"Who is the greatest athlete to ever come out of (insert name of city/state/region here)?" is always a popular sports talk show gambit whenever no one is calling in. If you play that game in reference to the Pittsburgh area, the name of Dick Groat, who died yesterday at the age of 92, comes up pretty quickly.
A two sport athlete from Swissvale, PA, Groat was an All-American basketball and baseball player at Duke University. His Number 10 basketball jersey was the first number retired by Duke, and he is still revered by the folks in Durham. He led the nation in scoring and assists and was the third overall selection in the NBA draft after his senior year. He played one year for the Fort Wayne Pistons in he NBA before concentrating on his baseball career, a career that would last for fourteen seasons and include 2,138 hits, an MVP Award, a National League batting title, five All-Star designations, and being a key member of two World Series winning teams, the 1960 Pirates and the 1964 Cardinals. He is a member of both the College Baseball and Basketball Halls of Fame.
He was, of course, the shortstop and team Captain of Pittsburgh's most remembered and beloved team, the 1960 Pirates. It was that season when Groat won the batting title and was named the National League's Most Valuable Player. Second baseman Bill Mazeroski is in the Baseball Hall of Fame, primarily because he is often conceded to be the greatest defensive second baseman ever, but for the first half of his career, someone was partnering with Maz at short on all of those jaw-dropping double plays, and that someone was Dick Groat.
Groat's leadership and contributions to that magical season were recognized on a national level, too, as this Sports Illustrated cover shows.
Of course, you have to be of a "certain age" to remember Groat as a baseball player, and most people in western Pennsylvania know of Groat today as the longtime color analyst on the radio broadcasts for Pitt basketball games, and job he held for forty (!!) years. Also, back in the 1960's, he and former Bucs teammate Jerry Lynch built and opened Champion Lakes Golf Course near Ligoner, a course that remains to this day one of the finest public golf courses in southwest Pennsylvania.
Groat's was, as Pirates owner Bob Nutting said in the paper today, "A life well lived."
I can remember chatting with Groat on several occasions as he took my money at the pro shop cash register. I can also remember a SABR meeting in Pittsburgh back in the mid 2010's when Groat was the guest speaker. He was astonished when the crowd there gave him a standing ovation when he entered. It was a well deserved reception, and his humility on that occasion was striking.
Groat was last seen just last week in a video when Steve Blass informed him that he would be inducted in this year's class of the Pirates Hall of Fame. He appeared to be very frail both physically and in his speech, so I suppose that yesterday's news of his passing doesn't come as a surprise. Still, the passing of one of the sporting heroes of your youth always hits hard.
As I always do on such occasions, I report that Groat's death leaves only six members of the 1960 World Series roster for the Pirates with us, Joe Christopher, Roy Face, Vernon Law, Bill Mazeroski, Bob Oldis, and Bob Skinner. All but Maz, who will turn 87 in September, are in their nineties, now. Which of this sporting tontine will be the one to open that figurative bottle of champagne?
Linda and I were at the Pirates-Dodgers game yesterday afternoon, where the Pirates recognized this sad occasion.
RIP Dick Groat.
Great post Bob🙂👍
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