Obituary: Fred Yee / State champion basketball coach at Schenley
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Fred Yee was 20-something and wasn't exactly enthralled working in the business world. His wife, Karen, couldn't help but notice his unhappiness.
"One day I asked him, 'Fred, what do you want to do?' " Mrs. Yee said. "He told me, 'What I really would like to do is coach. That's what I want to do.'
"So I told him, 'You're going to work until you're 65. Go ahead and coach.' "
Fred Yee went back to college at the University of Pittsburgh, earned a master's degree in education, got a teaching job -- and then a coaching job.
Mr. Yee, who went on to become a highly successful championship boys basketball and girls softball coach, died Jan. 28 at St. Clair Hospital of complications from lymphoma. He was 77.
Mr. Yee, of Bethel Park, is a member of the Western Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. He was best known as the coach of a strong Schenley boys basketball team that won a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association championship in 1978. Mr. Yee also went on to win five City League titles with the Carrick girls softball team.
"That was one of his goals to win that state championship," said Mrs. Yee, Fred's wife of 50 years. "But he did a lot of other things, too. He was the first Asian to play basketball at Pitt [1955-56]. He was the first Asian to be inducted into the Western Pennsylvania Hall of Fame. He really was kind of a trailblazer for other Asians in this area."
Mr. Yee was a retired physical education teacher from Pittsburgh Public Schools. His first coaching job was the head boys basketball coach at Westinghouse High School. He went from Westinghouse to Schenley during the glory days of Schenley basketball in the 1960s and '70s.
"Schenley was a dynasty back then, an absolute dynasty," said Ken McDonough, who was then an assistant coach at Peabody. "I was amazed they didn't win more state titles and please don't take that as a reflection on coaching. It's just that those teams were all so impressive. They played hard and [opponents] had to overcome so much natural talent and athletic ability."
From 1966 through 1978, Schenley won four state championships. Mr. Yee's 1978 team had a memorable championship game against Lebanon High School and 7-foot Sam Bowie, who would go on to play at the University of Kentucky and in the National Basketball Association. Schenley won, 51-50.
First Published February 13, 2012 12:58 am
