basketball teammate of several players who moved from the undefeated football team to Panthers' basketball was Jeff Nix.
Nix, a strong student, was also class president with impressive basketball skills and a highly-sought college recruit, eventually signing with Canisius College
The 6'5" Nix was hampered by an injured knee at times, but played at Canisius, earning his bachelors degree. He also began his coaching career as an assistant at Canisius in 1979, coaching there for two seasons.
Leaving Canisius for an assistant coaching position at St. Francis, Pa., Jeff started a ten year coaching odyssey that took him from St. Francis to Loyola (Md.), followed by two years at Xavier (Ohio) and concluding with a five year stint at Notre Dame that ended in 1992.
That ten year period allowed Jeff the opportunity to work with some well-known and successful coaches that included Xavier's Head Coach, Pete Gillen, and another Xavier assistant, Skip Prosser. Prosser later became the head coach at Wake Forest.
The Notre Dame term saw Jeff as Digger Phelps' assistant and playing a role in the Fighting Irish appearing in three NCAA post-season tournaments.
Jeff concluded his time with Notre Dame assisting new coach, John MacLeod right before the Portville native's break with college basketball and a giant step to a new realm, the NBA.
There are a few similarities in Jeff's climb to a position in professional basketball to my opportunities in professional baseball. College coaching played an important role for both of us and the hopes of obtaining a career in professional sports usually requires a host of stops along the way.
Jeff's four years as an athlete at Canisius and 12 years of collegiate coaching (counting the two years at his college alma mater) had earned him a position in the NBA.
All the college practices and games, recruiting, scouting, adapting to new coaches and surroundings on numerous occasions, summer camps, watching hours of tape, etc. had prepared Jeff for a professional job.
But you also learn that all the hard work and complete dedication to the game still doesn't guarantee anything.
Fortunately and ironically, we both began our professional sports' career in 1992. I'm three years older than Jeff and never had a chance to have my shot blocked by him in high school. I knew he was involved in college basketball, but I was too busy bouncing around from Washington, D.C. to Kissimmee, Fl. to Quincy, Il. to Champaign, Il. and eventually Davenport, Ia. to barely be able to keep track of my own moves.
I accepted a scouting position with the Houston Astros in 1992 and Jeff became an assistant coach with the New York Knicks the same year.
I guess it was a neat coincidence that we began our pro careers in the same year and that we grew up only 10-15 minutes apart. Amusingly all through my teenage years, the Knicks were my favorite NBA team.
So much so that before each one of my home HS games, before leaving home and traveling to the high school, I would listen to an 8-track highlight tape of New York's 1969-70 championship year.
It was the year the Knicks beat Chamberlain and West in a seven game final with Willis Reed hobbling on to the court to start the game, hitting two jumpers to give the Knicks a 4-0 lead. The Knicks with Reed, Frazier, Barnett, Debusschere, Bradley and Co. were unstoppable that night at the Garden.
New York won the world championship again in 1972-73, this time with Jerry Lucas and Earl Monroe as Knicks.
There have been other good and very good Knicks' clubs through the years. Jeff was Pat Riley's assistant from '92-'95 with the '94 team winning the Eastern Conference Championship and losing in Game 7 of the finals to the Houston Rockets.
He coached with Don Nelson (1995-1996) and again was part of an Eastern Conference Championship in 1999 with Jeff Gundy as the head coach (1996-2000). The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Knicks in the finals that season. During 2000, Jeff also served as one of the assistant coaches during the NBA All-Star Game.
Twenty-four years after graduating from Portville Central High School, Jeff Nix now had eight NBA years under his belt with more to come.
Jeff's 1976 senior season of basketball at Portville simply followed the same pattern of success the football team had demonstrated a few months earlier.
Simply, they didn't lose.
The Panthers' team during Jeff's sophomore year was 18-6 followed by a 16-3 mark in 1975.
1975- an early season meeting between two, 2-0 clubs with Portville's man to man to man defense forcing 22 turnovers and leading to a 77-56 win over the Coudersport Falcons. Nix was one of four Portville players in double figures plus the 6'4 junior added 12 rebounds.
1975- A 50-38 win over Silver Creek with junior Jeff Nix leading the way with 22 points.
1975- A two point overtime win versus Allegany with Nix, Russ Pancio and Tom Yanetsko contributing 61 of the 79 points. Allegany's Jim Phearsdorf had 27. NOTE: The box score of this game is located several clips/ photos down.
1975 Cattaraugus County CC All-Stars, left to right- Jim Phearsdorf (Allegany), Jim Cooney (Allegany), John Potter (Allegany), Jeff Nix (Portville) and Russ Pancio (Portville). missing from photo is Dave Coleman of Holland Central.
Some '75 All-Star info including those players named to the second team (Tom and Tim Yanetsko and Al Barber of Portville)
1975-Cattaraugus CC and C plus Allegany County C All-Stars. Bolivar had three players named to the Allegany County team; Bob Torrey, Jeff Scott and Marty Monahan.
1975 Playoffs- #11,Tom Yanetsko tips in a missed shot with Jeff Nix beside him. The Panthers trailed Maple Grove 17-10 at one juncture, but came back to pick up a 63-47 win.
Clip #2 -overtime win vs. Allegany.
Jeff Nix scrambling for a loose ball in the Section 6 super championship title game vs. Lackawanna. The Panthers lost 48-42. The Lackawanna player on the floor is Jerry Williams. Portville was dominated on the boards, 51-19 with 6'6"Chris Treeths grabbing 19 rebounds. Lackawanna went 19-0 with the win. Portville had picked up wins over J.F. Kennedy and Lockport before the loss to Lackawanna.
The Panthers were 34-9 during Jeff's sophomore and junior seasons. After a 16-3 mark the year before with a lot of juniors playing key roles and the football team coming off an undefeated season during the '75-76 school year there had to be plenty of enthusiasm in town as early December '75 arrived.
Putting together my research for this essay I found some historical and interesting information about a Portville landmark, Red's and Trudy's Restaurant. Even if you lived in Pennsylvania and like me, didn't know many people in Portville, almost everyone knew about Red's and Trudy's Restaurant.
My older brother discovered it in the mid-60's and I'm quite sure every time he came back to Eldred to see my folks, he had to take at least one trip for a meal at Red's and Trudy's. That ritual continued for over 40 years.
There even is a strong connection to Panthers' basketball as the owners of the restaurant since 2000 are Fred and Melanie Caya. Fred was an integral part of Portville's '76 basketball team as a senior guard.
An Olean Times Herald photo from 1954. Francis "Hoppy"Caya and his wife Janice purchased the restaurant in 1958. The '72 flood damaged buildings throughout a wide spread area in both Pennsylvania and New York State. I remember at one period we had over 25 people staying at our house for several days as we lived in a safe area while many had to wait days for the water to recede.
The Cayas had to do a complete redecoration of the interior of their quaint restaurant.
The eating establishment, well-known to thousands of residents and visitors, received national attention when the New York Times printed a favorable piece in 2003. The author recalled his family's travel through Portville and their customary stop at the restaurant.
The author of the story found a framed news article from 1954 that detailed the restaurant's 30th anniversary tracing its roots back to 1924 when Mr. and Mrs. Frank and Rutledge founded it in 1924 and maintained it until 1942. It changed hands again until it was eventually sold to Gertrude (Red) Foote and Trudell (Trudy) Powell before the Cayas bought it in 1958.
Their son and daughter-in-law, Fred and Melanie have maintained basically the same menu that has been a staple of the restaurant for years.
The connection to Portville Central High School continued and actually picked up speed when Fred Caya assumed basketball's head coaching duties. Caya finished his seven year stretch with an overall mark of 93-52, a winning percentage of .641.
That effort put Coach Caya third on the all-time list, following Ron McMahon (.667) and Ray Deland (Caya's head coach) at .653.
Caya never had a losing season. As a player, he won a Section 6 championship in 1976 and in 2010 he was named Big 30 Coach of the Year, joining McMahon in 2000 and Deland, who won it in both '76 and 1981.
Caya's best season was 2012-2013. His team finished with a record of 18-3 with all three losses coming to eventual state semifinalist, Silver Creek.
Olean HS Coach, Jeff Anastasia, said, "Fred is an outstanding coach and a class act. He will definitely be missed in the coaching ranks. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him as a person and a coach."
Mike Moses, an Eldred native and a good friend, assisted Fred through his successful tenure.
Mike had three sons who were athletes at Portville Central; Jamie ('94 grad), Pat ('97 grad) and Chris (2000) grad.
Jamie is a member of the Portville Athletic Hall of Fame after a HS career that included four years of football, four years of basketball and baseball. He was the captain of all of those sports during his senior year.
Jamie's athletic achievements are numerous; WNY Division 8 All Star in football, Expressway Conference All Star in baseball and basketball and MVP of the conference in basketball and Big 30 All-Star in basketball. The impressive list of accomplishments goes much longer.
He attended St.Bonas where he played both baseball and basketball. After graduation from St. Bonaventure in '99, he played professional baseball in Belgium.
Ron McMahon is also a member of the school Hall of Fame. He was the Boys' Head Basketball Coach for 13 seasons, including 11 straight winning seasons. In 2000, his squad won the Section VI title with a record of 22-2 , the most wins for a basketball team in Portville history and the second best overall percentage of all time.
The 1976 version of the Portville Central basketball team basically picked up where the football unit had left off- by winning.
The Panthers picked up one of their three Christmas holiday tournament titles during the '75-76 season with a defensive gem in the finals of the Otto-Eldred Holiday Tourney defeating Bradford Central Christian in the finals. Nix led the Panthers with 21 points and the Ramblers did not score a point until 5:34 remained in the second quarter, going over ten scoreless minutes. Tom Yanetsko was named MVP with brother Tim and Nix on the all-tournament team with Bolivar's Jeff Scott, BCC's Tom Patton and Barry Houben of O-E as the other all-tourney members.
Other tournament wins came in the Portville Christmas tournament and the IAABO tourney.
NOTE- More on Ron McMahon: The previous season (1999) McMahon's club was 20-2.
Along with his PCS Hall of Fame honor, McMahon was also elected to the Cattaraugus County Hall of Fame in 2011.
Denny Dorman (8 years), Ray Deland (22 years), Ron McMahon (13 years) and Fred Caya (7 seasons) gave the Panthers a total of 50 years of outstanding coaching and development of players.
1976- Portville is only one game away from a perfect 18-0 season with only Franklinville left in the regular season way. This 99-38 blowout came on 43-58 shooting by the Panthers with Nix going 13-18 and scoring 34 points. Tom Yanetsko had 16 and brother Tim 14.
This Portville club broke several school records including most points scored in a game, 104 in game one vs. Ellicottville. Nix tallied 46 points in game two vs. Ellicottville, a 94-29 win.
Nix, #44, on defense versus Salamanca HS.
From the Buffalo Courier Express on March 6, 1976. the Panthers had finished an 18-0 regular season and won their first 2 playoff games, 77-43 vs. Randolph and 63-42 over Forrestville. Next was Maple Grove.
Denny Thomas of Fillmore leads the Big 30 in scoring with a 25.7 avg. Nix is 2nd at 25.3. Bruno DeGiglio of Olean Bishop Walsh finished at 23.9. Jeff Scott of Bolivar was sixth at 21.7 and Barry Houben of O-E was ninth at 21 ppg.
1976 All Star teams. The Cattaraugus Class CC was dominated by Portville with four all stars; Nix, both Yanetskos and Fred Caya. Cooney of Allegany and Ellis of Cattaraugus rounded out the team. The Expressway Conference included Jeff Anastasia and Mike Carr on Olean
The Allegany Class C All Stars included Tom Giedlin of Alfred Almond and John Nease of Cuba along with two top Big 30 scorers; Denny Thomas and Jeff Scott.
1976 All Stars from the Cattaraugus Class C, N.Y. Independent and Pennsylvania Independent. Olean Bishop Walsh had three players named as N.Y Indy All Stars- DeGiglio, Mitch Bednar and Joe Tripodi.
The '76 Panthers drop their first game of the year in the playoffs, 46-32 against Maple Grove. Portville led by five at the end of one and 24-23 at halftime, but Nix' foul trouble (fouled out in the third quarter) was the turning point. Maple Grove scored 16 points from the foul line, Portville two. Tom Yanetsko finished with 11 points to lead Portville scoring. The Yanetskos, Nix, Caya, Tim Hinman, Dick Larson, Clark Pytcher and Don Sweigart ended their high school careers. Portville ended the year at 20-1, the best winning percentage in school history.
Tim Yanetsko driving and shooting against Maple Grove.
Tommy Yanetsko shooting and Jeff Nix boxing out against Maple Grove in the season ending loss.
AAU Basketball- Cattaraugus County vs. Chautauqua County. Cattaraugus All Stars included Nix, the Yanetsko brothers, Bruno DeGiglio, Mitch Bednar, Jeff Anastasia, Jim Cooney and others. A team of 12 was selected to represent Western New York State and among other opponents, would face a youth team from Russia. Jeff Nix was one of the players selected for this elite team and contributed to the team's victory over the Russian squad.
1976 Big 30 Banquet award winners-left to right: Coach Ray Deland of Portville (Coach of the Year), Jeff Nix of Portville (Cattaraugus County CC MVP, Jeff Anastasia of Olean HS (Expressway Conference MVP) and Bruce Crandall of West Valley (Cattaraugus C MVP)
The Portville Panthers were 54-9 during Jeff Nix's three years as a varsity starter. He finished his HS career with 942 points which places him fourth on the school's all-time list, trailing Jeff McMahon, Paul Dorman and Sean King. Keith McDivitt holds the number five spot.
In September of 2000, Nix moved to the New York Knicks' front office as the Assistant G.M. under Scott Layden. Layden was eventually replaced by Isiah Thomas.
He served in that capacity for five seasons before moving to a role as Director of Scouting for the Knicks for another two years.
Jeff spent15 years with the Knicks, serving in several different roles for the organization, working with a handful of head coaches and witnessing several regime changes.
Fifteen years with any sports organization is a tremendous achievement. From a fan perspective, think of your favorite teams and how many on-field changes are made, seemingly every season.
The days of players starting and finishing a long-term career with one team is basically unheard of in professional sports. The era of Ripken, Brett, West, Havlicek, Brady (Oops, forgot that one), Aaron Rodgers (?) has practically vanished.
On another scale, it's the same with non-players. General managers, coaches, trainers, scouts, etc.- the turnover is quicker than ever. A five year plan for a general manager to improve his organization's won-loss record is about three years too long now.
It's a tribute to Jeff that at every stop, from his days as a kid in Portville to his college coaching and a pro career that continues today, he has earned the respect of a countless number of people in and out of the game.
He has always recognized that his success line and his enjoyment in playing and eventually working in the game he loves can be drawn directly back to his parents and the administrators, coaches, teammates and friends of his Portville years.
Jeff Nix has always been a trusted and class individual.
Jeff joined the Wake Forest University staff as the director of men's basketball operations in 2011
He spent a little over two years with Wake Forest before heading back to the NBA in 2014 as an assistant general manager for the Detroit Pistons and G.M. Jeff Bower and head coach/president of basketball operations, Stan Van Gundy.
Jeff is the type of individual who leaves a positive mark wherever he's been and the folks back home have never forgotten his time as a player and student at Portville Central.
Nix was joined by former teammate, Tom Yanetsko, as Portville Central Athletic Hall of Fame inductees.
Tom graduated in 1976. He was a four year letterman in track, basketball and football-a league all star in all three sports. Yanetsko was a member of the 75-76 undefeated football team and the basketball team that was undefeated in the regular season.
Tom has to be considered as one of the finest all-around athletes in the history of the Big 30.
In 2018, Jeff Nix became part of the fourth Big 30 Basketball Hall of Fame class.
The Big 30 Hall of Fame Class, 2018- left to right: Ron Sweeney (Bolivar, Fillmore), Joe Vecellio (St. Bernard's, Bradford Central Christian), Jeff Nix (Portville), Kathy Carroll Beals (Salamanca) and Dave Steffan (Sheffield)
It's taken some time, but I finally have a list of people that I know from Portville, New York. It's a catalogue of friends and names that I appreciate and have a great deal of respect for, not simply because of athletic accomplishments, but more importantly because they are good people.
I hope folks from both Pennsylvania and New York State will read this. It's always good to learn about individuals who do things the right way.
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