Red Raider legend: Yates slated to be inducted Into PBC Hall of Fame
Former Uniontown High School basketball star Don Yates is scheduled to be inducted into the 2023 Legends Class of the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Hall of Fame on Feb. 3 at a brunch at Chartiers Country Club.
The class also includes: Dan Bonner, Avonworth High School and University of Virginia; Rueben Montanez, Bishop Boyle and Duquesne; Brandon Fuss-Cheatham, Blackhawk and Ohio State; Sid Bostick, Jeannette and West Virginia; Hal Bentley, New Brighton and Kansas State; Mark McCloud, Valley and Robert Morris; Chad Calabria, Aliquippa and Iowa, Hank South South Hills Catholic and Cornell, Larry Anderson South Hills and Point Park; Marvin Woods, Aliquippa and DePaul; Tom Parks, Belle Vernon and Robert Morris; Larry Harris, Loraine, Ohio and Pitt; Jack Wojdowski, Canevin and Duquesne; Brian Generolovich, Farrell and Pitt; Mike Williams, Allegheny and CCAC-Santa Fe; Stew Johnson, Clairton and Murray State; and Larry Young, Sto-Rox and Military Service. The 1973-74 Pitt Elite Eight team will also be honored.
When Yates received the news that he was being honored he was elated.
无毛视频淚t may be funny, but I felt like I was ready to suit up again,无毛视频� Yates stated. 无毛视频淚n all seriousness I was super proud. At first I couldn无毛视频檛 believe it, but I appreciate it very much.
无毛视频淚 was thinking that I was in a Hall of Fame situation with my team and as an individual. I said now I have another one and I无毛视频檓 stretching down to Pittsburgh. I无毛视频檓 super proud and super happy.无毛视频�
During the Golden Era of Uniontown High School athletics in the 1950s and 1960s, basketball took center stage. The King of the hardwood for the Red Raiders was Don Yates.
Yates was perhaps the most celebrated basketball player to ever play for Uniontown High School. He led the Red Raiders to a state basketball championship in 1962. He earned All-State honors for two consecutive years, and he received more votes than anybody else for the honors in both years.
A 1962 graduate of Uniontown High School, Yates starred for three seasons with the Red Raiders.
无毛视频淎t that period in time around my senior year and a little bit earlier the talents began to grow and show different means of how to play,无毛视频� Yates recalled. 无毛视频淭o be a pioneer of that, well, that无毛视频檚 a big trophy to me.无毛视频�
无毛视频淒on Yates and brother Pat. I remember the Yates family,无毛视频� Sonny Vaccaro, founder of the Dapper Dan Roundball Classic, said. 无毛视频淒on was very good and at that time I was just starting to travel around looking at players. He was pre-Roundball Classic. Uniontown to me was a standalone great athletic situation. That无毛视频檚 what I remember about Uniontown.无毛视频�
The 1962 championship made up for the disappointment Yates suffered his sophomore and junior seasons. Uniontown defeated Norristown, 70-57, with Yates pacing the Raiders with 22 points. Uniontown ended its miracle run with a 29-2 record.
无毛视频淲e had a great team my sophomore and junior years,无毛视频� Yates explained. 无毛视频淲e lost to Farrell my sophomore year. They had Willie Somerset and Brian Generalovich. And my junior year we fell to Mt. Lebanon. We were supposed to win it all and it did not happen.无毛视频�
Yates and 6-foot-4 junior Ron Sepic were a potent one-two punch for the Red Raiders in 1962.
无毛视频淲ithout both of us we never would have made it,无毛视频� Yates offered. 无毛视频淚t was a combination of both. If I wasn无毛视频檛 present I don无毛视频檛 think we would have won and if Sepic wasn无毛视频檛 present I don无毛视频檛 think we would have won. But we won as a team and Sepic was a great rebounder and he started our fast break for us and he played great defense.无毛视频�
无毛视频淢y thoughts as I reflect go to those particular athletes in football and basketball at Uniontown,无毛视频� Yates continued. 无毛视频淭here are several guys that always have a No. 1 in front of their names and being part of all that means a lot to me also, to be able to fall within the range of all the great athletes and supporters of us during our times at school.无毛视频�
Yates has fond memories of his coach at Uniontown, the late Abe Everhart.
无毛视频淲ell he only hollered at you when you messed up,无毛视频� Yates joked. 无毛视频淎nd that wasn无毛视频檛 very often, but it happened. Abe would let us play according to our abilities. He would not have anyone do anything that they were not capable of doing. He had a great record, but he was a great coach. He took every player, and this is from my sophomore year and ever since I无毛视频檇 known Abe from my eighth grade on up, he would put players in positions that they were good at and he asked no one to do more than they could do.无毛视频�
As with other players from his era, Yates believes the playground system in Uniontown bred success.
无毛视频淣o one understands that except those from Uniontown,无毛视频� Yates offered. 无毛视频淚t was an incubator for developing talent, but it started something else in the way young players used to develop. Nowadays they go to the travel basketball with schedules and everything. Back in the old days our experiences outside of our towns and schools was we would get in the car with older guys and go various places to play. We go to Sharon and I had a chance to go with Mel Freeman and some of the guys. I was younger and they would go to Cleveland to play against the Cleveland Tech team. In some ways there are similarities with our time and what无毛视频檚 going on now, I can无毛视频檛 even conceive of Uniontown without the playgrounds.无毛视频�
One memory of those great Uniontown teams is their vaunted full-court press.
无毛视频淚t was tough for us to do it,无毛视频� Yates explained. 无毛视频淎be didn无毛视频檛 let up either. We would get in the huddle and say Abe can we walk down, no, get back out there we无毛视频檙e going to press the whole game, and I did that for three years as the point man on that press. That was our weapon!无毛视频�
无毛视频淐oach Everhart revolutionized everything,无毛视频� Vaccaro stated. 无毛视频淣obody knew what the press was and Uniontown pressed you and it was something to see. I saw the Red Raiders and Yates at the Pitt Field House. They had great teams and great players.无毛视频�
Yates tallied 1,344 points in his Uniontown career in an era before the three-point shot. He ranks No. 4 on the Red Raiders无毛视频� all-time scoring list.
When he graduated from high school Yates was the subject of intense recruiting from colleges all over the country. He ended up following former Red Raiders Sandy Stephens and Bill Munsey to the University of Minnesota.
无毛视频淚 was with Archie Clark and Lou Hudson,无毛视频� Yates recalled. 无毛视频淓ven to this day I brag about being the first black player to get a basketball scholarship to Minnesota. I say all three of us. It was big news back then and we went through a lot of situations during those times at various places that we played. There had to be a beginning and I无毛视频檓 proud of that also.无毛视频�
Yates is pleased that he is still remembered and thrilled that there will be a contingent of Uniontown faithful at the PBC Hall of Fame brunch.
无毛视频淧eople don无毛视频檛 understand the support that us athletes get from the various people of our town,无毛视频� Yates stated. 无毛视频淚无毛视频檓 honored to be part of it.无毛视频�
George Von Benko无毛视频檚 无毛视频淢emory Lane无毛视频� column appears in the Sunday editions of the 无毛视频-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.