Below is a list of the members of the Pennsylvania Track and Field Hall of Fame, both its inductees for this year and those who are already members. If you have nominations for the hall of fame, please contact the Hall of Fame Coordinator, Mr. Gerry Stemplewicz at the phone number listed on the officer's page of this web site or use the email address on the home page. The more participation we have in nominations the more chance we have of honoring all of Pennsylvania's Hall of Fame caliber athletes.

Pennsylvania High School Track & Field Hall of Fame – Class of 2013

 

Dominique Darden – Harrisburg (2002).   A great sprinter and hurdler, Dominique Darden won four PIAA 3A championships, two in the 100-meter hurdles in 2001 and ’02, and one each in the 400 in ‘1999 and the 200 in 2002.  In the two sprints she was a state runner-up five times, never finishing worse than third in her four years running the 200 and 400 at the state meet.  Darden added PTFCA state indoor titles in the 200 and 400 in 2001.  Her best marks included a PIAA meet record 23.80 as a senior, good enough to place her 5th on the all-time Pennsylvania list, and her PTFCA meet record 54.16 as a junior, which placed her 2nd on the all-time state list.

 

Breehana Jacobs – Laurel Highlands (Uniontown, 2007).  A six-time winner of PIAA outdoor championships, Breehana Jacobs won the 100 three times, the 200 twice, and the 400 once in 2007 when she won a rare sprint triple.  She also won a PTFCA indoor 60-meter championship in 2006.  Her best legal marks in these four events were 11.61, 23.69, 53.41 and 7.43 placing her 2nd, equal 4th, equal 7th, and 2nd on the Pennsylvania all-time lists.  Jacobs made the national top-ten twice, her 7.43 placing her 7th on the 60m list in 2006 and her 53.41 making her the 7th fastest 400m runner in the country for 2007.

 

Karen Krichko – Hickory (Hermitage, 1975). The best Pennsylvania female jumper at the dawn of PIAA sponsorship of girls’ track, Karen Krichko was the link between high school Olympian and Hall of Fame inductee Jean Shileyn and the present.  Krichko first broke Shiley’s outdoor state record with a 5-2 ½ jump as a sophomore in 1973, then raised that in five more meets, eventually reaching 5-9 as a senior in 1975.  She also broke Shiley’s indoor state records, topping out with a best of 5-6 to finish 6th in the 1975 national senior AAU championships.  The winner of the first two PIAA state titles, her senior year meet record of 5-7 ½ lasted another three years.

 

Chris Becton - Bensalem (Cornwells Heights, 1977).  The first seven-foot high jumper in Pennsylvania history, Chris Becton became the sixth two-time PIAA 3A winner in the event.  He is the only person in PIAA 3A or 2A high jump history to set a meet record with each of his wins, clearing 6-10 ¾ in 1976 and 7-0 as a senior in 1977.  The state’s first seven-foot jump was accomplished by Becton at the Lower Bucks Relays on April 23, 1977, but lasted only six days, as Becton and Hall of Fame inductee Mike White both cleared 7-0 at the Penn Relays, with White winning at 7-1.  Becton also shared the indoor state record with White at 6-9 and 6-10.

 

Jimmy Callista – Strong Vincent (Erie, 1938).  The AAU first team high school All-American for the quarter mile as a junior in 1937, Jimmy Callista ran 49.1 to win the PIAA state title with the fastest time in the country.  The time was a meet record which lasted 19 years and made him the third-fastest Pennsylvania ever.  With his senior year partly derailed by a skating accident, he managed to repeat as PIAA 440-yard champion with a 49.6 and added a 3rd in the 220, as well as anchoring the winning 880-yard relay team.  Callista showed his talent early with a PIAA runner-up finish in the 100 as a sophomore, losing only to Hall of Famer Barney Ewell.

 

Truman Gardner – The Hill School (Pottstown, 1918). A two-time first-team All-American in the pole vault, Gardner lost a vault only once in his last two years of school, at the Princeton Interscholastics in his junior year.  He subsequently avenged that defeat twice while winning a jump-off in the Middle States Interscholastics and in the dual meet against rival Lawrenceville.  As a senior, Gardner’s 12-2 ½ win in the Princeton Interscholastics established a new Pennsylvania state record, one which lasted six years until broken by fellow Hill Schooler and Hall of Fame inductee Sabin Carr.  Gardner’s mark placed him fourth on the national all-time list.

 

Ryan Sherwood - McDowell (Erie, 2002).  One of few throwers to win two state championships in the javelin, Ryan Sherwood was a third-team All-American as a junior and second team as a senior.  As a junior in 2001, he became the 8th-farthest thrower in Pennsylvania history with his PIAA 3A winning 229-10.  Following a change of javelin specifications before his senior year Sherwood reached a best of 229-1 with the new javelin.  That mark made him the fourth-farthest thrower in the nation for the year and established a state record which lasted seven years.  At the state meet, he won for the second time, becoming only the tenth person in 75 years to win a pair of 3A titles.

 

John Smith – Ridley Park (1936).  One of only two PIAA throwers to hold state records in both the shot put and discus throw, John Smith won both events in the PIAA state meet as a senior in 1936 after having been runner-up in both events as a junior.  Smith set his first state record in the shot in early May with a throw of 53-6 ½, and within the month had raised the mark three times to a best of 55-2 ½, a mark which placed him 3rd on the national list for the year and 12th all-time.  Smith’s discus record was 135-0 ¾, placing him 4th on the yearly national list.  His PIAA state winning marks lasted as meet records for two years in the discus and 14 years in the shot.

 

Paul Springer – Unionville (2007).  At his best as the race got longer, Paul Springer twice set state records outdoors in the 2-mile run and the 3000-meters.  During his senior year he ran the two-mile in 8:52.86 in early May and then ran 8:52.77 at the Nike Outdoor Nationals in mid-June.  The same year, he also set a state indoor record at 5000m, running 14:51.07 as a runner-up in the National Scholastic indoor meet.  Running against tough in-state competition, Springer won only one PIAA championship, the 3200m as a junior.  But he countered with a pair of PTFCA indoor state titles in the mile, including a 4:12.61 that made him the second-fastest indoor miler in state history.

 

Jim Miller - Coach, Swarthmore (1931-1961).  A graduate of Ridley Park High School and the University of Pennsylvania, Jim Miller became the track coach at Swarthmore High in 1931 with no background in the sport.  Within four years he led Swarthmore to its first PIAA class B team championship in 1935.  By the time he retired following the 1961 season, Miller’s teams had won three more state titles, had been runner-up four times, and finished out of the top five only twice in a span of 17 years, from 1941 through 1957.  Among public school coaches, only Hall of Famers Dick Bartholomew and Jack Armstrong led teams to more boys state championships than Miller.

 

Jumbo Elliott– Alumnus, West Catholic (Philadelphia, 1931).  A star quarter miler at West Catholic High School and Villanova College, Jumbo Elliott began his life’s calling as Villanova coach even while he was the captain of the team in 1935.  Starting as a great coach of sprinters including Olympic 400-meter gold medalist Charlie Jenkins and 100-yard dash World Record holder Frank Budd, Elliott became best known as a middle distance coach, with his athletes including Olympic gold medalist Ron Delany and indoor mile world record holder Eamonn Coghlan.  Among the greats he helped produce were National Track & Field Hall of Fame inductees Marty Liquori, Larry James and Don Bragg

 

Ed Helbig – Contributor.  As the Director or Co-Director of the Tri-State Coaches Association from 1992 through the present, Ed Helbig has no equals in western Pennsylvania as an administrator or meet director.  An assistant coach at Baldwin High School starting in 1976, he took over as head coach indoors in 1991 and outdoors in 1994.  The last 20 years have seen him serve as Meet Director of the Baldwin Invitational, the District 7 championships and the WPIAL Southern Qualifier, as well as organizing the Baldwin Clinic.  During the same period Helbig as also served as a PIAA official and a member of the PTFCA indoor state meet Jury of Appeals.

 

Pennsylvania High School Track & Field Hall of Fame – Class of 2012

 

Craig Miller –  Manheim Township (Lancaster, 2006).  The most successful boys’ cross country runner in PIAA history, Craig Miller registered three #3A wins and a 5th- place finish.  Following his junior year, he finished 15th in the Foot Locker Nationals.  On the track, Miller won PIAA 3A titles in the 1600 during his sophomore and junior seasons.  Of his five outdoor state titles, four of them were run in faster time than the 2A champion.  In his soph and junior years, Miller finished 3rd and 2nd in the mile at the National Scholastic outdoor meet.  His 4:06.76 mile in his soph year Nationals race made him the third fastest Pennsylvanian ever.  Miller was off to a solid start in his senior year running an indoor 3000m state record 8:22.65 while winning the PTFCA state title, but a bone bruise in early April put an end to his scholastic career.

 

Shane Pratt– North Penn (Lansdale, 1992).  A four-time PIAA 3A state champion and two-time PTFCA indoor champion, Shane Pratt was one of the state’s most successful male sprinters of the last 20 years.  All four of his outdoor titles—two each in the 100 and 200—were faster than the 2A champion.  His fastest performances outdoors of 10.2 and 21.08 left him for 4th and 5th respectively on the Pennsylvania all-time lists.  Both of his PTFCA wins came at 300 yards, and his best time of 30.99, set while winning the state title as a senior, made him the 5th fastest Pennsylvanian ever, trailing only Hall of Fame inductees William Reed, Clinton Davis, Carlton Young and Tony Darden, each of whom set the national high school record in the event.  On the state outdoor lists, the only additional person ahead of Pratt was 100-meter world record holder Leroy Burrell.

 

Nicole Smith – McDowell (Erie, 2005).   A great three-event jumper, Nicole Smith won four PIAA 3A outdoor state titles, and another four PTFCA indoor titles.  As a senior, Smith scored an unprecedented three state wins both indoors and outdoors, a perfect six for six.  Only in the indoor long jump was Smith’s career best not good enough to put her among the top seven on the all-time Pennsylvania lists.  Even though the high jump was the event in which she scored a pair of state wins both indoor and outdoors, it may be that she was at her best in the triple jump.  As a senior, her state-winning jump of 39-7 ½ made her the second-farthest indoor triple jumper in state history, and outdoors, a 40-9 jump while take third at the outdoor Nationals placed her 5th on the all-time list.  Smith’s PRs included an indoor 5-10 ½ high jump and an outdoor 19-10 ½ long jump.

 

LaTavia Thomas – West Catholic (Philadelphia, 2006). The holder of the state record for the indoor 800 meters at 2:07.10, set while winning the National Scholastic meet as a junior in 2005, LaTavia Thomas holds a distinction greater than that.  She is the only person yet to break one of the indoor or outdoor state records in the 800, 1500 or mile held by Kim Gallagher, a Hall of Fame inductee in the inaugural class of 1995.  Thomas twice set the indoor state record for the 800, and won three PTFCA state indoor championships and a pair of National Scholastic indoor titles, all in the 800.  As a sophomore, she was a second team All-American in the event after making the team that competed in the World Junior Championships.  Thomas’s 2005 outdoor PR of 2:06.76 placed her second on the all-time Pennsylvania list behind only Gallagher.

 

Ruby Radocaj – Williamsport (2004).  A first team All-American in the javelin as a senior, Ruby Radocaj was a rare two-time PIAA 3A state javelin champion as only one person in history has won as many as three 3A state titles.  As a senior in 2004, Radocaj won the second of her titles with a throw of 158-0, which remains the meet record through 2011.  That mark placed her second on the Pennsylvania all-time list for the new javelin, which was introduced in 2002.  Her junior year PIAA win saw her throwing her first state meet record, as she reached 156-8.  An uncommonly consistent performer among javelin throwers, Radocaj threw in the 150s in four major competitions as a senior.  Among those meets were a 3rd-place finish in the USATF Junior chamipionships, and a win at the Penn Relays.

 

Allen Woodring – Mercersburg Academy (1918).  The first team All-American in the 220-yard dash in 1918, Woodring held the state record at 21 3/5 for the 220 on the straightaway, a mark which remained the state best for 14 years, until 1932.  Also a 10-flat sprinter in the 100-yard dash, which at the time placed him equal third on the state all-time list, Woodring topped the state list in both events his junior and senior years.  The National Interscholastic indoor champion in the 70-yard dash as a senior, Woodring set a national high school record for the event at 7 2/5 seconds, a mark which stood as the state record for five years.  Undefeated in major interscholastic meets in both events as a senior, he led both national lists for the year, and also led the nation in the 100 during his junior year.

 

Carl Beck – Harrisburg Tech (1920).  An amazingly versatile athlete, Carl Beck was a first team track All-American in each of his last three years of high school, but each time in a different event.  As a sophomore, he was All-American in the shot put, then in the broad jump as a junior, and in the discus throw as a senior.  Over the course of his varsity career, Beck scored wins in major interscholastic meets in those three events as well as the javelin and the 120-yard and 220-yard hurdles.  His shot put PR of 51-2 placed him second on the state all-time list, while he was 4th in the discus and 6th in the 120-yard high hurdles.  As a freshman in 1917, he dominated the State Interscholastics, forerunner of the PIAA state meet.  In that one afternoon, Beck won the high and low hurdles, the shot and javelin, and was runner-up in the broad jump, discus and hammer throw.

 

Barry Swanson - Coach, Glen Mills School (Concordville 1985-2001).  One of the winningest coaches in indoor and outdoor state history, Barry Swanson coached at the Glen Mills School for 17 years.  In that time, the Bulls won seven PIAA 3A outdoor team championships and nine PTFCA indoor state titles.  All 16 championships came in a 14-year span, from 1987 through 2000.  Glen Mills won both the indoor and outdoor state titles in the same year seven times, and five times in a row, dominating the scene from 1996 through 2000.  Over the ten-year span from 1992 through 2001, the team never finished out of the top ten in either meet.  A master coach of the throwing events and power lifting, Swanson’s shot putters included a pair of National Scholastic indoor and Penn Relays champions.

 

Gerry Stemplewicz – Contributor.  A coach to this day, Gerry Stemplewicz’s career in the sport includes coaching as just one facet of a lifetime of involvement in the sport.  A coach at Central Bucks East beginning in 1979, Stemplewicz was heavily involved in the organization and management of the Track and Field Coaches Association of Greater Philadelphia. While president of the Association from 1997 through 2003, he oversaw a difficult transition period following the passing of Executive Secretary Bob Burdette.  For some three years, Stemplewicz served simultaneously as the Association’s president, executive secretary and treasurer.  Retired now from all three positions, he remains very much the administrator, now in his 16th year as Chairman of the Pennsylvania State High School Track & Field Hall of Fame.

 

 

Horace Ashenfelter– Collegeville-Trappe (Collegeville, 1941), Alumnus.  An undistinguished high school track athlete as a 5:12 miler in 1941, Horace Ashenfelter rose to track and field immortality as the gold medalist and world record setter in the 1952 Olympic steeplechase.  A 17-time national AAU champion, “Nip” as he was known, was also the 1947 IC4A cross country and 1949 NCAA two-mile champion while competing for Penn State.  Elected to the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1975, he was the first steeplechaser so honored.  Retired from service in the FBI, Ashenfelter has continued his involvement in the sport, including his great gift to Penn State, which has been the home of the PTFCA state indoor championship meet since 2000, the Ashenfelter Multi-Sport Facility.

 

Pennsylvania High School Track & Field Hall of Fame – Class of 2011:

 

Chris Spooner –  Lewisburg (2004).  The first Pennsylvania high schooler to break nine minutes for the two mile run, Spooner ran a state record 8:56.56 as a senior in 2004, a mark which lasted three years as the state best.  His senior year outdoors was highlighted by a PIAA 2A double in the 800 and 1600, and a Penn Relays win in the mile.  His 800 best of 1:52.35 led the state for the year.  Spooner’s indoor performances in 2004 included a PTFCA state championship in the mile and a 3rd-place finish in the Nike Classic. His fastest indoor mile of 4:12.98 made him the third-fastest Pennsylvanian ever indoors and came while finishing 4th in the Tyson Invitational in Arkansas.  As a junior, he won a pair of PIAA 2A titles, including the cross country championship and the 3200, with his cross country win coming in time faster than that of the 3A champion.

 

Ryan Whiting– Central Dauphin (Harrisburg, 2005).  One of the great two-event throwers in Pennsylvania history, Whiting won three PIAA 3A outdoor championships and a PTFCA indoor title.  With outdoor bests of 70-0 in the shot put and 201-9 in the discus throw, he wound up second and third on the Pennsylvania all-time lists in those events.  Indoors, his shot best of 68-11 ¼, set while winning the state indoor championship in his senior year, was his third state indoor record.  In addition to his state meet performances, Whiting was a three-time runner-up in the Nike Outdoor Nationals, and as a senior won the Nike Indoor meet.  His senior year also saw him post a pair of wins at the Pan-American Junior Championships, earn first-team All-American in each event, and finish second in the Track & Field News High School Athlete of the Year voting.

 

Greg Moore – Ben Franklin (Philadelphia, 1977).   Pennsylvania’s outstanding short sprinter in the mid-1970’s, Moore tied the state record three times in the 100-yard dash at 9.5, and was the first Pennsylvanian to hit 10.5 for 100 meters.  Limited in his competitive opportunities because the Philadelphia Public League was not then a member of the PIAA, Moore was a champion on a still bigger stage, winning the Eastern States 100-yard dash as a senior.  Indoors, he equaled the state record for 60 yards with a hand-timed 6.2, and also became the outright record holder with automatic timing when he won the Philadelphia Track Classic scholastic title at 6.40.  An outstanding relay runner, he ran on a winning Penn Relays championship 4x100-meter team in 1976 which set a state record, and also ran on state record indoor relays for 880 and one mile.

 

Nicole Leach – West Catholic (Philadelphia, 2005).  The holder of state records for the 400-meter hurdles and indoor 200 and 400, Leach was a first team All-American in the long hurdles following her junior year of 2004.  She won National Junior 400 hurdles championships in ’04 and ’05, and a national scholastic title as a sophomore in ’03.  Her best mark of 57.25 placed her seventh on the all-time U.S. high school list and remains the state record six years later.  Indoors, her state records of 23.91 for 200 meters and 52.19 for the 400 placed her 15th and second on the national all-time lists and still remain as Pennsylvania bests.  In both her junior and senior years she won 200/400 doubles at the state indoor championships, with her 53.82 still on the books as the meet record.

 

Netta Young – Norristown (1977).  The first triple winner in PIAA girls’ history, Young won the 100 yards, 220 and 440 as a junior in 1976, at a time when three events was the maximum allowed.  She set meet records in the two longer events, breaking her 440 record in the state meet heats in 1977.  An injury at the meet that year caused her to finish second in the 100 and withdraw from the finals of the 220 and 440.  As a sophomore, Young finished 2nd and 3rd in the PIAA 100 and 220.  Running in the national AAU Junior Championships in 1976, she set a pair of state records in both the 100 meters and in the 200 with automatic timing.  Her best times of 11.78 and 24.05 placed her 10th and seventh on the national high school list for 1976 and remained as Pennsylvania state records until 1979.

Herb Douglas – Taylor Allderdice (Pittsburgh, 1940).  The first Western Pennsylvanian to win a PIAA triple, Douglas won the class A 100, 220 and Broad Jump in his senior year of 1940 as he led all scorers in the state meet.  The year before, he won the Broad Jump and finished third in the 100, and in each of his four state championships his marks were better than those of the class B winners.  In both years he won the Pittsburgh city championships in the 100, 200 and broad jump.  His best mark in the broad jump was 22-9 ½, which lasted as a Pittsburgh City Championships meet record for more than 30 years.  His high school performances created the first stepping stone of a career that led to the broad jump bronze medal in the London Olympic Games of 1948. 

Eddie Morgan – Overbrook (Philadelphia, 1938), Mercersburg Academy (1939).  One of the great Pennsylvania distance runners of the first half of the 20th century, Morgan was undefeated in Delaware Valley races for three years.  At his best in the mile, he ran 4:24.1 during his senior year of 1938, good for second on the national list for the year and fourth on the Pennsylvania all-time list at that time.  That year he anchored Overbrook to Penn Relays Championships in the 2-mile and distance medley relays.  Indoors, he set state records in the 1000-yard run and the mile.  His 2:18.8 in the 1000 was the second fastest ever run by an American high schooler and lasted as the state record until 1962, while his mile record of 4:30.4 stood until 1958.  As a cross country runner he twice finished among the first seven in the national interscholastic race. 

Cippy Paulsen – The Hill School (Pottstown, 1923).  A tremendous all-arounder, Clarence “Cippy” Paulsen was at his best in the hurdles, as he was the first-team interscholastic All-American in the 120-yard highs and 220 lows in his senior year of 1923.  He set state records in both events, his 15 3/5 in the highs lasting until 1935, and his 24.4 in the lows remaining to 1936.  As a senior he dominated the state lists for the year: second in the pole vault (11-3), third in the shot put (46-2), fourth in the discus throw, and third in the hammer throw.  Indoors, Paulsen won the National Interscholastic championship in the 70-yard high hurdles in 1923, setting a national record of 9 1/5, which lasted until the event was retired some ten years later in favor of the 60-yard hurdles. 

Marilouise Mazzante - Coach, Williamsport (1977-1999).  In a coaching career that spanned 24 years, Mazzante coached girls track from 1977 through 1996 and both girls and boys cross country from 1984 through 1999.  During that period, Williamsport won four PIAA 3A team championships, and dominated  District 4.  Her girls track teams won the state title in 1986, keyed by the efforts of Hall of Fame inductee Leaha Walker, and finished second another three times in the five-year span of 1985-89.  Over the course of 18 years, Williamsport finished in the top 10 eleven times.  In cross country, Williamsport was even better, with three team titles and another two runner-up finishes in the six-year span of 1986-91.  In the eleven years from 1985 through 1995, Mazzante’s teams never finished out of the top 10, and only once out of the top 5. 

Herman Mancini – Contributor. Perhaps the most famous clerk in track and field history, Mancini began his track career as the track manager for West Catholic High School.  He graduated in 1930, when the team captain was quarter miler Jumbo Elliott.  Working as a clerk beginning in the late 1930s, Mancini became a fixture at meets in the Philadelphia area, including the local scholastic meets, Eastern and national collegiate championships, and numerous national AAU and international meets.  Years later, upon his professional retirement, he clerked at various meets in Florida.  His tenure at the Penn Relays lasted some 60 years through 2005, when he worked at the age of 93.  By the time he finished clerking after nearly 70 years, he probably had checked in more athletes than any clerk in world history, and was undoubtedly the nation’s most recognized official

Pennsylvania High School Track & Field Hall of Fame – Class of 2010:

 

Earl Brown –  Middletown (1974).  The first Pennsylvania sprinter to record multiple 9.6 times for the 100-yard dash, Brown equaled the state record for the 100y three times in his junior and senior years.  In his day, when freshmen were not allowed to compete on the varsity, Brown won three consecutive PIAA class B (now 2A) sprint doubles, and added a spectacular come-from-behind win in the 880-yard relay in his senior year, anchoring his team with a 19.9 carry.  In his senior year of 1974, he was the leading point scorer in the Class B state meet.  As a sophomore in 1972, both of Brown’s state victories were run in faster time than that of the Class A champion.  Brown set Class B meet records in the 100y in ’72 and ’74, and in the 220y in each of his three years.  His PIAA 100y best of 9.6 was retired as the meet record when the PIAA went metric in 1979.

 

Andy Rademacher – Hickory (Hermitage, 2004).  The outstanding male vaulter of his decade, Rademacher improved the state indoor record five times, all in his senior year.  First tieing the old record of 16-0, he went on a tear that year that included a win at the Nike Indoor Classic and a successful defense of his PTFCA indoor state championship. The Nike win included a clearance of 16-8, which remains as the current state record.  Outdoors, Rademacher won the PIAA 3A title his junior year and finished 2nd as a senior.  His best outdoor clearance was a summer meet vault of 16-4 ½ following his junior year, which placed him number 2 on the all-time state list.  He was named to the Track & Field News 5th team All-America in his senior year. In each of his sophomore, junior and senior years, he topped the Pennsylvania state list in the vault both indoors and outdoors.

 

Marla Puryear – Thomas Jefferson (Jefferson Hills, 1989).   Pennsylvania’s outstanding short sprinter during her four varsity years, Puryear led the state list in both the outdoor 100 meters and the indoor 55 meters each of those years.  At her best when it matter most, she won PIAA 3A outdoor sprint doubles in the 100m and 200m in her freshman, junior and senior years, missing out only in her sophomore year when she was injured at the time of the state meet.  At the District 7 meet she won sprint doubles four years in a row.  Puryear also won the short sprint title at the PTFCA state indoor championships in each of her last three years of high school, establishing a meet record of 7.01 for the 60-yard dash as a sophomore in 1987.  At the time, the 7.01 represented the fastest automatic time ever recorded by a Pennsylvanian.

 

Adrienne Ashton – Central Bucks East (Buckingham, 1991).  An outstanding competitor, Ashton won the PIAA outdoor 3A title in the 400 meters each of her four years, and added a fifth championship in the 200 meters in her junior year.  Each of her five PIAA wins was recorded in faster time than that of the 2A champion.  Ashton dominated District 1, winning 200/400 doubles all four years.  Following her high school junior season, she finished 3rd at the TAC national junior championships, running her best time ever of 54.14.  That year, she was named to the Track & Field News All America 3rd team.  Indoors, her specialty was the 300-yard dash, which she won three times at the PTFCA state indoor championships.  Her best time of 35.62, set while winning the 1990 state title, placed her number 2 on the all-time Pennsylvania list.

 

Kim Spriggs – McConnellsburg (1985).  An accomplished hurdler and jumper, Spriggs was a five-time PIAA outdoor state 2A champion, with three of the wins better than or equal to the mark of the 3A champion.  Despite her titles, she is best remembered for a race in which she was disqualified.  Running in the 300-meter hurdles her junior year, Spriggs ran much of the finishing straight out of her lane, but without impeding a competitor or gaining an advantage.  Her time of 42.0 would have been a state record and would have placed her equal 6th on the all-time national list.  As it was, she set a Pennsylvania state record the next year when she won the event in 43.13.  In the 100-meter hurdles, Spriggs twice won state 2A championships, and set a PIAA meet record in each of three years.

 

Ernie Ramsdell – Germantown Academy (Philadelphia, 1890).  A pioneer in the truest sense, Ramsdell was the dominant force in the first four years of the Philadelphia Inter-Ac league, the oldest interscholastic league in Pennsylvania.  In those early days, he held state records in the 100-yard dash, the 220, 440, 120-yard hurdles and broad jump.  More than just a pioneer, Ramsdell was at his best in the broad jump.  In his senior year, he won the Middle Atlantic Interscholastics and the New York Metropolitan AAU, then finished 2nd in the National Senior AAU in October following his senior year.  It was a season that saw him ranked number 2 in the world.  His best jump was 22-6, which existed for 12 years as both the national high school record and the state record.  His other state records lasted nine years for the hurdles, eight years for the 100, and seven years for the 220.

 

Janet Dicks – Lemoyne (1951).  While there had been nationally prominent Pennsylvania high school girls in the sprints and jumps, Dicks was the first thrower to distinguish herself nationally.  In the summer following her senior year of high school, Dicks won the shot put and discus throw at the AAU national junior championships, and finished 2nd in the javelin.  The next day, she finished 2nd in the AAU senior shot and 3rd in the discus.  Her best marks from these two meets set Pennsylvania records which lasted three years in the javelin (until Hall of Fame inductee Karen Anderson broke it), 20 years in the shot put, and 22 years in the discus throw.  To top things off, her shot and discus bests set national high school records, each breaking marks set by 1936 Olympic sprint champion and national Hall of Fame inductee Helen Stephens.

 

Bob Shoudt – Contributor. A co-founder of the Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association, sponsors of the state indoor championship meet, Shoudt served as the first president of the PTFCA and as meet director for the state indoor champs.  A head coach at six different schools in District 1, Shoudt will be remembered best for his direction of the Norristown High School teams in the 1970s.  While there, his teams won PIAA outdoor state team championships in 1973, ’75 and ’76, as well as the inaugural PTFCA indoor state championship in 1975.  Among the great athletes he coached were Springfield/MontCo 800-meter runner Mark Korich, Chichester sprinter Billy “White Shoes” Johnson, and Pennsylvania High School Hall of Fame inductees Tony Darden and Ron Livers from Norristown.

 

Ted Miller - Coach, North East (1963-1996).  As coach of the boys’ track and boys’ and girls’ cross country teams, Miller directed the outstanding boys’ class B track team of the 1960s, and the dominant girls’ cross country team of the 1980s.  His boys’ track team won state championships in each of his first two years as head coach, and finished among the top three teams five times in his first eight years, through 1970.  His girls’ cross country squad won four PIAA state titles from 1982 through ’89, and, in a thirteen-year run, finished in the top three nine times.  His boys’ cross country team also won a state title in 1971, and twice more finished among the first three teams.  In 36 years as a head coach, Miller’s teams accounted for a total of seven PIAA class B and 2A team championships.

 

Pennsylvania High School Track & Field Hall of Fame – Class of 2009:

 

Mark White –  Upper St. Clair (1985).  A three-time PIAA 3A champion in the throwing events, White set a state record of 193-7 in the discus throw as a senior in 1985 while winning the District 7 title.  One week later he broke a 20-year-old PIAA state meet record with his winning throw of 184-7, a record which lasted another 20 years until 2005. White’s 193-7 mark placed him seventh on the national high school list for the year.  His shot put best of 60-5 ¼ was achieved while winning the 1985 PIAA championship, and placed him third on the state list for the year and 20th all-time.  By the time White graduated, a span that covered 59 PIAA state meets, only Hall of Fame inductee Charles Blockson had won more than the three PIAA 3A/A throwing event championships White achieved.

 

Carl Namons – Benjamin Franklin (Philadelphia, 1977).  A state record-setting hurdler both indoors and out, Namons was a second team All-American in the 110-meter hurdles as a senior in 1977.  During his senior year indoor season, he twice tied the state record in the 60-yard hurdles at 7.3 while winning the Philadelphia Track Carnival and the Philadelphia Indoor Meet of Champions.  Outdoors, he tied the state best for the 120-yard hurdles with his 13.7 win at the Philadelphia Public League.  He followed that with a pair of 13.6 wins, over 110 meters in the Philadelphia Outdoor Meet of Champions and over 120 yards at the Atlanta Classic.  In the same three meets he also won the triple jump, reaching a best of 46-10 in Atlanta.  Namons also claimed a share of the indoor state record for the mile relay, running lead-off on a 3:20.2 team.

 

Tiffany Abney – Merion Mercy Academy (Merion Station, 2003).   An outstanding hurdler and long sprinter, Abney won PIAA Class 3A state championships four times each in the 300-meter hurdles and 400-meter  dash, twice in the 200, and three times as anchor on her team’s 4x400-meter relay.  A first team All-American in the hurdles as a junior in 2002, Abney set the last of her three state records in the 400 hurdles that year at 58.11.  Her best mark in the 300 hurdles was 42.01, which placed her third on the state all-time list, while her best 400 or 53.14 sufficed for fourth all-time.  Indoors, Abney ran 54.16 in the 400 in 2002, good for second on the state all-time list.  That year, she also won the PTFCA indoor 400 championship, and was the third-fastest indoor 400-meter runner in the country.

 

Juanita Broaddus – William Penn (Philadelphia, 2003).  A talented three-event sprinter and relay performer, Broaddus set several state records both indoors and out and was selected a fifth-team All-American in the 100 as a junior in 2002.  She equaled the state best for the 100-meters at low altitude, running 11.63 as a sophomore.  Indoors, she set a state record of 24.02 for the 200 meters and twice broke the 300-meter record, eventually moving the mark down to 38.44 in her senior year.  A Philadelphia Public Leaguer before the league joined the PIAA, Broaddus held claim to the state’s fastest mark of the year in the 100 meters in each of her last three years, and in the 200 as a sophomore, when her 23.69 made her the fourth-fastest Pennsylvania high schooler of all time.

 

Renee Harbaugh – Archbishop Prendergast (Drexel Hill, 1984).  A high school cross country All-American as a senior, Harbaugh was a distance runner with great range.  She finished 8th in the Kinney National Cross Country meet in 1983, then set a national high school record indoors when she ran 2:49.88 for 1000 meters.  Indoors she had bests of 2:15.6 for the 800, 2:34.8 for 1000 yards, 4:43.10 in the 1500, and 4:58.0 for the mile.  All of these marks placed her in the top five on the Pennsylvania all-time lists, and she was the state leader in her junior and senior years in the 800, 1000 yards and Mile.  Outdoors, Harbaugh won three Philadelphia Catholic League 800/Mile doubles, and had bests of 2:11.9 in the 800, 4:30.0 for the 1500 and 4:54.7 for the mile.  Her 1500 best, set while finishing second in the Penn Relays, placed her fourth on the all-time state list.

 

Everett Smalley – Central (Philadelphia, 1916).  The AAU first team All-American in the Broad Jump for 1916, Smalley was also an accomplished hurdler as he tied the existing state records in both the 120-yard 42-inch high hurdles at 15 4/5 and the 220-yard 30-inch low hurdles at 25-flat.  His best confirmed broad jump of 22-9 was good enough to place him third on the all-time Pennsylvania list at the time.  As a hurdler, Smalley topped the state list in both the highs and the lows for his sophomore, junior and senior years, and in the broad jump he was the state leader both as a junior and as a senior.  He was the national leader in the highs as a junior, and in the lows in both his sophomore and junior years.  He won Philadelphia Public League triples in the two hurdles and broad jump in both his junior and senior years.

 

Roy Mercer – George School (Newtown, 1909).  A great all-around athlete, Mercer was among the nation’s best in the 440 and Broad Jump, but shone mostly in the pole vault as the national record holder at 12-0 ½ outdoors in 1908 and 12-1 1/8 indoors in 1909, the first scholastic vaulter to clear 12 feet.  His indoor record was less than two inches short of the world indoor record at the time.  As a  broad jumper, his best performance of 21-9 made him the nation’s fourth-farthest scholastic jumper in 1908.  The same year he also ran 50 4/5, making him the country’s leading scholastic quarter miler for the year.  Following his junior year Mercer was selected as an alternate for the 1908 U.S. Olympic team, but did not travel with the squad to London, an honor accorded only a handful of Hall of Fame inductees.

 

Bob Raemore – Williamsport (1958).  Only the second three-sprint winner in the history of the PIAA boys’ championships, Raemore accomplished that feat as a senior in 1958, with marks of 9.9, 21.4 and 48.5 in the 100, 220 and 440 that were the best in the state for the year.  The 48.5 was a state record that lasted two years.  As a junior, he won a PIAA sprint double in the 100 and 220, and also finished third in the 440.   In each of his five wins Raemore’s marks were superior to those in Class B, and he was the leading point scorer at the state meet in both years.  As a sophomore in 1956 he finished third in the 220, and ran third leg on the meet record-setting mile relay, which ran 3:24.2.  Included among the other three athletes who have won PIAA Class 3A/A sprint triples are Hall of Fame inductees Tony Darden (1976) and Clinton Davis (1982, ’83).

 

Ann Infield – Contributor, State College High School.  The first prominent female high school coach, Infield served as an inspiration to those women who followed in her footsteps.  She coached the State College track team from 1972 through 1978, during which time her teams went undefeated in dual meets and invitationals.  Her last team won the PIAA outdoor championship, following a second-place finish the year before.  Her cross country teams twice finished second at the PIAA states.  Foremost among her athletes was Hall of Fame inductee Martha White, who set a National Federation 2-Mile record in 1978.  After leaving coaching in 1978, Infield became the Director of Athletics for State College’s girls programs, and turned to officiating at track meets, working at the PIAA state champs through the mid-1980s. 

 

Jack Armstrong - Coach, Abington (1963-1970, 1980), Kennett Consolidated (1957-1962), Avon Grove (1949-1954).  Beginning his coaching career at Avon Grove, Armstrong led the small school to the PIAA Class B state title in 1954, before moving on to Kennett Consolidated where he discovered and polished Don Webster into one of the state’s greatest quarter milers ever and a Hall of Fame inductee.  In Webster’s senior year of 1961, the Kennett team finished 4th in the PIAA state meet.  Armstrong began coaching the Abington track team in 1963 and led the squad to a 4th-place PIAA finish.  He followed that with PIAA team titles in each of the next two years, and earned another pair of team titles in 1969 and 1970, thus leading the team to four team championships in a seven-year span.

 

Hall of Fame Induction 2008:

 

Mike White – John Bartram (Philadelphia, 1977).  A record breaker of both the indoor and outdoor state high jump records, White tied or broke those records more often than any jumper in Pennsylvania history.  In his senior year of 1977, he raised the state record first to 6-9, then to 6-10, and finally to 6-11, adding three inches to the record that had stood before he came along.  Outdoors, White tied the record twice, the first at 6-10 ¾ and then at 7-0.  The latter jump came en route to his Penn Relays winning jump of 7-1, a state record that lasted two-and-a-half months until he cleared 7-2 in a summer meet, making him the equal third highest jumper in U.S. high school history.

 

George Holmes – Coatesville Area (1974).  One of the few people ever to win three individual events in a single PIAA Class A or 3A title meet, Holmes won the 100y, 220y and 120y Hurdles as a senior in 1974, leading his team to the state championship.  Holmes was at his best as a hurdler, in which he equaled the state records outdoors at 13.7 in 1974, and indoors over 60 yards with a 7.3 in ‘73.  As a senior, he was the runner-up in the Golden West 110m Hurdles, and was selected the Outstanding Running Event Performer of the 1974 Penn Relays after winning the 120y Hurdles and running third leg on the winning Championship of America Mile Relay.

 

Chris Aikens – Muhlenberg (Laurel, 1993).   An outstanding hurdler and jumper, Aikens swept six state championships in his senior year of 1993, winning the short hurdles, long jump and triple jump at both the PIAA 3A outdoor championships and the PTFCA indoor championships.  At the PIAA meet that year, he was the individual high scorer.  A state record setter in the indoor triple jump, his best of 49-7 ½ remains the state record 15 years later.  During his senior year, he was Golden West champion in the 110m Hurdles and was selected to the Track & Field News All-America second team in the event. 

 

Mike Spangler – South Western (Hanover, 1984).  A three-sprint winner in the 1984 PIAA 2A, Spangler was at his best in the 400m.  His winning effort of 46.36 that year made him the third-fastest Pennsylvania of all-time and the 21st fastest of all time among U.S. high schoolers.  That mark exists to this day as the 2A meet record, and his semi-final time of 21.12 in the 200m that day also was a 2A meet record.  His South Western team also finished 2nd in the 4x400m Relay with Spangler anchoring, giving him 32 points to lead all individual scorers at  the PIAA 2A meet that year.  Spangler later made the U.S. national junior team which won the Pan-American Junior Games 4x400m.

 

Sheena Gordon – McDowell (Erie, 2002).  An eight-time PIAA 3A champion in the jumps, Gordon set state records in the high jump at 6-0 ½ and the triple jump, her last being 42-10 ¼.  She also set state records in the same events indoors, reaching 6-0 and 41-6.  In 2001 and 2002, she won all three jumps at both the PIAA outdoor champs and the PTFCA indoor champs.  An accomplished hurdler, she also won the PTFCA indoor title in 2001, and was a three-time runner-up outdoors.  At the national level, Gordon twice won both the high jump and triple jump at the Nike Indoor Classic, and in 2001 won both the Golden West and National Scholastic Outdoor titles in the triple jumjp.

 

Lois Brommer – Mechanicsburg (1982).  One of Pennsylvania’s most talented female distance runners ever, Brommer appeared on the scene at a time when women’s distance running in the state was at what remains its peak.  Depite winning only one PIAA 3A state championship, the 3200m in 1981 as a junior, Brommer was the second-fastest Pennsylvanian ever at 1600m and 3200m by the end of her junior year.  As a senior, she recorded her second straight runner-up finish in the PIAA 3A cross country, then won the Kinney Regional meet and finished 2nd in the Kinney Nationals.  Indoors that year, she ran 10:26.9 for 3200m, a time that remains a state best more than 25 years later.

 

Bob Bredin – Upper Darby (1943).  Twice a winner of the PIAA class A high jump, Bredin went undefeated in high school competition during his junior and senior years.  During his senior year, he equaled the state record of 6-3 ½, then bettered it twice at the AAU national junior championships, ultimately reaching 6-5 to tie for first.  The next day, he jumped 6-4 to tie for 4th in the AAU national senior championships, becoming one of the few Pennsylvanians ever to score in the senior nationals while still in high school.  He was selected the first team All-American in the high jump that year.  His all-time best of 6-5 tied him for 21st on the all-time U.S. high school list at that time.

 

Ben Johnson – Plymouth (1933).  A three-event winner in the PIAA championships while a junior in 1932, Johnson was denied the opportunity for more state titles in his senior year when the Great Depression forced the cancellation of the state meet in 1933 and 1934.  At the 1932 state meet, he set meet records in both dashes, with his 100y time of 9.8 lasting until 1935, and his 220y time of 21.4 lasting until 1951.  The latter mark was also the all-time state record, also lasting until 1951.  Following an undefeated high school season in 1932, Johnson finished 2nd in the Middle Atlantic AAU 200 and 3rd in the Eastern Olympic Trials 200, qualifying him for the Final Olympic Trials.

 

Kevin McGarry – Archbishop Wood (Warminster, 1973).  McGarry set state records for the 2 Mile three times during his senior year, dropping the former record by more than six seconds.  He started his senior outdoor season with a 9:06.0, then followed that with a 9:05.8 in early June.  His final mark of 9:02.6 lasted as the state record for 10 years, and was set at the Golden West Invitational in June, two weeks before he turned 18.  His 4:10.6 the same year placed him equal third on the all-time Pennsylvania mile list, while his indoor mile of 4:21.1 that year also placed him third all-time among Pennsylvanians.

 

Dick Hazard – Springfield (DelCo), 1948; William Penn Charter (Philadelphia, 1949).  A three-way threat as a broad jumper, javelin thrower and sprinter, Hazard set a state record in the broad jump of 23-11 ¼, which lasted 21 years.  He won the PIAA state class B title in the broad jump in each of his last three years, and added the javelin title in his senior year of 1948.  To top off his 1948 state meet performance, Hazard finished 2nd in the 100y.  His javelin best of 195-2 that year put him fourth on the all-time Pennsylvania list.  On a national level in 1948, his long jump was the farthest in the country that year, and his javelin put him third on the national list.

 

John Marzucco - Contributor.  A main of varied accomplishment, Marzucco became best known as the founder of AAE, a leading track and field equipment manufacturer.  But his positions in the track world also included more than a quarter century of coaching, first at Cheltenham and later at Lower Merion, where his teams won state championships in 1957 and 1966.  His most prominent athlete was nation record holder George Hearn, a Hall of Fame inductee.  While coaching, Marzucco served in various administrative capacities, and was one of the co-founders of the Coaches Association of Greater Philadelphia.  Upon retirement, Marzucco became an official for more than 20 years.

 

Pete Lewis - Coach, Altoona (1928-1930), Norristown (1931-1967).  In a coaching career that spanned 40 years, Lewis was one of the giants in his profession.  Over a 15 year period from 1947 through 1961, his teams won four state championships.  In that same period he developed a number of great athletes, including Hall of Fame inductee Charles Blockson in the shot and discus, javelin world record holder Al Cantello, and Olympic 400m hurdles bronze medalist Josh Culbreath.  Lewis also served as the District I representative on the PIAA Track and Field Steering Committee for twelve years until his retirement in 1967, and was the longtime Director of Athletics at Norristown.

 

Hall of Fame Induction 2007

 

Dan Coval – Council Rock (Newtown, 2000).  Coval is the only person to win the PIAA 3200-meter title four times.  Coupled with his pair of cross country wins, his six PIAA championships puts him in extremely rare company, particularly among distance runners.  Among Coval’s other accomplishments are a pair of PTFCA indoor state 3000-meter titles, a pair of runner-up finishes in the Penn Relays high school 3000-meter run, and a win in the Eastern Regional cross county championship as a senior in 1999.  His Eastern Regional win sent him to the National cross country championship, where he finished 7th as a senior in 1999.

 

Mark Fowler – Penn Wood (Lansdowne, 1984).  A two-time setter of the state record at 800 meters, Fowler was one of a long line of great Pennsylvania half milers.  His first state record came while winning the PIAA 3A 800m championship during his senior year with a time of 1:50.31, a meet record which still stands.  This lasted as a state record only three weeks, until he won the International Prep Invitational and became the first Pennsylvania high schooler to break 1:50 with his 1:49.24.  That time put him among the 25-fastest U.S. high schoolers ever.  Fowler finished the year undefeated at 800 meters, and was selected a Second Team All-America.

 

Qadry Ismail – Elmer L. Meyers (Wilkes-Barre, 1988).   A two-time hurdles double winner in the PIAA 2A state championships, Ismail finished high school as the third-fastest 110-meter hurdler in state history.  His best automatic time of 13.71 was run while winning the Golden West Invitational his senior year, and that win clinched his First Team All-America status for the year.  His 1988 PIAA 110m hurdles winning time of 14.04 remains the 2A state meet record almost 20 years later, while his 300m hurdles state winning time of 37.56 lasted as the meet record for four years.  Together with twin brother Raghib, Qadry ran on Meyers High’s state meet record 4x100-meter relay as a senior.

 

Tonja Stevens – Peabody (Pittsburgh, 1985, ‘83), Blackhawk (Beaver Falls 1984, ’82).  One of the state’s great female sprinters, Stevens won three individual PIAA 3A championships, and fared well on the national level.  By the time she graduated from Peabody High, Stevens ranked as the second-fastest 100 meter sprinter in state history at 11.66, and held the state best of 23.59 for 200 meters, a record which lasted for ten years.  Her 11.66 was accomplished as a senior while winning the PIAA title with a meet record that still stands.  On the same day, she set a meet record of 23.83 for the 200, which lasted 17 years.

 

Lauryn Williams – Rochester Area (2001).  A six-time PIAA 2A sprint champion, Williams ran bests of 11.65 for 100 meters and 23.85 for 200 meters.  She set still-standing PIAA meet records of 11.78 and 23.85, both in 2001.  By the time she had finished high school, Williams was among the fastest five sprinters in Pennsylvania history in each event.  A second-place finisher in the National Scholastic Outdoor meet as a senior in 2001, Williams was a three time runner-up in the 60-meter dash at national indoor meets.  In the indoor 60 meters, she twice set Pennsylvania state records, at 7.48 in 1999, and a still-standing 7.38 in 2001.

 

Cassie Richards – Winchester-Thurston (Pittsburgh, 2001).  Richards was a three-time PIAA 2A long jump winner, and twice won the state 100-meter hurdles title.  In the hurdles, her state meet record of 14.37, set in 2000, still stands.  In the second of her three years winning the state long jump title, Richards set a still-standing meet record of 19-10 ¾ in 2000.  In the same year, she also won the Golden West Invitational with an all-time state record of 20-6 ¾, which still stands.  That season, her junior year of 2000, she was selected the first-team All-America in the long jump.  Richards also won the PTFCA indoor state championship as a sophomore in 1999.

 

Dick Belyea – Upper Darby (1938).  A two-time winner of the PIAA class A 880-yard run, Belyea set state meet records each time.  As a junior in 1937, he ran 1:58.8 at the state meet, and his 1:57.4 in the District 1 meet was the fastest half mile in the country that year, a year in which he was selected the first-team All-America.  He improved his senior year, his 1:57.0 in the state meet breaking his own meet record and setting a standard which would not be broken for 21 years.  By the time he left high school, he was the 15th-fastest high school half miler in history, and only Hall of Fame inductees Ted Meredith and John Woodruff (both Olympic gold medalists at 800m) were faster among Pennsylvanians.

 

Bill Carr – Mercersburg Academy (1929).  A two-time first-team All-America in the broad jump, Carr went undefeated against high school and prep school competition for two years in the event.  Three times he set state records in the broad jump, his first a 23-4 to win the Princeton Interscholastics as a junior in 1928, with the next two coming with his winning performances at the University of Pennsylvania Interscholastics, 23-4 5/8 in 1928, and 23-5 5/8 in 1929.  At the time, the Penn meet was one of the two most important national meets, and Carr also took a 1st and 2nd in the 100-yard dash in those meets.  He finished high school as the country’s 7th-farthest broad jumper in history.

 

Sabin Carr – The Hill School (Pottstown, 1924).  Carr holds the distinction of having been a first-team All-America in his second best event, the javelin in 1923, but not in his best event, the pole vault.  As a junior, Carr set a state record in the javelin with a throw of 173-1, making him the 9th-farthest thrower in U.S. high school history.  But in 1928 he blossomed in the vault, setting three state records and eventually clearing 12-9 to win the Eastern Olympic Trials and become the third-highest high school vaulter in U.S. history.  Oddly, he was only the second-best high school vaulter that year, as high school record setter Lee Barnes from California wound up winning the Olympic gold medal.

 

Jeanette Jones – William Penn (Harrisburg, 1942).  A four-time top-3 finisher in the national AAU 50-meter dash championship, Jones won the national senior women’s championship as a high school senior in 1942.  She was a three-time Middle Atlantic AAU senior women’s champion in the indoor 50-yard dash, and also won the 220y in 1942.  In 1940, Jones set a national indoor record for the 50-yard dash, running 6.1 on boards.  Her mark lasted as the best by a Pennsylvania high schooler for 29 years, until 1969.  A good bet to make the U.S. Olympic relay team as a high school sophomore in 1940, Jones was denied that chance by the cancellation of the Games because of World War II.

 

Floyd Garis - Coach, Wissahickon (Ambler, 1963-1986), Lansdowne-Aldan (1961-1962), Darby (1957-1960).  In thirty years as a head coach, Garis consistently produced well-balanced teams that were among the strongest in District 1.  At the state level, his Wissahickon teams won three PIAA championships:  the Class B title in 1968, and Class A or 3A titles in 1972 and 1982.  On eight occasions his teams finished in the top four at states.  In 1982, his team won the PIAA 3A outdoor and PTFCA indoor titles, as well as the Penn Relays championship distance medley, anchored by Hall of Famer Ken Lowry.  Garis coached two state individual event record holders, Lowry and pole vaulter Tom Blair.

 

Rich Ames - Contributor.  For more than 30 years Mr. Ames served as head coach for Upper Dublin’s boys’ indoor and outdoor track teams, and for cross country.  But it is for his service to the broader community that he is better known: as PTFCA treasurer since 1978 and as Website manager for more than ten years; as a member of the Hall of Fame Committee since its inception in 1996; as TFCAGP Division II Meet Director for 25 years; as Mid-East Cross Country Championships Coordinator for more than 20 years; as PIAA District 1 Chief Photo-Timer for more than 20 years; and only recently as District I Cross Country chair, and as Penn Relays Secondary Schools Boy’s Coordinator.

 

Hall of Fame Induction 2006

 

Chris Dugan – Southmoreland (Alverton, 19897).  One of Pennsylvania’s premier male distance runners, Dugan set still-standing state records for the indoor 3000m and 2-mile runs.  His 2-mile record of 9:03.97 came while finishing 2nd in the National Scholastic championship meet during his senior year of 1997, and his 3000m record of 8:30.4 was set en route in the same race.  A three-time PIAA 2A cross country champion, he finished 6th in the National cross country champs in 1996.  Dugan was also a two-time PIAA outdoor champion at 3200 meters, and his 9:04.09 winning mark in 1997 remains the PIAA 2A meet record.

 

Paul Jordan – Overbrook (Philadelphia, 1974).  Jordan, one of the state’s great jumpers, was a contemporary of Hall of Fame inductee Ron Livers.  As a junior in 1973, Jordan became the first Pennsylvanian to reach 50 feet in the triple jump, hitting that mark exactly for a state record which lasted one week until Livers broke it.  Later that year, Jordan reached 51-1, a mark which made him the 7th-farthest high school triple jumper in U.S. history, yet only 2nd on the all-time Pennsylvania list.  Jordan also finished his career as the 4th-farthest long jumper in Pennsylvania history with a 24-0 1/2 best, and also had the state record for the indoor 300 meters at 31.6.

 

Hyleas Fountain – Central Dauphin East (Harrisburg, 2000).   An outstanding high jumper, Fountain won a pair of PIAA 3A outdoor titles and three PTFCA indoor championships.  Fountain also won a pair of Nike Indoor Classic titles, and was the USATF national junior champion as a senior in 2000. During her career she cleared 6-0 three times, the first time to win the PTFCA championship her junior year and set a still-standing state indoor record.  She also cleared 6-0 twice outdoors, to equal the state outdoor record on each occasion.  An outstanding all-around athlete, Fountain also scored at the PIAA meet in the 100, 200 and 100m hurdles.

 

Jen Crouch – Knoch (Saxonburg, 1989).  The Track & Field News first team All-American as a senior in 1989, Crouch became the third-farthest javelin thrower in state history with her 165-9 win at the District 7 meet.  It was the fourth time Crouch claimed her district‘s 3A title, and she went on that year to claim her third straight PIAA 3A championship.  An accomplished all-around thrower, Crouch also was a three-time PIAA scorer in the shot put, as well as scoring in the discus during her senior year.  She topped the state shot put list as a senior, her 43-7 making her the 8th-farthest putter in state history at the time.

 

Jen Pastore – Selinsgrove (1994).  A two-time Track & Field News first team All-American in the javelin throw, Pastore won PIAA 3A titles those two years, both times throwing farther than the 2A champion.  Her best throw, 167-4, came during her junior year in 1993, and placed her second on the Pennsylvania all-time list.  She was also the runner-up at the National Scholastic outdoor meet her junior year.  An able three-event thrower, Pastore was runner-up in the PIAA shot put as a junior, and finished third in both the shot put and discus throw as a senior.

 

Al Robinson – Mercersburg Academy (1913).  The AAU first-team high school All-American for the 220-yard dash in 1913, Robinson set state records in the 100 and 220 which would last better than a decade.  The first Pennsylvanian to run 9.6y for 100 yards, Robinson set a state record which was not tied until 1937, and not broken until 1975.  Robinson went undefeated against high school and prep school sprinters in 1913.  Long-time Mercersburg coach Jimmy Curran called Robinson the best sprinter he ever coached, despite having also coached future Olympic sprint champions Allan Woodring and Bill Carr, who won gold in the 1920 200 meters and 1932 400 meters, respectively.

 

Nick Vukmanic – Jefferson-Morgan (1936).  A one-year great in 1936, Vukmanic picked up the javelin as a senior and quickly became one of the country’s best of all time.  Three times he increased the Pennsylvania state record, the last time becoming the first Pennsylvanian to reach 200 feet.  His throw of 206-10 to win the PIAA state title made him the third-farthest throwing javelinist in U.S. history, and was not bettered as a state record until 1957 when Hall of Famer Jan Sikorsky broke his mark.  Vukmanic’s mark lasted as a PIAA meet record for an additional four years, until 1961.

 

Jerry Brooks - Contributor.  The PIAA Championships Track Referee for more than thirty years now, Brooks has a long history of service within the PIAA stretching back to 1963 when he first served on the Track Steering Committee. A past President of the PIAA for five years, he also served on the Board of Control for another 11 years.  Before turning to administration, Brooks was the very successful coach at McCaskey High School in Lancaster.  His 1960 track squad won the unofficial PIAA state championship that year, and his cross country teams finished 2nd in 1961 and 3rd in 1960.

 

Leroy Galloway - Coach, Milton Hershey (1982-present [2006]).  One of the most successful coaches in PIAA history, Galloway’s teams have won 13 PIAA 2A girls team track championships, as well as a pair of boys titles.  Almost untouchable on the girls side, the 13 wins for Milton Hershey have come in a span of just 17 years.  During his tenure, Galloway has coached 46 girls’ individual and relay champions, far more than any other girls’ coach in PIAA history.  He has been honored as the PTFCA Girls Coach of the Year for 1989 and 2005, and the Boys Coach of the Year for 1990.

 

Hall of Fame Induction 2005

Charles James - Harry S Truman (Levittown, 1983).  Pennsylvania's premier male hurdler of the 1980's, James set the still-standing PIAA meet record in the 110-meter hurdles at 13.79, as well as a since-eclipsed 300-meter hurdles record of 37.02.  He won three PIAA 3A hurdles titles, all faster than the winner in Class 2A.  A second team Track & Field News All American in the 110-meter hurdles in 1983, his hand-timed best of 13.3 remains tied as the all-time state record, and his 37.02 was at one time second only to Rod Wilson's record on the all-time Pennsylvania list.  James also won a pair of PTFCA state indoor hurdles championships and had a 60-yard hurdles best of 7.41.

Mike McWilliams - Grove City (1990).  McWilliams achieved his greatest prominence as a cross country runner.  Twice he won PIAA 2A cross country titles, each time running some 38 seconds faster than the 3A winner.  As a senior, he lost only once, when he finished 4th in the Kinney National race.  The year before, McWilliams finished 6th at Nationals.  In his last two years of cross country, he was never beaten by another Pennsylvanian.  On the track, he won a pair of PIAA 2A titles, running faster than the 3A winner in his senior year when he ran a meet record 9:09.6 for 3200 meters.  He was the fastest runner in the state at 3200 meters in both his junior and senior years.

Brooke Freeburg - Fort LeBoeuf (Waterford, 1999).  An outstanding all-around thrower, Freeburg finished in the top two in the PIAA 2A Shot, Discus and Javelin 11 times out of 12 in her four varsity years.  Included in that run were state championships in the 1999 shot, and the '97 and '99 javelin.  She earned selection on the Track & Field News All-American 2nd, 3rd and 4th teams in the javelin during her last three years, and her javelin best of 164-11 put her fifth on the all-time state list.  As a senior, she won the National Scholastic outdoor meet in the javelin.  Her shot and discus bests of 46-11 and 162-8, while not as significant nationally as her javelin marks, put her third on both Pennsylvania all-time lists.

Donna McLain - Eastern (York, 1980).  One of four Pennsylvania Hall of Fame female distance runners of the late 1970s and early '80s (the others being Kim Gallagher, Martha White and Lynne Strauss), McLain won seven PIAA 2A titles, including three each at 1600 and 3200 meters, and one in cross country.  As a senior in 1980, her winning times of 4:52.1 and 10:33.7 both surpassed the winning 3A marks, as well as establishing 2A meet records that still stand 25 years later.  In the summer following her senior year, McLain ran a state record 9:42.34 while finishing 3rd in the TAC National Junior championship 3000 meters.  She also won two National AAU Junior Olympic cross country age-group titles in her junior and senior years.

Tessie Palmer - Carlisle (1988).  Palmer was the first Pennsylvania female triple jumper to surpass 40 feet.  As a senior, she won the PIAA 3A title with a wind-aided 41-7, but a legal back-up mark of 40-10 1/2 earned her a meet record, which also lasted as the state record for 11 years, while her meet record lasted until 2002.  She was named to the Track  & Field News All American first team in the triple jump as a senior in 1988.  A versatile performer, she placed in the top five in the 3A state meet seven times, including three times each in the triple jump and 100-meter hurdles.  In her one PIAA appearance in the high jump, she won the 3A event as a senior.

Charles Blockson - Norristown (1952).  One of the great two-event throwers in Pennsylvania boys' history, Blockson was the first person to ever win five PIAA championships in the throws, winning the shot put twice with meet records, and the discus three times.  All five of his Class A wins were farther than the Class B winner, and to this day Hall of Fame inductee Brian Milne, also with five championships, is the only other thrower with more than three PIAA titles.  He held the state record in the shot at 56-9 1/4 during his junior year, and climbed to second on the state all-time list in the discus as a senior with his 161-10 1/4.  The leading scorer at the PIAA meet in both '51 and '52, Blockson also won the AAU Indoor Interscholastics in '52.


John Haines - Episcopal Academy (Merion, 1952).  The first person to break one of Hall of Famer Ted Meredith's state records, Haines ran 48.6 in 1951, making him the second fastest quarter-miler in the country.  The next year, he missed the state record for 100 yards by one-tenth with his 9.7, set a state record of 21.5 for the 220 on the curve (making him the fastest high school 220 man in the country), and ran a state record 10.6 to finish 6th in the national AAU senior championships 100 meters.  The latter performance qualified him for the final Olympic Trials, and he was named the AAU first-team All American in the 100 for '52.  His state records in the 220 and 440 lasted until Hall of Famer Don Webster broke them in 1960.

 
Ed Brunner - Contributor.  The PIAA Championships Chief Field Judge for all but one year from 1971 through 1990, Brunner brought reason, caring and a deft touch to his activities at the state meet. The long-time meet director for the District 3 championships he also served as PIAA Rules Interpreter and was a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations track and field rules committee.  He was honored as the PTFCA Man of the Year in 1995.  Brunner also served 11 years on the PIAA Board of Control from the mid-1970s through 1990.


Steve Gentry - Coach, State College (1979-1999).  As coach of the State College girls' program, Gentry led his teams to five PIAA 3A cross country championships, one PIAA outdoor track title, and one PTFCA indoor title.  A perennial powerhouse in cross country, his teams went through a stretch of 17 years during which they won their five championships and only twice finished lower than 4th.  His strongest team may have been that of 1980, when all seven runners finished in the top 20 and State College won the second of three successive team championships.  That team was lead by Hall of Famer Lynne Strauss.  An outstanding runner at State College, Gentry won  two PIAA titles in cross country, and was the mile winner in 1965 with a state record.

Hall of Fame Induction 2004

Dawn Sowell – Chester (1983).  An outstanding sprinter, Sowell still holds the state record in the 100-meter dash at 11.49.  Accomplished enough to compete on the open level while still in high school, Sowell’s 100 record came at the U.S. Olympic Festival in 1983, in a race in which Olympic great Evelyn Ashford set a world record.  Sowell ran for Chester High only in her sophomore and junior years, before moving out of state for her senior year.  But in that time, she also set state records in the indoor 300-yard dash.  She won indoor PTFCA state meet doubles at 60 and 300 yards in 1982 and 1983.  Outdoors in ’83, she won PIAA state titles in the 100m, 200m, and 4x400-meter relay as the anchor runner.

 

Heather Colyer – East Juniata (Cocolamus, 1998).  A national indoor record holder in the shot when she reached a best of 52-5 3/4 as a junior in 1997, Colyer is one of the few athletes to be elected to the Hall of Fame in her first year of eligibility. Colyer’s indoor record still stands as the Pennsylvania state indoor best, a status also accorded her outdoor best of 50-11, also set in 1997.  And outstanding discus thrower as well, she is the second-farthest thrower in Pennsylvania history, with a best of 167-7.  She won PIAA 2A titles four times in the discus, including a still-standing meet record of 162-10 in 1997, and was a three-time winner in the shot, including a still-standing meet record of 47-3 1/2 in 1998.  In her senior year, she was named second-team All-American in the shot.

 

Tyrone Smith – Plymouth-Whitemarsh (Plymouth Meeting, 1985).  Now in his 19th year as holder of the Pennsylvania state record in the high jump, Smith has equaled fellow Hall of Fame inductee Walt Mangham as having the longest reign as state record holder in the event. Smith’s outdoor state record came in a summer all-comers meet in 1985, when he cleared 7-2 1/2, bettering the old state record of 7-2, set in 1977.  As a senior in 1985, Smith was undefeated through the regular season, which included meet-record wins at the District 1 and PIAA state meets.  During the indoor season, Smith had set meet records while winning the Philadelphia Coaches’ Association Meet of Champions and the PTFCA state meet.

 

Troy Burkholder – Cocalico (Denver, 1995).  One of the great javelin throwers in Pennsylvania history, Burkholder set the last state record with the implement that was retired after the 2001 season.  As a senior, he was the first-team All-American thrower, setting a pair of state records at 243-2 and 245-3, the second mark coming in a summer all-comers meet.  He was the PIAA 2A javelin champion twice, winning with throws of 215-2 as a junior and a meet record 240-6 as a senior.  He also won the discus as a senior at 172-0, getting off the farthest throw in the state for 1995.  In each of his three PIAA championships, his winning throw was farther than that of the Class 3A winner, stamping him as the undisputed best thrower in the state in his era.

 

Walt Mangham – New Castle (1956).  Best known in high school as a two-time all-state basketball player, Mangham turned his attention to the high jump in the spring.  In the first week of May in his junior year, he startled people with a state record 6-6 3/4, which left him at the end of the year as the equal-eighth highest jumper in U.S. history and broke the existing state record of 6-5.  He won the PIAA state meet with a meet record of 6-5 3/4.  Mangham achieved lasting fame in his senior year.  At the WPIAL Relays in late April, he broke his own state record three times in one day, clearing 6-7 1/2, 6-9 and 6-9 3/4.  His final effort was the best U.S. performance ever in a high school meet, and lasted as the state record for 18 years, until 1974.  All told, Mangham raised the state record a total of 4 3/4 inches, more than any high jumper in Pennsylvania history.

 

Ralph Hills – The Hill School (Pottstown, 1921).  A national record setter in both the 12-pound and 16-pound shot puts, Hills is the only Pennsylvanian to hold national records in either event.  Hills was the first-team All-American shot putter as a junior in 1920, receiving that honor after winning the national AAU Junior championship with a state record 16-pound record of 44-10.  Having thrown farther than the AAU fourth-placer the next day, Hills was named to the 1920 U.S. Olympic Team, although he did not compete in the Antwerp Games.  The next year, Hills set a short-lived national record of 53-5 with the 12-pound shot.  In addition to the shot, Hills excelled in the hammer throw which was a commonly contested event at the time, and was a three-time All-American, with a best of 181-0, fifth-best ever in U.S. history.  Displaying his tremendous all-around abilities, Hills was also the fastest hurdler in the state his senior year, running 16 1/5 over the 42” hurdles.

 

Mel Sheppard – Temple College Prep (Philadelphia, 1903), Brown Prep (Philadelphia, 1905).  A national scholastic record holder in the 880, mile and two-mile, Sheppard was undefeated in his last two years in school.  His career took off in the winter of 1904 when he set two national indoor records within one hour, running 4:34 1/5 for the mile and 2:03 4/5 for the half.  During the outdoor season he ran the fastest half mile in the country that year with a 2:01 2/5.  In the 1905 season, Sheppard set a pair of national outdoor records within one week in May.  Running his first-ever two-mile, he became the first interscholastic runner in the country to break ten minutes, with a 9:57 2/5.  He followed that up with the first sub-4:30 in the national scholastic history, running 4:28 3/5.  The mile time lasted as a state record for 11 years, with the two-mile lasting seven years.

 

Lou Nicastro - Contributor.  An outstanding coach in his brief four-year career at Roman Catholic High in Philadelphia, Nicastro eventually became one of the country’s outstanding starters, working all manner of meets from high school to international.  Beginning his officiating career in the 1960s, he rose to become the Penn Relays Chief Starter for 18 years through 2002.  Without doubt he has sent more runners around the track than any starter in Pennsylvania history.  While coaching at Roman, Nicastro’s teams twice won the Philadelphia Catholic League title, and his 1958 two-mile relay won the Penn Relays championship.  As an athlete at Northeast High in Philadelphia, he was an outstanding half-miler, running a leg on the school’s 1941 Penn Relays two-mile relay champions which set a meet record.

 

Fred Rosenfeld - Coach, Overbrook HS (Philadelphia, 1972-1993); Central HS (Philadelphia, 1994-2005).  As a coach in the Philadelphia Public League for some 30 years, Rosenfeld has no equals on the boys’ side.  His teams won 14 outdoor track league titles in 19 years, while his cross country teams won 16 league titles over a period of 25 years.  Since moving to Central High, Rosenfeld has also coached the girls’ teams, five times winning the league cross country title during a six-year span.  He has coached two Hall of Fame inductees, Jason Grimes and Deworski Odom, and it was Grimes who ran second leg on Overbrook’s championship-winning 4x100 team at the 1977 Penn Relays.  In the same year, Overbrook won the Eastern States team championship.  He was selected the PTFCA Coach of the Year in 1989 and 1998.  Apart from his coaching duties, Rosenfeld has served as PTFCA Vice-President.

Hall of Fame Induction 2003

Dick Bartholomew - Coach, Altoona HS (1931-1946), Elwood City HS (1929-1930).  The coach of Altoona High, Pennsylvania’s dominant track team of the 1930’s and early ‘40s, Bartholomew was the most successful track coach in the PIAA’s first 20 years.  In his 16 years at Altoona, only the Great Depression and the last year of World War II could stop Altoona High, as the PIAA did not conduct the state meet in 1933 and ’34, and Bartholomew’s team finished out of the top five for the only time in 1945.  In the 14 years in which the PIAA held the state meet, Bartholomew’s Altoona teams won nine state titles.  The PIAA first held a state cross country championship in 1939, and Bartholomew’s team won the title, the finished 2nd in 1940 and tied for the championship in 1941, before the meet was suspended for the war year of 1942.  Bartholomew left coaching having barely reached 40 years of age.

 

Jim Gibbons - Contributor.  An outstanding coach at Bishop McDevitt High in suburban Philadelphia, the influence of Gibbons went far beyond his coaching.  He was instrumental in setting up indoor track in Eastern Pennsylvania, initially as a co-founder and the first Executive Secretary of the Track & Field Coach Association of Greater Philadelphia, later in his positions as Athletic Director at McDevitt and Assistant Track Coach at the University of Pennsylvania, and still later as an administrator at Lehigh University.  He was strongly influential in gaining acceptance for girls’ championships in the Philadelphia Catholic League, and was the league’s first meet director for the girls’ champs.  A man who held few positions or titles, Gibbons was often the unsung technical director behind many meets, including the Philadelpha Catholic League, the Philly Coaches Association, and the Penn Relays.

 

Bill McKniff – West Catholic (Philadelphia, 1928).  A two-time AAU First Team High School All-American in 1927 and ’28, McKniff was undefeated in scholastic competition those two years, including a pair of wins at the Penn National Interscholastics.  As a senior, he was runner-up in the Eastern Olympic Trials with a national high school record of 4:00.7 for 1500 meters.  This time was the equivalent of 4:20.0 for the mile, which would have been the national record until 1954, and the Pennsylvania state record until 1960, when Joe Thomas, another of this year’s inductees, ran faster.  Only Jim Ryun has run in the U.S. Olympic Trials 1500m final since McKniff ran in the race in 1928.  His 9th-place time from that race is unknown, but there is a chance that he became the first high schooler to break 4-minutes for the 1500m, as a tight pack followed the winner, who set an American Record of 3:55.0.

 

Joe Thomas - Uniontown (1960).  The Pennsylvania record setter in the mile and 2-mile, Thomas was also a dominant cross country runner.  In the mile, the longest regularly scheduled event in his day, Thomas was undefeated in state and regional competition during his junior and senior years, losing only at the national Golden West Invitational as a senior.  Of his two state records in the mile, his 4:14.9 lasted for five years, while his 2-mile record of 9:34.0 lasted six years.  But Thomas was probably best as a cross country runner.  He set course records twice will winning the PIAA championship, smashing his first record by 11 seconds in his senior year and defeating a strong runner-up by 18 seconds over a 2 1/8 mile course.  He was undefeated during his junior and senior years.

 

Karen DiDonato – Great Valley (1986).  The Pennsylvania outdoor record holder in the high jump for 16 years, DiDonato was a three-time PIAA Class 3A champion in the event, and finished 2nd as a ninth-grader.  As a senior, she won the TAC national junior championship as well as the Penn Relays.  She set a pair of state records, with her best of 6-0 accomplished in the summer following her junior year.  Indoors, she set the state record twice, and equaled the second record once.  Her indoor best of 5-9 was not bettered by a Pennsylvanian for 12 years.  The first 5-9 came while winning the PTFCA indoor state meet in 1985, while the second 5-9 came while finishing 4th in the National Scholastic championships.

 

Angel Patterson – William Penn (Philadelphia, 1997).  A great all-around athlete, Patterson set Pennsylvania state records of 42.47 in the 300-meter hurdles as a sophomore in 1995, and 39-2 1/2 in the indoor triple jump as a senior.  She was a Track & Field News fourth-team All-American in the long hurdles in 1995, and later ran 41.94 during her senior year.  As a long sprinter, she was a three-time winner of the PTFCA state indoor 400 meters, and twice won the 200 meters as well.  At the 1997 PTFCA, Patterson won the 200, 400 and triple jump.  A terrific team athlete, she anchored William Penn to the 1996 Penn Relays 4x400 relay championship, and was the epitome of versatility and team leadership.

 

2002 Hall of Fame Induction

Russ Cerny - Coach, North Allegheny HS (1960-1988).  Pennsylvania’s most successful cross country coach from 1960 through 1974, Cerny led the North Allegheny boys to eight PIAA class A titles and three runner-up finishes in this fifteen-year period.  In his first six years as head coach, his teams never finished worse than second at the state meet, including wins in each of his first three years.  His cross country team won a ninth title in 1980, while the girls’ team won the first PIAA team championship in 1975 and finished second in 1976.  On the track, the North Allegheny boys won the 1979 PIAA team title.  Cerny was awarded the Tri-State Track Coaches Association Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997.  Among the many outstanding athletes Cerny coached, the greatest was 1999 Hall of Fame inductee Jerry Richey.

 

Dave Batchelor - Contributor.  Batchelor served as the District 7 meet’s head Field Judge for the better part of 40 years.  A past president of the Tri-State Track Coaches Association, he was awarded the TSTCA Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996.  An outstanding throws coach, Batchelor served for nine years as a Mount Lebanon High School assistant to 2001 Hall of Fame coaching inductee Don Mollenauer. He has also been an assistant coach at Pittsburgh Central Catholic and Upper Saint Clair, as well as being head coach at Churchill.  World-renowned as a statistician, Dave coordinated the WPIAL Honor Roll in the mid-1950’s, and has helped compile the historical records of the WPIAL.  A member of the ATFS (international) and FAST (U.S.) statistical groups, Batchelor was awarded FAST’s Don Potts Award for lifetime achievement in statistical work in 1996.

 

Bill Cox - Mercersburg Academy (1924).  Cox competed in the Olympic Games following his second year at Mercersburg in 1924, before returning to Rochester, N.Y., for his final year of high school.  He earned a bronze medal in the Olympic 3000m team race, finishing 8th in the final after running 8:49.0 in the heats.  That time converts to a two-mile equivalent of 9:31.4, which would have lasted as a state record until 1966.  Cox was selected to the AAU High School All-America first team in the Mile in ‘23 and ‘24, and as the outstanding cross country runner in the country in ‘22 and ‘23.  Over the course of his two years at Mercersburg, he never lost a race to a high school or prep school athlete.  Cox is one of four Pennsylvanians to compete in the Olympics during their high school years, the others being Hall of Fame inductees Ted Meredith, Jean Shiley, and Karen Anderson.

 

Dick Hart - Morrisville (1961).  Hart was the first Pennsylvania shot putter to reach 60 feet, setting state records in the shot put in 1960 and ‘61.  He improved the record almost five feet, from the 59-4 that existed when Hart started to his best of 64-2 1/2, which lasted as a state record for ten years.  His best mark placed him number six on the all-time U.S. list.  Hart won PIAA class B state title in both years, setting meet records each time, and finished second in the discus those two years.  As a sophomore, he was second in the PIAA shot and fourth in the discus.  Hart also won the AAU Interscholastic indoor shot put championship in 1961, throwing 61-5 1/4, a state record which lasted until 1972.  Hart’s outdoor and indoor Pennsylvania state shot put records were both broken by1996 Hall of Fame inductee Ron Semkiw.

 

Joyce Bates - Simon Gratz (1996).  Following her senior year, Bates won the World Junior 100-meter hurdles championship in 1996 with a 13.27, placing her second on the Pennsylvania all-time list behind 1995 Hall of Fame inductee Candy Young, and fourth on the U.S. all-time list.  Earlier that year Joyce won the National Scholastic Outdoor 100-meter hurdles title, and at the Golden West Invitational placed second in both hurdles, setting a state 300m hurdles record of 41.88.  She was selected to the Track & Field News All-American second team in the 100m hurdles.  Indoors, she set state records in the 60m (7.50) and 60m hurdles (8.43).  She was the PTFCA state indoor champion in the dash and hurdles as a senior, also finishing second in the long jump.  During her junior year she won the PTFCA hurdles, and capped her season by winning the National Scholastic Indoor hurdles championship.

 

Wanda Ferster - East Juniata (Cocolamus, 1988).  A great all-around thrower, by the end of her senior year Ferster was second on the Pennsylvania all-time lists in the discus (152-8) and javelin throws (166-6), and third in the shot put (45-6).  She won all three PIAA 2A throwing event titles as a senior, earning high point honors for the meet by scoring 30 points.  Her marks of 149-9 in the discus and 166-6 in the javelin set PIAA 2A meet records which lasted nine and ten years, respectively.   Wanda also finished fourth in the TAC national junior championship javelin and was selected to the Track & Field News All-American third team in her senior year.  She placed second in the PIAA 2A discus in her sophomore and junior years, and finished second in the shot put as a junior.

 

Janelle Thomas - Liberty High School (Bethlehem,1996).  An outstanding cross country runner, Thomas won PIAA 3A state titles in her freshman, junior and senior years.  As a sophomore, she may have run her best race of all, finishing fourth in the FootLocker National Cross Country meet.  On the track she won PIAA 3A titles in the 3200m as a sophomore and as a senior, and finished second as a junior.  She was also the Penn Relays 3000m winner in her sophomore year, running 9:33.61 and placing her third on the state all-time list.  Her best 3200m time of 10:21.5 (‘96) placed her second on the Pennsylvania all-time list and helped earn her a Track & Field News fifth team All-American ranking.  Her best 1600m time of 4:51.35 as a senior placed her seventh on the state all-time list.

 

Chris A’Harrah - Friends’ Central (Wynnewood,1973).  A’Harrah ran the 400m for the U.S. national senior women’s team both indoors and outdoors during her senior year.  One of the great all-around sprinters in state history, she competed for the Delaware Sports Club in the last years before girls track returned to the high school sports scene in the mid-1970’s.  She held Pennsylvania outdoor records in the 100y (10.7 ‘72), 100m (11.8 ‘72) and 400m (53.8 ‘73), and all the indoor sprint records from 60y to 440y.  Her indoor records included bests of 6.8 (60y), 25.4 (220y), 36.1 (300y) and 55.6 (440y), all set in her senior year of 1973.  That year she finished fourth in the AAU national senior women’s championships in the 440y both indoors and outdoors with times of 56.3 and 55.4, respectively.  Indoors, she finished second for the United States in the dual meet against the Soviet Union.

2001 Hall of Fame Induction

 

ANGIE BROWN - Villa Maria Academy (1994) Angie set a Pennsylvania record in the long jump when she leaped 20-4 in 1993.  A three-time PIAA-AA Champion in the long jump, she also won a pair of PTFCA state Indoor titles.  Other long jump honors for Angie included silver medals at the Penn Relays and the USA Junior meet, and gold medals at Golden West Invitational, National Scholastic Outdoor, and National Scholastic Indoor Meets.  Angie excelled on the track as well with District I titles in the 100m (’93), 200m (’92, ’93, ’94), 400m (’93, ’94) and 4x400m (’92), not to mention a triple jump crown in 1994.  In the 400m she not only set a District I meet record, but also took two PIAA state titles.  Angie was the leading point scorer at the PIAA state meet in both 1993 (26) and 1994 (31). She was a Track and Field News First Team All-American in the Long Jump in 1994.

 

DONNA FIDLER– Norristown Area HS (1995) Donna won the PIAA-AAA Championship in the 3,200m during her senior year, a year in which she also won the Golden West Invitational and National Scholastic Outdoor meets.  She set state records in the 10,000m (34:59.14  ’95) and the 3,000m indoors (9:57.92  ’95).  Also, in her senior year, Donna won the PIAA District I Championship in the 1,600 m, ran the state’s fastest time in the 3,000m as she won a silver medal at the Penn Relays.  Donna placed first in the 10,000m at the USA Junior Meet in both 1994 and 1995, and she finished third in that event at the Pan Am Junior Meet in ’95.  She became Pennsylvania’s leading indoor 2 miler when she won a silver medal at the National Scholastic meet at the Syracuse Carrier Dome.  In 1995, Donna was a Track & Field News First Team All-American in the 5,000m and 10,000m and made the Second Team in the 3,200m.

 

GEORGE HEARN – Lower Merion HS (1957) George was the first high school hurdler ever to break 14 seconds when he set a national record of 139 in 1957.  He broke meet records at the Suburban League, District I-A, and State Championship meets, and was undefeated outdoors during his junior and senior years.  Included in that streak were victories at the Spike Shoe Meet and the Meet of Champions, both held at Franklin Field.  George added District and State titles in the 180 yard hurdles outdoors, and he took first place honors in the 60 yard high hurdles at the indoor AAU Interscholastic meet at Madison Square Garden.  In addition, he contributed to Lower Merion’s relay triumphs including District titles in the 4x220 and 4x440 yard relays as well as the Championship of America 440 yard relay at Penn.  George was named an AAU first team All-American in the 120 yard high hurdles in 1957.

 

DEWORSKI ODOM – Overbrook HS (1995) Deworski set national high school indoor records in 1995 in four events: the 60m hurdles (7.62), 55m hurdles (7.08), 60m dash (6.62) and 55m dash (6.16).  Outdoors, he won the Golden West Invitational in both the 100m. dash and 110m high hurdles in 1995.  His 100m time (10.26) led the nation in 1994 when he placed third at the World Junior Meet at Lisbon, Portugal.  He also won a silver medal there in the 4x100m relay.  Deworski’s winning time of 13.61 at California’s Arcadia Invitational, was best among Pennsylvania’s high hurdlers in 1995.  Deworski excelled in the 200 meters as well, leading the state outdoors in 1994 (21.91) and winning the PTFCA State Indoor Championship while setting a new meet record.  He was named a Track and Field News First Team All-American in the 100m (1994) and 110m hurdles (1995).         

 

DON MOLLENAUER – Canonsburg HS (1932-38) Coach Mount Lebanon (1939-70) Don was a leading force in the advancement of track and field in western Pennsylvania in the years between 1940 and 1970.  His track and field teams won 15 District 7, class A, championships and two PIAA State Championships.  Don set a record for most consecutive dual/tri meet track and field victories (144 between 1944 and 1963), and his Mt. Lebanon team record was 217-27-2.  His cross-country teams won an astounding 13 state championships between 1937 and 1970.  Don was a co-founder and Second Vice-President of the Tri-State Coaches Association and as a result of his efforts to organize clinics, other coaches throughout the area learned about the latest methods of training.  He is fondly remembered as a “second father” by many of the young men he coached.

 

DAVE JOHNSON – Contributor to the Sport  Dave is the Director of the Penn Relays and is a noted statistician and historian who served as Statistical Editor for Track and Field News from 1979 to 1987.  As a member of the Association of Track and Field Statisticians (international) and the Federation of American Statisticians of Track (FAST), he was a recipient of the Potts Award for career achievement.  The founder and editor of Philadelphia Track, Dave was  honored by the Track and Field Coaches Association of Greater Philadelphia with its Dinner Award in 1981 and with its Association Award in 1999 in recognition of his distinguished service in track and field. Dave’s exhaustive research and meticulous record keeping have greatly benefited the Hall of Fame, and he has made many valuable contributions  to the organization of the PTFCA Indoor State Meet.                                 

2000 Hall of Fame Induction

Rolando Cruz:

One of the world’s great early users of the fiberglass pole, Rolando was the first Pennsylvanian to clear 14-0.  He set four national and state indoor records during his first two years at Mercersburg Academy in 1958 and ‘59, raising the HSR to 14-6.  He also set four state high school outdoor records in those two years, during which he was also the nation’s leading vaulter during his junior year in 1959.  Although over-age by high school competition standards in his senior year of 1960, he continued to improve, climbing to 14-11 and finishing 4th in the Olympic Games.  Before attending high school in the U.S., he had competed in the 1956 Olympics.

 

Jan Sikorsky:

Already high on the Pennsylvania all-time javelin list in his first year of throwing, Jan made history at the District 7 meet in 1957.  Using a borrowed javelin, he reached a national high school record of 222-10 3/4, and then went on to win the PIAA state title the following week.  He was selected to the AAU’s All-American first team, and his record, which broke a 19-year old state record, proceeded to last an additional nine years until it was broken in 1966.  An outstanding football and basketball player, he was literally a one-man track team at Mount Pleasant Ramsay High School.

 

Kim Fisher:

As a Sun Valley High School senior in 1992, Kim became the second fastest 1600m/mile runner in state history, trailing only Kim Gallagher.  She won PIAA, National Scholastic and Penn Relays titles that year during the outdoor season, and was named to the first team on the Track & Field News All-American team.  Indoors, she won the PTFCA and National Scholastic titles as a senior.  She also added a pair of state outdoor championships at 3200m, and another indoors in the 2-mile.  In her senior year, she became one of the few Pennsylvanians to win the Mid-East cross country championship.

 

LaVonne Neal:

Pennsylvania’s greatest female hurdler before the advent of regular scholastic competition for girls in the mid-1970’s, LaVonne made her mark in national women’s competition.  A student at Girl’s High in Philadelphia, she ran for the Hawks Track Club.  As a junior in 1972, she finished 6th in the Olympic Trials after setting a state record of 13.5 in the heats.  In her senior year, she was 5th in the AAU national championships.  She was the first Pennsylvanian to break 8.0 indoors in the 60-yard hurdles and was a regular competitor on the national indoor track circuit.  Her many state records generally lasted until Candy Young came along.

 

Julia Solo:

An outstanding javelin thrower while at Upper Dublin High School, Julia raised the state record more than 10 feet, ultimately reaching 172-11 during her junior year in 1984.  That mark stands to this day as the Pennsylvania record.  She was a two-time PIAA state champion, and was well-rounded enough to win the state indoor Shot Put title as a senior.  She was selected to the Track & Field News All-American second team in her last two years.  On a national level, she competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials as a junior, and was the national junior runner-up as a senior, when she also competed in the national senior championships.

 

Jennifer Wilson:

An outstanding national-level sprinter while at William Penn High School, Jennifer set the still-standing state record in the 200 meters.  Her time of 23.53 was run at the national junior championships following her sophomore year in 1992.  She was National Scholastic outdoor champion in the 100 meters in 1993, and in the 200m in ‘92 and ‘93.  Indoors, she was the National Scholastic 200m champion in 1993 and won six indoor PTFCA sprint titles in the 55 meters, 200 meters and 300 yards.  She still holds state indoor records at 24.05 in the 200m and 35.34 in the 300y.  In her senior year, she won two indoor PTFCA titles and ran on two winning relays.

 

Bill Preston: - Coach

A producer of state champions in track and field, it was in the fall that Bill Preston showed the greatness of his coaching ability.  Twice he coached PIAA state champions in cross country--Bob Hamer in 1989 and Greg Smith in 1993--but it was as coach of the Council Rock High School harriers for which he will forever be remembered.  In a span of nine years from 1987 through 1995, his teams won an incredible eight state championships.  During one stretch, his cross country teams won 99 consecutive dual meets, and his career record totaled 290-50.  During the outdoor track season, his teams won 12 league championships.

 

Chuck Hemphill: - Contributor to the Sport

One of the state’s greatest do-everything track persons, Chuck Hemphill has spent nearly 50 years as a coach, official, administrator, statistician and historian.  A coach at Plum Township in the 1950’s, he moved to Penn Hills High, first as an assistant, then as head coach for some 15 years from the mid-1970’s through 1990.  While there, he coached Wall of Fame inductee Dion Bentley.  He has also served as President of the Tri-State Coaches Association, a member of the District 7 Track Committee for some 15 years, and Western Vice President of the PTFCA during the 1970’s.  He has published the WPIAL Honor Roll for nearly 40 years.  Now retired, few would ever know it, as he continues as an active historian and official.

1999 Hall of Fame Induction

Mike Connelly – (Upper Perkiomen HS 1983)

Mike set a Pennsylvania and PIAA state meet record of 8:58.9 for the 3200-meter run.  He also ran the state’s fastest time for the mile in his senior year of 1983 (4:13.56). Indoors, Mike placed first in both the mile (4:20.8) and 2 mile (9:18.2) at the Track & Field Coaches’ Association of Greater Philadelphia’s Meet of Champions in 1983.  He was also the Eastern States Indoor two-mile champion that year.  In cross-country, Mike was not only PIAA–AA Champion but he also placed 5th at the Kinney national meet as a junior and 2nd as a senior.

 

Tom Donnelly – (LaSalle HS 1965)

Tom went undefeated in cross-country from 1962 through 1964, winning 46 straight races.  Included in that string were three consecutive victories in the Eastern States Championships, the last of which established the Van Cortlandt course record.  He also won three consecutive Philadelphia and State Catholic titles.  Tom set Pennsylvania indoor records in the mile (4:22.3 ’64) and two-mile (9:25.5 ’63, 9:20.5 ’64).  Outdoors, he won three consecutive Philadelphia Catholic League miles, one Pennsylvania State Catholic title, placed second in the Pennsylvania Relays mile in 1965.

 

Rod Perry – (Coatesville HS 1953)

Rod was a national leader in both the 120-yard and 180 yard hurdle events.  He set a National high school record in the 180-yard low hurdles on his way to winning a gold medal at the PIAA-A state championship meet in 1953.  He was also PIAA-A champion twice in the 120-yard high hurdles, setting a meet record and equaling the fastest time in the nation as a senior.  In addition to hurdling, Rod proved to be an accomplished thrower as he won a silver medal at the state meet in his senior year.  Rod was selected first team All-American in the 180 yard low hurdles in 1953.

 

Jerry Richey – (North Allegheny HS 1967)

Jerry was PIAA-A state Cross-Country champion in his junior and senior years after finishing 3rd as a sophomore and 7th as a freshman.  Each of his winning efforts set a new meet record.  In outdoor track he was the state’s leading two-miler in 1965 and 1966 and set PIAA-A meet records both years, in addition to setting a Pennsylvania record of 9:29.6 in 1966.  Following his junior year he tied the Pennsylvania mile record of 4:12.4, and as a senior won the National Jaycees junior mile championship (4:10.6) after winning PIAA-A titles in the mile and 880y.  He also ran a Pennsylvania indoor two-mile record of 9:09.4 as a senior.

 

Marlene Harewicz – (Upper Saint Clair HS 1976)

Marlene ran the nation’s fastest time in the 3000 meters (9:45.27) in 1974 and placed 4th in the US-USSR dual meet.  She set Pennsylvania records in the mile, 3000 meters, and two mile run outdoors, and in the half mile, mile, 3000, and two mile run indoors.  Her time of 10:26.5 for two miles in the outdoor AAU Girls Meet earned her a silver medal and resulted in a #2 national listing.  Marlene won the USTFF Eastern Regional Cross-Country meet in 1973 and also won the AAU region 2 meet that year.  Furthermore, she won the AAU 10K road race and was selected National Road Runner of the year by the Road Runners Club of America in 1974.

 

Amy Rudolph – (Kane Area HS 1991)

For three consecutive years Amy was the state leader at 1500 meters and placed 3rd at the TAC Junior Meet in each of these years.  She was a three-time PIAA-A gold medallist in both the 1600 meters and 3200 meters.  Amy went on to place 2nd in the mile at the International Prep Invitational in 1991 with a time of 4:53.70.  Indoors, Amy produced the state’s best performances for 1000 yards, 1500 meters, and the mile in her senior year, and took first place at the National Scholastic Invitational mile.  In cross-country, Amy was PIAA-AA state champion twice.  Additional honors for Amy include being selected All-American second team for the 1500 meter run in both 1989 and 1990.

 

Jimmy Curran – Coach Mercersburg Academy

The coach at Mercersburg Academy from 1911 through 1962, Jimmy coached what was perenially one of the nation’s strongest prep school teams in this period.  A frequent winner of the AAU indoor interscholastic meet, Curran’s Mercersburg teams also won 11 Pennsylvania Relays High School Championship relays (1925-1936) and 22 Pennsylvania Relays Prep School Championship relays (1912-1961).  Among the athletes he coached were five future Olympic champions: Ted Meredith (a Hall of Fame inductee). Larry Shields, Allen Woodring, Bill Carr, and Charlie Moore; seven additional future Olympians including Marvin Rick, Bill Cox, Barney Berlinger, Jeff Kirk, Lee Yoder and Rolando Cruz; and seven Pennsylvania state record holders.

 

Jim Tuppeny  - Contributor to the Sport

The Pennsylvania Relays Director for 18 years from 1970 through 1987, “Tup” was the mastermind who initiated a full day of women’s competition at the Pennsylvania Relays and saw the meet quickly become the nation’s largest girls’ outdoor high school track and field event.  He was also instrumental in getting the Track and Field Coaches Association of Greater Philadelphia off the ground in its formative years while an assistant coach at Villanova, and then served as meet director for the University of Pennsylvania Spiked Shoe high school meet and the Philadelphia Track Classic while he was head coach at Pennsylvania.  Jim began his career as a pole vaulter and high jumper at West Catholic High and won Philadelphia Catholic League titles in both events.

1998 Hall of Fame Induction

Martha White Collins – (State College HS  1978)

Martha was the 1977 PIAA (3A) state champion in cross country. In 1978 her mile time of 4:52.9 was Pennsylvania’s best all time performance in that event.  She achieved even greater success in the two mile run.  As a junior, Martha set a new state record in winning the PIAA championship (10:48.4).  As a senior, she took 1st place in the Penn Relays two mile run, repeated as PIAA champion, and smashed her own PA record with a time of 10:12.6.  This performance ranked Martha 2nd in the nation that year and 4th all time. Her time of 33:29.7 for the 10K at the L’Eggs Mini-Marathon set a new American record for her age group.

 

Lynne Strauss Knobloch – (State College HS 1982)

Lynne was one of the nation’s premier cross country runners placing 3rd once, and 2nd twice in the national championships.  She won gold medals at the 1982 PTFCA indoor state meet in the mile run, the 2 mile run, and the 2 mile relay, setting meet records in all 3 events.  Her performances that year ranked her 7th in the nation in the mile, and 5th in the 2 mile.  Her times in both events were the 2nd fastest all-time in PA.  Outdoors, in the 1600m, Lynne was 2nd in PA and 3rd in the U.S. in 1982.  In the 3200m, she was the PIAA (3A) champion in both her junior and senior years.  Lynne also took 1st place at the Penn Relays as a junior and a senior in the 1500m.

 

Shawn Moore Nix – (William Penn HS  1986)

Shawn was the indoor PTFCA champion -twice each- in the 600y, the 55m hurdles, and the 4x440. She also ran the fastest times in PA indoors in the 400m and 500m, and ranked 3rd in the nation in the 600y and 4th in the 400m. Outdoors, she  was a member of the 1985 Championship of America 4x400 and ranked 1st in the state in the 400m (twice), the 100m hurdles (three times), and the 400m hurdles (3 times). Shawn also placed 4th at the TAC Jr meet in the 100m hurdles and 2nd in the 400m hurdles. In 1986, she made the US National Team that competed throughout  Europe, and ranked 6th among World Junior competitors in the 400m hurdles.

 

Colleen Rosensteel – (Greensburg Central Catholic 1985)

Colleen dominated the field in the shot put and the discus throughout her career. She was the PIAA (3A) champion in the shot put in ‘83, ‘84, and ‘85. She placed first in the TAC Jr  meet in ‘85, and her toss of 45-2 ¼ was the second longest in PA history. Colleen enjoyed even greater success in the discus, an event in which she was the PIAA champion for 4 consecutive years. She set a PA record in ‘83 (157-6) and surpassed it in ‘84 (168-11). The latter performance led the U.S. that year, and was the 7th best all-time. At the TAC Jr. meet, Colleen placed 2nd as a sophomore, 2nd as a junior, and 1st as a senior. Her PIAA state meet record (165-2) still stands.

 

Telisa Young Scott – (Henderson HS 1990)

Telisa was a PTFCA champion indoors in the 60yd hurdles, long jump, and triple jump.  She set a Pennsylvania record in the pentathlon in ‘89 and ranked 3rd in the U.S. in ‘90. Telisa was a 3-time PIAA (3A) champion in the 100m hurdles setting a state meet record (14.49).  She set PA records in the 300m hurdles (42.5), the long jump (19-11), the triple jump (40-10 ½), and the heptathlon (4680), and was #2 in the U.S. in the 400m hurdles both as a junior and a senior.  Telisa placed among the nation’s elite several times in her career in the hurdle events, the horizontal jumps, and the heptathlon at the TAC Jr meet and the International Prep Invitational.

 

Ron Livers – (Norristown HS 1973)

Ron was one of America’s leading performers in the high jump and triple jump.  His indoor high jump of 6-8 in 1973 equaled the Pennsylvania record and was the 11th best in the nation that year. His indoor triple jump of 46-7 set a PA record and ranked him eighth in the nation.  Outdoors, Ron placed first in the PIAA (3A) State Meet and set a new PA record in the high jump with a leap of 6-10.  He won the PIAA triple jump championship twice and his jump of 51-7 ¾ not only set a PA record, but also was the #1 mark in the nation and fourth best all-time. In addition, Ron  took 1st place in the triple jump at both the Penn Relays and the Golden West Invitational. Ron made the 1973 AAU National Junior Team that competed in West Germany, Poland and the Soviet Union.

 

Ken Lowry – (Wissahickon HS 1982)

Ken was a state champion in cross country (PIAA – 3A), indoor track (PTFCA – 1000y, mile, 2mile relay), and outdoor track (PIAA – 1600m, 4x800). His time of 2:26.32 for the indoor 1000m set a new national record. Outdoors, he ran the second fastest time for 800m (1:50.8) in Pennsylvania history. His mile performance at the Golden West Invitational was the #1 time in the U.S. in 1982. He set a PA record and equaled the #2 performance in the nation in the 1500m.  He also set a PA record in the 3000m (8:33.0) that year.  In addition, Ken helped Wissahickon HS to set a National Federation record in winning the PIAA 4x800m relay and to emerge victorious in the Penn Relays distance medley relay in 1982.  He was also selected the Penn Relays Outstanding Male High School Athlete in that year.

 

 

Tim Hickey – Coach

Under the guidance of Coach Hickey, the girls of William Penn HS have established a national reputation. They have won 20 of the 25 Philadelphia Public League Championships and have not lost a dual meet since 1982.  At the Penn Relays his athletes have been perennial qualifiers for the Championship of America Relays, winning the 4x800 once, 4x400 twice, and the 4x100 twice. During his tenure, William Penn’s girls have also won the PTFCA State Indoor Championship for 14 consecutive years (1984-1997). Tim’s relay teams have set five national records: the 4x800 at the Penn Relays in 1979, the 4x200 at the National Scholastic Indoor Meet in 1992, the shuttle hurdles at the Philadelphia Public League Relays in 1996, and the sprint medley at both the National Scholastic indoor and outdoor meets in 1997.

 

Ron Lopresti – Contributor to the Sport

Ron was a highly successful coach at Plymouth-Whitemarsh HS. However, his greatest impact has been as an administrator. A charter member of the PTFCA, Ron has served as President since 1983. During that time, he created the PA Track Classic, the Indoor Track Carnival and has elevated the Indoor State Championships to its current status as the premier indoor track and field meet in  Pennsylvania. He also founded the PTFCA Track and Field Hall of Fame. Ron serves as Meet Director of the Suburban I League Championships, District I Championships, and the Raider Classic. Ron is an announcer at the Penn Relays and National Scholastic meets and is a PIAA official. He is also Historian/Statistician of the Track and Field Coaches Association of Greater Phila.

 1997 Hall of Fame Induction

Edna Brown – (Bartram HS 1978)

Edna set a Philadelphia high school record in the 440 yard dash in 1977 and finished second in the Junior Nationals that year in the 400 meters.  In 1978 she finished first in the Junior Nationals in the 400 meter hurdles.  As a member of the USA Junior National Track & Field Team, Edna competed in a dual meet vs. the USSR in Richmond, VA in 1977.  The next year she traveled to Germany and the USSR for dual meets against their respective teams.  Edna’s best performances include times of 52.76 in the 400 meters and 59.76 in the 400 meter hurdles; she ranked 7th in the U.S. in the 400 meters (1977) and 9th in the 400 meter hurdles (1978).

Dawn Burrell – (Penn Wood HS 1991)

In her junior year, Dawn was the PIAA (AAA) state champion in the 100 meter hurdles, triple jump and long jump.  Indoors, the next year, she won the long jump, triple jump and hurdles at the state meet.  As a senior outdoors she recorded marks of 19 3 ¼ in the long jump, 38 3 ¼ in the triple jump, 13.96 in the 100 meter hurdles and 43.23 in the 300 meter hurdles.  The hurdle times in both events were new state records.  Dawns’ four PIAA (AAA) first place performances resulted in her selection to the All State Team in four events and recognition as Pennsylvania’s Female Athlete of the Year for 1991.

Angel Doyle (Central Dauphin East HS 1976)

Angel was a world class sprinter while still in high school.  Her time of 6.5 in the 60 yard dash tied a world record and still ranks 5th all time in the US.  Angel was PIAA state champion in both the 100 and 200 meter dashes in 1974 and 1975.  She won the National Invitational Indoor 60 yard dash (6.7) and also won the dash in the US v. USSR dual meet, tying the meet record (6.6) in 1975.  In that same year, Angel took first place in the National AAU Women’s Junior Division 100 meters in 10.6.  In 1976 she recorded victories at Madison Square Garden, the Goodwill Games and the Pan Am Games.

Carole Zajac (Baldwin HS 1990)

Carole was PIAA State Champion twice in cross country, she also placed first at the Kinney Eastern Regional meet and third in the Kinney National meet.  Indoors, Carole was the national champion in the 3200 meter run.  Outdoors, she went on to become PIAA State Champion twice each in the 1600 and 3200 meter distances.  Carole placed first in the 3000 meters at the Penn Relays and was the winner of the Keebler 3200 meter run.

Jason Grimes (Overbrook HS 1977)

Jason was a member of the 1976 U.S. Men’s National Team that competed indoors against the Soviet Union in Leningrad.  He holds the Track & Field Coaches’ Association of Greater Philadelphia Meet of Champions record in the 60 yard dash (6.2).  Jason was ranked first in the state and third in the nation in the long jump (25 ½).  At the Penn Relays, he ran on the first place Championship of America 4x100 meter relay team and on the second place 4x400 meter relay.  Jason also led Overbrook to the Eastern States team championship.

Brian Milne (Fort LeBauf HS 1991)

As a freshman, Brian placed second at the PIAA state meet in the discus.  He went on to become state champion in each of the next three years.  Brian also placed first in the shot put at the state championship meet in 1989 and 1991.  In his senior year, he set state records in both the shot put and discus.  His best throw in the shot put (63 ½) was 10th in the US and his discus throw of 207 0 ranks #11 in the US all time.  Brian placed first in the discus at both the Keebler Invitational and the Golden West meets.

Gene White (Bristol HS 1970)

Gene was a versatile athlete who ran cross country and just about any event on the track.  His greatest successes, however, came in the jumps.  Gene was PIAA class B state champion in the long jump, triple jump and high jump in 1969 and in 1970.  At the Golden West Invitational he placed first in the long jump (25 4 ½) and second in the triple jump (49 3 ½).  Gene is the only high school athlete to have won both the high jump and triple jump at the Penn Relays.  He achieved personal career best performances of 6 10 in the high jump and 50 1 ½ in the triple jump.  In 1970 he led Bristol High to the PIAA (B) championship.

John Woodruff (Connelsville HS 1935)

John was one of the nation’s premier high school distance runners.  He was undefeated throughout his career in both the half mile and the mile.  John placed first in the half mile at a major indoor invitational meet in Morgantown, WV, in 1935.  In that same year, John was the PIAA state mile champion and National Federation record holder with a time of 4:23.4.

Jim Crawford St (Lansdale/North Penn HS)

Mr. Crawford coached from 1930 until 1942 when he joined the Navy during World War II.  He returned in 1946 and continued his remarkable coaching career until 1969.  His teams compiled a record of 276 wins and 7 losses, with twenty-two consecutive league championships between 1946 and 1969 and 95 consecutive victories between 1958 and 1969.  Mr Crawford, who was named an honorary secondary school referee for the Penn Relays in 1968, coached many individual and relay state champions.  Several of his former athletes have gone on to become successful coaches themselves in southeastern Pennsylvania. 

Clarence Norman Crawford – Contributor

First as a coach and then later as an official, Norman has given much to the sport of track and field in Pennsylvania.  He was a pioneer in the establishment of girls track and field programs at the high school level in western Pennsylvania.  WPIAL District 8 honored him by dedicating the annual 3200 meter girls championship run in his mane annually.  Norman is a registered PIAA official with over thirty years of service in all phases of track and field and cross country competition.  He has officiated at the PIAA championship meet for over 17 years.  Norman is also a consultant on the lining of tracks and an instructor for his fellow officials.

1996 Hall of Fame Induction

 

Sharon Dabney (Bartram (1977)

 

Sharon was the first truly great female sprinter in PA history.  Her 51.55 is still the all-time PA best performance is was US #2 when set.  Sharon also ran 23.40 for 200 meters which ranks #4 all time US.  Sharon’s 54.7 indoors ranks #2 all-time US and her 1:23.8 for 600 yards ranks #8.  Sharon was a first team All-American.

 

Karen Anderson (Lansdowne-Alden (1955)

 

Karen was the Pan-Am Games champion in the javelin with a throw of 164-11” which was the national record at the time.  She also threw 161’3” with the high school javelin, also a national record.  These marks were set at a time when there was very limited competition for women, especially at a high school level.  Karen spent most of her time competing against college and post-college athletes.  First team All-American.

 

 

 Ron Semkiw (Baldwin (1972)

 

Ron is the most outstanding thrower in PA history.  He was the first ever 70’ thrower in the shot put, his 70-1 ¾” outdoor throw is the #3 throw all- time in the USA.  He also threw 191’5” in the discus and was a multiple PIAA state champion.  Ron also threw 64’1” indoors, also #3 all-time US.  Ron was a first team All-American.

 

Don Webster (Kennett (1963)

 

Don was a superb sprinter for Kennett HS.  His best marks of 9.7 for 100 yards, 20.9 for 220 yards and 46.5 for 440 yards are among the best ever, not only in PA but also in the US.  His 46.5 is #2 all-time US.  These marks were also set on cinder tracks as Don competed before the modern era of fast synthetic tracks.  Don was a first team All-American.

 

Tony Darden (Norristown (1976)

 

Tony is perhaps the finest all-around sprinter in PA history.  His marks of 10.5, and 45.7 outdoors rank high on the all-time US lists.  Indoors, Tony was superb as his 30.3 for 300 yards was a national record when set as was his 57.3 for 500 yards.  Tony was a multiple PTFCA indoor and PIAA outdoor state champion.  First team All-American.

 

Carlton Young (Central (1979)

 

As a short sprinter, Carlton had no peers.  His marks of 9.3 for 100 yards, 10.39 for 100 meters, 20.8 for 220 yards, 6.19 for 60 yards and 30.50 for 300 yards are among the best ever run in the US.  His 21.8i; was a national record as was his 30.50.  Carlton also ran 46.1 as a split in the 400 for Central’s 4 x 400 team.   First team All-American.

 

Leroy Burrell (Penn Wood (1985)

 

Leroy was perhaps the finest sprinter-jumper in PA history.  He was a four time state champ and his marks of 24’2 ½ “ in the LJ and 48’2 ¼” in the TJ are among the top performances ever.  His classic performance at the PTFCA indoor state championships was one for the ages as he won the 60, 300, long jump and finished 2nd in the Triple Jump.  Outdoors, Leroy ran 10.44 in the 100 to win the PIAA state championship.

 

Barney Ewell (JP McCaskey (1937)

 

Barney ran 9.6 in the 100 yards in 1937, a time when breaking 10 seconds was a national accomplishment.  Barney was a first team All-American and PA record holder.  PIAA winningest boy in history, winning 3 220’s, two 100’s and two long jumps.  Held state records in the 100, the 220 in 21.4, long jump 23’9 ½’ and 6.5 in the 60 indoors.  He was also AAU junior champ and 3rd in the AAU seniors.

 

Coach: Jerry Breslin  (Mt. Carmel (1934-1973)-39 years

 

Jerry’s teams at Mt. Carmel were unbeatable for many years.  His record of 147 straight dual meet wins is unprecedented, a span of 30 years without a loss.  He coached 7 state champions, and 4 Penn Relays champions.  Jerry was instrumental in starting the Mt. Carmel Relays, now the Jerry Breslin Relays.  His contributions as an athlete, coach and official are legendary in PA track and field.

 

Contributer: Bob Burdette-Interboro HS-Track & Field Coaches Association of Greater Philadelphia

 

Bob is a true giant in the sport.  He was a superb coach at Interboro HS in Delaware County but his real accomplishments came as Executive Secretary of the TFCAGP, Inc.  which he raised to one of the finest indoor associations in the nation.  Bob raised the level of competition to a high level and even allowed girls to compete against the boys.  Bob also serves as the High School Meet Director for the Penn Relays, the largest high school track and field meet in the US.

1995 Hall of Fame Induction 

Jean Shiley-Newhouse (Haverford HS 1929)

In the 1928 Olympics, the first Olympics that women were allowed to compete in, Jean finished 4th in the high hump, thin in her senior year in high school she set a World Record at 5 3 1/8 to become the National Indoor Champion.

Pat Helms (William Penn HS 1974) 

Competing predominantly in AAU competition, Pat paved the way for greatness in Philadelphia women’s track and field.  Her 600 time (1:21.7) ranks in the US top 10.  Other bests include 19 7 ¾ in the long jump, 53.1 (400), 2:10.1 (800), 2:44 (1000) and 24.4 (220).

Elaine Sobansky (Trinity HS 1980)

One time national record holder in the shot put with a throw of 50 9 ¾, Elaine was an All-American and still ranks 3rd in the US and 2nd all time in the East.  Her indoor mark of 48 1¾ ranks in the all time top 10.

Candy Young (Beaver Falls HS 1980) 

The first female to win 4 consecutive PIAA state titles in an event, Candy ranks first nationally for the 100 hurdles (12.95).  The national Athlete of the Year in 1980, Candy also is on the top 10 lists for the 50 and 60 yard hurdles.

Kim Gallagher (Upper Dublin 1982)

Kim is the National High School record holder at 800 meters (2:00.07) and 1500 meters (4:16.6).  Kim also is ranked 2nd all-time for the mile, 4th at 5000 meters and 6th for 3000 meters as well as being the anchor leg for the first high school 4 x 800 relay to run under 9:00.  An All-American in high school, Kim was a multiple PIAA champ and Penn Relay MVP.

Leaha Walker  (Williamsport HS 1987)

A nine time PIAA State Champion, Leaha was an All-American in 1986 and 1987 along with being a member of the US Senior National Team in 1987.  She was ranked in the top 4 in the nation at both the 400 and 800 meters in 1986 and 1987.

Ted Meredith (Mercersburg Academy 1912)

Following graduation, Ted competed in the 1912 Olympics at 880 yards and not only won the event, but set a world record in doing so (1:52.5).  His time lasted as a national high school record for 42 years.  Also, Ted’s 48.8 for the 440 was a national high school record for 15 years.

Rodney Wilson (Bartram HS 1979)

The 1979 indoor Athlete of the Year, Rodney still holds the national records for the 60 hurdles (7.10) and the 50 meter hurdles (42”-6.76).  His outdoor times of 13.3 (39”) and 13.94 (42”) rank 13th and 5th all time in the nation while his 300 IH time of 36.3 is still the all time state best.

Clinton Davis (Steel Valley HS 1983)

Clinton set National Indoor Records in 1982 and 1983 at 220 (21.4) and 300 yards (31.19) and 300 meters (34.10) and twice at 400 meters (48.23, 47.35).  His times for 440 (47.84) and 500 yards (55.65) still are number one on the US lists.  A National Junior Champ at 200 meters, Clinton was named Track and Field News Athlete of the Year Indoor in 1982 and outdoors in 1982 and 1983.  He ranks in the top 10 nationally in 9 events!

William Reed (Central HS – Philadelphia 1987)

As a sophomore, Will set national records for 300 yards (30.15), 300 meters (33.19) and 400 meters (46.84) in the indoor season.  He holds national class records in no less than 10 events.  Track and Field News’ Athlete of the Year in 1986, Will ranks in the top 10 all time nationally in no less than 7 events including his 45.17 400 meters and 10.0 100 meters.

Paul Vandegrift (Kennedy HS 1987)

The premier middle distance runner in Pennsylvania history, Paul ran all time state bests for 800, indoor and outdoor (1:52.32 and 1:48.8), 1000 yards (2:12.6), 1000 meters (2:24.2).  His 1000 meters is the 4th in US history and Paul was the National Junior 1500 Champion.  Paul set the PIAA state AA meet records of 4:03.22 for 1600 meters and 1:51.96 for 800 meters on the same day in 1987.

Dion Bentley (Penn Hills HS 1989)

Dion holds the national records both indoor and outdoor in the long jump.  Performances of 26 6 ½ and 26 9 ¼ earned him Athlete of the Year honors for both indoor and outdoor track and field in 1989.

Jackson Horner – Coach (state College HS 1956-1993)

A member of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame and a 1994 inductee into the National High School Sports Hall of Fame, Jack was the Pennsylvania Coach of the Year in 1985, 87 and 89 and was selected National High School Cross Country Coach in 1989.  Amazingly, in 28 track season and 29 cross country seasons, his teams were undefeated.  In cross country, his team complied a 308-17 dual meet record, won 29 district and 5 state championships.  A then national record of 189 straight dual meet victories still ranks 3rd in National High School Sports.  In track, State College was 222-15 in dual meets and won 24 district championships.  His 1965 two mile relay team set a national record.

J. Kenneth Doherty – Contributor

As the director of the Penn Relays from 1951 to 1969, Ken Doherty built the Carnival into the nation’s premier track and field event.  With the inclusion of the dozens of high school events, the Penn Relays has become the focal point of the scholastic season for thousands of athletes.  Doherty was the national decathlon champion in 1928 and 29 and finished 3rd at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics.  Since his retirement, Ken has edited revised editions of his Track and Field Omnibook.