Contributed Photo NO STOPPING HIM: Harold Shaw of Cochecton, playing for Marywood University, drives to the hoop against Misericordia College.

Harold Shaw on the Rebound

By Frank Rizzo
SCRANTON, PA — March 28, 2000 -- Harold Shaw’s problem was the sophomore blues, not the sophomore jinx.
After a discouraging second season of collegiate basketball, Cochecton’s Shaw was ready to give up his career at Marywood University in Scranton, Pa.
Shaw, a 1997 graduate of Narrowsburg CS, actually experienced his jinx in the freshman year, breaking his ankle after starting six games.
The following year he started every game, averaging about 25 minutes, but admitted, “I was not very good. The ankle injury took away a lot of my confidence. It took me a year to get [my confidence] back.”
He added, “I put in a lot of time and effort, and when there was no reward, it got discouraging.”
The Pacers were 2–22 in 1998-99 under first-year coach Doug Kraft.
“At the end of [last] summer I still did not have confidence [in myself and the team],” Shaw noted. “I didn’t think we’d get good new guys coming in, and I had been playing all summer long with my teammates (on a summer league team) and maybe I was getting sick of them. At the end of the summer I told Coach Kraft I didn’t think I could do it.”
But after playing in pick-up games with the new class of recruits, Shaw said he began to get a good feeling about his new potential teammates.
Shaw’s decision to continue playing had good results for both himself and the Pacers.
Shaw set school season records in both scoring (411 points) and rebounding (195) as he led the Pacers to their most successful season. The Division II team compiled a 9–16 overall record and was 7–10 in the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference (PAC) and qualified for the PAC playoffs for the first time ever.
Shaw was also tabbed to the All-PAC second team, the highest individual honor ever for the program.
“He really emerged this year,” said Kraft. “He always had the ability and the work ethic. He can do a lot of things — pass, shoot, the complete package.”
Kraft thought that Shaw’s weight training had enhanced his game.
“Harold did a great job in the weight room from the end of last year, and the added strength added to his confidence,” Kraft commented.
Shaw, an environmental science major, carries a 3.3 grade point average and a full load of 15 credits.
“I tend to do better during the season,” he said of his academics. “I don’t procrastinate [then]. Now I have all of this free time and keep putting [studying] off.”
Shooting from the 3-point line was an aspect of his game he felt he improved. Shaw shot 45 percent from the “trey” line.
“I simplified things, stuff I already knew but had gotten away from,” Shaw said of his game.
A 1,000-point scorer at Narrowsburg, Shaw was the MVP of the Western Sullivan League his senior year, when he led the Indians to their first sectional title since 1966.
Shaw plans to play in two summer leagues this year in preparation for his senior season.
“We felt Harold was more valuable to our team, than any other player was to his team in our league,” Kraft praised.