AROUND TOWN: Vacendak salute set Oct. 21
Sep. 9—It's all you need to know about Steve Vacendak. Not the great basketball career at Scranton Prep or Duke, not the ABA championship with the Pittsburgh Pipers, not the years working for Converse sneakers, not the North Carolina state Hall of Famer, nor the guy who hired Mike Krzyzewski, Duke's legendary head coach.
All you need is to look back to sports editor Joe Butler's column from the May 8, 1962 edition of The Scranton Times, and the note Vacendak sent by one of Scranton Prep's all-time basketball legends: "I wish to express my gratitude for the generosity displayed by you to me during my high school basketball career. I shall strive to conduct myself both on and off the court in a manner that will be in keeping with the nice things you said about me," Vacendak wrote.
First, thanks to retired Marine and author Mark Whited for sharing that nugget, which encapsulates who Vacendak was, and still is, and why Scranton is honoring him with A Community Tribute to Steve Vacendak on
Oct. 21 at Buona Vita in Dunmore. Dinner tickets for the event, scheduled from 5-9:30 p.m., are $50, and can be purchased online at vacendaktribute.ticketleap.com.
"Nothing's ever really been done for him," longtime friend Nick Donato said. "Jack O'Malley and Terry Greene got the idea for a testimonial or salute."
Former WNEP sports anchor Jimmy Coles, Phil Condron and former Prep football coach Tony Cantafio have played important roles to organize the event, which will include a keynote address from another Prep grad, P.J. Carlesimo, who was head coach of four teams in the NBA, and won three championships as an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs. He also won a gold medal as an assistant for the Dream Team at the 1992 Olympics, and is a longtime TV hoops analyst.
Vacendak's journey from scholastic star to Duke legend started when he played against future fellow Duke player Jeff Mullins at summer camp. Then Duke assistant coach Bucky Waters saw Vacendak and told Blue Devils head coach Vic Bubas he had to recruit him.
"That was start of it and Bucky was the assistant and he recruited him," Donato recalled. "Steve gives a lot of credit to coach (William) Gerrity at North Scranton and coach (Jack) Gallagher at Prep, and he loved coach Bubas at Duke."
Bubas loved Vacendak, too.
One famous story repeated when Vacendak was inducted into the Duke Hall of Fame in 1986 recounts Bubas asking why he'd skin his elbows and knees diving for loose balls on an asphalt court. Vacendak's answer: It was the only way he knew to play the game.
Tenth on the Scranton Times-Tribune list of the area's all-time greatest athletes, Vacendak also was inducted into the North Carolina state Hall of Fame in 2017.
He led Duke to the NCAA title game in 1964, losing to John Wooden-led UCLA, 98-83, and the Final Four in 1966, finishing third after losing in the semifinal to Kentucky, 83-79. He also was Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year that season, although he wasn't an all-ACC selection.
Vacendak's successes stretched well beyond his playing days. He was named associate athletic director at Duke in 1980 and immediately recommended Krzyzewski for the job. (He also recommended Jim Valvano for the North Carolina State job).
Later, he was athletic director at and head basketball coach at Winthrop College, then served 16 years as executive director of North Carolina Beautiful, a private non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the natural beauty of North Carolina through environmental education and outreach.
Besides Carlesimo's comments, videos from Krzyzewski, Mullins and Waters will be part of the festivities.
Hall of Fame hails Trail, Pitt star Gavin
Lackawanna Trail product and NCAA wrestling champion Keith Gavin will join the University of Pittsburgh's Hall of Fame as one of 12 inductees at an event at the Petersen Events Center on Sept. 22.
Gavin's class, the fifth in Pitt history, includes football greats Matt Cavanaugh, the late Chris Doleman, and Larry Fitzgerald, who was a roommate at Pitt of another Lackawanna Trail standout, Yogi Roth.
Competing for Pitt from 2003-08, the current Panthers' head wrestling coach is one of just 12 NCAA champions. He finished his senior campaign 27-0 at 174 pounds, capping it with a 4-2 win over Michigan's Steve Luke.
The two-time All-American notched 120 wins in his career, including a pair of Eastern Wrestling League championships and EWL Wrestler of the Year honors.
Gavin went on to wrestle for the U.S. national team and finished third at the 2012 Olympic Trials. He won national titles in 2013 and 2014, and in 2017 was named Pitt's head coach, mentoring Nino Bonaccorsi to this year's 197-pound NCAA title, the first since Gavin's win.
He also is the second area native to be inducted at Pitt. Abington Heights grad and swimming standout Sue Heon-Preston was in Pitt's second Hall of Fame class in 2019.
Deadline nears for local Hall event
The Northeast Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame is conducting its dinner Oct. 1 at 5 p.m. at Fiorelli's in Peckville. Deadline for the purchase of tickets ($60) and/or program ads is Sept. 22.
Contact Bob Walsh, 570-346-2228, or Jerry Valonis, 570-498-9461 to place your order.
Slated for induction this year are Joe Baciotti, Paul "Red" Brower, Al Callejas Jr., Lauren Carra, Mike Cerra, Michael Ciccotti, Larry Gabriel Jr., Gab Giordano, George Howanitz, Joey Runco and Mike Zanghi.
Wally world
Hard to imagine meeting anyone on the course more enjoyable than Wally Kuharchik, and Emanon Country Club paid tribute to the 88-year-old last week.
The club in Falls named its practice area in honor of Kuharchik, well-deserved laurels for someone who's meant so much to the game in Northeastern Pennsylvania. And well done to the folks at Emanon, too.
MARTY MYERS covers local sports for The Times-Tribune. His "Around Town" column appears Sundays. Contact him at mmyers@timesshamrock.com or 570-348-9100, ext. 5437; and follow him on X/Twitter
@mmyersTT.
