Originally posted by colingrant2:
Like much of you, I'm a long time follower of western PA basketball. Actually did some research on the subject, as I was confounded by the decrease in talent, after having seeing it up close in its heyday. I researched and studied population and demographics of the 70's and compared it against the same data 40 years later.
I had somewhat of a unique perspective, having lived in Duquesne when I was younger (15 feet from the playground) and in Sewickley, as a teen. I was able to see (when I was a kid) and play (as a teen) against the best of both the mon and beaver valley. In the early 70's I can recall seeing Billy Knight, Pat Hill (Munhall/Robert Morris?) Cliff Sumpter (Clairton/Iowa?) Shawn Leftwich (McKeesport/Jacksonville), Jim Smith (General Braddock/George Washington), Hosea Champagne (General Braddock/Duquesne) Lloyd ???? (Clairton/Marquette) and so on.............. That list is probably 2% of the players I saw pull up in there cars near "the field" as it was affectionately called to play against Duquesne's best.
In the early 80's, I ran a basketball league in Sewickley, in which Ron Rowan & Forrest Grant (Beaver Falls) the Slappy's, George Green and Simmie Hill from Midland, Cicero Lassiter from Rochester, (big time baller only Beaver Countians seem to know) Ronnie Shegog and others from Aliquippa. Being that Sewickley was midway between Beaver valley and Pittsburgh, I was able to draw from the valley and the city, so, the Cosmic Echoes from the Hill (Puffy Kennedy, etc.) Mel Bennett and a team from the north-side also played in it.
And of course, you had the the preeminent outdoor league in the Connie Hawkins league, in the 70's and early/mid 80's. This all leads up to my unscientific conclusions on the areas demise.
1) Playground vs AAU - Players used to create there own competition. The scenario described above, where players just showed up unannounced at certain playgrounds to play against that community's best, was played out all over Pittsburgh. The competition level was FIERCE. Games to 11 took a long time, as the losing team knew the evening was over if they lost. This concept of seeking and experiencing fierce competition on a nightly basis in the summer has seemingly been replaced by AAU ball. I have nothing against AAU ball, but I guess from having experienced and seeing the impact of "outdoor" summer ball, I'm not sure it has replaced the highly competitive nature of playground ball, which is where the majority of players are MADE. The parents of a young kid I coached in Sewickley, asked me how there son can get better. I told them, leave Sewickley and play in the Ozanam league.
2) Iron sharpens Iron - Another component to the playground or pick-up game concept is that it pitted teens against grown men and grown men do not care if you're a teen on the court. They will take advantage of you in a heartbeat as they are playing to win, and will do what's needed to stay on the court. For a teen, playing against early and mid-twenty year olds will make you into a player real, real fast. You will become aggressive and competitive just from having played against bigger, stronger players. AAU ball, places you against your age bracket. When boys play against men, the skill and ability level is greatly accelerated.
3) Demographics - The population totals from in the 70's and today aren't that drastically different. If I recall it was separated by just a couple hundred thousand. Just going on memory here, but what I recall is that the ages of the population shifted towards older people. In other words, there aren't as many kids, especially in areas where many ball players lived. Ringgold, Duquesne, Braddock, Rochester, Beaver Falls, Aliquippa, etc..........those communities are 1/4 to 1/3 of there population levels when the mills roared. I can't speak for the other areas, but in the Valley's, the ballers who once occupied those communities live elsewhere. Those areas are not fraught with school age children playing ball.
4) For those that played basketball and/or football in western PA, there's a 50-60% chance they live elsewhere and have sons who now play and star in the DC area, the Carolina's, Texas and Florida. Having been a subscriber to this board for 10 years now, each year I read about players whose family is from the Pittsburgh area. Those are "would be" WPIAL'ers. The DC area comprises of many. My son attended Dematha and Bishop McNamara high schools and I've come across many parents from Pittsburgh whose sons were playing at either school.
). Both of those things are missing today and don't think AAU makes up for it really.
