Szuba to be inducted into Quaker Valley hall of fame

Tom Szuba , freshly 45, says that “even today I love catching passes.”

No, they're not from Dan Cortese, or on the distinguished fields of the Ivy League, or in an AARP preparatory league. Paul Szuba, 10, is launching the passes to his dad.

“Just in my yard with my son,” Tom Szuba said, chuckling.

He probably is still a viable target, as he was on that memorable day when he pulled in Cortese's long-range missile, and in just about every football game that Quaker Valley and Yale University played with him in uniform during the 1980s.

Szuba, class of 1985, will be inducted into the Quaker Valley Sports Hall of Fame the weekend of Sept. 28-30. He will be enshrined along with five other individuals and the 1971-72 boys basketball team.

All inductees will be honored at the home football game against Steel Valley that Friday evening and at a banquet at 11 a.m. that Sunday at Sewickley Heights Country Club.

“This is a nice honor,” Szuba sad. “I certainly didn't expect it. It does rekindle some good memories about teams and people I knew.”

His ability to snag a football is the main reason Szuba is being enshrined. He was an outstanding receiver for the Quakers as a senior in 1984, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound tight end in an offense in which he blocked for the running game but was the target of a lot of throws. He caught 24 passes for 455 yards (19.0 average) and four touchdowns.

One of those scores 28 years ago is semi-mythical along the Route 65 corridor. The Quakers were embroiled in a tight game with their arch-rival, Avonworth, in the 1984 season opener at the old field in Sewickley. The Antelopes were leading, 6-0, but Quaker Valley had the ball near midfield in the waning minutes.

Jerry Veshio, in his varsity coaching debut, was in a quandary. He had a solid starting quarterback, but Cortese, the backup, had the strongest arm on the team. It was a long way to the end zone and time was expiring.

Veshio went with Cortese and called for Szuba to run a deep sideline pattern.

“Danny put up a long pass and Tommy ran under it,” Veshio recalled recently. “He caught it and scored.”

“It was about 40 or 50 yards,” Szuba recalled. “It was one of my favorite moments.”

Szuba, also the placekicker, nailed the extra point for a 7-6 triumph.

Cortese has since become a successful actor, appearing in the TV shows “Castle” and “Veronica's Closet.” But on that day, Szuba was the star.

He was a starting receiver-linebacker his last two years at Quaker Valley, and was a part-time starter as a sophomore. Szuba also was an outstanding kicker who, as a junior, kicked a then-school record 45-yard field goal.

“It was the last play of the first half against Riverside, which was really good,” Szuba said. “I think it was the first time I ever tried a field goal. I absolutely surprised myself. Their coach said after the game that he thought it was a fake.”

Szuba was quite real as it turned out. He was an all-conference linebacker and kicker as a junior and an all-conference and honorable mention all-state receiver as a senior.

“He was a really smart young guy,” Veshio said. “Tom always liked to talk about the game, asking why we did certain things.”

Szuba, who grew up in Quaker Heights, also was a quality baseball player. He was the starting shortstop on the school's only WPIAL championship team in 1984.

Football was his trademark, though, and Szuba lettered at Yale for three years, finishing with the 10th most receptions in school history. He was honorable mention All-Ivy as a junior in 1987, when he had 44 catches for 582 yards.

After graduation, Szuba was a graduate assistant coach for a year at California of the PAC 10, where he earned a master's degree in education. He acquired a PhD in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia in 2009.

Szuba is principal and co-founder of Quality Information Partners, an education data consulting firm. He moved from Virginia to Sewickley four years ago along with his wife, Elizabeth, daughters Emma, 13, and Lizzie, 6, and his new quarterback, Paul.

Rick Shrum is a freelance writer.