Cavanaugh

This is the sixth in a series of seven articles profiling the 2013 inductees into the Butler County Sports Hall of FameGROVE CITY — John Cavanaugh always appreciated his coaches.Now 68, the 1963 Slippery Rock High School graduate is still a good coach himself.Cavanaugh’s prowess as a basketball player and a coach is landing him induction into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame. He will be one of seven inductees honored at the Hall’s annual banquet April 27 at the Butler Days Inn.“There are a lot of guys in that Hall who I coached or played with,” Cavanaugh said. “This is a tremendous honor for me.”Cavanaugh played Little League baseball in Williamsport, pitching no-hitters and several one and two-hitters before his family moved to Butler when he was in eighth grade. Doggie Cavalero and Elmer Massey coached him in youth baseball in Butler and Rudy Corona was his eighth grade basketball coach.All three of those men were inducted into the then Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame years ago.“I was fortunate to be coached by guys of that caliber,” Cavanaugh said. “Rudy Corona had a big influence on me playing basketball.”When his family bought a house north of Butler, Cavanaugh found himself in the Slippery Rock Area School District from his freshman year on. His high school basketball coach was Don Todaro and Cavanaugh played point guard for him.Cavanaugh started for three years — freshmen had to play on the freshmen team then — and was the second leading scorer in the Butler County League in 1962 and 1963. He averaged 18 and 17.3 points per game, respectively, in those seasons while leading the team in assists and steals.He scored a then-school record 41 points in a game his junior year, when there was no 3-point shot.Slippery Rock won the league title in 1962 and tied for the crown in 1963. Cavanaugh went on to play basketball at Indiana (Pa.) University and lettered for three years.“New Mexico offered me a scholarship to play Division I ball, but my father told me there was no way you’re going all the way to New Mexico,” Cavanaugh recalled, laughing.Just two years out of college, at age 23, Cavanaugh was named head varsity basketball coach at Slippery Rock High, becoming one of the youngest high school head coaches in Pennsylvania.“I wanted to get into coaching out of college and I took a teaching job in the Purchase Line School District in Indiana,” Cavanaugh said. “They had an opening to coach ninth grade football and asked me if I wanted to do it.“I said I didn’t know anything about football. They said it pays $500. I said, ‘I’ll take it.’”Purchase Line’s freshman football team posted its best-ever record that season. The next year, Cavanaugh accepted the hoop job at Slippery Rock.The Rockets had posted a string of losing seasons before Cavanaugh took the job.“My father thought I was crazy,” he said. “He told me Red Auerbach wouldn’t be able to win there.”Slippery Rock finished 2-19 in Cavanaugh’s first year. The team finished 13-9 by his fourth season.“My assistant coach, Dick Crawford, and I started an elementary basketball program there,” Cavanaugh said. “I eventually left to join (former IUP teammate) Mel Hankinson’s staff at Slippery Rock State College.”He helped coach The Rock to a sixth-place finish in the NAIA Tournament in Kansas City.In 2006, Cavanaugh co-founded the CRONS Basketball Club, an AAU program, with his son, Pat. CRONS stands for Come Ready or Never Start. The program started with one team and developed into 15 teams.Fourteen of the seventh-graders in on the ground floor of that program are continuing their education in college.“It’s all about overcoming adversity,” Cavanaugh said. “I’m just happy I can still help kids.”Tickets for the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame Banquet are available from any of the HOF directors, online at www.bcshof.com or at Bill’s Beer Barn, Moses Jewelers, Parker Appliance, Saxonburg Drug and Snack-N-Pack.