WILKES-BARRE — One of the greatest memories I have of playing basketball for Plymouth High School is that of P.I.A.A. referee Patrick “Tiger” Denoy hopping on one leg, arm flailing, whistle blowing and then him saying, “Nah, nah, nah, that’s a travel, we’re going back this way!”
That scene will never leave my mind. It followed with the overflow crowd at Plymouth’s Gaylord Armory booing and yelling and Tiger smiling.
“Tiger” was an icon.
Tiger died this week, and he will be missed by all who knew him.
In February 2017, I had lunch with Tiger and his lifelong pal, Frank “Scooter” Cerreta, another Mocanaqua icon who was ahead of his time as a radio talk-show host. To say this was a remarkable lunch would be understating it — we laughed for well over an hour in Boscov’s basement restaurant.
I want to share that day and our conversation because Tiger was one of those guys that come along once in a lifetime.
When Patrick Denoy was in the ninth grade, he loved to play basketball. Legendary Coach Eddie Gayeski would intently watch the kid as he continuously ran up and down the court at Shickshinny High School. Finally, Coach Gayeski said something to him.
“Hey, you’re like a tiger out there the way you’re always running around,” Gayeski said.
The name stuck.
On that February day, Tiger Denoy looked back on what he called “a full life” that had taken him from Shickshinny High School to becoming one of the best basketball referees in the country and one of the region’s most flamboyant personalities.
Denoy graduated from Shickshinny High School in 1954. He was a standout baseball and basketball player there and went on to Bloomsburg State Teachers College to earn his degree.
Denoy grew up on Italy Street in Mocanaqua, where he “borrowed” tomatoes from the garden of his next door neighbors, the Galicki family.
To show his appreciation for what the town did for him and his mother, Denoy paid for a swimming pool for the community and he also funded a couple of playgrounds — one near his house.
“It was my way of repaying the town for all it did for me and my mother,” Denoy told me. “I’ll never forget what the town did for us.”
Denoy officiated his first junior varsity game when he was 17 and his first varsity game was at age 18. He would go on to referee the top high school games on a weekly basis and he always was called upon to do playoff games, all the way up to state championships. Denoy did local college games and got to blow his whistle in Division I college games.
With mentors like Harry Rudolph and Harry’s son, Mendy, Denoy was selected to work with National Basketball Association referees in Puerto Rico. He eventually got to work in the ABA under the tutelage of the legendary George Mikan.
“All the coaches and referees liked me,” Denoy said. “At first, I didn’t have a lot of confidence, but I gained it over the years.”
“I loved it,” he said of his career. “I always thought I would call a good game. And the coaches had confidence in me.”
‘Tiger’ and ‘Scooter’
Tiger and Scooter were enjoying a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches and decaf coffees at Boscov’s and the stories were told one after another.
Cerreta is a former WILK radio personalty who called high school basketball games with Mike Kaye and also a morning show with Don Bruce. Cerreta also covered the NFL draft before anybody that that it should be — a badge he still wears proudly.
At that 2017 luncheon meeting, Cerreta said Denoy had a silver bicycle when they were kids. Denoy smiled, noting that the bike was “all chrome.” Cerreta said he remembered Denoy riding through town on that silver bike trying to recruit kids to play a game of baseball.
“We had to find enough kids for two teams,” Cerreta said. “Sometimes we would choose sides, other times we played the kids who lived above the railroad tracks against the kids who lived below the tracks.”
Denoy said there was never any love lost in those games.
“We played for blood,” he said. “It wasn’t unusual to see a fight or two.”
Cerreta said sometimes a fight would start while choosing sides.
Denoy said Mocanaqua was the home of many great baseball players.
“We lived on those fields,” he said.
Cerreta said, “I can still see that silver bike with a baseball glove on the handlebars.”
Denoy and Cerreta laughed continuously while remembering the good old days. Like when they would have every kid give a quarter to the janitor at the high school to let them in to play basketball during the winter.
One time, “Tiger” and “Scooter” challenged Gene Domzalski and Billy Vandermark — both standouts on the varsity — to a game of two-on-two.
“We won,” Scooter said.
Nicknames like Tiger and Scooter were common. They mentioned “Punky” and “Hosey” and “Slembo” as just three of the names they could recall.
Cerreta got his name because of his adoration of Yankees shortstop Phil “Scooter” Rizzuto. When the Yankees lost the 1960 World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Bill Mazeroski’s homer in the bottom of the ninth in Game 7, the town held a “funeral” for Cerreta.
“Right down Main Street,” Cerreta said as Denoy wiped tears from his eyes caused by laughing so hard.
A full life
Denoy said he felt he lived a full life. He said growing up in Mocanaqua was the best of times.
His dad, Patrick, Sr., had a barber shop in town. Cerreta said on the last day of school, every boy in town would head to the barber shop for a crew cut for the summer.
Denoy spent most of his time in recent years on a cruise ship. He said he would be away on cruises for 270 days out of the year.
He said he loved to swim and he always loved a sunny beach.
“We used to go skinny dipping in the river when we were kids,” he said.
More laughter from Cerreta.
Tiger would urge Scooter to tell more stories. He wanted to relive all those fun times.\
More memories of fun times growing up and a life well-lived.
Godspeed Tiger — thanks for being you.