A PA32 PLT MAKING ALL THE CORRECT CALLS FOR A NON TWRED ARPT WAS FORCED TO MAKE A GAR BY SOMEONE WHO WASN'T.

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ON APCH TO SARATOGA SPRINGS ARPT; WX GOOD VFR. 10 MI FROM ARPT; I ASKED ALB APCH FOR A FREQ CHANGE; CALLED SARATOGA SPRINGS UNICOM; AND WAS INFORMED THAT THEY WERE USING RWY 32 WITH CALM WINDS. WE ENTERED ON A 45 DEG ENTRY; RPTING '4 MI OUT ON THE 45' THEN RPTED TURNING DOWNWIND; RPTED BASE; AND THEN RPTED TURNING FINAL. UP UNTIL WE RPTED TURNING FINAL; THERE WAS NO OTHER TFC RPTING IN THE TFC PATTERN. WHEN WE TURNED FINAL; ANOTHER ACFT; A PAWNEE TOW PLANE; RPTED ENTERING THE DOWNWIND ON A XWIND ENTRY. ON SHORT FINAL; LESS THAN 30 SECONDS LATER; AS WE FLEW OVER THE ARPT BOUNDARY AT AN ALT OF APPROX 50 FT; I HEARD SOMEONE ON UNICOM YELL 'LOOK OUT.' MY WIFE FROM THE REAR SEATS THEN YELLED 'OH GOD' AND THEN SUDDENLY AN ACFT APPEARED ABOVE AND SLIGHTLY TO THE L OF OUR ACFT IN A L TURN TOWARD THE RWY. SEPARATION WAS NO MORE THAN 50 FT. I LOWERED THE NOSE; BANKED SLIGHTLY R AND THEN ADDED PWR AND SOMEHOW AVERTED A DISASTER. AS I INITIATED A GAR; THE OTHER PLT SPOKE ON THE UNICOM; STATING THAT HE UNDERSTOOD THAT HE MIGHT HAVE CUT OFF ANOTHER ACFT. I ASKED IF WE MIGHT CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION ON THE GND. I THEN FLEW ANOTHER PATTERN AND THIS TIME LANDED ON RWY 5 AWAY FROM THE GLIDER ACTIVITY. AFTER POLLING MY PAX WHO INCLUDED MY WIFE; ANOTHER INST RATED PLT AND HIS WIFE; THE CONSENSUS WAS THAT THE ACFT HAD BEEN SEPARATED BY NO MORE THAN 5 FT FROM THE PROP OF OUR SARATOGA TO THE BOTTOM REAR FUSELAGE OF THE OTHER ACFT. THIS NEAR DISASTER AROSE BECAUSE THE PLT OF THE OTHER ACFT DID NOT FOLLOW THE PROPER ARPT TFC PATTERN AND FAILING TO LISTEN TO OTHER ACFT POS RPTS ON UNICOM. HE FLEW ABOVE THE ARPT ON A XWIND ENTRY OVER THE APCH END OF THE RWY; THEN ROLLED L INTO A 270 DEG DSNDING TURN AND ROLLED OUT ON FINAL DIRECTLY ABOVE OUR ACFT. HE FAILED TO SEE AND AVOID ANOTHER ACFT. POSSIBLY CONTRIBUTING TO MY NOT SEEING HIS ACFT WAS THAT HE WAS APCHING FROM AN AREA I WOULD NOT HAVE EXPECTED AN ACFT TO BE. ADDITIONALLY; ON SHORT FINAL; OUR ATTN IS USUALLY FOCUSED ON THE RWY. THE ONLY WAY TO AVOID THIS TYPE OF ACCIDENT IS TO MAKE SURE THAT EACH OF US FLIES THE TFC PATTERN AS WE WERE TAUGHT. IT ONLY TAKES A FEW MORE MINS TO FLY A STANDARD TFC PATTERN. ALSO; LISTENING TO THE RADIO IS AT LEAST AS IMPORTANT AS TALKING. WE GAVE 5 POS RPTS ON UNICOM AND YET THIS PLT STATED LATER THAT HE NEVER HEARD US. 10 WITNESSES (GLIDER PLTS) STATED THAT THEY HEARD US RPT OUR POS. LATER IN THE AFTERNOON IT OCCURRED TO ME THAT HE WAS DRAGGING A TOW ROPE BEHIND HIS ACFT AND SO IF WE HAD BEEN A LITTLE FARTHER BEHIND HIM; WE COULD HAVE BEEN HIT WITH THE TOW ROPE OR WORSE; IT COULD EASILY HAVE BECOME ENTANGLED IN OUR PROP. IN MORE THAN 26 YRS OF FLYING; I HAVE NEVER BEEN THIS CLOSE TO ANOTHER ACFT IN FLT. WE ARE ALL IN COMMAND AND RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACFT WE FLY AND SO I MUST ASSUME SOME RESPONSIBILITY IN NOT SEEING THIS ACFT UNTIL IT WAS ALMOST TOO LATE. TODAY I CAME WITHIN 5 FT OF ENDING THE LIVES OF MYSELF AND 3 PAX IN MY ACFT; ANOTHER PLT AND AT LEAST 10 PEOPLE ON THE GND. EVEN HAVING TCASII ON BOARD PROBABLY WOULD NOT HAVE HELPED. WE STILL NEED TO SEE AND AVOID.