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Published March 25, 2008 11:04 pm - Joe Shantz can definitely identify with the adage, “The grass is always greener on the other side.” For five seasons, Shantz was the toast of Andover and the small communities around it that made up the consolidated Pymatuning Valley Local School district for the things he accomplished with the Laker boys basketball team. In that time, he took over a group of boys who were just in the beginning stages of getting acquainted with each other from small high schools like Williamsfield, Richmond and Pierpont and molded them into a terrific program. ACBF HOF Class of 2008: He loved Andover Joe Shantz led PV to Sweet 16 in 1961-62 and wishes he had never left KARL PEARSON Star Beacon Fifth of a Series...
Joe Shantz can definitely identify with the adage, “The grass is always greener on the other side.” For five seasons, Shantz was the toast of Andover and the small communities around it that made up the consolidated Pymatuning Valley Local School district for the things he accomplished with the Laker boys basketball team. In that time, he took over a group of boys who were just in the beginning stages of getting acquainted with each other from small high schools like Williamsfield, Richmond and Pierpont and molded them into a terrific program. In just his second season at PV, Shantz powered the 1961-62 Lakers to a 22-2 record and a berth in the Class B regional semifinals before they lost to Berlin Hiland at Canton Fieldhouse. It was only the eighth team in Ashtabula County basketball history to reach that level. As it turned out, only six other county boys teams have reached the regional tournament since. No PV teams in the years after that until this year’s team, coached by Jeremy Huber, were able to top that, or equal it, for that matter. That wasn’t the last of the fine teams Shantz had at PV after that. In fact, he had three quite respectable teams after that high-water mark. But human nature hit Shantz, at that time just 34 years old, and he decided he wanted to test him self at bigger schools that presented more challenges. So he moved off after the 1964-65 school year to Warren, Pa., oddly enough to a team that those 1961-62 Lakers had beaten on its path to glory. He never quite caught the magic he had at PV again. It didn’t happen in his venture into Pennsylvania basketball, nor in a later stop in the 1970s at Liberty High School in the Youngstown area. After a stint there, he dropped out of basketball coaching and never went back. The 77-year-old Shantz was on hand at Canton Fieldhouse during the joy ride Huber’s Lakers took the community on during its run to the Division III regional championship game. Although he still lives on his 10-acre lot in Farmdale, he admitted he followed PV with interest. No doubt, as the scene unfolded again at Canton Fieldhouse, his thoughts roamed back to those glory days in Andover. He also freely acknowledged, that in the clear view of hindsight, his decision to leave PV was a very poor one. “Oh man, I was dumb,” Shantz said emphatically. “Looking at it now, I had it made at PV. That was a dark spot in my life.” It was a bad decision for his entire family, including his late wife, Sylvia, whom he lost after 46 years of marriage in 2005, and their four children, Scott, David, Sherrie and Connie. 
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