Paul Fearick Memorial Scholarship

Established by Mr. Fearick’s family and friends in memory of his many years as a teacher and coach at Lackawanna Trail High School.  Provides a scholarship for a graduate of Lackawanna Trail High School, who will enter college or a post-secondary degree program.

Mid-November to Mid-March

Paul Fearick of Dalton

Date of Birth: 02/22/1949
Date of Death: 01/26/2007

Paul J. Fearick Jr. was a long-time teacher and baseball coach at Lackawanna Trail High School. The son of Marian Brown Fearick and the late Paul J. Fearick Sr. he was a 1966 graduate of St. John’s High School in Pittston where he played basketball for four years and baseball for two. In 1970 he graduated from King’s College with a BA in Education and History. While teaching at Lackawanna Trail he recieved his master’s equivalency and teaching accreditation from Wilkes University. Mr. Fearick was a member of St. John the Evangelist Church in Pittston, and a lifetime member of the Niagara Hose Company in Pittston.

He began his coaching career at St. John’s High School where he was an assistant baseball coach for nine years. He started teaching and coaching at Lackawanna Trail in 1982 where his baseball team achieved a win/loss record of 200/79 in the fourteen years he coached. Under his leadership the team won five Northeast Athletic Conference Baseball Championships, four PIAA District 12 Titles, and appeared twice at the state baseball playoffs.

In 2006 he returned once again to coach baseball at Lackawanna Trail. For the season his team achieved a 17/3 record, won the Lackawanna League Division III title, the District 2 Class AA crown, and reached the second round of the state playoffs. His student athletes considered him “an excellent history teacher and a remarkable coach.” He had also been an assistant football coach at Mid-Valley High School since 2002.

Upon his return to Lackawanna Trail at the age of 57 Mr. Fearick reflected, “I would have been content to be an assistant baseball coach at this stage of my life because I just love teaching and I love coaching baseball. I still enjoy the teaching after all these years. I don’t know how many more years I’ll coach baseball, but right now I’m really enjoying it.” Regarding the early season practices of the sport he mused that he “forgot how terrible the weather could be this early in the year.”

The Paul Fearick Memorial Scholarship was established by Mr. Fearick’s sister, Marie and many of his friends. It will provide college scholarships to graduates of Lackawanna Trail High School who exhibit leadership, perseverance, dedication and academic commitment, and who have participated in school sports programs.

Paul taught and coached many students in his career and will be missed by them and the numerous friends he made in northeastern Pennsylvania.