Frank “Dabby” Niglio
It is with great sadness that we remember Frank “Dabby” Niglio, who passed away on February 20, 2025.
Frank was a member of the Ed Romance Chapter of the PA State Sports Hall of Fame and was a chapter inductee in 1985. He served as Chapter President from 1999 to 2024 and worked tirelessly to support local athletes. He was named the first President Emeritus of the Ed Romance Chapter by the Board of Directors in January 2024.
Frank was one of Mount Carmel Area’s most accomplished sports figures. “Dabby” then matriculated to South Dakota’s Yankton College, where he played alongside the likes of NFL lineman Lyle Alzado. He led the team in receptions for two years and was an All-Conference Selection in 1970 and selected to play in the Copper Bowl. After graduating from college, he returned to Pennsylvania to teach Physical Education and Health at North Schuylkill High School, Fountain Springs, until his retirement in 2005. He also was a licensed PIAA Basketball Official.
He was most proud of his family that includes daughter Tara (Dave Michaels) and Cassandra Niglio and grandkids, Chloe, Cameron, Quintin, Cortland, and future son-in-law Jay Stellar.
Tom Harlan
It is with deepest sympathy that we share the passing of Tom Harlan, a dedicated leader and longtime advocate of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. Tom served as the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame’s President and General Counsel totaling over 40 years, leaving a lasting impact on our organization and the Pennsylvania sports community.
Tom passed away on February 8, 2025, with his family by his side. His unwavering commitment, leadership, and passion for honoring Pennsylvania’s greatest athletes and contributors will always be remembered.
We extend our heartfelt condolences to Tom’s family during this difficult time. May his soul, along with all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
William “Billy” Sheridan
College wrestling was just beginning in Philadelphia. Unbeknown to those initial college grapplers, thousands of miles away a teenager in Scotland was winning wrestling championships throughout the land. This young man – then known as Willie Sheridan – would come to have a major impact on college wrestling and the development of high school wrestling in the Lehigh Valley.
Sheridan, a native of Dumbarton, Scotland, was born in 1885 and started his wrestling career in 1903. His brother also wrestled. He won the 9 stone 7- pound amateur wrestling championship of Scotland from 1903 through 1908. He wrestled “all the best men in Scotland 10 stone and under and never met defeat.” Overall, he won dozens of titles.
Around this time, he was working for Singer Sewing Machine in Glasgow. He wanted to go to Canada where his sister lived, and Singer transferred him there. He set sail in April 1908. Two years later, not favoring the cold weather of Canada, Sheridan requested a transfer to a new Singer plant opening in Philadelphia, PA. Upon starting his new job as he walked to and from his work, he passed the University of Pennsylvania gymnasium each day. Billy would stop in and show the wrestlers holds and at some point ended up on the mat, pinned half of the University of Penn team and was immediately hired as coach. One year later, Sheridan was hired as the head wrestling coach at Lehigh University, a post he would hold for an incredible forty-one years. During his tenure as head coach at Lehigh, Billy Sheridan won 223 duals, thirteen EIWA team championships, and he coached five national championships.
He established a wrestling tradition at Lehigh University that still burns brightly over 107 years after he first coached. Many Lehigh Valley adults and young future wrestlers (and future coaches) got their first exposure to wrestling due to Coach Sheridan’s and Lehigh’s success in those early years when wrestling was not well known. According to his son, Larry, Billy was “the pied piper of wrestling” right from the start.