McConihe, Thomas A.

Thomas A. McConihe – (1995)

 

A talented all-around athlete, Tom McConihe excelled in basketball, baseball, softball and tennis, winning championships at every level of competition: local, regional, state and national.

As an undefeated curveball pitcher in baseball, McConihe paced Manager Glenn Bobel’s Lorain Lake Erie Cadets to the Ohio Hot Stove League Class “D” state championship in the summer of 1955, throwing several no-hitters along the way. The Cadets won city championships five years in a row during the 1952-56 seasons. During that period, Tom’s personal pitching record was an awesome 18-0.

McConihe continued his athletic accomplishments at Lorain High School, earning three varsity letters each in both baseball and basketball. After scorching the nets for 39 points in a junior varsity game as a sophomore, he was elevated to starting guard with the varsity by his father— Head Coach and Sports Hall of Famer Al McConihe (Class of 1971). They formed the first father-son combo in Lorain scholastic sports history.

A deadly outside shooter, Tom averaged nearly 18 points a game, winding up his sparkling high school career as the third all-time leading scorer in LHS history. Perhaps the foremost single highlight of his career was his clutch basket at the buzzer, beating state power Findlay in 1956, clinching the only Buckeye Conference basketball championship in LHS history.

McConihe finished second in league scoring, earned first team all-BC and was named to the area all-sectional tournament team. The Steelers dominated bitter arch-rival Elyria High, defeating the Pioneers three times, and captured the sectional tournament championship.

McConihe continued his high school athletic career leading Coach Tony Misko’s strong LHS baseball nine to Buckeye Conference titles in 1955 and 1956. During those two campaigns, the Steelers racked up an incredible 31-2 record. Tom was a perfect 12-0 on the pitching mound.

Upon accepting an athletic scholarship to Wooster College, Tom performed superbly for the Fighting Scots, earning four varsity letters in baseball enroute to another perfect personal 20-0 pitching record, including several “saves,” not considered an official statistic in the 1950’s.

A story about Tom’s remarkable individual pitching feat of 50 straight victories without defeat—covering sandlot, high school and college—was featured in the Cleveland Plain Dealer sports section. Tom’s career ERA was under 2.00 and he contributed to the offense with a .300-plus batting average. Around the Wooster campus, he was “the man with a Phi Beta Kappa key and a mean curveball.”

Under the guidance of revered Wooster basketball Coach E. M. (Mose) Hole, Tom picked up three varsity letters. A consistent double figure scorer at point guard, he was the team’s top free throw shooter. He played the entire 1958-59 season without committing a single turnover—still a Wooster record.

Following his brilliant collegiate career, McConihe returned to Lorain where he continued to play amateur baseball and basketball. In 1959 he pitched Wolf Dry Goods to the city’s final Class A crown. The next six seasons Tom competed in the tough Lakewood “A” League where he also was named Manager of the Year in 1962.

In basketball, Tom was leading scorer in city and YMCA leagues in 1960-62, then repeated with Old Dutch Beer, Miller High Life and B&B Grille squads in the City League from 1963 through 1965. As player-coach, he led Duke Beer to four consecutive flags in the City Men’s League from 1967 through 1970, with the 1970 team going 29-1.

While with the Ford Motor Co (1961-72), McConihe competed in the National Ford Free Throw Competition, winning the 1963 national championship for Lorain by sinking 49 of 50 attempts, defeating nearly 600 contestants nationwide. Over five consecutive years, Tom won the Lorain Ford Plant competition, converting 235 of 250 attempts for an amazing 94% accuracy.

During the 1960’s, Tom posted league leading batting averages of .650 in the Ford Softball League, .600 for Nordson in the 1967 Amherst City League and .680 for DeSantis Chips in the Lorain City League. He was player-coach for city champions Lorain Realtor Exchange (1969-70) and Ritter Signs (1971-72-73) with whom he hurled 10 victories without a loss in 1972.

The 1970’s saw tennis enter Tom’s personal world of sports. He captured the 1975 singles and doubles titles at the Lorain Executive West Tennis Club and, in the summer of 1978, he teamed with Larry Stark to win the Senior Men’s Doubles in the Lorain city tournament.

As a community leader, Tom was a member of the Lorain Board of Education (vice president, 1973; president, 1974). Tom and his wife, Barbara, have three children: Celeste (Bohlke), Jim (senior at Akron University) and Al (teacher at Lorain High).