W-b Under-21 Club Zoning Approved

10th District 
Tunkhannock Congressman Faces New Hurdles In Re-election Bid 
Sherwood Up To Challenge Of New Constituents

By DOUG PAPE dpape@leader.net
 Wednesday, January 23, 2002 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 7B 





Wes Kovach isn't a guy who is going to lead the Wilkes University men's
basketball team in scoring. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The 6-foot-7, 245-pound forward, earned his starting job through toughness.
He rebounds and scores when he has to. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And, if an opponent's big man is driving down the lane unscathed, Kovach is
the guy who will foul him. And likely, foul him hard. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``I just try to help the team, I try to just do the little things, the
dirty work.'' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Sometimes though, even the toughest of men get subdued. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Kovach, 22, is back this year after missing the entire 2000-01 campaign
because of a back ailment. What started out as lower back pain was later
diagnosed as a tumor. After a tricky, but successful operation, Kovach is back
to 100 percent and contributing to the Colonels. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The Hillsborough, N.J. native was not an instant success when he took to
the basketball court in the sixth grade. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``I was just tall,'' Kovach said. ``I was terrible, I was really goofy,
uncoordinated. I was one of those kids that was skinny and fat at the same
time. I had really skinny limbs but a really big belly. And then I kind of
stretched out a little bit.'' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 At Hillsborough High School he honed his game enough to draw attention from
NCAA Division I Rider University. He was also a track star, earning a state
championship in the javelin. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 He first grabbed Colonel head coach Jerry Rickrode's eye at an Amateur
Athletic Union tournament held at Wilkes. Rickrode asked a woman next to him
who Kovach was. It turned out it was Wes' mom, Cheryl, who was more than happy
to talk up her son. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Kovach chose Wilkes over schools closer to home and played in 18 games as a
freshman. During his sophomore season he played in all 25 games, started nine,
and scored a career-high 18 points against Moravian. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 During the summer before his junior year, Kovach was grabbed by back pain. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``I just thought it was from lifting and my line of work, I did
construction. I usually don't have a complaint about stuff like that and I
said, `mom this is bad, this is really bothering me,' so I went to her
chiropractor.'' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The chiropractor helped and Kovach returned to school. The pain subsided in
September in what he dubbed a miracle. He got through conditioning drills, but
the morning after the first practice, his back flared-up and he couldn't get
out of bed. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 He visited some doctors and chiropractors and underwent an MRI, but they
couldn't find the problem. He later visited Richard Cohen, a chiropractor in
Kingston, who ordered another MRI. This time the test revealed a cyst about an
inch round, lodged behind his vertebrae pressing against nerves. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``I was a little scared, I don't think I understood the magnitude of it at
first,'' Kovach said. ``Then they said I needed surgery and I just really
wanted to get rid of the pain because the pain was so bad.'' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 He left school during Thanksgiving break and saw a Boston University
Hospital neurosurgeon whose father-in-law is a family friend of the Kovachs.
The doctor performed a laminectomy. In the six-hour procedure the tips of two
vertebrae were shaved to get to the spinal canal to remove the benign growth. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``It was around the nerves that controlled my bladder and sexual functions
so that was kind of, you know, you better get those right,'' said Kovach, who
could joke about it now. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 He sat out last season, hit the weight room hard and now averages 5.9
points and 3.9 rebounds per game. And, he's the Colonels enforcer. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``He's not afraid,'' Rickrode said. ``He has that type of mentality and I
think you need a couple of those guys on your team.'' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Doug Pape, a Times Leader sports writer, can be reached at 829-7227. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

After A Health Scare, Colonels' Tough Guy Is Back On The Job