Huey headlines latest Uniontown Hall of Fame

It has been quite a year for Gene Huey. He was inducted into the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame in June and he headlines the third class of the Uniontown Area High School Academics, Arts and Athletics Hall of Fame is set for induction the weekend of Sept. 11-12.
A class consisting of 14 individuals and one team will be enshrined. The 2015 class will be honored before the Uniontown-Ringgold football game on Sept. 11. The class will be inducted Sept. 12 at a 10 AM Induction Ceremony/Breakfast at the Uniontown High School Cafeteria.
Huey heads the 2015 Class of athletics inductees. Huey was an all-around athlete at Uniontown, playing football and basketball and running track. He played on the Raiders 1964 State Championship basketball team.
He spent 19 seasons as running backs coach for the Indianapolis Colts, the most for an assistant in franchise history.
Huey coached 304 games with the Colts, also the most for an assistant in franchise history. In the last two decades, he has worked with 1,000-yard rushers and Pro Bowl running backs such as Edgerrin James — the franchise’s all-time leading rusher — Marshall Faulk and Joseph Addai. Each of those players made the Pro Bowl with the Colts.
Huey began his coaching career at his alma mater, Wyoming, in 1970 and has had coaching stops at New Mexico, Nebraska, Arizona State, Ohio State and Indianapolis.
“It’s certainly quite an honor to be inducted into those Halls of Fame this year,” Huey said. “I think my wife is looking at me when I told her I was going to be inducted into the high school Hall of Fame and she gave me a look like get over it. I think she thinks I’m getting a big head about all this attention, but I’m very proud and pleased to be inducted into this class. There are certainly a lot of great people in academics, arts and athletics that have preceded me and more to come. I’m very appreciative of the fact that I’m being inducted.”
Huey says Uniontown is a very special place.
“There is no place like home,” Huey stated. “We are very prideful about where we came from and what was more important is the area we grew up in was very diverse and maybe you look at life through rose colored glasses. It was the people that made Uniontown what it was at the time in those days.”
The late Ben “Pope” Gregory class of 1964 is part of this years Hall of Fame class. Gregory was an outstanding athlete in football, basketball and track for the Red Raiders in the 1960’s. He was on the undefeated 1962 Red Raider football team that captured the WPIAL title. He was a part of two WPIAL Championship and two PIAA championship teams in basketball in 1962 and 1964.
Gregory fashioned a fine career at Nebraska starting out as an outside linebacker/running back and then becoming primarily a fullback for the Cornhuskers. He was on two bowl teams. Gregory was a two-time All Big Eight Conference selection. His pro career with the Buffalo Bills was cut short by a knee injury after he played in six games.
Also being inducted is Tom Fee, who is from the class of 1963. Fee excelled at football and basketball for the Red Raiders He was on the 1962 football team that went 10-0 and won the WPIAL Championship. Fee was also a starter on Uniontown’s basketball team that posted a 29-2 record on their way to a state championship in 1962.
Fee played football at the University of Kentucky. He played freshman ball and then started at defensive back in 1964, 1966 and 1967. He was injured and redshirted in 1965.
“I’m very excited,” Fee said. “It was a privilege to play with the guys that I had an opportunity to play with, but to receive this kind of honor is just kind of over the top.”
In the coaches category: The late James “Lash” Nesser, who passed away in 1988. In 1976, Nesser took over the coaching reins at Uniontown High School, where he compiled an 11 year record of 246-64 with a WPIAL championship and a state title in 1981. He is one of the few coaches with a Catholic Championship and a PIAA Championship on his resume. His combined career won-loss total at Uniontown St. John’s and Uniontown is 680-297. Nesser was inducted into the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.
Team Inductee: 1962 WPIAL championship football team. The 1962 Red Raiders posted a record of 10-0 and were awarded the title because they had the highest Gardner Points rating. A 12-0 victory over Johnstown on the road in the rain and mud put the Red Raiders over the top. It was Uniontown’s first WPIAL Class AA football title.
2015 Academics honorees are: Dr Joseph John Jr. (1962), While at Uniontown, Dr. John played football and basketball, and was Valedictorian of his class. He is a graduate of Case Western Reserve Medical School and is an infectious disease specialist.
Dr. Trudy Bush (1966) (deceased 2001), Trudy was a Women’s Health Specialist and one of the foremost authorities on cardiovascular disease in women.
Robert Cenker (1966), Astronaut Robert Cenker is currently an Aerospace Systems Consultant who works with various firms in the areas of spacecraft design, assembly, flight operations, and microgravity research. He was a member of the crew on the Space Shuttle Columbia, Mission 61-C in 1986. Robert flew over 2.1 million miles in 96 Earth orbits during his six-day mission.
The Arts inductees are: Chris Tanner (1989), Chris received his doctorate in Music at WVU. He is the founder and director of the Miami University Steel Band. He has been a professor of Music and an administrator at Miami University since 1996.
Les Jones (1983), Les is a 1987 graduate of Carnegie-Mellon in Graphic design, printmaking, and illustration. He also studied modern dance. Les enjoyed a long career as a computer animation designer for KDKA-TV, the Oprah Winfrey Show in Chicago, and the Today Show in New York. He is currently an associate director of package design and visual merchandising at Estee lauder and Clinique Cosmetics in New York.
Mia Price (1988), Mia is a former actress and dancer and former member of the famous Rockettes. She has toured throughout the U.S. and internationally as well. She has appeared on Broadway, in movies, theatre, musicals, and on TV.
Inducted in the Special Recognition categories are:
EDUCATOR: Margaret A. Emelson, she was an English, Speech, Drama and Gifted Program educator at Uniontown Area High School for more than thirty years, beginning in 1966.
ADMINISTRATOR: Dr. Charles Machesky (1971, Dr Machesky is the Superintendent of the Uniontown Area School District.
VOCATIONAL TECHNICAL: Ron Kilgore (1976), Ron is currently the Machining Center Product General Manager at Doosan Infracore, the 4th largest machine tool builder in the world.
SPECIAL RECOGNITION: Disey Simon (1934) (deceased-1973). He was one of the districts best known sports officials and educators.
Former Uniontown football player Anthony Mercadante, the driving force behind the Uniontown High School Academics, Arts and Athletics Hall of Fame.
“It’s surprising how fast it has grown and how everybody looks forward to it,” Mercadante stated. “I think we’re the only Hall of Fame that covers the athletics, the arts and the academics. We try to spread it out over the whole school system.”
Tickets for the 2015 Uniontown Area High School Academics, Arts and Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony/Breakfast are $20 and can be purchased by phoning Anthony Mercadante at 724-430-0662. Also tickets can be purchased at the door.
George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” column appears in Monday editions of the Herald-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.