Pete Knaze, a coach of the Johnstown region’s first travel hockey team and a 35-year member of the Conemaugh Valley School District Board of Directors, died Friday after a brief illness.
He is 81 years old.
As an assistant coach to Johnstown hockey icon Don Hall, Knaze helped guide a group of high school-age skaters to Lake Placid, New York in 1967.
“He was a huge sports fan and a longtime supporter of all of our Conemaugh Valley teams,” longtime Conemaugh Valley sports public address announcer Paul Buriak said before Monday’s women’s basketball game at night in East Taylor Township. “Pete was a fixture here in the stands for decades watching his children and grandchildren for the Blue Jays.”
In fact, Knaze’s granddaughter, former Conemaugh Valley girls basketball and softball standout Brooke McCleester, is the first-year head coach of the Blue Jays girls hoops program.
His daughter, Paula McCleester, is another former Conemaugh Valley student-athlete who played softball at St. Francis University. As the girls softball coach, McCleester led Conemaugh Valley to a state runner-up finish in 2015. He is also the school’s athletic director.
“My father developed a love for the Conemaugh Valley,” said Paula McCleester, whose son Bryce is a star multi-sport athlete for the Blue Jays. “He’s a Joe Johns, Johnstown High graduate, but he grew up loving Conemaugh Valley, and as a board member, he certainly supports all the changes to make Conemaugh Valley better for kids academically. and athlete.
“He doesn’t want to raise taxes, especially for the elderly. He wants to make great positive changes for the Conemaugh Valley School District.
A 22-year veteran of the US Navy, Knaze spent more than three decades on the school board, retiring in 2020.
“Pete was just a great guy, a great guy, always happy,” said Donell Jacoby, who has been on the Conemaugh Valley school board for 30 years, most of that time as secretary. “He raised a wonderful family.
“He is dedicated. He was easy to get along with.
“We really enjoyed him because he was always happy and joking. It is sometimes difficult for a board to express their opinions and then come together and do things. He worked to bring everything together. “
At the time, players and coaches did not realize the significance of the 1967 hockey trip to Lake Placid.
One of the best players on the Johnstown Jets, Hall coached a team of mostly Johnstown players, with a few Pittsburgh skaters mixed in.
That team, which lost three one-sided games against college-aged, NHL-backed teams, really laid the foundation for the travel program that still thrives in the region.
“It was an experience,” Pete Knaze said in a 2017 interview celebrating the team’s 50th anniversary. “We went up there thinking we were going to do well. We were playing against 20-year-old kids. There’s a big difference in hockey or any sport in two years.
“There was no travel before,” Knaze said in the interview. “We’re finally starting to get involved in Kittanning and the Pittsburgh area.
“The kids are excited to get out there and play hockey.
“That’s where it all started.”
Knaze is survived by his wife of 58 years, Leona, four grown children and nine grandchildren. Hindman Funeral Homes & Crematory is in charge of arrangements.
Mike Mastovich is a sports reporter and columnist for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at (814) 532-5083. Follow him on Twitter @Masty81.
Mike Mastovich is a sports reporter and columnist for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at (814) 532-5083. Follow him on Twitter @Masty81.
