Harry P. Young

Harry P. "Cy" Young, veteran basketball, baseball and softball official and coach, died June 22 at 8 p.m. in ManorCare Health Services Inc., Spring Township, where he had resided since May 26.

Young, 80, of Reading, was predeceased by his wife, Lucia (Gaspari) Young, on June 23, 1999.

He was an umpire and referee from 1943 to 1975.

Known as "The Original Terminator," Young officiated games in Berks County, Catholic Youth Organization, Schuylkill Scholastic League, Perkiomen, East Penn, Central Penn, Lancaster-Lebanon, Ches-Mont and Bux-Mont leagues.

He also officiated several games involving Wilt Chamberlain in the Big Nine semi-pro league. Young also worked numerous games in the Eastern Professional Basketball League and officiated numerous college varsity and freshman games.

Young invented the 10-run rule while working playground baseball games for the Berks Department of Parks and Recreation long before the rule was adopted by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association.

He was one of the first basketball officials to wear long-sleeved knit shirts while his contemporaries were still wearing broadcloth shirts.

Young coached the Crystalettes women's softball team in the 1950s.

He was inducted into the Berks County chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.

Young served as county commissioner for the Pennsylvania Amateur Softball Association from 1953 to 1964.

He was inducted into the Pennsylvania Amateur Softball Association's Hall of Fame in 1983.

Young was a player and manger for teams in the Class A Reading City League from 1942 to 1956. He was a catcher, first baseman and outfielder.

He was an ASA umpire from 1947 to 1975. He umpired the 1950-1953 and 1957-1975 ASA girls' state tournaments, 1950-1965 ASA Class AA men's state tournaments, 1952-1965 Class A men's state tournaments and many regionals.

Born in Reading, he was a son of the late Harry and Esther (Etter) Young.

Young was employed for one year as a stocking boarder by the Berkshire Knitting Mills, Wyomissing, and was employed for five years as office manager by Kurtz Brothers Concrete, Denver, Lancaster County. He was last employed as a bartender by the Berkshire Country Club from June 1972 until retirement in December 2003.

He was an Army veteran of World War II.

Young was elected a life member of the Reading-Berks Basketball Old-Timers Association in August 1990.

He portrayed Santa Claus in the Reading Christmas parade from 1969 to 1984. He also played Santa for a year in Pomeroy's Department Store, Reading.

Surviving is a daughter, Christine D. (Young) Nawrocki, Sinking Spring.

Other survivors include two grandchildren.

Services will be Saturday at 10 a.m. in the Edward J. Kuhn Funeral Home Inc., West Reading. Entombment will be in Gethsemane Cemetery Mausoleum, Laureldale.