George Guido: Tom Pipkins’ WPIAL scoring mark remains intact 25 years later

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, January 30, 2018 | 7:59 PM

Though it's been 25 years, Valley graduate Tom Pipkins remains atop the WPIAL basketball all-time scoring list.

Pipkins broke the record Jan. 29, 1993, as a packed house watched Don Hennon's 38-year-old record fall.

In a play designed for the big moment, Pipkins took an alley-oop pass from Bill Coury and slammed the ball through the hoop with 4 minutes, 18 seconds left in the first quarter. Pipkins had the record, and Valley was on its way to a 97-63 nonsection victory over South Park.

Excitement built up throughout the season as Pipkins crashed the 2,000-point barrier on the first night of the season. Anticipation kicked into high gear when Pipkins left the Penn Hills game three nights earlier, leaving him three points shy of the record of 2,376 set by Wampum's Don Hennon in 1955.

Valley's coach, the late Tom Myers, scouted South Park and saw the Eagles started games in a man-for-man defense. Myers called a time out and scripted a play for the record-breaker.

Even with all the hoopla building up, Pipkins was determined to focus on the game at hand.

“People wanted me to set the record right away, but I didn't want to change my game just for one night,” Pipkins said. “I was pretty much able to concentrate on the game. South Park was a pretty good team, too.”

Both teams were ranked in the top five of Class AAA.

Valley scored 23 field goals on 33 shots in the first half to take a 52-23 lead at the half.

Pipkins scored 29 points to finish with 2,403 career points. Mitch Funkhouser added 22 that night, and Nate Cope had 16 and Coury 10. Valley would go on to win the WPIAL title and make it to the state finals in Hershey, where the Vikings lost to Pottstown.

Pipkins would finish his Valley career with 2,838 points. The closest player to him is Duquesne's Kevin Price, finishing 203 behind at 2,635 in 1994. Pipkins and Price wound up as teammates at Duquesne.

“No one has even passed Kevin for, what, 24 years?” Pipkins said. “I thought a couple people coming along might surmount the record, but they came up short.”

Pipkins is a learning support specialist at Quaker Valley High School. He was an assistant football coach as the Quakers won the WPIAL and PIAA football titles last fall.

Pipkins was inducted into the Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame in 2016. Myers died in 2014.

Big 33 streak lives

The Patriots and the Eagles are preparing for Super Bowl LII as an amazing sports streak continues.

At least one player in every Super Bowl played in the annual Big 33 Game.

This year, Eagles offensive lineman Stefan Wisniewski (Central Catholic) is in the game. He played for the 2007 Pennsylvania team.

Wisniewski's father, Leo, is a Fox Chapel graduate.

Eagles linebacker Najee Good is also a Big 33 alumni, playing for the Ohio team in 2013 after graduating from Benedictine in Cleveland, the same school that legendary Steelers coach Chuck Noll attended.

Patriots backup quarterback Brian Hoyer played for the Ohio team in 2004 after graduating from St. Ignatius of Cleveland.

The 61st Big 33 game between Pennsylvania and Maryland will be June 16.

George Guido is a Valley News Dispatch scholastic sports correspondent. His column appears Wednesdays.

Tags: Valley