Bill Buckley
Bill Buckley is one of the greatest baseball and softball players ever developed in the Mercer County area.He began is sports career at age 10 on the first Little League team in South Pymatuning in 1952 and in 1954 played on the first basketball team at South Pymatuning Grade School.A 1960 graduate of Sharpsville High School, he lettered three years in baseball and two years in basketball. He pitched a no-hitter as a sophomore for the Blue Devils. In basketball, he helped the team win back-to-back Mercer County Class A Championships in 1958 and 1959-60 seasons. The team posted a 20-4 record his senior year.
But it was in independent sports that Bill really made a mark. In 1958, he helped lead the local squad to the state Babe Ruth Championship, played at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia, where he pitched and played shortstop.In the military, he played baseball for the 41st Group Army team at Fort Sill, Okla., where his team finished second against top talent. He played fast-pitch with the 546 MP softball team for the base and the squad won the championship.
A prodigious power hitter, he played baseball for more than 20 years in the Pymatuning League, where he won MVP honors in 1963 and 1970. His teams won numerous championships.
In 2001, he won the MVP Award in the Roy Hobbs Over-58 National Championships in Fort Myers, Fla., batting over .600 for the tournament. He also played for Sharon Chrysler-Plymouth in the Youngstown AA League.He played baseball with the Penn-Ohio Oldtimers team in the Oldtimers League for 10 years.
"Buck" was a big part of some of the powerful St. Bartholomew modified fast-pitch teams in the Shenango Valley Church League, hitting some of the longest home runs in league history.He also coached Little League and Senior Division for five years in Sharpsville.