Fayette Hall of Fame banquet has a little bit of everything
The 10th Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame banquet had a little bit of everything on Saturday evening, from proud commentary to interesting facts, to emotional displays to humorous moments.
Through it all, though, perhaps Hall of Fame Co-Founder and Co-Executive Chair George Von Benko put it best as he described the annual event as “a great weekend to celebrate the rich sports history of Fayette County.”
The 10th class certainly proved to be a strong and unique one as 10 members and two teams were added to the prestigious club.
Don Law, Joe Hrezo, Jim Hobgood, Ray Parson, Jack Buehner, Beth Swink, the late Henry DiVirgilio, the late Dave Shuck, Kristi Leskinen, Hal Weightman, the 1974 German Township basketball team and the 1991 Connellsville football team each had their moments in the spotlight at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.
Don Law
Von Benko spoke for Law, a four-sport star at Brownsville in the 1960s who went on to be an All-Big 10 football player at Michigan State. Law, 70, who also starred in baseball, basketball and track for the Falcons, was in attendance but was not feeling well at the time of the inductions.
“He was a solid contributor to the Spartans in 1967, 1968 and 1969,” Von Benko said of Law. “In fact, the coaching staff at Michigan State admired Law so much that he inherited two-time All-American Bubba Smith’s No. 95. He was the last player to wear that number. It has since been retired.”
Joe Hrezo
Hrezo, 76, was on most known as a great football player at Uninotown but also was on the wrestling and track teams. He went on to star in football at Maryland.
Hrezo played under legendary Uniontown coach Bill Power and shared one of his favorite sayings.
“The one thing I took from coach Power is a quote … ‘If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you’re right,'” Hrezo said. “And I think that applies to just about anything we do today.”
Hrezo served in the Air Force and told the harrowing story of how he was working for World Airways on the last flight out of Da Nang in Vietnam on a 727 in which they picked up about 300 people, but with the plane being followed by people and other vehicles, he had to climb back up the ramp while the plane was moving and eventually lifting off.
“Maybe thanks to the athletics at Maryland and Uniontown, I got on the airplane,” said Hrezo, who pointed out a video of the event could be found on You Tube (“The Last Flight From Da Nang, Vietnam 1975”).
Ray Parson
The 71-year-old Parson, known as “The Bull,” started on Uniontown’s state championship basketball team in 1964 and played tight end on the Red Raiders’ 1965 WPIAL championship football team. He received NCAA Division-1 college offers in basketball and football, eventually choosing the latter and went on to star for Minnesota in college and play for the Detroit Lions in the NFL.
“It’s good to be back home again,” said Parson, who lives in Minnesota. “It’s always a glorious time when I come back and see everybody and go out and have a few drinks.”
Parson talked about playing basketball at the East End playground and also looked back to his beginnings as an athlete.
“My uncle Reggie McLee, he threw me my first football at age five,” Parson said. “He taught me to keep my hands out in front of me and catch the ball away from my body. I never forgot that. And he told me eight words that really resonated with me … You be the best you can be always. Small words. Big meaning. I loved that guy to the moon and back.”
Jim Hobgood
Hobgood was a key member of Laurel Highlands’ 1968 state championship basketball team who went on to score 738 career points for the Virginia Cavallers, helping to turn that program around. Hobgood went into broadcasting and has been a longtime color commentator for Virginia.
“The individual that deserves more thanks than anybody else is Horse Taylor,” Hobgood said of the late LH basketball coach. “Horse was a terrific basketball coach, but an even better person. … Our coaches almost become an additional father, and certainly Horse Taylor was that to me.”
Hobgood commended LH teammate Wil Robinson, as well as Jeff Collier and Gus Gerard, who also was a teammate at Virginia.
“Last but not least,” Hobgood said, “George Von Benko, Rick Hauger, Jack Beuhner … these guys have been friends for 50 years. We used to have a lot of fun together. We’d play two-on-two baseball, two-on-two basketball. I think all of us as we age, it’s the relationships that really matter.”
Jack Buehner
Buehner, 64, nicknamed “Moose,” was a football and basketball star at Laurel Highlands who went on to play football at Penn State. He played linebacker in the 1971 Big 33 game and helped Pennsylvania defeat an Ohio team that featured future two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin of Ohio State, 27-22.
Buehner went on to become a longtime football coach at LH and remains the only coach in school history to guide the Mustangs to three consecutive winning seasons.
Buehner thanked all his coaches and teammates at Laurel Highlands.
“There is an old saying,” said an emotional Buehner. “You might forget all the statistics that you have, you might forget the results of the seasons … but you’ll never, ever forget the people who stood beside you.
“Friends that I had on those teams, to this day we’re still friends. I can count on them.”
Buehner noted his longtime relationship with Rick Hauger and thanked his family, most notably his wife, Mary Jo.
Beth Swink
Swink and Leskinen mark the first time the Fayette Hall has inducted two female athletes in the same year.
Swink excelled in basketball and softball at Connellsville, and also lettered in cross country. She went on to have a stellar basketball career at St. Francis of Loretto, helping the Red Flash reach the NCAA tournament in all four of her years there. She ended her collegiate career as the school’s third all-time leading scorer with 2,127 points.
This is Swink’s fourth hall-of-fame honor. She has also been inducted into the Northeast Conference Hall of Fame, the St. Francis University Athletics Hall of Fame and the Falcon Foundation Hall of Fame at Connellsville High School.
“The Fayette County one is special to me because this is my home and I’m proud to be from this area,” Swink said. “I am just humbled the committee chose me.”
Swink thanked her parents, saying, “They held me to high standards in school and in sports.
“I have to give a special shout out to my dad. He probably still has bruises on his shins from when I was pitching to him.”
Swink urged high school coaches to encourage more students to play more than one sport.
“Being a multi-sport athlete, I think, really set me up for success in college,” Swink said. “I wish more coaches would understand that and work with kids to push them to do multiple sports.”
Kristi Leskinen
Leskinen was a multi-sport athlete at Laurel Highlands, where she participated in swimming, basketball, soccer and track. She also enjoyed wakeboarding and skiing, and eventually made her mark as a trailblazing freestyle skier in a sport that was dominated by males before she arrived on the scene.
Leskinen, who lives in Arizona, has become a household name not only due to her accomplishments as a freestyle skier but for her appearances in national reality competitions such as “The Superstars,” in 2009 when she teamed up with Maksim Chmerkovisky to win first place, and “The Amazing Race,” earlier this year when she teamed up with Jen Hudak to finish in third place.
Leskinen, who now lives in Arizona, lauded her hometown area.
“Looking back, I feel really fortunate to have grown up here in Fayette County,” she said. “From my early memories, I loved playing soccer, swimming, playing basketball and running track and field. I know ultimately wakeboarding and skiing became my life, but growing up here gave me a chance to try them all. Not all kids are so fortunate to come from an area that has all of these different opportunities.
“Sports in Fayette County are accessible. We have great facilities and, as you can tell here tonight, we have some really engaged, really special coaches. When I come home, I often here people say, ‘What are you doing home? There’s not much to do here.’ And I’m always taken aback because, having traveled the world, I don’t think there’s anything further from the truth.
“If I have one message of value here tonight, it’s that besides basketball or baseball or football, and all this great access we have of traditional sports, we have an embarrassment of riches in terms of outdoor recreational opportunities. We have world-class rafting, mountain biking, fantastic hiking, hunting and fishing. We have championship golf courses. And, yes, we even have great skiing.
“We’re all very lucky to call this place home. I encourage everyone here to take advantage of our surroundings, and give you children and grandchildren the same chances, because you never know which one of these activities might change their life forever, just like skiing did for me.”
Henry DiVirgilio
DiVirgilio, known as “The Silver Fox,” guided Frazier to 457 wins, 11 section titles, one WPIAL championship in two final appearances and one PIAA runner-up trophy. The Commodores knocked off previously unbeaten Knoch, 47-41, to win the 1969 WPIAL crown.
DiVirgilio’s daughter, Netty DiVirgilio, spoke on behalf of her father, who died in 2013, and noted her father’s keys to victory: “Play hard. Play Smart. Play as a team. And play defense.
“Dad’s teams were know for their fastbreak, unselfish play, discipline and conditioning. They really could run you off the floor, and they played a suffocating man-to-man defense. They really played in control, and they never quit … just like him.”
She also noted that DiVirgilio was a unique coach in the 1960s because, “He had the courage to play the best players, no matter where they came from, the color of their skin or who they were.”
Dave Shuck
Shuck was an outstanding basketball player and coach. He led his high school team in West Virginia to a state championship and went on to have a successful college career at West Virginia University.
Shuck became an assistant coach at Uniontown under Abe Everhart for 10 years and later took over as head coach, leading the Red Raiders to five section titles, two WPIAL championship games, winning in 2002, and a pair of PIAA finals, while compiling an impressive 228-78 record in 12 years.
Shuck’s wife, Jane, was in attendance, and he was represented by his daughter, Cathy Cimaglia.
“Hall of Fame NBA coach Red Auerbach said, ‘Be and look prepared. Be a man of integrity. Never break your word. Don’t have two sets of standards. Stand up for your players, and show them you care on and off the court.’ When I think of my dad’s coaching career, that quote epitomizes the kind of coach and person he was.”
Cimaglia noted Shuck’s longtime friendship with Weightman, his gratitude to his assistant coaches and his love for his players.
“My dad’s greatest accomplishment, the thing he was most proud of was his players,” she said. “Yeah, he was hard on them. Yes, he pushed them. Yes, they drove him crazy. But everything he did, he did for those boys, to not only make them better basketball players but better people.”
Hal Weightman
Weightman, 81, nicknamed “Father Falcon,” was best known as a great boys basketball coach at Connellsville with 264 career wins, but also was a successful swimming and golfing coach for the Falcons.
Weightman pointed out a distinction Connellsville has.
“It’s the only city in the United States that can boast a Heisman Trophy winner (Johnny Lujack) and an Olympic gold medalist (John Woodruff),” he said. “I’m very proud of that.”
Weightman told a funny tale about one of his swimmers jumping out of the pool very excitedly, even though he had finished in sixth place.
“I was a little upset because I didn’t take losing too well,” Weightman said. “But he said, ‘Coach, I had 20 seconds better on my time than ever before. I beat the clock tonight.’ That gave me a perspective on what athletes are going through. From then on, I understood my athletes a lot better. I firmly believed that if you treat them right, they’ll run through walls for you.”
Weightman thanked Tom Sankovich for helping him out when he first started at Connellsville and assistant coaches Bob McLuckey and Bob Renzi.
“It’s hard to have a career if you don’t have help,” Weightman said.
1974 German Basketball Team
The 1974 German Township squad, coached by Ed Colebank and led by Ralph Still, who averaged 28.1 ppg, and Spencer Epps, is still the only basketball team to win a WPIAL title in the history of the Albert Gallatin School District.
The Uhlans had lost the 1973 WPIAL Class C title game to Edgewood in the final seconds, but showed the resiliency of a true champion by fighting their way back to the final the next season, and then defeated Edgewood in a rematch, 68-58, behind Still’s then-playoff record 40 points.
“No matter if it was game time or after school practice, the enjoyment of playing basketball and their competitive edge to win made coaching this team an honor and joy,” Colebank said. “The belief in playing each second like it was your last was distilled in this 13-man roster.”
1991 Connellsville Football Team
The 1991 Falcons were the best team during one of the best eras of Connellsville football, under coach Dan Spanish.
Connellsville went undefeated during the regular season with six shutouts, winning a key early showdown against Penn-Trafford, 15-14, then topped Penn Hills, 27-14, Mount Lebanon, 7-0, and Upper St. Clair in the WPIAL Quad-A championship game, 27-14. Its only loss came to Erie Cathedral Prep in the PIAA playoffs, 28-21.
“I’m very proud to say I was their head coach, because they deserved what they got,” Spanish said. “They got it by working hard.”
Spanish glowed about the great support the team received from the community, and talked about why his players adopted the team’s nickname, “The Country Boys,” from a Hank Williams Jr. song.
“We’re playing these city schools in Pittsburgh, they think we’re country bumpkins,” Spanish said his players told him. “Like Hank Williams Jr. said, country boys will survive. They did, through all the battles.”
Spanish pointed out the young men he coached on that team remain the same today.
“They’re survivors,” he said. “They’re fighters.”
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Also honored at the banquet were WPIAL and/or PIAA champions from Fayette County during the 2017-18 school year and a group of scholar-athletes from county schools.
WPIAL champions included wrestlers Nate Ansell of Connellsville, Ian Edenfield of Laurel Highlands and Thayne Lawrence of Frazier, who was also a PIAA champion, distance runner Gionna Quarzo of Brownsville, who won the WPIAL and PIAA gold medal in the 3,200, and Brownsville’s baseball team which won the Class AAA title.
Scholar-athletes honored who were in attendance were Ally Bezjak and Tim Wallace of Albert Gallatin, Colton Dellarose and Saralynn Vance of Brownsville, Brooke Miller of Connellsville, JD Celaschi of Frazier, Monica Kolencik of Geibel Catholic, Edenfield and Erica Tarr of Laurel Highlands, and Connor DeMoss and Maeve Carei of Uniontown.
Edenfield and Carei were chosen as the scholar-athletes of the year.
Von Benko also noted that the late Abe Everhart, who guided Uniontown boys basketball to four WPIAL championships and two PIAA titles, is to be inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame on Nov. 3.