Celebration of Life for Ray Goss Set for Sunday

Ray Goss

A huge turnout is expected for the Celebration of Life service for the longtime radio voice of Duquesne Dukes basketball.

Friends and family of Ray Goss are invited to the event to be held Sunday, May 2nd at IUP’s Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex from 2 to 5pm.

Goss died last Tuesday of a heart attack at Indiana Regional Medical Center while recovering from injuries sustained in a vehicle accident on April 2nd. He was 89.

The sports broadcasting legend was under treatment for atrial fibrillation at the time of the crash and was on his way to a routine appointment at Punxsutawney Area Hospital when he apparently blacked out at the wheel. His SUV went left of center and clipped an oncoming garbage truck before overturning.

Goss was born with the surname Goscinski, and informally used the sobriquet Goss once he began his radio career in Indiana County during the late 50’s. It worked since there was a prominent family by that name in the area. He made the change official after his young daughter came home from school one day with a graded homework assignment that had his adopted surname attached to her given name. His six other children also adopted the change or were born into it.

The accident last month wasn’t Goss’s first brush with death.

The first came November 18, 1989, when he and five others boarded a rented twin-engine plane for IUP’s NCAA Division II playoff game against Grand Valley State in Allendale, Michigan. Both engines died towards the end of the flight and barely sputtered back to life before landing. After the game, they boarded the plane again, only to return to the airport minutes later. They rented a car and drove back to Pennsylvania. The flight – jokingly referred to by the party involved as “Air Benedict” – was chronicled in Goss’ autobiography “Misadventures in Broadcasting” and Jack Benedict’s “My Major League Life in Broadcasting”.

Goss’ final accolade was April 15th during the Chuck Cooper Foundation gala at the Duquesne Power Center. As he was still convalescing from the vehicle accident, Goss was unable to attend. However, he and Darren Zaslau produced a montage of radio and video highlights of some of the Dukes’ high profile games that was played during the awards portion of the gala.

TribLive.com and the Indiana Gazette contributed to this report.