Fourth Hall of Fame banquet set June 23
Another stellar class for the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame was revealed at an announcement social on May 2 at the Ivory Ball Room in Uniontown.
A crowd of over 100 was in attendance as the Hall of Fame announced its fourth class of inductees. The class, consisting of seven individuals and three teams, will be inducted at a banquet on Saturday, June 23, at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.
“We are really excited by the growth of the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame as we enter our fourth year,” said Jes Hutson, co-founder and executive co-chairman of the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame. “We have had three outstanding classes and our fourth class is an outstanding group once again.”
In the 1900 to 1949 era the inductees are Redstone High School and Major League baseball standout Pat Mullin (deceased) and Connellsville High School and Penn State football standout John “Wally” Schroyer.
“I’m very honored,” Schroyer said. “I was surprised because there are many more athletes more eligible than me. There are so many great athletes that come from this county.”
In the decade from 1950 to 1959 the Hall of Fame selected Masontown High School and Pitt football stalwart Larry Vignali.
“I’m thrilled,” Vignali said. “It’s special because it is home and it’s special because no one will forget. They’ll always be looking at the past athletes that played 50 years ago and 100 years ago and our names will always be there and that’s something that I think is fantastic.”
From the era of 1960 to 1969 one individual will be inducted: Connellsville High School, West Virginia University and NFL star, the late Jim Braxton.
One player will be inducted from the 1970 to 1992 era: Uniontown High School, University of California and NFL star running back Chuck Muncie.
“This rates very high with me, being from Fayette County and being from Uniontown and knowing the history of sports in Fayette County,” Muncie said. “All the great athletes that preceded me, neighbors, friends, guys like Stu Lantz, Ben Gregory, Gene Huey and my brothers. Just being selected to be a part of this great fraternity that has come to us through sports is big honor for me. It’s something that I’ve been talking about with a lot of friends. They start rattling off names that they remember. I’m excited about it and very honored and humbled to be a part of this.”
In the coaches category, retired Connellsville High School wrestling coach Tom Dolde was selected.
“This is a neat thing, it’s real neat,” Dolde offered. “I’m really happy with it. Fayette County, the number of athletes and coaches that have come out of here is unbelievable.”
The slot in the Special Recognition category is filled by longtime football and basketball official Gene Steratore, Sr.
“I was talking with Jes Hutson,” Steratore explained. “I told him that when he called me I didn’t know what to say and that’s difficult for me not knowing what to say. I thank the dear Lord for giving me the ability to do these things and I am in the Western Pennsylvania and Washington-Greene County Sports Halls of Fame, but there’s nothing like being honored by your home town people and I’ve lived here in Uniontown for 61 years and these are my people and to have something like this happen, I have to tell you, it is probably the best thing that has happened in my athletic career.”
Three teams were selected in the 2012 class: Connellsville High School’s swimming team, honored for a body of work that included WPIAL swimming titles from 1938 through 1944 and again in 1946.
Harold Stefl was a state champion in the 220-yard freestyle during his senior season in 1944 and was a member of four of Connellsville’s championship teams.
“It means a great deal,” Stefl said. “The team won seven straight championships and it’s pretty fantastic.”
Also going into the Hall of Fame is Uniontown High School’s undefeated (28-0) PIAA Class AAA championship basketball team.
The third team selected was South Union High School’s WPIAL Class B Track Championship squad.
Fran Novak, who ran the 440 and was a member of the Blue Devils mile relay team, is really excited about the team being honored.
“We are absolutely ecstatic,” Novak said. “We worked so hard in high school and we trained hard, we wanted to be excellent and we worked at it and we had no home track, no cinders to run on and we didn’t know how far we were running, it’s pretty hard to train in those circumstances. We were somewhat gifted and our work ethic was excellent and we had a great group of guys.”
The Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame banquet will be held at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, June 23, at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus. Tickets are available on the website: www.fayettecountysportshalloffame.com or by phoning 724-430-4100, ext. 4886. There will be a Hall of Fame golf outing at 9 a.m. on June 22 at the Uniontown Country Club.