Wilt's play in Farrell remembered

I happened to watch the Wilt Chamberlain feature that was televised recently over WKBN Channel 27 in Youngstown. It brought back some hardwood memories of a season back in the mid-1950s when the late Eddie McCluskey's Farrell High teams were riding high in Pennsylvania scholastic basketball circles.
Chamberlain, one of the most talented players in the state, or maybe the nation, was appearing at Farrell High in the annual Farrell Lions Club Christmas Tournament. He was a member of Overbrook High, one of the most powerful teams in the sate.
Wilt, the basketball giant, was averaging around 50 points a game at the time.
Steelers tough at home
But no one could beat the Steelers on their home court and this game was no exception.
Wilt, who went on to college fame at Kansas and NBA stardom with the Philadelphia Warriors (he once scored 100 points with the Warriors), and his Overbrook teammates found themselves on the short end of a one-point decision with only 11 seconds remaining in the contest.
Overbrook had the ball out of bounds, however, in the final 11 seconds. Said McCluskey, "Everyone in the gym knew what they were about to do, pass it in to Wilt.
"Since they had the ball out of bounds under their own basket, I told Jimmy McCoy to go up as high as he could and get a piece of the ball. He did just that [but his man was unguarded]. The pass was attempted for Wilt and was deflected. We got possession and the game was over."
When later looking at the game films, it was pointed out that McCoy's man could have scored the winning basket.
Don Jones, a member of the Farrell team, fronted Wilt the entire game and "held" him to a mere 30 points.
"We did a fine job on Wilt that night and holding him to 30 points had to be a moral victory for us," laughed McCluskey.
Farrell fans will always remember the night as the one in which the Steelers handcuffed Wilt and Overbrook came up short.
Tony Knott
Tony Knott, former executive director of the F.H. Buhl Club in Sharon, was also a product of Farrell High and McCluskey.
A few years back, Tony was the featured speaker at the Curbstone Coaches weekly luncheon meeting in Youngstown. As a youngster Tony lacked the essentials required to be a top-notch player. During the 7th, 8th and 9th grades, he was cut. As a sophomore, McClusky finally gave him a chance.
Said Tony, "I finally got a chance. Mr. McCluskey gave me a call and asked me to come out for the team. I got a uniform but it wasn't exactly like the uniforms the rest of the team wore. I didn't care, though, as I was on the team."
In Knott's senior year, the Steelers advanced to the PIAA title game but lost to Allentown, 66-65. Knott's shooting ability had greatly improved by then. He was later offered a scholarship by Penguin mentor Dom Rosselli to play at Youngstown State University. He went on to become one of the all-time scoring leaders at YSU.
To this day, Tony still attributes McCluskey and Rosselli as two of the major influences in his brilliant hardwood career.