By Steve Svetovich
Guy Valvano couldn’t wait to get to the sports section of the local newspaper when he was a youngster growing up in Dunmore.
“I knew what I wanted to do with my life by the time I was in the fourth grade,” he said.
And he did.
Anyone who has met Dunmore’s Guy Valvano knows he has a wide breadth of knowledge about local sports.
“He really is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to local sports,” said former Scranton Central and William and Mary basketball standout Tim Wagner who operates Wagner’s Sporting Goods in the Green Ridge section of Scranton.
And that he is.
Valvano turns 95 this October. It’s safe to call him a legend in the world of local sports journalism. He’s been that for some time now.
He kept the scores of every local high school football game from 1950 until June of 2015 when he suffered a brain aneurysm. “That is the only thing that stopped me,” he said.
The local sports icon did recover from the aneurysm and continues to follow the local sports scene.
Arthritis has slowed him a bit over the past couple years. “I don’t get to the games like I used to, but I certainly continue to follow all of the local sports.”
The 1946 Dunmore graduate has been married 70 years to the former Marie Bevelock, a 1949 Dunmore graduate who served as a nurse for 31 years in the Dunmore School District. The couple celebrated their milestone anniversary this past April 11.
Guy actually covered his wife’s Dunmore High School graduation, but did not know her at the time. He met her shortly after.
The couple has one son, Guy, Dunmore, and three daughters, Terry Macciocco, Mary Ann Ragnacci, and Diane Lewis, all of Dunmore. The couple also has five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Valvano spent a good portion of his life covering sports as a reporter and editor.
He played two years of basketball as a 5-9 center at Dunmore High School earning second team all-star recognition as a junior and playing in the basketball Dream Game in his senior year.
“Initially, I raised my hand to play forward when I was in junior high school,” he said. “They didn’t pick me. So I figured I better raise my hand to try out for center. Then the coaches picked me, so that is how I became a 5-9 center. I figured I better raise my hand again if I wanted to make the team.”
Towards the end of high school, Valvano began transporting the Dunmore baseball and basketball scores and information to Jimmy Calpin, sports editor at the Scranton Tribune at the time.
“I took the write-ups to Calpin and he took the time to get to know me. He would take the time to talk to me. At the time I really wanted to get into sports writing, but didn’t know if I would get a shot at it.
“Calpin noticed I had an interest in sports and said it looked like sports reporting would be something of interest to me. So he offered me a position as copy boy. I told him about my high school basketball schedule which included both games and practices. He told me he would work around my basketball schedule. I couldn’t believe it. At the time, I turned it down in order to concentrate on basketball.
“That summer I was working for a landscaper cutting grass in Dunmore. I started thinking about where I was going with my life. I was thinking that I would need a job after the summer, so I called Calpin.
“ Initially, he said there was no opening but would keep me in mind. But about a week later he called and said he could help me out. B.B. Powell was the managing editor. He offered me the copy boy job. He told me to get there immediately to apply. I ran right up there. He told me I would have to report to work the next day. I did and that was it.”
Valvano worked at the Scranton Tribune as a copy boy for six months before being named a news correspondent covering Dunmore and East Scranton. He also covered North and West Scranton as needed. That job lasted 2-1/2 years before he was promoted to the position of staff reporter in 1949, right before the start of the high school football season.
In the early 1950’s he moved over to the sports staff as a full time sports reporter at the Scranton Tribune. He covered sports there for the next four decades until the Scranton Tribune’s demise in 1990.
During that time, he was named assistant sports editor of both the Scranton Tribune and Sunday Scrantonian in 1972 and then promoted to sports editor of the Sunday Scrantonian in 1983.
Following his long tenure at The Scranton Tribune and Sunday Scrantonian, Valvano never stopped writing.
He immediately joined the sports staff of The Sunday Sun, a local newspaper created by former reporters, editors and printers of the defunct Scranton Tribune. He stayed with The Sunday Sun for a year until that newspaper’s ultimate demise.
Valvano then joined The Dunmorean where he wrote sports stories on and off for the next 25 years.
In the meantime, he wrote 12 sports-related books. All of the books capture the local high school sports scene over the past eight decades.
His last book was about the University of Scranton men’s soccer team. One of his books was about The Dream Game. All dozen of the books carry volumes of information on the local sports scene, covering almost a full century
“If I wrote another book,” he said, “I would write about the late Jack Henzes, Vince Fedor, Jim Ferguson and Frank Montero who recently passed away. I would call it ,”The Men of Autumn,’ being that their sports were played in autumn.”
All four of these men were involved in Dunmore sports for close to half a century or more. Henzes was Dunmore football coach for 48 of his 52 years as a head coach. Ferguson was the Dunmore public address announcer for about 60 years. Fedor coached cross country at Dunmore for 53 years. Montero was involved with Friends of the Bucks for five decades.
“The only thing that keeps me from writing this book is the arthritis in my hands. I would have to dictate it to someone.”
Valvano also took on a position as sports information director at Lackawanna Junior College from 1993 until 2004. His years at the Scranton Tribune went from 1946 to 1990. He was 17 when he started and 62 when the newspaper folded while he was still a full-time editor.
Valvano said he loved covering the Dream Game. “That was one of my real favorites. You could write a feature story on every single kid selected. That is something I would have loved doing.”
The former Sunday Scrantonian sports editor said one of his favorite stories he covered was when Scranton Central snapped Old Forge basketball’s record winning streak. “I remember covering that game well,” he said. “I remember the big headline.”
He also covered the first basketball game ever played at the old Scranton Catholic Youth Center (CYC).
He remembers gathering with local reporters every year and going to a World Series game. But he remembers most the one he didn’t attend. “Chic Feldman had a ticket for me October 8, 1956, but I decided not to go. Well, that was the day Don Larsen pitched a perfect game in the World Series for the Yankees. I believe Chic was there to see it, but I wasn’t.”
Valvano said the late Johnny Vander Meer, the only MLB pitcher to pitch two consecutive no-hitters, was one of his most famous interviews. He interviewed the former Cincinnati Reds hurler at Monticello. “He was a nice guy and gave me a great interview.”
He also interviewed Willie Mays and met Johnny Unitas at Pocono Downs. “I had a great 15-minute conversation with Unitas. He was a tremendous guy. He was busy at an event, but didn’t want me to leave. He wanted to keep talking and telling stories.”
He especially remembers Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame gold glove third baseman Brooks Robinson who spoke at a baseball event at Dunmore’s Schautz Stadium. “Brooks was actually in my Dunmore home. He was such a pleasant guy. What I remember most is parents coming in with their kids. Brooks politely excused himself and ran right up to the kids to talk and spend time with them. That made a big impression on everyone.”
When Valvano suffered a brain aneurysm in June of 2015, he was transported to Hershey Medical Center. He spent nine days there. His daughter told him he better do some reading while he was there. Ironically, he picked up the book, “Johnny Vander Meer, Double No-Hitter,”
That was eight years ago and today local sports journalism’s number one Guy is still going strong at 95.
“I still love watching and reading about sports,” he said. “I follow all of the local sports, especially Dunmore. “I still have a lot of ideas and would love to write another book. I just need help due to my arthritis. I enjoy family gatherings and love being around my grandchildren.”
Guy’s granddaughter Tara Macciocco, Dunmore’s all-time leading scorer with 2,211 career points, was a successful women’s basketball coach at Marywood and Wilkes Universities. She is currently Director of Facilities at the Riverfront Sports Complex, Scranton, and teaches sports marketing at Keystone College.
“She really loves teaching at Keystone,” Valvano said. “And she enjoys working at Riverfront.”
Guy mentioned his thoughts on Times-Shamrock Communications selling its newspaper group, including The Times-Tribune, to publishing giant MediaNews Group last month. “I think it’s going to affect the sports department there,” he said. “I know a few people took the buyout, including Marty Myers who was tremendous there. Losing Marty is a big loss. And I understand another sports reporter left. I hope Joby Fawcett stays there. He does a lot for them. I just wonder how things will change there now. I have a feeling the newspaper might go more digital. We will see.”
Dunmore’s legendary sports journalist said he would not have done it any other way in his life.
“I have no regrets,” he said. “I loved my job. I worked around wonderful people. I didn’t care for working at night, but loved what I was doing. I loved reading about sports too. I’ve had a completely full journalistic life through both my work at the Scranton Tribune and even Lackawanna Junior College. And I enjoyed writing all the books.
“You know, when I was in about the fourth grade I would pick up the newspaper and read the sports section inside and out. I enjoyed reading “Dishin’ Dirt. I just loved that column.
“I just took a liking to newspaper work. I used to draw up pages of the newspaper as a kid. I just loved it.
“I didn’t know if I would ever get a shot at it. But I did. And it all turned out great for me.”