Sapotichne to enter AK Valley Sports Hall of Fame while still going strong in coaching

By: Mark Nitowski
Sunday, March 23, 2025 | 4:54 PM

Paul Sapotichne grew up honing his basketball skills on a hoop in the driveway of his family’s Cheswick home more than 50 years ago.

When reminiscing about those days, Sapotichne recalls the sounds of a bouncing basketball and swishing net mixing with the voice of legendary Pirates baseball announcer Bob Prince.

“My dad loved the Pirates,” he said. “He would bring a transistor radio out and sit in a chair in the yard. I would shoot basketball for hours while we listened to the game. That was one of the ways that I got hooked on basketball. Once I started, I didn’t want to stop.”

Sapotichne’s dedication to the sport helped to propel him to a long and distinguished basketball coaching career that’s still going strong. He will be recognized for his efforts with induction into the Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame on May 17 at Pittsburgh Shriners Center in Harmar.

“I’m very excited and quite honored,” Sapotichne said. “I was a good player in high school and received a scholarship in college. But I wasn’t a good player in college, and knew I wanted to be a coach my senior year.”

Sapotichne, 72, is in his second stint coaching the Greensburg Salem boys basketball team. Overall, he has amassed 470 victories while coaching at Wilmington Area, Riverview and Greensburg Salem.

“Longevity has been my thing,” he said. “I’ve kept plugging along, and I’ve been fortunate to have some good teams at Greensburg Salem.”

Sapotichne grew up in Cheswick, literally. He stood 6-foot-2 in eighth grade.

“I would dribble my basketball from Cheswick to Springdale and then walk up to an outdoor court on School Street,” he said. “I would spend my whole day playing there.”

At Springdale High School, Sapotichne developed into an outstanding player. In 1971, he was chosen WKPA Radio/Westmoreland Cable Channel 3 Player of the Year from a group of A-K Valley high school stars.

Sapotichne accepted a scholarship to play at Westminster. After an up-and-down college career, he decided to focus on coaching during his senior year.

“New coaches came in, and I was probably good enough to make the team and play a little bit,” he said. “But I hadn’t grown since eighth grade. I saw an ad for a graduate assistant in the school newspaper. I cut out the ad and took it to the coaches. They wanted me to play, but I really wanted to start coaching and learn from them.”

Sapotichne served as a Westminster assistant coach before moving to nearby Wilmington Area High School to be a teacher and junior varsity coach. At the time, Wilmington competed in the WPIAL.

“After one season, the head coach left, and I replaced him,” Sapotichne. “At 23, I was one of the youngest — if not the youngest — coach in the WPIAL.”

Sapotichne’s wife, Janine, grew up in the Greensburg area. They decided to relocate from Wilmington to Greensburg, with Sapotichne also switching careers from teaching to the real estate appraisal business.

After a short stint as an assistant at Saint Vincent, Sapotichne sought out the head coaching job at Greensburg Salem.

“I didn’t know anyone when I applied, but the people couldn’t have been nicer and I loved it there,” he said.

Sapotichne went on to coach the Golden Lions from 1983-2012. His teams won seven section titles with more than 20 playoff appearances. In 2009, he led Greensburg Salem to the state championship game and was named Associated Press Class AAA Coach of the Year.

During his time at Greensburg Salem, Sapotichne coached his sons, Joshua and Sean. He also has a daughter, Brenna.

“I wasn’t born in Greensburg, but I’ve always felt like that’s my home,” he said. “It’s been a special place for me.”

After stepping down at Greensburg Salem, the Sapotichnes moved to Oakmont to enable Janine to be closer to her job in Squirrel Hilld. Within a week, Sapotichne was asked to apply for the Riverview head coaching position.

Sapotichne led the Raiders for six seasons.

“I loved the people and the players at Riverview,” he said. “We did our best to develop a program. We were getting better every season, and then covid hit and everything that could go wrong, went wrong.”

At the time, Sapotichne also was diagnosed with cancer. He stepped away from coaching during his recovery. He said he’s now cancer free.

Sapotichne returned for his second stint at Greensburg Salem when the head coaching job opened up just before the start of the 2024-25 season. The Lions posted a 5-17 overall mark with a 3-9 record in Section 3-4A.

“I’m very proud of what we did during my first tenure, and I’m excited to be back there,” he said. “We got a late start, but now we’ll have a full offseason. I don’t know how good we’ll be next season, but I know that we’ll be better.”

Whether at Greensburg Salem, Riverview or Wilmington, Sapotichne said his teams can be defined by three things.

“We’re going to play hard, play man-to-man defense and be structured on offense,” he said.

Sapotichne is a rarity among A-K Hall inductees: He’s still active in the endeavor that led to his enshrinement.

“I went from one of the youngest coaches in the WPIAL to one of the oldest,” he said with a chuckle. “I have no exit plan. I still love coaching and plan to keep doing it as long as Greensburg Salem wants me.”

Here are the other 2025 inductees:

Jodie Vick McCartney and Jamie Vick Moran – Kiski Area multi-sports and Saint Vincent College basketball

Don Frederick – New Kensington and California State College football; WPIAL coach

Jonathan Martin – Valley and Slippery Rock College football

Larry Ondako – Arnold and Slippery Rock College basketball and baseball; Leechburg/Burrell coach

Nick Reiser – Knoch and Allegheny College football

Mark Schubert – Springdale and Pitt football

1948 Ford City boys basketball team

1971 Kiski Area football team

Mark Nitowski is a TribLive contributing writer.

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: Greensburg Salem, Riverview