SCRANTON, Pa. — For the last 50 years, two things have remained constant in Mike Nycz's life. The Scranton School District and his basketball stats book.
"Boys, varsity and JV girls, varsity and JV and freshman. That's five since 1974. You do the math," said Mike Nycz, Scranton School District Book Keeper.
Following his time serving in Vietnam, Nycz started working in the Scranton School District at Central High School in 1974.
His first job was as a gym assistant, but he's held many more since then.
"I did this. I did the equipment manager at Central. I was the freshman coach at Central, track official anything to make extra money I did it," said Nycz.
Over his decades of service, Nycz came to know thousands of athletes at Central and later Scranton High School, coaching and keeping track of some that eventually went pro.
"Jake and Joe McCarthy, Mike Munchak was a better football player than he was a basketball player," added Nycz.
But whether they were professionals or just your typical high school athlete, Nycz says almost every one of them left their mark.
"90% of the kids that went through Central and Scranton and gentlemen, they were really nice kids," Nycz.
When asked what kept him going for this long, Nycz could only think of one answer.
"If you don't enjoy what you're doing, you're not gonna last 50 years, you're not gonna last 10 years, you have to really enjoy what you're doing, and everything else falls in line.