Croftcheck brought winning determination to Carmichaels, WVU
Tom Croftcheck was one of those athletes that teammates and coaches would want on their side.
The vibe was positive. The effort was unquestioned. The will to win was apparent and infectious.
“Tommy is one of the most competitive guys I ever played ball with,” said Larry Kumor, a Uniontown native who played on teams at West Virginia University and Leckrone in the Fayette County Baseball League with Croftcheck.
“If I was to pick my top teammates, Tommy would be my top teammate. He wasn’t overly powerful. He didn’t have the strongest arm, but he made up for it by coming to play and using the great skills he did have. He is a good guy and good friend. We still talk.”
Croftcheck, 64, was a standout athlete at Carmichaels – football, wrestling and baseball. While he was prolific on the football field, and a two-time section runnerup in wrestling, it was baseball that he loved and excelled playing. He helped lead the Mikes to the WPIAL Class 2A championship baseball game in 1980 and into the PIAA tournament.
Along the way, Carmichaels defeated Washington in the quarterfinals and Neshannock in the semifinals before losing to Swissvale in the championship game.
From there, Croftcheck was recruited by WVU for baseball and other options. He chose to walk-on to play baseball at WVU. At that time, the Mountaineers were a fledgling program, insufficiently supported financially and on the verge of being dropped.
He made his mind up to make a difference.
His mother, Sondra, was happy because she “hated” football. His father, Thomas J., was a former principal at Laurel Highlands.
The younger Croftcheck, affectionately known as “Turtle” beat out a returning starter and eventually helped lead a Mountaineers charge to a regional final in Charleston, S.C. in 1982.
He, along with coach Dale Ramsburg – WVU’s all-time winningest coach – and teammates saved the program in Morgantown.
“To see it today, it’s very humbling for sure,” Croftcheck said referring to the Mountaineers advancing to the College World Series and making it to the semifinals this past spring. “It’s just amazing to think we played on a field that the coaches had to maintain. Back then, you needed catcher’s equipment just to be out in the field in any position. It’s rewarding to know we were able to keep the program going.
“We still go down for different get-togethers and gatherings. To know where the program has gone and to think that we were the ones that saved it all. “We went from almost losing the program to two years later playing South Carolina in the finals of the NCAA East Regional was big. It’s nice to know that you were part of that.”
Making a difference
Croftcheck’s abilities on the fields at Carmichaels are remembered for his grit and ability to raise the performance of those around him.
In football, he once led Greene County in points scored and was a focal point on the Mikes’ baseball team that had a bevy of good players, including a great pitcher in the late Bob Phillips, who was an MLB draft pick.
“He was always a great athlete, the kid in school who was always a better athlete than everyone else,” said John Menhart, former Carmichaels football coach, superintendent and currently the district’s school board president.
Added former Mikes athletic director and softball coach John Krajnak: “He wasn’t very big. But he certainly made that up in his desire, his ability and his drive. There’s no question about that. No matter what he tried, he excelled in it. And he was the kind of kid you’d say would never give up. I mean, he really was a scrapper.”
Croftcheck and his wife Cindy reside in Scott Township. The couple have a son, Dylan, and two grandchildren. He admits he understood his athletic ability was better than most. It gave him confidence and boosted Carmichaels athletics.
“The 1980 (baseball) team was a really good team,” Croftcheck said “I thought I was good in a lot of different things and that I was a good player, for sure. I don’t want to sound (arrogant) but I was confident.
“I really didn’t know that I was going to continue to play baseball beyond high school. I was getting offers from small-school football programs – Bethany and Allegheny, schools like that. Baseball really wasn’t offering.”
WVU opportunity
Frank Pryor was an assistant baseball coach at WVU. He doubled as chief recruiter in the small operation that was WVU baseball at the time.
The Mountaineers, like everyone else, were scouting Phillips.
Pryor, of Fredericktown, was a former player at WVU and was interested in bringing Croftcheck to Morgantown.
With limited scholarship money available, he remained bullish on Croftcheck’s ability and was certain he was a good fit for the Mountaineers.
“We were watching Phillips,” Pryor explained. “I’m sitting in left field, next to a gentleman from Carmichaels. He says: ‘Frank, you’re just not going to get Phillips. It’s just not going to happen.'”
He tells me I need to look at the shortstop, which was Tommy, and I kept looking at him and we needed an infielder anyway. I think we were looking at shortstops and third basemen. The more I watched him, I realized he just was not afraid to get his uniform dirty. He batted left-handed and he was smart enough and talented enough to take the outside pitch the opposite way. He just hustled.
“I went back and told (Ramsburg) it wasn’t going to work out with Phillips but there was this infielder there that we might be able to get maybe for just a tuition waiver. We had to break our scholarships apart to spread money out. That’s exactly what happened. We offered it to Tommy. He answered the door and I said, ‘Here’s what we can do for you.’ He just said, ‘OK. I’m coming.’ It was simple. He had an opportunity. It all worked out for him.”
A big impact
In the 1983 season, Croftcheck hit .368 for the Mountaineers with a .455 on-base percentage and a .517 slugging percentage for an outstanding .972 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage).
Teammates and Pryor raved about Croftcheck’s defense and energy.
“He was strong,” said infielder Jeff Wilson, one of the team’s mainstays. “Tommy just hit line drives. He hit the ball the other way. He had a disciplined approach. He pulled it when he needed to. He was a tough out.”
Croftcheck said once he decided to attend WVU all his athletic thoughts turned to baseball.
“I had enough confidence in myself. I thought I’d be OK,” he said. “I had relatives who had gone to school there. My uncle, Eddie Tekavec, was an All-American (1961) there.”
While he never got drafted or signed as a free agent, Croftcheck is revered as one of Carmichaels’ finest players and an important member of WVU’s program survival and revival.
“I think Tommy’s greatest play was in that regional in South Carolina,” Pryor said. “There were like 10,000 to 11,000 people. We were coming through the loser’s bracket. South Carolina was undefeated.
“Tommy turned a triple play. It was amazing. He dove to his right and caught the ball. He got up, ran to second base and threw to first. It wasn’t close. Everyone was running – a tremendous and memorable play. That’s what he was all about.”
John Sacco writes a column for the Observer-Reporter about local sports history.