It’s a wrap
BUTLER TWP — From Ed Hepe to Bill Mylan, Art Bernardi to Eric Christy … Tom Menchyk has been the face behind the video camera for Butler athletics.
Menchyk, 74, ended a 47-year run of filming Golden Tornado sporting events when he did not return for Butler football this year.
“I had to step away due to health issues,” Menchyk said. “I really miss it.”
A member of the Butler Quarterback Club did the filming for Butler football in the early to mid 1970s. When he stepped down, Menchyk — a teacher in the Butler Area School District for more than 30 years — stepped in.
“I enjoyed camerawork and (then Butler assistant coach) Gary Milanovich asked me if I’d be interested in doing it,” Menchyk recalled. “It looked like fun, so I figured I’d give it a try.
“Did I think I’d be doing it for 47 years? No way. But before I incurred some health problems, my goal was to get to 50.”
It didn’t take long before Menchyk began filming other Butler sporting events. During the 1980s, he started filming basketball when Mark Jula was the Tornado coach.
Menchyk’s wife, Linda, worked as a secretary at the high school and discovered Jula was not happy with the quality of filming of his games. Butler students were handling the cameras at the time.
“My wife asked Mark if he’d be interested in me filming the games and that’s how that got started,” Menchyk said.
From there, the sports just piled up. Menchyk has filmed Butler boys and girls basketball games, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls volleyball and lacrosse. He had to drop a couple of sports after a while because they overlapped too much.
“For years, I was out four nights a week, filming a game somewhere,” Menchyk said. “For a number of years, I was filming 200 Butler sporting events a year.”
That fact isn’t lost on Mylan, Butler’s current athletic director.
“Tom is probably the most dedicated Butler sports person out there,” Mylan said. “He did it for such a long time, it was easy to take him for granted. From coach to coach, through the years, we never had to worry about finding someone to film our games.
“No matter what game was being played, no matter where, Tom was gonna be there. He was so reliable, definitely a critical, unsung part of our athletic program.”
Menchyk rode to games with the basketball team on the bus at times. He did so the night the Golden Tornado won the WPIAL boys basketball championship at the Petersen Events Center in 2020.
“You talk about a fun night. I’ll never forget that one,” he said.
His brother, Jim, and son, Mike — a teacher and junior varsity golf coach at Butler — helped him film games at times when the schedule got a little hectic.
Menchyk filmed games from the days of using 35 mm film to present day “when you can get the tape to the coaches by a push of a button.”
“From season to season, year after year, he was there,” Mylan said. “Tom was a fixture at Butler sporting events.”
Menchyk’s departure from filming sporting events practically coincides with the district’s purchase of Hudl cameras, which self-operate in filming action on the field or the court.
Menchyk keeps a video camera with himself regardless.
“If they ever need someone to pinch-hit, to film a game at the last minute or something … If they call me and I’m feeling up to it, I’ll still do it,” he said.
