FEATURED HOOP HISTORIAN DENNIS MISHKO

The Scranton Times-Tribune recently published its area Top 25 Coaches of All-Time. Hoop Historian Dennis Mishko made the list at Number 18.

Wherever and whatever sport, Dennis Mishko seemed
to be able to bring out the best in his athletes.

Spending time as the men's basketball coach, soccer coach and tennis coach at Keystone Junior College, and now as the varsity soccer coach at Abington Heights, he developed his teams into championship programs.

Beginning in 1972 with a 10-10 record in his first season as the Keystone basketball coach, he went on to a 25-year career. His record topped out at 520-160, while twice earning Region 19 "Coach of the Year" honors. Mishko coached the Giants to the Mens’ National Junior College Championship game in 1986 and was Junior College Coach of the Year in 1986 and 1989.

In 1972, he also began his 20-year coaching career with the soccer program. During his tenure, his team's produced 17 All-American and Mid-Atlantic players. Twenty-five players were selected All-Region.

As the tennis coach, he guided Keystone to their first Region 19 playoff appearance back in 1977.

Currently, he coaches the Abington Heights boys soccer team, which has won five straight league championships and two District 2 titles. In seven years, he has won two Times-Tribune Coach of the Year awards.

The winning continues even in the off season for Mishko, as he also has coaches youth basketball and youth baseball locally. His boys AAU basketball team qualified for the National tournament at Disney World in July of 2004 after winning the Rutgers University Rebounds Tournament and the Northeast AAU title at Brown University.

Dennis Mishko -- By the numbers:

11 Times that he led Keystone Junior College to more than 20 wins in a season

23 Wins his Giants teams had in 29 overtime appearances during his career

27 Most wins the Giants had in a season, doing it twice, in 1988-89, and again in 1991-92

"He's a great guy. He's a great recruiter and he was a great coach. He let us run and gun. We had a good team and we went out and got some good players. He was a great motivator. He had a way of psyching his guys up and getting them ready to play."--Todd Bailey, former standout player at Keystone Junior College and the University of Scranton