Tom Evans retires as athletic director at Yough

By: Paul Schofield
Sunday, June 21, 2020 | 8:28 PM

The longest-tenured athletic director in Westmoreland County has retired.

Yough’s Tom Evans, who has been athletic director or assistant AD since 1993, will retire as a teacher on June 30.

Evans has also been a PIAA official for more than 35 years and has served on various committees with the WPIAL.

“I didn’t consider being an athletic director as a job,” Evans said. “I felt it was a privilege.

“I will continue to help Yough and the WPIAL anyway I can. I will miss working with retiring WPIAL executive director Tim O’Malley.”

Evans, a Donora native who graduated from Ringgold and Cal (Pa.), called the late Paul Zolak his mentor. Zolak, who recently died, was an athletic director at Belle Vernon, Ringgold and Bethel Park. Evans also said former Southmoreland and Elizabeth Forward AD Dennis Zieger was a big influence in his career.

Evans, a past president of the WPIAL Athletic Directors Association, was the 2016 WPIAL Athletic Director of the Year and was awarded the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Distinguished Sport of Merit in 2019.

Evans has been a golf steering committee member, financial tournament manager of the wrestling committee, liaison for the football and soccer championships at Heinz Field and Highmark Stadium, member of the WPIAL Hall of Fame committee and a member of the WPIAL board of directors.

During his career at Yough, the district upgraded its athletic facilities.

“I’m leaving with great memories at Yough,” said Evans, who taught middle school civics for 36 years. “I had two great secretaries in Ellen Kearns and Francine Huss, and I worked with a lot of great coaches at the school.”

Some of those memories include the softball team winning a WPIAL title in 2011 and PIAA crown in 2016 and the basketball team reaching the 2005 WPIAL championship game.

Yough will post the AD job within the district before looking outside the district.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Ringgold, Yough