Mar 30, 2023 5 min read

After almost 43 years with the Observer-Reporter, assistant sports editor Joe Tuscano is ready to turn the page on his newspaper career.

Tuscano, 65, has announced his retirement. His final day will be Friday.

“Joe’s retirement marks the end of an era for the Observer-Reporter as well as for the local sports community,” said Liz Rogers, Executive Editor of the O-R. “He will be missed by all of us. His successor has enormous shoes to fill.”

An award-winning journalist who has covered a wide variety of sports and subject matter, Tuscano has been with the Observer-Reporter since July 1980. Over the years, he has shown his versatility by covering almost every sport played in this corner of Pennsylvania and being the O-R’s beat writer for Pitt football, small college football, high school track and field and the short-lived Pennsylvania Rebellion, a women’s professional softball team that played in Washington.

Tuscano, however, is best known for his coverage of high school wrestling. A member of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Wrestling Hall of Fame, Tuscano has covered the WPIAL and PIAA championships in each of the last 43 years. In 1982, he was named the Pennsylvania Wrestling Writer of the Year.

A two-time winner of a Golden Quill award, which is given for excellence in journalism, Tuscano says the article he is most proud of was a feature on former Waynesburg Central High School wrestler Terri Harding, who was the first female to compete in the sport in Greene County. Years later, Harding had both of her legs amputated following a battle with meningococcemia, a potentially deadly bacterial infection that reached the blood stream. Tuscano caught up with Harding in 2013 and chronicled her ongoing recovery.

“I didn’t win a Golden Quill for that one,” Tuscano lamented.

Among the stories Tuscano did win awards for was one on Joe Charboneau, a former Washington Wild Things coach and the American League Rookie of the Year in 1980.

A native of New Castle, where he played football for legendary high school coach Lindy Lauro and was once hit so hard during practice by teammate and future NFL standout Bruce Clark that he wandered into the wrong huddle after the play – Joe still considers that a highlight of his football career – Tuscano attended Duquesne University, which is where his passion for journalism developed. He contributed to the student newspaper and worked part time for the Jeannette News-Dispatch, North Hills News-Record and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

“I always wanted to be a writer,” Tuscano said, “but it was when I was working on the school paper in college that I knew I wanted to make a living from it. That’s when I fell in love with writing. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

After graduation, Tuscano received a phone call from former O-R sports editor Byron Smialek. The newspaper was looking for a sportswriter, specifically one who could cover high school wrestling.

“I lied through my teeth,” Tuscano admits. “I had $36 left in my savings account and needed the job. Byron asked if I knew anything about wrestling. I said that I did. My only thought at that time was where do they put the ropes? All I knew about wrestling was Bruno Sammartino, Haystacks Calhoun and those guys.

“I went out and bought a book about how to wrestle. I really didn’t need it because I write stories about people, not wrestling moves. It’s more important to tell a good story than know a full nelson from a chicken wing.”

Tuscano’s first story with the O-R was a feature on legendary softball pitcher Eddie Feigner, of the King & His Court team that played a benefit game at Pony Field in Washington Park. For the record, Feigner’s team beat the Ten Mile Valley League All-Stars, 6-3. Tuscano’s last contribution as a full-time sportswriter, the O-R’s Wrestler of the Year and All-District Team, will appear in Sunday’s edition.

Between the Feigner story and the All-District wrestling story, Tuscano chronicled many big moments in local sports. He was there when Sid Bream beat Barry Bonds’ throw to home plate on a hit by Francisco Cabrera to eliminate the Pirates in Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS; each of the four state wrestling championships won by Jefferson-Morgan’s Cary Kolat and Gavin Teasdale; Washington & Jefferson College’s two appearances in the NCAA Division III football championship game, and three NCAA wrestling championships, among many others. His articles and columns were always delivered with grace, wit and a can-do spirit, even under the pressures of a tight deadline.

Though he’s retiring, Tuscano is not stepping away from the keyboard. He plans to contribute articles to the O-R in the future, but his days of driving to the office and climbing the 34 steps to the newsroom each day will soon be over. That will give Tuscano time to do what he couldn’t in the pressbox – cheer for his favorite sports teams. An unabashed fan of the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Guardians, Cleveland Cavaliers and Duquesne basketball, Tuscano hasn’t had many championships to celebrate.

“There are things I’ve wanted to see but I don’t think I will before I die: the Browns winning a Super Bowl, the Guardians winning a World Series and Duquesne getting back to the NCAA tournament. I was a student the last time Duquesne played in the tournament.”