By Jim Lane, sports@altoonamirror.com
Teammates remember Pat Nicodemus as an outstanding basketball player and as a
guy who could make friends laugh anytime.
Nicodemus, who helped lead Altoona High School to three straight District 6
basketball championships in the mid-1960s, passed away unexpectedly Tuesday in
Seneca. He was 58.
“I’m shocked, just shocked,” said former teammate and close friend Jim
Means, who now lives in the Columbus, Ohio area. “He was a very good
basketball player, and a very, very good friend.
“I will miss him dearly.”
Nicodemus (38) and Means (31) combined for 69 points as Altoona upended
Johnstown, 99-91, in overtime in the 1967 D6 championship game at the Jaffa
Mosque.
“That was a great game,” Means said. “I’ll never forget that game and I’ll
never forget the Mosque.
“Pat was 6-foot-5 and was one of the better players in Pennsylvania for three
years,” Means noted. “A lot of big-time scouts came to see him, and that
gave exposure to the entire team.”
Nicodemus went on to play at Virginia Tech, and graduated from Nasson College in
1973. He was a 30-year employee of Conrail/Norfolk Southern and retired in 2003.
“Pat was a very good athlete, very big when there weren’t a lot of big
guys,” recalled Art Taneyhill, who was the assistant coach to Frank Mastrocola
at the time.
“That was a really good team (1966-67),” Taneyhill said, noting the Mountain
Lions finished with an 18-8 record and lost to eventual state champion Ambridge
in inter-district play.
That also was the first year of the Altoona-Bishop Guilfoyle series, and the
Lions won the game in overtime, 68-62, although BG went on to win a state title.
“Pat was a very personable guy, very enjoyable to be around,” said Taneyhill,
who coached Nicodemus’ son, Josh, several years later. “Pat was real
easy-going, maybe too easy-going sometimes.”
“He was great, a wonderful person,” Means said. “He could make you laugh
anytime.”
Means said that five of the eight senior members of that 1966-67 team have died.
In addition to Nicodemus, Means noted that Dave McGrath, Fred Hatfield, Phil
Witherspoon and Dick Fay are also deceased.