Into the Hall: Tara Cochrane Warrington
Tara Cochrane Warrington scored over 1,000 points while playing for Geibel Catholic’s girls basketball team and led the Lady Gators in scoring (13.1 points per game) and rebounding (9.2 rebounds per game) during her senior season.
Those numbers don’t mean as much to her as what her team accomplished.
Warrington played a key role in Geibel winning a remarkable four consecutive WPIAL championships from 1993 to 1996. That’s the accomplishment she values most.
Warrington made that point when it was brought up that she scored her 1,000th career point in a playoff win over Avonworth.
“I think the thing that was special about our team is that, that’s an individual goal and I’m grateful that I was able to achieve that, but I feel like the focus was so much on what we as a team achieved and less on what we as individuals achieved,” Warrington explained.
“The thing that was really unique about our group of girls is that we really worked together. We were less concerned about individual stats but most concerned about winning as a team.”
Warrington, who also scored over 1,000 points in a four-year career at Saint Vincent College, is part of the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2025 and spoke about her impending induction on Hall of Fame co-founder George Von Benko’s Sports Line Talk Show on WMBS Radio recently.
“Very humbled and very honored,” Warrington said. “I know there are so many great athletes that have come out of Fayette County so I’m just really grateful to be able to join as an individual. I felt that same way when our team was inducted several years ago.”
That four-time district champion Lady Gators squad entered the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame in 2015 in the team category.
“It was really amazing,” Warrington said of the four-peat. “The thing that was really special about that time is that we were really present. I think we understood just how special it was. When I think back about that time with the really incredible girls that I got to have that experience with and coaches, we enjoyed every single moment of it.”
Warrington is the fourth individual member from that Geibel squad to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, joining head coach George Bortz and teammates Robin Guerriere Amend and Jen Surlas. She talked about her beginnings in basketball playing at St. John’s.
“I was there with Robin Guerriere and Alison Watts. We were there from kindergarten until we graduated at Geibel, and then Erin Rupp was a year ahead of us,” Warrington recalled. “Not only did we spend time together on the court, but we spent I think every moment together off the court.
“When we went to Geibel together the boys always practiced right after school. We spent a lot of time together after school before basketball practice and then most of us lived in Uniontown so we’d take the activity bus home at night. We were with each other a lot and we just loved each other. It was really special.”
Geibel’s record in the four years Warrington played was an astounding 106-9, but four of the losses came in the PIAA tournament.
“I think we still regret not having won a state title together but winning the WPIAL and having that experience and being able to have that every year together meant a lot,” Warrington said.
She recalls Bortz with fondness.
“I have a big smile on my face hearing that name,” Warrington said. “I think it’s funny because he is a character and I would say that the girls on our team, we very much were characters as well. I think we were just a perfect fit for him. It was a lot of humor. We had a lot of fun. He was just so special.
“As much fun as we had, we also experienced a lot of suffering under his coaching in terms of he was really hard on us, but I loved that. He really pushed us because he knew we could achieve at a high level and he held really high expectations for us as a team and as individuals. For me, I think that’s the most important thing, whether you’re a coach or a teacher, is that you hold high expectations to people that you lead. He taught me that and I really am grateful for that.”
Warrington’s group at Geibel was multi-talented and also had success in volleyball. Warrington was an outside hitter for the Lady Gators.
“Unfortunately we didn’t get exposed to volleyball until our freshman year in high school and I always wonder what would it have been like had we had volleyball when we were in grade school and middle school, because it was something that we really did enjoy,” Warrington said. “I felt that we picked it up pretty quickly and had some success with it but because we were so focused on basketball – that was our main sport – we played AAU basketball, we didn’t do any club volleyball just because there wasn’t time for it.
“But it was fun to be able to experience that sport as well … that was under coach Rick Watkins. He’s also a character,” Warrington added with a laugh.
Warrington lauded all the coaches she had over the years, including her AAU coach Chris Cluss.
“Mr. Cluss, I love him so much. I have a big smile thinking about him as well,” Warrington said. “I think about all of these coaches, Chris Cluss, George Bortz, Ann Capozzi, how much they poured into us, how much they supported us as we were going through the experience with sports and I am so grateful for them.
“I remember Chris driving me to games when my mom and dad weren’t able to do that, and taking me under his wing. My first job was at (O.C.) Cluss’s. I’m so grateful for him and the AAU experience, and to be able to meet other girls through AAU, like Nina Turcic from Brownsville. She and I ended up playing at Saint Vincent together. We played on Chris’s AAU team.”
Warrington noted she played under Rick Hauger also.
“That’s another character, coach Hauger,” Warrington said with a chuckle. “He coached my AAU team with Chris Cluss.”
Warrington stuck with her Catholic roots when it came to choosing a college and attended Saint Vincent College.
“I had a couple offers with some schools. I went to Catholic school and I was really drawn toward Saint Vincent because of the Catholic experience and it was a small Benedictine school and was just a really good fit for me,” Warrington explained. “Something that I was looking for in my college experience was to continue that close connection to my Catholic faith. That was a huge reason why I chose Saint Vincent.
“I also really enjoyed the coach there as well. She was really amazing, Coach (Kristen) Zawacki. Unfortunately she has passed away. I could tell she was really passionate about the sport and that I would have the opportunity to further develop. I wanted to be able to play and that’s a smaller school and I felt that was a good fit for me matching my level of play.”
Warrington flourished with the Bearcats, scoring 1,271 career points. She was a two-time NAIA All-American and a two-time Kodak All-American at Saint Vincent.
“I’m chuckling to myself because I’m thinking about Coach Bortz who had come to watch me play at Saint Vincent and he never let me shoot from the 3-point line so I hope he’s listening to this,” Warrington said with a laugh. “When I went to Saint Vincent I really developed my 3-point shot. I played underneath but I would come out and hit some 3-pointers.”
Warrington entered the coaching world for a while after her playing days were over.
“Once I graduated from Saint Vincent I came back home and I got to coach high school basketball at Uniontown with Annie Malkowiak which was really a special experience,” Warrington said. “I learned a lot from her. I then started the girls high school volleyball team there. That was phenomenal. It was really great having the coaching experience and the teaching experience. I learned a lot those first couple years, which has really helped position me to where I am today.”
Warrington is married to John Warrington and currently lives in North Carolina.
“I have an amazing husband,” she said. “We’ve had a really great life together so far. Because of his job we have moved a lot which we have loved. It’s been quite the adventure. Through that I’ve been able to expand myself and my career in education.”
The couple has lived in Washington, D.C., where Warrington was a “principal at an all girls school,” and Charleston, South Carolina, where Warrington said, “I had the greatest experience of my career, I got to open up a school. That was really special.
“Now we’re in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was a former FBI agent. Once he retired and transitioned into consulting I made the leap as well, so we’re both consulting. Now I get to work as support to schools and districts currently working in the state of Arkansas and in the state of Delaware, supporting early literacy initiatives which has been really awesome.
“I still get to be in schools and coach school leaders and teachers and be with kids, which I love, and then around my passion which is literacy.”
Hall of Fame festivities will be held on June 20 beginning with the annual golf outing at 8:30 a.m. followed by the luncheon and inductions at Pleasant Valley Golf Club in Connellsville. Golfers can register and luncheon tickets can be purchased by contacting Katie Propes by phone (724-415-2211) or email (kpropes@occluss.com).