It was an ordinary day. Reading a story in my morning LNP Lancaster Online newspaper about a fellow by the name of Ed Sieber. The more I read, the more I saw myself in the story of scorekeeper Ed Sieber who kept score for the junior high, junior varsity and varsity boy's basketball teams at Conestoga Valley for the past 58 years. Yep, you read that right...58 years. You have to be dedicated to love what you do for that many years. The 80 year old scorekeeper was asked 58 years ago if he could keep score for the basketball team. Seems they were having trouble finding a scorekeeper, so Ed thought he would give it a try. He now has been the scorekeeper for the past 3,471 games at Conestoga Valley. Ed is responsible for writing the names of the players for both teams in the scorebook and then keeping track of each shot that is made by both teams. He began his chore during the 1966-67 school year and reports that he has kept score for 3,471 games since that first game in 1966. His job is to keep track of how many personal fouls each player commits, how many points they make and their shirt number. In the story published about him in the Lancaster Newspaper he estimated that one pencil lasts him about eight games, so that would be about 400 pencils during his career as the scorekeeper. He is beginning to think that this might be his final year for keeping score for the basketball teams. "It's wearing thin," he says. "Not only that, but you have to get a background check every five years. The FBI hasn't caught me yet, but I don't want to press my luck!" Ed isn't keeping score for the money, but because he understands the value of interscholastic sports. He began his career in basketball as the boys basketball scorekeeper for East Juniata High School for 3 seasons. He then moved to Conestoga Valley to teach English in the 1966-67 school year. He continued his scorekeeping duties at CV by keeping score for the junior high team. Wasn't long before he was keeping the Junior Varsity and Varsity team books along with the junior high team. In 1987 Ed also took on the job of CV's wrestling team's timekeeper. The previous timekeeper won the lottery and didn't need the money! He never returned, so Ed took over for him. Ed said that his shortest game was played in 43 minutes. One of the refs didn't show up for a game at Lancaster Catholic High School so the Athletic Director stood at mid-court and made all the calls as the ref. Game was played in 43 minutes. His longest game as scorekeeper came in 1980 game with Lancaster McCaskey that went into three overtime periods. Ed was at Conestoga Valley in 2004 when Jordan Steffy surpassed 1,000 career points in basketball and then went on to quarterback at the University of Maryland. Ed retired from teaching in the mid-2000s, but still arrives at the CV scorer's table on game days to keep score. He now uses a portable chair back seat when he is at a game that doesn't have chairs with a back to them. He also keeps a small bottle of water and a small, clear plastic bag containing pretzels and candy with him at the scorer's table along with a handheld calculator, five pencils and two pens with him in case they are needed. So, will this be Ed's last year? Only time will tell! I just can't imagine how he made it this long! I gave up doing the same thing with high school wrestling and didn't last longer than five years. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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