A-K HOF inductee Ondako excelled as an athlete, coach and still enjoys competition

By: Mark Nitowski
Saturday, April 5, 2025 | 6:44 PM

Receiving the news that he had been selected to the Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame left Larry Ondako pondering his place among local athletic legends.

“It presented kind of a conundrum for me,” said the 81-year-old Ondako. “The hall is for greatness. I think I played well and was good in a lot of sports but not great in anything.”

Many A-K Valley fans who followed Ondako’s career would argue that he’s understating his impact, that he has been much more than a “jack of all trades.”

Ondako starred in baseball and basketball at Arnold High School in the early 1960s and went on to earn multiple letters in those sports at Slippery Rock. He then turned to coaching, compiling a 500-327 career record, most notably guiding the Leechburg boys basketball and Burrell softball programs. Away from school sports, he has excelled on the golf course and tennis court, winning multiple club championships.

For his accomplishments, Ondako is among eight individuals and two teams scheduled for induction at the 54th A-K Hall banquet May 17 at Pittsburgh Shriners Center in Harmar.

“It was a surprise, quite frankly,” he said. “I was fortunate to be surrounded by a talented group of people and players in different sports and to win some championships.”

Ondako grew up in Lower Burrell before the opening of Burrell High School.

“At that time, you had the choice of going to New Ken, Arnold, even Tarentum (high school),” he said. “My (older) brother, Ray, went to Arnold, and I followed him there. We were close and played all of our sports together, so it was a logical step.”

At Arnold, Ondako earned three letters in baseball and two letters in basketball.

“My favorite sport was whatever I was playing at the time,” he said. “Now it’s pick a sport, but back at that time, everyone played everything.”

Ondako fondly recalls his time as a 5-foot-10 guard on the basketball court and a shortstop and leadoff hitter for the Lions baseball squad.

He closed out his high school basketball career by representing Arnold in the 1962 Ford City Kiwanis all-star contests, scoring 16 and 12 points, respectively, in the two-game series.

“When I look back, my best memories in basketball and baseball were as a high school player,” he said. “There was a camaraderie that you can’t get in college because players are coming from all areas. It was a much closer-knit situation for me.”

Ondako’s athletic success continued at Slippery Rock, where he received three letters in basketball and two in baseball. He studied teaching, with a focus on life after his playing days.

“I really went to college to become a coach. Back then, the only way to get into coaching was to be a teacher. I ended up really enjoying the teaching part,” said Ondako, who was a long-time educator, first at Burrell, and then at Leechburg.

Ondako received his first coaching opportunity before graduating college. Again, he followed in his brother’s footsteps.

“Ray was the assistant basketball and (head) golf coach at Burrell. He had just taken the head (basketball) coaching job at Knoch,” Ondako said. “(Then Burrell superintendent) Charles Huston called me at the frat house and asked if I wanted to take Ray’s place. It sounded like a good idea. It was that simple.”

Karns City provided Ondako with his first head basketball coaching position. After a short stint at the Butler County school, he returned to the A-K Valley in 1972 to guide a Leechburg program that was struggling.

“Leechburg was pretty dysfunctional when I got there,” Ondako said. “At the time, Leechburg had the longest losing streak in Pennsylvania at 52 games.”

The Blue Devils dropped their first eight games under Ondako, stretching the losing skein to 60.

“I thought we’d never win a game,” he said with a laugh. “But we ended up winning five games my first season, and then we went 13-8 the next year. From there, we got progressively better.”

Convincing players from a successful Leechburg football program to come out for basketball was the key to the Blue Devils’ turnaround, according to Ondako.

“Our basketball team won because we had really tough, hard-nosed kids,” he said. “We had very good athletes, but not necessarily wonderful basketball players. My feeling was to build a program we needed to teach the kids the things that we could, like playing defense, rebounding and diving for loose balls. We had kids willing to play and win that way.”

Ondako stepped away from coaching the Blue Devils in the mid-1980s to watch his son, Larry, play basketball in high school and college.

After starring at Burrell, the younger Ondako had a stellar career at Westminster College, which led to his induction into the Titan Sports Hall of Fame in 2001. He also served as Westminster’s head coach from 2003 to 2012.

After his son’s playing days, Ondako returned to coaching Leechburg through the 2002 season. Overall, he amassed 365 career victories in basketball. His teams won four section championships and made 13 playoff appearances.

Ondako also coached the Burrell softball team in the 1990s. Under his guidance, the Bucs won 111 games and three section championships. Burrell upset section rival Leechburg, 1-0, in the 1994 WPIAL Class AA semifinals, before falling to Riverside in the title game.

“I had played baseball all of my life and the strategy between baseball and softball overlapped,” he said. “It was a bit of a transition from coaching boys to girls, but I found the girls tremendously coachable. It was a really enjoyable experience and we had some great teams.”

Ondako brought some playing cred to the Burrell softball job. He was the shortstop on the legendary Hubby’s men’s slow-pitch team. The Arnold-based squad captured the 1969 World Softball Championship, with Ondako earning tournament MVP honors.

“I believe we’re still the only (softball) team from the A-K Valley to win a world championship,” he said.

For a time, Ondako also helped his wife, Julia, coach the Burrell tennis team.

“She had a fine tennis program and it was a lot of fun,” he said.

Ondako’s accomplishments haven’t been limited to high school and college sports. He has won five golf championships at Vandergrift Golf Club and has been a part of 14 singles, doubles or mixed tennis titles at Hillcrest Country Club.

“I don’t enjoy doing something if I don’t do it well. That’s not necessarily a good thing, but it’s the way I am,” he said. “I didn’t have the best golf or tennis stroke when I started playing those sports. I had to put in the time and work. To me, those were learned sports. In the other sports, I just had God-given talents, like shooting a basketball and hitting a baseball.”

Larry and Julia still live in Lower Burrell. In addition to son Larry, they have two daughters, Michelle and Kristen.

Even in his 80s, Ondako said he remains active, playing golf, pickle ball and tennis.

“I don’t compete in tournaments, except for some (golf) scramble events,” he said. “Nowadays, it’s competition to the degree that I’m competing against myself. I’ll keep doing it as long as I can.”

If you’re going

What: 54th A-K Valley Sports Hall of Fame induction

When: 7 p.m. May 17

Where: Pittsburgh Shriners Center, Harmar

Tickets: $40

For more information, visit akhof.com.

Tags: Burrell, Leechburg, Valley