Longtime scorekeeper will call Canes game

BRADENTON — They call him Deuce.

He has his own movie. He’s all over Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.

He doesn’t own a computer, but he knows the numbers by heart.

Deuce — real name Lawrence Skurcenski — has kept score for 3,138 high school football games and is 300 away from scoring his 10,000th high school basketball game.

“I’m pretty well known in western Pennsylvania,” he said.

Saturday, he will get his first glimpse at the Manatee Hurricanes, who head to Turtle Creek, Pa., to play Woodland Hills in the finale of the four-game Rally at Wolvarena.

Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. Deuce, however, plans on being there close to 9 a.m. He has been keeping score for Woodland Hills’ boys basketball and football games for 15 years, and will keep track of all four games Saturday.

“I hope to see some close games,” the 68-year-old Skurcenski said.

That’s his wish, but regardless of the outcome, Deuce will be there, keeping track of every first down, touchdown and time out.

That’s what Deuce does, and what he’s been doing for 56 years. He’s already seen a handful of games this spring and fall, including the annual Big 33 Game, an all-star game pitting players from Pennsylvania and Ohio.

“I come from an athletic family,” he said. “Everyone on my dad’s side played basketball.”

Deuce may not be known for his sports chops, but he’s carved his niche in the Keystone State. He was the subject of a 2008 documentary, “Deuce,” which won the Silver Ace Award at the 2009 Las Vegas International Film Festival and is a fixture of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association’s state basketball finals.

Pitt football coach Dave Wannstedt and Pittsburgh Steelers commentator Bill Hillgrove are among the many who give testimonials of the movie’s titular character.

“I’m a firm believer in communication,” said Skurcenski, who is listed as a notable resident on Wikipedia entry North Braddock, Pa., his hometown. “That’s how come I know so many media people. I’m not a writer, but I know a lot of media people.”

And he’s seen a lot of players before they were NFL megastars.

Guys such as Joe Montana, Dan Marino and Tony Dorsett — Hall-of-Famers who cut their teeth on prep football in Pennsylvania.

He considers former NBA player and executive Billy Knight a good friend and knows all the college coaches in the western part of the state.

Deuce hands out signed trading cards of himself to everyone he meets, and he has his share of fans — the trailer of his film has garnered over 4,000 hits on YouTube.

And he likes to joke.

“You know what I call a team with 30 or more turnovers in one game?” he asked during the “Deuce” trailer. “I call it a bakery.”

He has seen his share of games, but remembers seeing a basketball tilt where one team was down 36-6 and won 51-50.

“I’ll take that sucker to the grave,” Deuce said.

Now he’ll get his first peek at Manatee — though he has heard the stories about the nation’s sixth-ranked team, according to USA Today.

“This team from Bradenton is unreal,” Deuce said. “This (running back Mike) Blakely must be some kind of athlete.”

Deuce would know. He has seem them all.

“I try to break the lack of communication between the schools and the media. I hate the lack of communication,” he said. “That’s what keeps me going from year to year.”