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Mt. Lebanon senior excels on and off the field

By Eleanor Bailey almanac Sports Editor ebailey@thealmanac.Net 9 min read
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Mt. Lebanon High School senior Eddie Kubit is a three-sport athlete as well as a National Merit Scholarship finalist.

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Eddie Kubit rounds first base during a Mt. Lebanon baseball game last season.

Eddie Kubit agrees with Thomas Edison that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.

“I feel like a lot of people wonder that,” said the Mt. Lebanon senior about how he balanced playing three sports while also maintaining high academic standards. “It requires a lot of hard work.”

Kubit has not only achieved success on the gridiron, wrestling mat and diamond, he has climbed his way to the top in the classroom. He ranks among the top seniors in his graduating class with a 5.3 weighted GPA, belongs to the high school’s prestigious Cum Laude Society, is a National Merit Scholarship finalist and a WPIAL Scholar-Athlete award winner.

Mt. Lebanon baseball coach Patt McCloskey said he has had a number of exceptionally smart students on his teams and in his AP history classes. He was unsure, however, if any matched Kubit’s GPA, board scores (1510 out of 1520) or AP scores (35 out of 36).

“He’s naturally very smart, possesses tremendous analytical ability and is exceptionally advanced regarding mathematics,” McCloskey said, “but he’s also an exceptionally hard worker. He is always organized and on top of things. I would say Eddie is one of the most academically disciplined and mature players I have worked with. He’s a natural leader that possesses strong character and a great, high-energy personality.”

Kubit’s path to wrestling for Blue Devils head coach Marc Allemang was a little more circuitous.

Because Kubit said he wanted “something to do,” he added wrestling to his activities when he was cut from the basketball team in fifth grade. He said he continued to wrestle through middle school, but dropped the activity to focus on football and baseball in high school.

After his senior season of football, Kubit approached Allemang about a return to the mats.

While he continued to attend volunteer off-season winter baseball workouts, Kubit placed in several junior varsity tournaments, winning a championship at Chartiers Valley and taking third in the prestigious Powerade tournament. He filled the 182-pound spot – a weight Lebo usually forfeited – in the varsity lineup midway through the season. Sometimes he shifted up to 195 to improve Lebo’s chances of winning a dual meet.

Allemang said most kids in Kubit’s position would have turned away from wrestling considering he was coming back from a long layoff, wrestling behind state champion Luke Stout, starting the season on junior varsity and watching weight and going through workouts.

“Not Eddie,” he said. “That is just who he is. He is team first. He is class. He understands the bigger picture of athletics and would do anything to help his team win. That is just the type of person he is.

“How many kids come out as seniors, do whatever they can do to help the team, and balance three sports and a class list of honors and AP courses?” Allemang asked. “Eddie is just a remarkable young man.”

Kubit picked up sports at an early age. He said he would play in the backyard, “hit things” and “played catch” off a wall outside his house. He said he is best at baseball, but has no preference for any sport.

“There are so many good things about each of them,” Kubit said. They are all great pastimes.”

A left fielder, Kubit hit .328 with a team-high 17 runs and 10 RBI for the Blue Devils last spring.

“In baseball, you are alone at the plate but your teammates hold you accountable,” he said. “There is also the mental engagement as it’s a one-pitch game. You have to compartmentalize each pitch and you have to be locked in on every play. Mental focus is so important to winning each game.”

Football, on the other hand, is team-oriented while wrestling is at the opposite end of that spectrum, Kubit said.

“In football, everybody has a job to do,” he said. “When you are building a wall with bricks, it takes so many skill sets to put it all in place. In football, you eliminate selfishness and emphasize a team-first mentality. It requires strong bonds to make a machine that operates successfully and smoothly.

“In wrestling, you are accountable for everything. It’s 99.9% on you. You did the wrong thing if you lost the match. You can’t blame the ref, the scenario or anything else. It’s one man. No other factors. All combat sports are like that. That’s why I enjoy MMA (mixed martial arts) so much.”

Kubit said he is inspired by astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson in a way his favorite athlete, Kobe Bryant, cannot. He said he misses his AP physics and calculus courses.

“Definitely,” Kubit said, “I miss school. Too much free time.

“Doing your class work requires the same grit you display on the field,” he added. “You can’t be scared off. I think there is a synergy between athletics and school. They benefit each other so much.”

Kubit will attend Ohio State University because he wants to major in mechanical engineering and minor in computer sciences and economics.

Kubit is currently preparing to deliver a speech for his induction into the Cum Laude Society. He is getting ready also for prom and graduation.

“Losing those would definitely frighten me,” he said. “You can’t substitute for those like you can with classes (being online). That would be frustrating.”

Before he moves on to college, Kubit said he hopes to organize a pick-up game, perhaps in July, between his rivals from Peters Township, Upper St. Clair and Bethel Park.

“I’d just love to play one more game,” he said.

Then he’ll settle down and tackle the world.

“There is always something greater,” he said. “So you can’t get too comfortable. I’m ready to move on and get after something new.

“As my classmates and I move into the work force and take control of society, we aspire to work toward objective truth. There is a perception of reality and how things actually are but what is objective?

“I’m not one who wants to know the future,” he continued. “I think that’s better left alone because all innovation is driven by curiosity. Discovery comes from that. If you already know the truth, that’s boring.”

Age: 18

Birthday: Oct. 16

Parents: Jodi and Ed

Siblings: Lily, 19; Molly, 15

School: Mt. Lebanon

Year: Senior

GPA: 5.3

Academic achievements: National Merit Scholarship finalist, Cum Laude Society, WPIAL Scholar-Athlete Award Winner

Sports: Baseball, football, wrestling

Activities: National Honor Society, Student Council, Miracle League of the South Hills

College choice: Ohio State

Major: Mechanical engineering

Minor: Computer Science and Economics

Color: Blue

Restaurant: Big Shot Bob’s House of Wings

Food: Anything Buffalo chicken.

Song: Runaway by Kanye West

Book: Catcher in the Rye

Movie: A Few Good Men or the Joker

Athlete: Kobe Bryant “I know it’s cliche but he always seemed so engaged in sports and competition. He never backed down and I like that. It’s something I know I have in myself when I’m playing a game.”

Dream destination: Alaska. “It just seems so foreign and mysterious.”

People might be surprised to know this about you: “I used to play trombone in middle school. It’s not something I would want to pick up again. Guitar, because my dad plays, or maybe piano is on my short list.”

Person you would like to have dinner with: Ben Franklin. “Aside from the womanizing thing, he was so multi-faceted, so liberty-oriented. I have always been fascinated by colonial times and how our founding fathers stood up to the King and fought for themselves.

What sports has taught you: “That every moment in life takes you towards a goal. You can do something with it but you have to drive forward. From the moment you wake up to when you go to sleep, you should do something for the betterment of others.”

In 15 years, I will be: Coaching a little league team. “That much I know but it’s tough to say with engineering. Fifteen years ago, they weren’t talking about self-driving cars. So I’ll be working in some revolutionary field on a future event that could change the world.”

Live in quarantine “frustrates” Eddie Kubit.

Instead of attending classes with friends at Mt. Lebanon High School or playing baseball for the Blue Devils, this spring, the senior is following the Centers for Disease and Prevention guidelines regarding COVID19.

He ventures outdoors only to walk the family dog, a mutt named Moose. He washes his hands frequently, often humming songs for the minimal 20-second duration. He allows ample space between others.

“When I’m outside and someone is coming toward me, I’ll still say hello but I’ll also move to the other side of the street. I’m practicing physical distancing as much as I can.”

Kubit does it for his mother.

Jodi Kubit has respiratory issues similar to asthma. She uses a hand-held fan to circulate air and a breathing device that enables her lungs to expand and fill up with oxygen.

“Yes, I can’t work out and exercise or see my friends,” admitted Kubit, who also played football and wrestled for Lebo, “but my mom’s health is important. It’s compromised. So I’m isolating for good reason. It wouldn’t be too positive if she got this.”

While his father’s got the grocery gig, Kubit helps with dinner. He also organizes post-meal activities ranging from board games to Netflix binging for his parents and siblings, Lilly and Molly.

“Monopoly is pretty popular although the game can drag on when one person is in control. The fun part is early on when everybody is buying things,” said Kubit, who added that QB1 Beyond the Lights is favored for video programming.

“Everything we do is pretty family centric,” he continued. “Family is very important to me.”

So is finding a vaccine. Kubit was excited when he first heard the University of Pittsburgh announced a breakthrough. Others, too, have followed.

“There have been a couple reports all over the world and the possibilities give us hope but it is going to take so long to extradite all the steps for development and bringing it to the market. It’s frustrating but eventually this will blow over if we continue to follow the guidelines.

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