Published: June 27, 2009 12:29 am      

Windber man has umped for 34 years

Next to his family, baseball is Paul Cubeta’s second love.

“I have such a love for the game,” he said. “It’s all we did when we were kids growing up in Nanty Glo, and we’d play ball day and night because there really wasn’t much else to do.”

Out of that love, Cubeta became an umpire for the PIAA high school and American Legion baseball teams in Cambria and Somerset counties – a passion he has enjoyed for

34 years. But due to health concerns, Cubeta is hanging up his gear and will be watching the games from the stands.

“I had a brain tumor removed last year, and the doctors told me to lay off because they are afraid I could get hit in the head,” the Windber resident said. “But if the doctors give me the OK at some point, I’d like to go back and do some games.”

He was averaging about

15 games per season.

Cubeta, who is a New York Yankees fan, said that in 1974 a friend persuaded him into taking the umpire test, and it has been his devotion to the kids that kept him going back onto the field.

“The kids keep you moving, that’s for sure,” he said. “It’ll be hard for me to leave.”

But being an umpire hasn’t always been pretty because he’s had to deal with rowdy fans who scream and yell some not-so-nice words at him. He has even kicked out a handful managers through the years.

“Oh, I’ve heard it all.You just have to turn a deaf ear,” Cubeta said.

He noted that some umpires like quick games and would rather get in and get out.

“That’s not me. I can take the long games just as much as the short ones,” he said.

After all these years, Cubeta admitted it is hard for him to pinpoint a favorite game he has umpired, but recalled a

District 5 matchup between Meyersdale and Shanksville high schools in the mid 1980s that sticks out in his mind.

“That was such a good game. It went back and forth and really had a lot of action,” he said.

Cubeta’s wife, Mary, has been supportive of his baseball activities through the years.

“She knows I love it, so she just goes along with it,” he said.

“I used to joke with her and say the day I have to crawl on my hands and knees is the day I’ll quit.”

When Cubeta isn’t on the field, he likes to paint, and he prefers to work with pastels. It’s a hobby he has been doing for 20 years.

Two years ago, he and two others painted a mural on the side of the North American Hoganas building in Moxham depicting the history of the plant.

Cubeta, who is employed as part-time security guard at the plant, was approached by the company to paint the mural.

“There’s history on it from the 1889 Johnstown Flood to now,” he said.

In addition, some of his works have been displayed at galleries in Somerset, Maryland and Virginia.

“I like to paint old structures and materials – the vanishing of America, I call it,” Cubeta said. “I also do a little with portraits.”

He has sold a few of his pieces, but admitted most of the money he gets goes back into purchasing new art supplies.

“It’s like anything else, if you enjoy what you’re doing, it’s worth it,” Cubeta said. “When you can take a white board and create something, that’s what keeps me going.”