Fouled Out: Off to College

That March 16, 1969, my father passed away. I was shaken. He was strong and big. He could do anything. A blood clot caused a pulmonary embolism that struck him down in his sleep while he was only 50 years old. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) was the cause. Six of his seven siblings developed DVTs. It runs in the family.

I had basketball scholarship offers from Millersburg, Shippensburg, Bucknell Colleges; they are all universities now. Tom Beach went down to Elizabethtown College to tryout for their team. Coach Batzel drove him down and invited me along. The E-town coach wanted to see Tom play. He had two college players to help work the recruitment. They shot around a little and then the coach asked me if I would like to play a little two-on-two. Tom and the college players had shorts and shoes. I had a dress shirt, dress pants, and dress shoes. I took off my shirt, shoes, and socks and began to play in my t-shirt and dress pants. Well, Tom and I beat those colleges guys in two-on-two. The E-town coach wanted to recruit me, too.

My soles sure missed having socks and my Converse All-Stars on!

My brother Dan was going to the University of Pittsburgh. He was a junior and my mom took a sabbatical from teaching business and English at Everett High School to start her doctorate in education at the University of Pittsburgh. With Dad gone, I wanted to be close to my family, so I applied to the University of Pittsburgh and was accepted.

That fall they had a try out for five slots on the freshman basketball team. There was one week of try outs in Trees Hall every afternoon. There were over a hundred guys trying out. Coach Charles “Buzz” Ridl, Coach Fran Webster, and Coach Tim Grgurich selected the five. I went up to the locker room in Fitzgerald Fieldhouse on Friday and saw my name among the five. I was on a Division One basketball team!

I was good, but I wasn’t great and I was cut my sophomore year. I think because Billy Knight was just a little better than me.

Then I became famous. My friends on the gymnastic team encouraged me to try out for the mascot position, The Pitt Panther. For the next two years I represented all the teams.

I was never hospitalized playing basketball all those years. In the two years being the Pitt Panther, I was hospitalized three times. But those are other tales. Someday, I will have to tell you my Panther Tales.

So I am grateful to my family for encouraging me to play basketball. Thanks to my Coaches and teammates for giving me the opportunity to learn basketball. I am most appreciative of time in history that gave me wonderful memories. Most of all I have Tom Beach, Ronald Steele, and Steve Hyatt as lifelong friends. Now my thanks to you for listening to my old stories and memories of on the basketball court and the foul time I had.

Editor’s Note: This is the sixth and final installment in Ritchey’s recollections. The Herald would like to thank Ritchey for sharing his writing with us and our readers.