Riverside grad was president ‘advisor’

When the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame inducts its 2015 Class this Sunday at The Fez in Hopewell, it will be the opportunity for everyone attending to brush with greatness.

But it’s unlikely anyone will top former Riverside point guard and running back Brad Brown’s “brush with greatness” tale.

Brown, a 1979 Riverside High School graduate and now a dentist in Ellwood City, played college basketball at Columbia.

But while Brown played against the likes of Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin in his four years with the Lions and even gave Columbia its only victory in a 10-game stretch against Princeton with a last-second basket to beat Pete Carril’s Tigers, 33-31, in 1982, there was a student in his political science class who was always asking questions about the game he had just seen Brown play in.

“Barack Obama and I would sit and talk hoops,” Brown said. “He loved basketball and played on an intramural team. He was always interested in the X’s and O’s.”

No word yet on if the President will be asking for a mention in Brown’s induction speech the way ESPN sportscaster Seth Greenberg, then the Columbia assistant under Buddy Mahar who recruited Brown to play for the Lions, has.

Brown was able to play in the Ivy League despite missing much of his junior year with mononucleosis. But under the tutelage of John Miller he became the first freshman to play on the Panthers’ basketball varsity and under Bob Rak during his senior year took Riverside to the PIAA Class AA semifinals, averaging 20 points a game. Brown still holds the Panthers career record for assists.

“He was a very good player. A small guard and extremely quick, one of the quickest I ever had,” Miller said. “He’d rank right up there with some of the best guys I ever coached.

“The teams I had at Riverside were very good. At that time there were two classes, and we were in the same section with Midland and Monaca. I was there for six years and Midland won the state three times and Monaca was the runner up, but we competed with them and Brad allowed us to compete.”

Brown also rushed for more than 1,000 yards as a tailback during his senior year, but his father, Dale, a tight end on the University of Pittsburgh’s Sugar and Gator Bowl teams of the 1950s, recommended he play basketball in college because of his slender 5-foot-10 frame.

Brown was also class valedictorian at Riverside in 1979 and went on to graduate from Columbia with a degree in biochemstry/premed in 1983 and earned his doctorate from the Ohio State School of Dentistry in 1987.

Here’s a look at the other inductees in this year’s Hall of Fame Class:

Tony Court — The current mayor of Ellwood City has been a basketball official since 1978, working WPIAL and then, beginning in 1990, college games, mostly in the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference and Allegheny Mountain Conference. Has worked the PIAA Finals twice, in 1997 and 2006. Also an ASA umpire since 1976.

Dan Fraiser — Frasier served as Geneva College’s head football and baseball coach from 1969-71 after serving as an assistant in those capacities from 1966-68 while earning a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Westminster in 1968. Was District 18 Football

Coach of the Year in ’71 after leading the Golden Tornadoes to a 7-2 season after years of losing. A one-time teammate of Larry Dierker and Don Wilson in the Houston Colt .45’s minor league system following his graduation from Geneva, Frasier graduated from South Side High in 1960, returning to teach and coach football there in 1964-65.

Terri Gazda — A 37year veteran of coaching gymnastics, Gazda is a graduate of both Hopewell High and Slippery Rock University. For the past generation she has coached the Monaca Turners and grown the program to a current enrollment of 255 with multiple tournament first place finishes. Also is the head gymnastics coach concurrently at Central Valley, Hopewell and South Side Beaver and is starting up a program at West Allegheny. Her most recent accomplishments include Hopewell’s first place finish in the Silver Division of the 2012 Pennsylvania State Gymnastics Championships.

Bill Hewko — A star basketball player at Freedom Area and Geneva College, Hewko’s 507 points for the Bulldogs in 1955-56 was the school single-season record for 28 years. After averaging more than 25 points per game in high school, Hewko played at Geneva College where he averaged 13.4 points per game during his senior season of 1960-61. Later worked for 46 years as a teacher, guidance counselor, and principal at private schools at Freedom, Shaler, and Mars.

Rick Migliore — A point guard for Midland’s state championship teams of 1973 and ’74, he was such an adept passer he and Don Slappy once pulled off a fast break layup in which neither one of them dribbled on the possession in the 1974 WPIAL tournament.

Ryan “Archie” Miller — Currently the head coach of the University of Dayton Flyers men’s basketball team, where he has posted a 90-47 record and been to the NCAA tournament the past two seasons. Led the Flyers to the Elite Eight in 2014 and has won 20 or more games in three of his four seasons at the helm. Played for his father, John, for four years at Blackhawk High, graduating in 1998. Played for four years at North Carolina State, where he was an outstanding shooter and led the Wolfpack to their first NCAA berth in 11 years his senior season.

Bill Ross — The Beaver Falls athletic director from 1958 until his death in 1976, perhaps’ Ross’ most legendary feat was talking a young Joe Namath out of quitting the Tigers’ football team during his sophomore season. Coached football, baseball, basketball and golf in the years following WWII at both Beaver Falls and Hopewell. Also a bomber pilot who flew 50 missions in Europe. Graduated from Geneva College in 1947.

Garen Steele — The longtime golf coach at Riverside, Steele has also been a golf pro at first the Blackhawk Golf Course and now the Shadow Lakes Country Club since 1983. Originated the Beaver County Times/Blackhawk Seniors Golf Championship.

Reginald Williams —A member of the Post-Gazette’s Fabulous 22 in 1984 after winning 12 letters in football, basketball and track at Beaver Falls High School, Williams went on to become a wide receiver for the University of Pittsburgh and played on two bowl teams. Had 1,439 career receiving yards for the Panthers and led the ’87 Bluebonnet Bowl squad with 31 receptions. Also spent two seasons in the NFL on injured reserve.