Western Pennsylvania has always produced talented basketball players, but sometimes some of the best careers don’t get talked about enough once the years start passing.
Eddie Peterson is one of those names.
Before becoming one of the top guards in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, Peterson made his name at Sto-Rox, coming out of a basketball community in McKees Rocks that has produced plenty of talent over the years.
But Peterson’s story didn’t end when his high school career was over. He took his game to Indiana University of Pennsylvania and proved that what people saw from him at Sto-Rox could translate to the college level.
Peterson made an immediate impact at IUP, earning PSAC West Rookie of the Year honors in 2003. From there, he continued developing into one of the conference’s premier guards. He earned first-team All-PSAC West honors in 2004 and 2006 and was a second-team selection in 2005. By his senior season, Peterson had developed into one of the most dangerous scorers in the league. During the 2005-06 season, Peterson averaged 22.1 points per game and scored 618 points, leading the PSAC in both categories. He also shot 87.4 percent from the free-throw line.
But Peterson wasn’t just a scorer.
He finished his IUP career with 259 steals, showing the ability to impact games on both ends of the floor. His combination of scoring, quickness and defensive instincts helped make him one of the better guards in the PSAC during his era.
That’s what stands out when looking back at Peterson’s career.
A lot of players can dominate in high school. The next challenge is proving that same game can translate when the competition gets better, everybody was a high school standout and nothing is guaranteed.
Peterson did that. He went from Sto-Rox to IUP and built a college résumé that deserves to be remembered when we talk about Western Pennsylvania players who went on to have successful careers at the next level.
After college, Peterson continued pursuing basketball, including participating in a Pittsburgh Xplosion professional tryout in 2006.
For me, these are the stories worth going back and telling. We spend so much time talking about where today’s players are ranked, who’s getting recruited and who’s next that sometimes we forget about the players who already put together careers worth remembering.
Eddie Peterson was one of them.
From McKees Rocks to Sto-Rox to becoming one of the PSAC’s top players, Peterson carved out his own basketball journey.
Now, years later, I wanted to catch up with Eddie and let him tell the story himself — from his Sto-Rox days and his success at IUP to the players he battled against, the lessons basketball taught him and where life took him after the final buzzer.
Here’s my Q&A with former Sto-Rox and IUP standout Eddie Peterson.
Q: Growing up in McKees Rocks, what was basketball like for you before people knew Eddie Peterson as a player?
A: Growing up in McKees Rocks, I feel like you first have to understand McKees Rocks. It’s a small town, a 2A school, with four different housing projects. I grew up in the McKees Rocks Terrace projects. There were probably 10-15 of us around the same age, so it was sports from sunup to sundown. We just loved to compete. We would literally cut the bottoms out of milk crates and make those our hoops.
Q: When did you first realize you were good enough to play college basketball?
A: I feel like my coaches saw something in me early. They looked out for me since I was a kid. But I knew something was different the summer heading into my senior year. I won MVP of the Born2Run camp and then had a great Five-Star Pitt 4 camp, where I got the Sixth Man Award. Christian Laettner was my coach that summer. There were a ton of kids there who were going Division I, and I was killing them all. That made me realize, like, “Yo, is this what it is? Okay.”
Q: Sto-Rox has produced some serious basketball talent over the years. What did it mean to put on that Vikings uniform?
A: I remember going into the empty gym one day, and Marvin Thomas, one of the legends from the Rocks, was there. Coach wouldn’t let us scrimmage the older guys sometimes. Marvin said, “Ed, you want to be remembered? You gotta put a banner up. All the legends do!” So that became my focus. I was grabbing my boys and going running in the summer. We’d pile into Coach’s car six deep, sweaty, driving to three different summer league games. I was all-in on winning the championship. In the ’90s, we had so much talent in the Rocks. I just wanted to be one of them. I actually had opportunities to transfer, but my brother told me, “We’re from the Rocks. That’s what we’re going to rep.” So I stayed, and I’m glad I did. The only way I was leaving was if a new coach came in. Coach Minear was my guy since fourth grade. I would’ve run through a wall for him.
Q: Who were some of the best players you played with and against during your Sto-Rox days?
A: First, all my teammates from my senior year. Those practices were a war zone. My guy Shaudy Josey probably should’ve been playing Division I, but grades had him ineligible. As far as the people I played against, there were a lot. The summer leagues up Kennard were the best. If you were any good, you were there. There are too many guys to name. From 2000-2006, it was crazy up there.
Q: What was your biggest or most memorable game at Sto-Rox?
A: My most memorable game at Sto-Rox was probably against Canevin, when I had 44 points and didn’t play in the fourth quarter. That was the only downside about playing 2A. There were so many games where I had points in the high 30s and didn’t play in the fourth quarter. The Wilkinsburg games were always fun, too. They always had good guards and a rowdy crowd.
Q: What schools recruited you coming out of high school, and why did you ultimately choose IUP?
A: Coming out of high school, I probably had 10-15 Division I offers for football. People forget I was a first-team All-State wide receiver. Most of the MAC schools recruited me, along with Marshall, Buffalo and Canisius. It was mostly mid-major schools. But the signing period was before basketball started, and I knew I was going to have a year, so I waited. Then for hoops, it was all the PSAC schools. UNC Asheville came in and wanted to see if I could shoot the three, but I fractured my wrist the night before while hooping outside with my friends. UPenn said if I went to prep school for a year, they had a scholarship for me. I graduated at 17, and my SAT wasn’t high enough for the Ivy League. Looking back, I wish I would’ve done it because having a degree from UPenn would’ve been great. But I’m happy with how everything panned out. Once I visited IUP and saw them playing Cal, the gym was packed, and that sealed the deal for me. Plus, they told me I could play both sports if I wanted to.
Q: You were named PSAC West Rookie of the Year as a freshman. Did you expect to make that kind of immediate impact?
A: I redshirted my first year. IUP went to the Final Four that year, so our team was loaded with Division I transfers, and I practiced with them every day. I learned so much. Playing against some of the best Division II players in the country every day prepared me for that first season. I was still a little timid when it came to scoring, so I focused on defense. My mentality was, if my guy couldn’t score, then I could stay on the floor.
Q: By your senior season, you went from a talented Western PA guard to leading the entire PSAC in scoring at 22.1 points per game. What changed in your game between freshman Eddie Peterson and senior Eddie Peterson?
A: Watching those dudes my freshman year and seeing how they worked in the gym and weight room on their own showed me what it took to be successful at that level. So I copied it. Then my confidence grew, and I lived in the gym. I was ready for the leap.
Q: You earned All-PSAC recognition three straight years. When you look back now, do you think people around Pittsburgh truly understood how good your college career was?
A: I don’t think people really know unless you were there. When I finished, I was second all-time in scoring, second in assists and first overall in steals — and I still have that steals record. I just don’t talk about it a lot. My senior year, I was also Honorable Mention All-American.
Q: You finished with 259 career steals. Where did your ability to disrupt people defensively come from?
A: Defense was a mentality. I was so fast in college that I would just try to deflect the ball and be the first one to it. My mentality was that no one was going to work harder than me. I took pride in that.
Q: Who was the toughest player you ever had to guard in the PSAC?
A: The toughest players I had to guard were probably Rob Sims or Chuck Davis. Both were very crafty and played both ends of the floor.
Q: Who are the five best PSAC players you played against?
A: Probably Chuck Davis, Jakim Donaldson and Rob Sims. Those Cal U guards were tough, too, and Clarion always had good guards.
Q: You played during a strong era of PSAC basketball with guys like Jakim Donaldson and a lot of Western PA talent. How good was the league back then compared with what people outside Division II realized?
A: People didn’t know about Division II. It was crazy when we played. Whoever won the PSAC usually made a deep run in the Division II tournament. It was hard for my coach to get us games against mid-majors, so we ended up playing Pitt my senior year. They were ranked No. 4 in the country, and we were only down two at halftime! They eventually opened the game up, but we left that game ranked high in Division II afterward.
Q: What’s one game from your IUP career you would love to play again?
A: One game I would love to play again would probably be against Pfeiffer. They played up-tempo, and so did we. I ended up with 29 points that game, but I should’ve had 50. It wasn’t my best shooting night. The other one would be our home game against Shippensburg. We lost at the buzzer, but if we win that game, I’m probably an All-American and we host the tournament. It would’ve been a great setup for us.
Q: You participated in a Pittsburgh Xplosion tryout after college. How serious were your professional basketball aspirations at that point?
A: I tried out for the Xplosion, but I had so many other things going on off the court at that time that basketball wasn’t really my focus. I wasn’t even working out then. I still played two games against the Xplosion and had 23 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists in one, and 21 points, five rebounds and four assists in the other.
Q: What happened with basketball for you after IUP? Did you have opportunities to continue playing professionally?
A: Coming out of college, I had a lot of opportunities. I got called to work out with the Chicago Bulls that summer and eventually signed a contract to play for Bayern Munich, but I couldn’t go because of some off-the-court issues I had to resolve. Everything I ever wanted from basketball was coming true, and I gave it all away.
Q: What’s something about your basketball journey that people who watched you at Sto-Rox or IUP probably don’t know?
A: People probably don’t know that during my senior year of high school, for half the season I was still 16 years old and averaging 30 points per game. My IUP people probably don’t know how close I was to playing professionally because I never really talk about it.
Q: Who had the biggest influence on you as a basketball player?
A: The people who had the biggest influence on me athletically were probably Tony Difilip, who took me in as a youngster and watched over me, and Coach Rugh, too. Then they passed me along to Coach Minear, who got me ready that summer heading into my senior year. Then there was Coach Edwards. He was a tough coach who brought the best out of you.
Q: If you could talk to the 18-year-old Eddie Peterson leaving Sto-Rox for college, what would you tell him?
A: I actually went to college at 17. I would tell my younger self to go to prep school and then see what happens. Growing up, my mom supported whatever decision I wanted to make. But not having a father around to guide me through those situations made a difference. That’s probably why I’m a hawk now with my sons.
Q: Twenty years from now, when somebody from McKees Rocks brings up Eddie Peterson, what do you want them to remember about you — as a basketball player and as a man?
A: As a basketball player, I want people to remember me as All-State, All-PSAC, Honorable Mention All-American and a member of two halls of fame. I want them to remember that I left everything out there every game. As a man, I want them to remember somebody who was a true example of not letting anything defeat him — humble, hardworking, a role model for my sons and a loving husband.