Jul 28, 2025
In this August 2013 file photo, Jim McElrath Sr., middle, is flanked by his sons Mike, left, and Jim Jr. as they pose for a photo at the gym that bears his name at Jamestown High School. P-J file photo by Scott Kindberg
Eating peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, trading baseball cards and playing Wiffle Ball were my earliest memories of my interactions with the McElraths in the 1960s.
Separated by a half-dozen houses on Hallock Street on Jamestown’s west side, the Kindbergs and McElraths not only had similar-sized families, but Jim McElrath Jr. and I also shared similar interests.
So it wasn’t uncommon after lunch — hence the reference to Marianne McElrath’s perfectly assembled PB&J creations — that Jim Jr. and I would head to the backyard of one of our homes, equipped with a Wiffle Ball bat, several Wiffle Balls and a coffee can filled with flour from our mothers’ kitchens (yes, we “lined” the baselines).
Jim Jr. was a fan of the San Francisco Giants, I loved the New York Yankees, and our lineups were determined by the Topps baseball cards we had in our respective collections. Meanwhile, family patriarch Jim McElrath Sr. rooted for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but I knew, even as an 8-year-old, that he rooted far more for the two boys digging up the grass in his backyard.
As I came to learn years later, Mr. Mac made it his life’s work to be an advocate for kids.
In this December 1994 file photo, Jim McElrath addresses the crowd after the Jamestown High School gym was named in his honor. P-J file photo
ııı
“Mr. Mac” passed away Friday in his northside Jamestown home. The lifelong educator — his career spanned 37 years, including 18 as the principal at Jamestown High School, was 89.
Our last conversation was in March when I reached out to him to get his reaction to the Panama boys basketball team winning the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class D championship. It seemed only fitting that he be offered the opportunity to talk about the Panthers, because Mr. Mac had a special place in his heart for the rural Chautauqua County school.
From the late 1950s through the mid-1960s, he was the varsity basketball coach and an English teacher there, guiding Panama to four Section VI championships in just eight seasons and sporting an all-time record of 125-30. For his accomplishments as a player and as a coach, Mr. Mac was inducted into both the Mercer (Pennsylvania) County and Chautauqua Sports halls of fame.
“I can’t be more pleased,” Mr. Mac said of Panama’s state title. “It’s more for the community than anything. I’m just so excited for them. It’s just wonderful. They’re a small-town community, like in (the movie) ‘Hoosiers.’
Above is the 1963 Section VI champion Panama varsity basketball team, coached by Jim McElrath (standing far right), that finished the season 19-2. Seated are Brian Raynor, Jon Rowe, Ernie Peterson, Pat Finnerty and Dave Seeley. Standing are Coach Herman Muscato, Chuck McDonnell, Bruce Bergman, Don Wood, Ron Morse, Morris Otander and McElrath. Photo courtesy of the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame
“I feel that way because ‘Hoosiers’ was a (story of a) team that came out of nowhere … and they won their championship,” McElrath added. “Panama’s fans were so into the basketball program and loved the program, just like (the fans) in ‘Hoosiers.’”
ııı
That conversation with Mr. Mac four months ago reminded me of the talks I shared with him and wife Marianne half a century ago when I accompanied them on road trips to watch Jim Jr. and his JHS basketball teams compete against Erie, Pennsylvania schools from the Lake Shore League.
Unfortunately, games away from the friendly confines of the old gym at JHS didn’t treat the boys in the Red & Green uniforms kindly in those days, but there was a silver lining — we always stopped for ice cream on the way home.
Once we were back on the road, though, let’s just say Mr. Mac “revisited” every Jamestown possession from those agonizing losses.
Once a coach, always a coach.
ııı
In the summer of 2013, Mr. Mac made a couple of trips to the renovated JHS gym that bears his name. In one of them, he was accompanied by his youngest son, Mike, who was then the school principal; former Jamestown Public Schools superintendents Ray Fashano and Deke Kathman; and architect Paul Hedin of Clark Patterson Lee.
At just the right time, as the story goes, an Alan Parsons Project instrumental, entitled “Sirius” — it was made especially famous as entrance music for the Chicago Bulls during their 1990s NBA dynasty — filled the room and the lights dimmed as Mr. Mac walked across the floor.
Upon looking left and right at the large message boards mounted high on the walls above the main baskets, Mr. Mac saw images of himself: with his family (that also include daughters Karen and Amy); with one of his Section VI champion Panama teams; and all alone, commemorating his 2012 CSHOF induction.
The tour lasted about 40 minutes that day a dozen years ago, and that memory brings me back to 1994 when the gym was officially named in Mr. Mac’s honor.
“Over the years, I’ve received numerous awards, accolades and rewards,” he said that December evening, “but none is as near and dear to me as this. This is my finest hour. When I leave here and reflect, I know my spirit can never leave JHS.”
It never has, Mr. Mac, and it never will.
Rest in peace, my friend.
Led by two hits apiece from Gib Stuart and Travis Butcher, the Stuart Tool & Die A’s downed the Gowanda …
GOWANDA — The Gowanda Recreation Department will hold its annual men’s double-elimination softball tournament …
Copyright © 2025 Ogden Newspapers of New York, Inc. | https://www.post-journal.com | PO Box 3386, Jamestown, NY 14702 | 716-487-1111
