1964 Basketball Champs
1964 Trafford Tomahawks – Basketball Champions by Daniel Bugiski (Class of 1964)
"You are what your record says you are" is a quote often used by coaches to describe their teams' success. Using this axiom, the win-loss record of the 1964 Trafford High School basketball team tells us that this team was the best in the history of the school.
The WPIAL at that time was made up of 16 sections with 8 teams in each section. Four of the teams on the schedule - Norwin, Gateway, Thomas Jefferson, and Wilmerding, all large schools that won their sections during the regular season. In the WPIAL playoffs, the Trafford Tomahawks had to take on section winners Perryopolis, Bentleyville-Ellsworth, and Coraopolis, making it seven section winners from the most powerful conference in the state of Pennsylvania. Western Pennsylvania basketball at that time was among the best in the entire country. No other Trafford HS team ever had to play that brutal of a schedule.
Prior to the season, Coach Karanovich must have had an inkling that this team would be special. All-time Trafford High rebound leader John Sadowski was a returning player as well as high-scoring shooting guard Tom Cunningham. Dan Schneider was a defensive specialist and Jime Kline was a four-sport athlete who proved to be a selfless leader that rarely turned the ball over and made every player on the team better. But perhaps the biggest surprise to the team was 6'6" Dan Lenart, who matured during the summer and returned for his senior year with a deadly jump shot and rebounding skills. Sadowski and Lenart proved to be the Trafford High version of "twin towers." This was probably the tallest and least selfish team in the history of our school, a classic example of the total being greater than the sum of its parts.
The season started off with a bang - no, let me say explosion. The first game of the year featured WPIAL Champions and Pennsylvania State runner-up, the mighty Norwin Knights. No Trafford team had ever defeated this perennial powerhouse in basketball. The Tomahawks out-hustled, out-rebounded, outplayed, and outscored this opponent defeating them by the score of 70-58 in a shocker of a game that wasn't that close. This game should have prepared the team for what lie ahead.
The boys followed that up with a 21-point win over West Newton and a 58-point win over South Huntingdon. Next came wins over Class A schools Westinghouse Memorial and Greensburg Central Catholic, a school that recruited its players. Impressive that such a school with only 31 boys in its senior class could accomplish such a feat. Trafford was defeating schools with thousands of students, and what a great time to be a student at Trafford High.
The only blemish during the first of the season was an overtime loss to Gateway which featured 6'8" Cliff Parsons who went on to become a college All-American at the Air Force Academy. Even today, that Gateway team is still considered to be the best in the history of that school.
The 1964 team finished the regular season with a 20-3 win-loss record, averaging 66.7 points per game while allowing opponents 49.5 points per game which is a difference of 17 points per game. Their style of play was to control the boards allowing opponents only one shot at the basket, play mistake-free basketball, and take only quality shots at the offensive end.
Perhaps the most interesting game of the year was when the feared Braddock Tigers came to town. Our boys defeated them for a second time in a violent game that ended with the Pennsylvania State Police having to make an appearance to bring order to the situation.
The WPIAL playoffs were a great time to be a student. The opening game against a tall Perryopolis team ended in a tense victory for the Tomahawks. The difference in that game was Dan Schneider shutting down the opponents leading scorer and Sadowski and Lenard playing smart control of the boards. Next, it was off to the Pitt Field House and another win over Bentleyville-Ellsworth in a game played in front of more fans that lived in Trafford at that time.
What was more amazing is that two of our starting players were injured late in the season. Dan Lenart suffered a cracked bone in his leg, was bleeding internally, and could barely run. Dan Schneider suffered a shoulder injury which limited his aggressiveness and ability to shoot. How they kept winning against the best teams in the WPIAL was downright amazing. Despite all this, the Tomahawk team made it to the WPIAL finals before losing to eventual state champion Coraopolis.
This was a team of leaders. Dan Schneider went on to captain the Texas A&M football team. Tom Cunningham went on to captain the Waynesburg University basketball team. John Sadowski went on to captain the Alliance College basketball team and Dan Lenart went on to play for St. Vincent.
I often wanted to go back and thank these guys for making our senior year at Trafford High exciting and memorable for this was the year that featured a basketball team that could compete with any high school in the state, regardless of student body size!!!
