Molitor entering Quaker Valley Hall twice in one week

By: Alec Italiano
Monday, September 11, 2017 | 11:00 PM

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While some members of the Quaker Valley Sports Hall of Fame have résumés filled with gaudy point totals and school records, Scott Molitor's body of work at QV came down to one thing — winning.

Molitor was a four-year letterman and captained the Quakers football team to the WPIAL quarterfinals as a senior in 1996, and later that school year, he was the starting point guard and captain of the Quakers' 1997 WPIAL champion basketball team. That highly successful senior year capped an outstanding career for Molitor, who will be inducted Sunday into the QV Sports Hall of Fame.

Though he is not the first double inductee to the QV Hall of Fame, Molitor is in the rare position of receiving the honor twice in the same year, as the '97 basketball team also enters the hall this week.

“I knew I would eventually get in as part of the team when the '97 team got inducted, but I was very surprised to get picked for myself,” Molitor said. “Coach (Mike) Mastroianni let me know, and I was definitely caught off guard.”

His role as the Quakers' point guard was a crucial one, as he played facilitator for three of the top scorers in program history — classmate Andy Wormsley and then-freshmen Justin Shegog and Chris Iorio. Mastroianni said because of the talent on that team, Molitor's ability to be a leader was as important, if not more, than his basketball skills.

“He's at the top of a small list of mine in terms of leaders we had. He had all the intangibles,” Mastroianni said. “Football was ahead of basketball for him, for sure, but as soon as fall was over and he stepped onto the basketball court, his competitive nature and work ethic was contagious.”

Football was Molitor's first sporting love, but even for a talented defensive back and running back/quarterback, winning didn't come easy.

“I played football my entire life. I grew up in Leetsdale, and there weren't too many soccer players there at the time. I was playing football with the older kids in the neighborhood, and it wasn't tag or touch, either,” he said.

“From about age 7 to 15, I don't think I was on a winning team at all. (In midgets), we sometimes struggled to hit the numbers we needed. We'd only have 12, 13 players, and sometimes it was frustrating.”

That changed in Molitor's senior year, when the WPIAL playoffs expanded from eight to 12 teams and the Quakers claimed a berth — their first in 13 years. Not only did QV have a winning record and reach they playoffs, they knocked out South Park, 17-7, before losing in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Aliquippa, 26-7.

“It was very rewarding when we came through our senior year. When we started winning, we knew we could competed with anyone, and that first playoff victory felt really good,” Molitor said.

Molitor represented QV in the annual Penn-Ohio All-Star Game and went on to play football at Washington & Jefferson, where his team reached the NCAA Division III playoffs. A knee injury shortened his college career, but he was already focused on his education, saying football “took a back seat.”

He got a degree in business and currently works as a corporate account director selling medical supplies in cities up and down the East Coast for McKesson. He has remained involved at Quaker Valley, last year assisting Mastroianni with the basketball team, a role he will give up this season because of work commitments.

“I had great teammates, basketball and football, and we all did our part,” Molitor said. “My name wasn't necessarily in the stats for basketball, but a leader is a leader, and it doesn't matter what sport. I think I had enough respect from people — players and coaches — to let me lead, and we had some pretty good teams.”

Matt Grubba is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at mgrubba@tribweb.com

Tags: Burrell, Quaker Valley, Valley