Luke Malishchak  (right) with Kevin Daley of the Globetrotters on the Great Wall in China (Times Leader)

Who were the best players under 5'10 to play in Pennsylvania High School Boys Basketball?   Do you have a player to add, send the information to wgaffey@pa.net

Bill Adams and Pat Shute in the locker room after the State Championship (John Prosperi, Guilfoyle Gazette).

Listed  in alphabetical order:

Bill Adams and Pat Shute, the 5'9" bookend backcourt duo who led Altoona Bishop Guilfoyle High School to the 1967 PCIAA Class A State Championship.

Donnie Appleman, 5'7" was the scoring whiz for Williamsburg High School in 1962.  He went on to play at Penn State and then St. Francis College.

Mike Depaul,  5'9" the two-time all-state selection and Catholic High School All-America  led the Reading Central Catholic "Cardinals" to the PCIAA state championship game in 1951.

"Vaughnie" Brown, 5'2" playing for Susquehanna Twp in 1989 was unstoppable in the "four corners spread" engineering the upset of Hershey High School and severely damaging their quest for the League title. He was lightning quick and once he penetrated, he either scored or dished off to a teammate for an easy score. In a scrimmage with Williamsport, coach Pete White remarked, "if you didn't have that little guy you would never have scored!" 

Mickey Citro, 5'9" playing for MMI in 1952-53, had the quickness and the outside shot.
(Information credit: Al Godecki)

"Paddy" Corrigan, 5'9 playing for Freeland St. Ann's in the 1950's was the leading scorer and later became the Postmaster in Selinsgrove. (Information credit: Al Godecki)

Johnny and Eddie Duda, the 5'9" twins who led Coal Township High School 's "Purple Deamons"  to the  Class A District 4 Championship over Williamsport in 1953.  Today, Coal Township is part of the Shamokin Area School District.

Glenn Fine and he graduated Cheltenham High School in 1974.  During that season, he led Cheltenham to an upset victory over eventual state champion Abington.  Glenn Fine later played at Harvard where he was All-Ivy League and was a Rhodes Scholar who studied at Oxford University in England.  He later got a law degree from Harvard Law School, and he is currently the Inspector General of the United States. Fine is only 5-9.  (Submitted by Chuck Langerman)
 

Mel Freeman, 5'9". He jumped center on the Uniontown Red Raider basketball team in 1958, despite being only 5 foot, 9 inches tall - all while playing as a playmaking guard. Nicknamed "The Little Magician", Freeman is a member of the Red Raider vaunted 1000 point club. He scored 1090 points in his High School career. He was named Section 2 MVP for two straight years. He was also named 2nd string all-state as a senior. (Credit “Red Raider Nation Website)

Marques Green, 5'7"  Norristown.  (Submitted by  james.stewart@prudential.com)

Don Hennon,  5'9"  scored 2,376 points for Wampum High School, graduating in 1955; he scored 45 points as junior for the University of Pittsburgh against Duke in double overtime on 12-21-57.

Louis Gates, 5'4"  was a three year regular for the West Philadelphia Speedboys from 1961 through 1963.   The Speedboys lost in the league semi-final his sophomore year (14-5) and captured the city championship in his junior (20-3) and senior (23-2) years.  Two of the loses in his junior year were games won by the Speedboys by over 35 points each and later forfeited for the use of an ineligible player.  The ineligible player was a deep sub who scored a total of five points in the two games.  Though not a high scorer ( 9 ppg. as a senior) he was a clutch scorer with fourteen points in West's 76-73 win over John Bartram (Earl Monroe) in the league title game his junior year and 13 points, including the game-winner, in the 55-51 win over Ben Franklin (Fred Carter) in the league championship game. (Contribution credit: Tom Taylor)

"Vinnie" Graham, 5'9" of Belle Vernon scored 2,429 high school career points graduating in 1995.  He starred in the backcourt in the 1995 Pennsylvania victory over Maryland 125-116 in the Annual Pennsylvania vs Maryland Shootout All Star Series. Andre Howard (6"8") of Philadelphia Overbrook led Pennsylvania scorers in that game with 25.  Graham accepted a scholarship to the University of Cincinnati.

Marc Graves, 5'6" who patrolled the backcourt with Pete White Jr. for the 1984 Williamsport State Championship team and later played at Wilkes College.  At the 1984, Mid State All Star basketball game, Graves was one of the contestants in the halftime "slam dunk" contest!

Ed Grezelak, 5'8" the playmaker for Lawrence Park, the 1961 Erie County Champions.  He joined teammates Earl Hall and Jim Cipalla playing for the County All-Stars against the City All-Stars in the Sixth Annual Belle Valley Lions All-Star twinbill.

Tony Iati, 5'8"   A first team All-State selection, he led York Catholic to 32-2 campaign in 1977-78 and the state AA State Championship. His 23ppg state playoff average included 25 pts in the finals, a 57-56 win over Northgate.

Dickey Johnston, 5'7" led the 1966 Altoona Mountain Lions to a great season.  They eventually  lost in the Western Regional Final to the eventual state champions, Midland.  Johnston went to the University of Tennessee on a basketball scholarship.

Dick Kiewlak, 5'9" the set shot artist for the 1961 PIAA Class A State Championship Nanticoke team.  A crowd of 8,841 fans jammed the Harrisburg Farm Show arena to watch Kiewlak and his Nanticoke teammates defeat Hickory 56-46 for the 1961 title. (In 1961, the team classifications were A, B, C).

 Joe Lalli, 5' 8"  was second team all-state in basketball at Dunmore High School in 1963 and then went to George Washington University and was named second-team all-Southern Conference in basketball.  He led the Colonials basketball team in scoring his junior and senior years, wrapped up his college sports career by hitting .417 his final baseball season and is in the GW Hall of Fame.

Luke Malishchak, 5'7" played at Nanticoke High School in 1999 and then Moravian College before joining the New York Nationals and touring the world and playing every night against the Harlem Globetrotters.  He was discovered by scout Al Clocker while playing a summer pick up game on a Wilkes Barre playground.

Joe and Tony Nastasi, 5'7" the Nastasi brothers were both starters on the 1965 Northern Cambria Class B State Championship team that defeated Montrose to end not only their bid for the state title, but also their bid to tie the state record for consecutive wins.  Montrose had won the state title the year before and came in undefeated with 53 wins in a row over two years.  Northern Cambria ended the season at 27-1 with the lone loss to DeMatha Catholic of Maryland in the finals of the prestigious Johnstown War Memorial Holiday Tournament.
(#24 Joe Nastasi, #20 Greg Kuhn, #10 Anthony Nastasi, 3/7/65-Johnstown Tribune Democrat)

James "Tee" Parham, (5'8") was a two-time first team All Public player for Northeast High in the early 1950's.  He played behind Guy Rodgers as a sophomore and then teamed with 5'9" William "Sonny" Hill to form one of the league's most dynamic backcourts in 1954 and 1955.  Parham averaged 22.1 ppg. as a junior and 21.6 ppg. as a senior, and was "old" Northeast's career leading scorer with 971 points.  He did not play in college but played in the Eastern League and in the Baker League.  "Tee" is considered one of the best offensive guards to come out of Philadelphia.  Herb Adderly was also a teammate at Northeast High and future NBA players Wilt Chamberlain, Ray Scott and John Scott joined Tee on the All-Public team in 1955.  (Contribution credit: Tom Taylor).

Tom Pearsall, 5'9."  The all-time leading scorer at Albright College in Reading with 2,164 points; averaged 20.8 over his career from 1959-63 (all-time leader);  the career leader in free throws attempted and made; 4th in FT %--78.8%, 3rd in FG's made.  Bob Smith said, "He was the best 5'9" college player I ever saw."  (Credit: Rick Ferry and Bob Smith)
 

Barre Ritz,  5'9"- a star player in York County from 1953-55.  He was the York County Scholastic basketball league’s leading scorer in 1953-54 with 404 points in 18 games and was part of the 1954-55 Eastern High School team that won the County Championship.   

(Credit: Linda Gallagher)









 

Steve Rouse, 5'7." The smallest member of the 1964-65 Erie Times-News All Erie County "Dream Team."  He played for North East High School.  Also named to the first team was his teammate, Greg Hamilton a 6'0 junior.   Rouse was a senior.



(Rouse photo credit: Erie Sunday Times-News, March 21, 1965)

Mike Schieb, 5' 8" played at Millersburg High School and in 1974 scored 60 points in a game and tallied 1,981 career points. At  Susquehanna University (1975-1978 )  he won the prestigious Francis Pomeroy Naismith Award  for the best collegiate player (any division) under 6 feet tall.

Willie Somerset, 5'9. Helped to lead Farrell High School to back to back state Class A Championships in 1959 and 1960.  He was named to the 1960 Basketball All-State First Team, received a scholarship to Duquesne, and was later drafted into the NBA.

Michael Soriano, 5'6" played at St. Mary's Area High School in the early 1980's.  He was the point guard and handled the 4 corner offense.  He was all about teamwork.  The team upset Punxsutawney and tallied 25 out of 26 at the free throw line in a 45-44 win using the 4-corner spread with Soriano.  The team used a match-up defense to keep Soriano out front so the other teams could not post him up.  (Information credit: Jim Herzing)

Greg Stover, 5'8" Milton Area High School---  scored 2100 points in his career--graduated in 1990-- led Milton Area High School to State AAA Championship game in 1988 as a sophomore.  (Credit: Jeffrey DeBaro)

Lance Whiteside, 5' 9" played at Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt.  He was point guard for the 1986 and 1989  District 3 AAA Crusaders.  Whiteside, a four year starter in basketball and 1000 point scorer, excelled in football, as well, starting at cornerback for 1987 District 3 AAA Champs in football.   He earned Big 15 honors twice in his junior and senior years in basketball, and was a chosen to play for Pennsylvania in the 1989 Big 33 High School All-Star game.  He also went on to start at cornerback for the 1993 Gator Bowl Champs, the Ole Miss Runnin' Rebels who finished 9-3.

Mythical
"Set Shot" Bufford, 5'9" helped to propel the Pittsburgh Pices from  mediocre status to the Professional Championship defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in the Civic Arena in 1979 with the help of noted basketball astrologist, Mona Mondieu (Stockard Channing)  and  star player Moses Guthrie (Julius Erving).  
Movie quote, Harry: "stand up so the coach can get a good look at you". 
                            Set Shot: "I am standing"                           
(Credit: "The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh")

Ollie (last man on the bench), 5'2" sank the winning foul shots with 3 seconds to go to give the Hickory Huskers a 54-53 win in the Regional Finals in Jasper, Indiana to send them to the State Championship game in 1951.  Hickory H. S. had an enrollment of 64 students.  (In real life, it was Milan H.S. in 1954).
Movie quote, as he stood on the foul waiting for the ball prior to taking his shots, an opposing player said, "they grow them kind of small down on the farm don't they?"
(Credit: "Hoosiers")

Credits: Wilkes Barre Times Leader, Altoona Guilfoyle Gazette, Tony Labriola, Pete White Sr. Jon Gaffey, Reading Eagle, Ellie Gaffey, Tim Manning, Tom Taylor, Bud Tangert.