Jun 23, 2025 8 min read

By John Sacco

For the Observer-Reporter

newsroom@observer-reporter.com

A consummate professional in all his pursuits, Jeff Zidek finds success by not taking himself and any situation too seriously.

“It has to be fun for me,” Zidek said. “Whatever I’ve done or do, I try to bring that philosophy to my job at The Meadows, to my coaching and in my years as a sports information director. If I can’t have fun doing it, I’m not going do it.”

By trade, Zidek, 56, is the track announcer at The Meadows and the women’s bowling coach at St. Vincent University. Previously, he was a teacher at Saint Vincent and sports information director.

At The Meadows, he succeeded a legend – Roger Huston in 2019 – and as the Bearcats’ bowling coach he has built a national program.

As an SID, he continued a standard that helped perpetuate the history of excellent SIDs in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.

“I think Jeff Zidek is a long-tenured coach who is an expert at higher education and communicating with young people,” said D.P. Harris, St. Vincent athletic director and men’s basketball coach. I’ve seen him do it for 25 years-plus, from a communications teacher and as the sports information director. He juggled those as a part-time employee. He always gives a full day’s work. He never treats it like it is a part-time job.”

Zidek worked for Huston at The Meadows and the two became friends. He called races and Zidek was involved in harness racing as an owner, trainer and communications professional.

“I trained horses for about 10 years,” Zidek said. “I came to the track as a kid with my parents and enjoyed it. I was in college as a communication major at St. Vincent. I needed an internship and I reached out to Roger Huston. It just so happened, they needed an in-house public address announcer one night a week. That’s how it started for me.

“I started filling in for Roger now and then. I never left. I was here full-time for 10 years. I was the PR director and then I ended up switching, working part-time at St. Vincent as a teacher while I was full-time at The Meadows. Then I switched to full-time at the college and part-time at the track and then in 2019, I switched back to full-time at The Meadows.”

Huston, “The Voice” of The Meadows for many years and a Hall of Fame announcer, said he thought Zidek was a natural successor in 2019.

“I felt that was a done deal,” Huston said. “It had to be Jeff Zidek. Jeff was capable of doing everything the job required and more.”

Scott Lishia came to The Meadows four years ago as Director of Racing. He gets that while he is Zidek’s boss, Zidek is the face and voice of the North Strabane Township track.

“Jeff brings a lot of different perspectives which is great,” Lishia said. “He owned horses. He trained horses. You know he’s worked in the media. He’s been an announcer here, handicaps races and now he’s branching out into social media. I think that it all stems from the fact he truly loves the game. He loves the industry.

“Jeff brings the highest professional level and he also brings that joy because he loves it so much and it’s fun for him.”

On a roll

Zidek built the St. Vincent women’s bowling team from the bottom to the top. This past season, for the first time in program history, the team earned a bid to the NCAA national tournament, by winning the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference championship.

After starting the three-day tournament as the top seed and sweeping its first two matches to advance to the finals, the Bearcats faced William Smith College and won 2-0 and 2-1.

Saint Vincent lost to Marian, 2-0, in the national tournament.

“I’m not able to work with the team five days a week,” Zidek said. “I can only do this on the side, part-time, so I really must find athletes who are college-ready. I can’t teach somebody how to bowl, we don’t have the time to do that, with me as a full-time announcer.

“I really put a lot of effort into recruiting to make sure that I find bowlers who are ready for the college level and are good enough to go to bigger schools and more well-known programs but choose to go Division III.”

Zidek relishes the banner season and will push forward. Bowling has been a life-long pursuit. He owns a 325-102 record at St. Vincent. The Bearcats were 49-18 this past season and won a program record 50 matches in 2019.

“I have been bowling since I was a kid and was actually pretty good at it,” Zidek said. “Over the years and when I was at St. Vincent, college bowling started to take hold. It’s been a great ride.”

Roger that

Zidek had no reservation about succeeding Huston as The Meadows’ announcer.

“When you leave a job that you had for 20 years and take over a new position, you wonder if you’re making the right move,” said Zidek, who resides in Greensburg with his wife, Jackie. His son, Ryan, serves as his dad’s other backup in calling races. Zidek also has a daughter, Sara.

“I can honestly say in 5 1/2 years – this sounds like an exaggeration but it’s not – I have never once gone home and said I had a bad day at work. I don’t think many people get to say that, and that is the absolute truth. I absolutely love what I do. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

It relates back to Huston, he said.

“We absolutely have had a great relationship for 38 years,” Zidek said.

“We’ve always gotten along and to this day when I need a day off, he’s the first person I check with. He has been very appreciative that I’ve asked him to come in and do some races every year on Adios day.

“I’ll never forget the first Adios that I asked Roger to come back. The crowd started cheering for him and I’ve never seen Roger so moved. It was a special moment for all of us.”

SID tree

Those who learned from him, were taught by him and those who worked with him speak to his humor, straightforwardness and quality workmanship as a sports information director, teacher or mentor.

“He’s one of the best mentors I’ve had in athletics,” said Aaron Thompson, assistant director of athletics for operations and former SID at Washington & Jefferson. “I wouldn’t be where I’m at today without the opportunity that Jeff gave me.

“He is just a laid-back kind of guy but professional as well and he doesn’t take himself too seriously. He’s done a good job with everything he’s done throughout his career.”

W&J also hired Sean King away from St. Vincent and Zidek.

“It starts, first and foremost, with Jeff’s attitude,” said King, assistant director of athletics for Allegheny College. “Jeff’s the reason that I pursued this avenue. I was talking with him when I was a freshman at Saint Vincent and I was in a different major and we just were having a conversation. I thought, ‘Wait a second. I can get paid to work in sports? That’s so cool.’

“He always found a way to impart a teaching lesson. Throughout the course of things, you may not have realized now, and he may not have even been thinking about them as teaching moments at that time, but there was always something and he played on his experiences.”

Zidek’s reach and impact goes beyond those he groomed. His cooperative and collegial spirit made him popular among other SIDs.

Ryan Briggs, Grove City’s SID, said Zidek’s sharp wit and distinctive voice aren’t the only characteristics that sets him apart.

“Jeff’s a sharp guy, a bright guy and he just gets it,” Briggs said. “He never sugarcoats things. He’s straightforward. Everything he does is done well and on time. As I got to know him, I realized he’s a funny guy with a sharp sense of humor. He could have been successful in a lot of walks of life and been great.

“He accomplishes so much without cranking the vice too tightly, which I will freely admit is something that I have struggled with over the years. I’ve gotten better at it in recent years. Maybe I learned a little of that from Jeff.”

Zidek is proud to have so many former students and assistants in the athletic communications field, collegiately and professionally.

“One of my proudest accomplishments in my professional life is the fact that a lot of the students that I worked with at Saint Vincent over the years have gone on to work within sports,” he added.

His favorite haunts

Zidek proudly and emphatically says he doesn’t aspire to move on professionally.

“This is my final job for my life,” he proclaimed. “If this doesn’t work out, I’m just retiring.”

It’s easy to understand his satisfaction.

“I’ve spent my life at racetracks, casinos and bowling alleys,” Zidek said. “When I was a kid, my two favorite things were going to the bowling alley and going to the racetrack. Here I am 40 years later and this is still my life.

“Who gets that kind of life? I am blessed that this is my life. I do not take it for granted.”

John Sacco writes a column about local sports history for the Observer-Reporter.