Elk Lake softball coach Tony Blaisure shakes hands with long-time assistant coach Mike Murphy after his 500th career win in 2017. EXAMINER FILE PHOTO
The NEPA Sports Hall of Fame inductees were, front, from left: M. Stephen Arcure, Mark Bucklaw, Carole Cader (on behalf of the late Paul Merchwat), Trina Carito Collins and Steve Lloyd. Back: Robert Walsh, president; Tony Blaisure, J.C. Show, Nick Parlanti, Mark Lesko, Mike Nycz and Jerry Valonis, vice president. (Trista Carpenter Photography)
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Elk Lake softball coach Tony Blaisure shakes hands with long-time assistant coach Mike Murphy after his 500th career win in 2017. EXAMINER FILE PHOTO
Tony Blaisure admits he is a competitive person. He was that way when he played basketball and baseball at Elk Lake High School and when he played basketball at Lackawanna College.
But when his playing days stopped, he needed something to stoke his competitive fire.
Coaching and officiating do that.
For more than 40 years, Blaisure has been on the sidelines at Elk Lake as a coach and administrator. He also has been on the field officiating high school and collegiate games.
That longevity and dedication makes Blaisure the 54th recipient of the Joseph M. Butler Memorial Award. It was presented to him Thursday night at the 76th annual Times-Tribune Athlete of the Week Awards Ceremony at Lackawanna College’s Peoples Security Bank Theatre.
Created in 1973 for the late Scranton Times sports editor who started the Athlete of the Week program in 1950, the Butler Award recognizes individuals for their contributions and service to scholastic and collegiate sports.
“I was always into athletics and I had some great teachers and coaches at Elk Lake, one of them being Mike “Red” Wallace,” Blaisure said. “He got me very interested in them.”
After graduating from Elk Lake in 1979, Blaisure took a year off, then went to Lackawanna College. He considered becoming a physical education teacher, but that didn’t work out. Instead, after graduating in 1982, he returned to his high school alma mater and became the pitching coach for the softball team.
In 1986, he took over as head coach and has held the position since. Blaisure has 620 wins, 17 league titles and 15 district titles.
He also coached junior high boys basketball for five years, then five years of JV boys basketball with Ron Kropa before becoming head girls basketball coach from 1993 to 2004. In that capacity, he won 199 games, two league titles and six district championships.
Blaisure also spent 25 years as Elk Lake’s athletic director, taking over when Charlie Rushefski — the 1989 Butler Award winner — retired.
As if that wasn’t enough, he also became an official. He has been a PIAA basketball official for 37 years, PIAA football official for 28 years and a women’s basketball official at the NCAA Division II, III and junior college levels for 26 years.
Being a coach and an official gave him a unique understanding and perspective of both jobs. He said the key was learning how to communicate with officials as a coach and vice versa.
“That’s the biggest obstacle officiating any sport,” Blaisure said. “When I was coaching, I wasn’t as tough (on officials) because I knew they were out there doing the best job possible. You communicate with those officials in a different way when you’re a coach and an official at the same time.”
Still, he admits to occasionally having to bite a towel like former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian to not say anything inappropriate to officials who were friends and colleagues.
“But all in all, because of my understanding of coaching and officiating, there really aren’t a lot of bad stories,” Blaisure said. “Again, I go back to that big word of communicating. It means so much in coaching high school athletes and officiating whatever sport it is and communicating with the coaches.”
What Blaisure enjoys most about both jobs is working with the athletes.
“As an official, I love the interaction with the players at the high school level and the collegiate level,” he said. “Being able to talk to them and communicate. Same thing with coaching. I’m able to communicate with them in a different way. When you’re coaching, you’re not going to make everybody happy. But when you see a kid make a good play in whatever sport you’re coaching, it brings a smile to your face to see a kid do something that they didn’t think they could do.”
Besides coaching and officiating, Blaisure also played many years for Hannon’s Bar of Scranton in the Scranton Tavern Modified Softball League.
“Just seeing how good I could be on their team,” Blaisure said. “They were such a good program, participating in many state tournaments and national tournaments. Just to be able to stay active and doing something I really love and enjoy. That’s really competing as a player, as a coach or as an official.”
Last summer, Blaisure considered retiring after his 40th year. But every year, he gets players who ask him, “Please stay. Please stay.” So he returned.
His wife Terry came up with a solution.
“I talked it over with her and here’s what she said to me,” Blaisure said. “You can coach as long as you want as long as you’re still having fun and your health is still good. When one of those two things go, then let’s make a decision. I said, ‘Fair enough.’”
Until then, the competitive fire in Blaisure will continue to burn.
Joseph M. Butler Award winners
1973: Jerry Burke
1974: Marty Reap
1975: Robert Spagna
1976: Richard F. McNichols
1977: Mike “Red” Wallace
1978: Bill Gerrity
1979: Bob Klenk
1980: Joseph Pusateri
1981: Jack Kelly Sr.
1982: Emil Hordesky
1983: Andy Cerra
1984: Jim Davis, Valley View
1985: Elio Ghigiarelli
1986: Jim Davis, Nanticoke
1987: Julius Prezelski
1988: Roy Davis
1989: Charles Rushefski
1990: Bob Gilbride
1991: Tom Nageli
1992: Jack Farrell
1993: Frank Pazzaglia
1994: Charles Mecca
1995: Joseph Castrogiovanni
1996: Jack Henzes
1997: Les Richards
1998: John Diven
1999: Robert Mellow
2000: Mike Ognosky
2001: Bob Bessoir
2002: Janet Finn
2003: Jerry Preschutti
2004: Jerry Wasilchak*
2005: Glenn Moskosky
2006: Lou Camoni*
2007: Guy Valvano
2008: Rich Chulada
2009: Joe Lalli
2010: George Werthmuller
2011: Tom Smith
2012: Jack Kelly
2013: Bob Coleman
2014: Richard Notari*
2015: Sandra Spott
2016: Ken Bianchi
2017: Nick Donato
2018: Mark Rinaldi*
2019: Mike Cerra
2020: Vince Fedor
2021: Robert Simons
2022: Phil Tochelli
2023: Al Callejas
2024: Ann Marie Simons*
2025: Joy Pilosi
2026: Tony Blaisure
*-elected posthumously