From the mid-60's and five decades later, I can't imagine there were many years when there wasn't at least one member of the Stavisky family involved in local high school athletics at Oswayo Valley HS and/or Port Allegany HS or on a collegiate and even professional level.
Regardless of their role (as players, coaches, athletic administrators and educators), they played a positive role in the success, development and recognition of young people at those schools and probably in some bordering towns also
Despite being away from blog writing for four or five months, I'd still like to recognize more athletes, not only from my era, but incorporate players and coaches from more recent times. This essay kind of divides that task right down the middle.
I had the pleasure of knowing three of the four Staviskys mentioned in this piece. One was my boss and I played against his brother. I scouted another and the youngest, well, I watched him grow in to a very good Division 1 pitcher.
Bill Stavisky was a 1966 OV graduate and he played varsity basketball against my brother ('65 grad) Even though I can't clearly remember watching him play in the North Tier, since I witnessed almost all of my brother's games, I'm confident I saw Bill play. If that doesn't qualify, a dozen or so years later, Bill and I and a handful of Otto-Eldred teachers played some pickup ball at the Eldred Borough Elementary School.
Bill was my elementary supervisor for several years at both the Eldred Borough and Township schools and I remember two aspects clearly. He was a true professional in his educational supervisory position and although I'm sure I was a challenge for him as a rookie teacher I respected his daily dedication to teachers and students.
Secondly, he still had a very competitive court game in our after-school pickup game.
Bill led the way in the win over O-E with 28 points. Randy Nuhfer scored 21 for the Terrors in OV's 64-58 win.
A big win for Emporium over OV, but Stavisky hit for 24.
Oswayo Valley picks up a home win and a reversal of game one with a two point win over Bradford Central Christian. Stavisky scores 25 and Denny Phillips adds 15 points.
I remember well the Stavisky family home in Eldred-located on the corner, just across the street from the Eldred Area Park and only a five minute walk to the elementary school. I was the little league coach and operated the park program for all the kids and Bill's son, Danny was often seen with the Pascarella boys during the summer.
Danny was too young for organized baseball during my years supervising the Park activities, but I'm sure he was involved in future years.
I left the area permanently in 1984 and the next time I heard Dan's name occurred when I was a young baseball scout and saw a scouting report issued by the Major League Scouting Bureau- an organization of scouts that wrote reports and furnished them to major league organizations.
MLSB had submitted Dan's name as a potential prospect as a senior high school pitcher. I think the family was now living in the Pittsburgh region.
Despite some professional interest, Dan was definitely headed to Notre Dame. I went to a fall scout's day prior to the '98 season in South Bend to see their top pitcher, Brad Lidge, who became an outstanding major league pitcher.
I'm working without a net here (I no longer have most of my notes or evaluation cards), but I know I saw Lidge pitch that day, but I don't recall Dan throwing in the workout. I don't think I would have forgotten him. Indiana was not one of my coverage states and I was just filling in for our territorial scout that day, but as you'll see in the following clips he hade a fine career in South Bend and led the way for his cousin to follow him to Notre Dame.
Dan shuts out St. John's in the Big East tourney. Stavisky extended his scoreless streak to 22 and a third innings with a six hitter.
Dan extends his scoreless streak to 23 and 2/3 innings before giving up a solo run in the second. The game was delayed for over an hour in the first inning because of weather and the Irish lost a 6-1 early lead and dropped a one run game to Stetson.
Dan played a big role in his cousin, Brian, following him as a member of the Notre Dame baseball squad.
Notre Dame coach, Paul Mainieri, said, "We had been close to Brian's cousin Dan during his career here and Dan pushed for us to consider signing Brian. Once I saw him play, I knew that we wanted him badly."
It would be hard to name anyone in the Olean-Bradford area, Big 30, (I'm not sure what it's referred to now-I just call it back home) who achieved the success and recognition that Brian Stavisky did in athletics from his pre-teen years through his 1999 high school graduation.
A college baseball career at Notre Dame followed and a 2002 sixth round selection by the Oakland A's with a College World Series appearance led to a nine year professional baseball career that included parts of two seasons at the AAA level.
Through the years the Big 30 region and surrounding area have produced some athletes who have reached the highest level in their respective sport; the NFL, MLB, etc. and those players should always be recognized and commended for their accomplishment of playing on the biggest stage. I've written about a few of them and still find it remarkable that one of the smallest populated regions in northwestern Pennsylvania and western New York has produced as many big leaguers as it has.
I've always stayed clear of comparisons in these essays and just try to recognize outstanding accomplishments and Brian Stavisky's achievements as a student, athlete and a person would rank him high on any list.
I wrote a book several years ago entitled "Josh and Josh, Small Towns, Big Leagues." The book featured two players at a Division 2 midwestern university (Quincy University) who made it to the major leagues.
One of those players was a pitcher who graduated from Port Allegany HS, Josh Kinney.
Kinney recalled his high school friend and teammate. "Brian was one grade behind me. He was a tremendous athlete. I don't know how many times he won the Punt, Pass and Kick awards, but I remember he went to the Pro Bowl for the national competition."
"I don't think I was overshadowed, Brian was just that good. You can't take anything away from him. He was a standout at everything he did. He was an awesome football player and I think he scored a thousand points in basketball before his junior season was over. He could flat out hit a baseball. He deserved everything he got. I was the pitcher, but you put me next to him and you are going to notice him."
Before Port Allegany had a high school baseball program, the Port kids traveled to Oswayo Valley to play for them and the Oswayo Valley athletes came over to Port to play football. Brian played two years of high school baseball at each school.
His four year statistics during his high school years read: a .582 batting average, .725 on-base percentage, 46 home runs, 28 doubles, 11 strikeouts and 79 walks. His teams recorded a 60-20 record. The outstanding team record is not surprising considering they had two long-term professional baseball players on their roster.
Brian was also the top student in his class. The 6'3, 230 lb. Stavisky also played golf and was active in several non-athletic programs in school. He learned the importance of taking advantage of what his school offered and he continued that same routine at Notre Dame.
I had not seen Brian's father, Dan, in probably two decades or more until we were at the College World Series in Omaha in 2002. I was scouting for the A's and we had just drafted Brian. I was the closest scout to Omaha (five hours) so I was assigned to go to the tourney and just keep an eye on the players we drafted, just watching their performance and making sure no injuries occurred.
I saw Dan in the stands and was fortunate to spend some time with the Staviskys. It was a real treat for me. It was the first time I had watched Brian play since I saw him play a few innings in a Babe Ruth game in Eldred 8-9 years earlier.
Brian and I were able to have lunch together a couple of years later when the A's Midwest League team was in Davenport, Iowa to play the Cardinals' affiliate. I had a couple of players that I had signed on Brian's squad and we all went to a downtown restaurant.
Brian was kind of quiet until he and I started to discuss all the people and locations we knew back in Potter and McKean County.
Brian played nine seasons and 784 games in the minors. He played parts of two seasons in AAA and his overall career offensive numbers showed him with a .302 batting average and 78 home runs.
Brian's father, Dan, was the one Stavisky I played against, but that was after watching him play a dozen or more Alle-Catt games for Shinglehouse. My parents and I made many trips over to Shinglehouse on a Sunday afternoon to watch games. I remember how much I liked the field: grass infield and a wire fence that circled the entire field. I think the kids got a nickel or a dime for bringing back foul balls that landed in the crops behind home plate. I thought it was the best field I had seen in the area.
Dan was about 3-4 years older than I was so I don't think we ever played little league, Babe Ruth or other sports against each other. I do recall what a good athlete he was at shortstop- a strong arm and good foot speed. He was clearly one of the better all-around athletes in the league and I'm sure he was still in his teens when I first saw him.
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NOTE: Please excuse any errors in this piece. I'm sure I "booted" a few. A little bit rusty, but as always it's enjoyable to bring back some good memories especially about good people. Sometimes I see it like some of the kids in my graduation class- I wish I had gotten to know them better. I know more about them now through FB than I did back in the 70's.
I feel the same about many of the athletes I competed against in high school, Alle-Catt or softball. There's a lot of good people- I've written about some, but there's more folks that I hope I can write about in the future-some of the younger ones also.
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