Inductees

(February 24, 1874 – December 6, 1955), Nicknamed “Hans,” has the distinction of having the most expensive baseball card on the market – a T206 1909-11 by Sweet Caporal cigarettes. Wagner was also nicknamed “The Flying Dutchman” due to his superb speed and German heritage. Perhaps the greatest right-handed hitter he had remarkably long arms. The greatest shortstop of MLB’s All Century Team, Wagner was also one of the greatest hitters of the century with a .329 batting average, 3,430 hits and all in the dead-ball era. His big-league career (1897-1917) started with the Louisville Colonels and with the Pittsburgh Pirates when they obtained his contract in 1900. In 1917 he played and managed the Pirates for the last five games of the season in 1917. His phenomenal career included eight National League batting titles (1900, 03, 04,06-09, 11), five-time RBI leader (1901,02,04,07,08), and five-time stolen base leader (1901,02,04,07,08).

Honus was one of the original five induction members to the Baseball of Fame in 1936. He was a hitting coach for the Pirates from 1933 through 1952 and a beloved ambassador of the game. Wagner coached baseball and basketball at Carnegie Institute of Technology. Two biographies of Wagner are worthy for review: Honus Wagner: On His Life and Baseball by William Cobb (2006) and Honus Wagner A Biography by Dennis and Jeanne DeValeria (1998). According to Hall of Famer John McGraw, "It's too bad the present generation really has no adequate picture of Wagner, no complete impression of his greatness and genius."

(April 16, 1903 – August 29, 1965) Paul was nicknamed “Big Poison” was a right fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1926 through 1940 and with the Braves, Dodgers and Yankees to conclude his Hall of Fame career in 1945. A four time All Star (1933-35, 1937) and prolific hitter winning three National League batting championships collecting 3,152 career hits. Waner (3,152) and his younger brother, Lloyd (2,459), hold the career record for hits by brothers (5,611), outpacing the three Alou brothers (5,094): Felipe (2,101), Matty (1,777) and Jesús (1,216), and the three DiMaggio brothers (4,853): Joe (2,214), Dom (1,680) and Vince (959). For most of the period from 1927 to 1940, Paul patrolled right field at Forbes Field while Lloyd covered the ground next to him in center field. On September 15, 1938, the brothers hit back-to-back home runs against Cliff Melton of the New York Giants. The origin of the nicknames "Big Poison" and "Little Poison" that were given to Paul and his younger brother Lloyd, respectively, is from a game at the Polo Grounds during the 1927 season when a fan pronounced "person" as "poison" as he called out to the brothers. Paul was a finalist for the MLB All Century Team. An interesting sidenote on Waner was his astigmatism; he did not like wearing glasses on the field as it made the ball appear smaller and in focus, but without glasses the ball looked grapefruit sized. With the larger apparent size of the baseball, he was able to hit the center more often.

(March 13, 1908 – December 2, 2002) was an American decathlete. He competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics and won the James E. Sullivan Award in 1931. Barney Berlinger was a multi-sport athlete in high school, attending William Penn Charter School and later Mercersburg Academy. In addition to competing in many track and field events, he played both football and basketball and dabbled in wrestling, boxing and baseball. At the University of Pennsylvania, however, coached by Lawson Robertson, he started focusing on track and field and especially decathlon. Berlinger won the first of three consecutive Penn Relays decathlons in 1929- his achievement being recognized by the decathlon trophy being retired. He broke the meeting record on each of those occasions; in 1930 he scored 7460 points, his new personal best. Later that year he became national champion in the non-Olympic pentathlon.

He was born in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania on October 24, 1893 to Anna Leah Hengst and Henry Abraham Benfer, a prominent Evangelical minister. Benfer became a five-sport star athlete at William Penn High School. He became the first York County basketball player to score 1,000 points in basketball. After graduating from York High School, Benfer enrolled at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania. At Albright, he played football, basketball and baseball. He played fullback for the football team and was selected as a first-team All-American fullback in 1914 by the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. He was also named Albright College's "Athlete of the Century" in 1956. Benfer later worked as a teacher, coach, and administrator for 50 years. He also played baseball for St. Louis Cardinals' farm teams for two summers.[6] He was the basketball and baseball coach at Bucknell University from 1918 to 1919. He then returned to Albright College where he served as the athletic director and taught Latin and history until 1925. From 1925 to 1965, he worked at Muhlenberg College as a teacher of religion and a coach of football, basketball and baseball

Dimperio was born in 1905 in Pittsburgh, where he attended Fifth Avenue High School. He earned a bachelor's degree from Thiel College in Greenville and a master's degree in physician education from Springfield University in Illinois. He and his wife, Adeline, also had a daughter, Peggy. From 1946 to 1966, Dimperio had a record of 118 wins and five losses, and he took his foootball team to the City of Pittsburgh championship 21 years in a row and at the time was one of the most successful high school football coaches in America.

Charles "Rip" Engle was a football player and coach of football and basketball. He served as the head football coach at Brown University from 1944 to 1949 and at Pennsylvania State University from 1950 to 1966, compiling a career college football record of 132–68–8. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1973.

Engle's coaching record from 1944 to 1965, including stints at Brown University and Penn State, was 132–68–8. Under the leadership of Engle at Brown, Joe Paterno developed as a capable quarterback and a skillful leader. After graduating in 1950, Paterno joined Engle at Penn State as an assistant coach. Upon Engle's retirement in February 1966, Paterno was named coach of the Nittany Lions for the 1966 season, a position he would hold until 2011.

Engle's best season at Penn State was in 1962 when the Lions went 9–2, were ranked ninth in the country, and played in the Gator Bowl. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1973.

Stuart K. Holcomb (September 11, 1910 – January 11, 1977) was an American football and basketball coach from Erie, Pennsylvania who served as head football coach for Miami University (1942–1943) and Purdue University (1947–1955). He was a starting halfback at Ohio State University and the captain of the 1931 Buckeyes football team before he moved on to coaching. Prior to arriving at Miami, Holcomb was the head football coach at three smaller schools: the University of Findlay (1932–1935), Muskingum College (1936–1940), and Washington & Jefferson College (1941). He also served as the head basketball coach at University of Findlay for four seasons, 1932–33 thru 1935–36,[1] and at the United States Military Academy from 1945 to 1947. After retiring from coaching, Holcomb was the athletic director at Northwestern University (1956–1966) and later the general manager of Major League Baseball's Chicago White Sox (1971–1973).

A Native of Syracuse, New York, Charley was an exceptional Shooter. Scoring a then outstanding 880 points throughout his career at the University of Pittsburgh. He was named an All- American three consecutive years and was the Helms Foundation Player- of-the-Year in 1930. The year he led the nation with a 12.6 points per game average.

Delvin Glenn "Del" Miller was a driver, trainer and owner in the sport of harness racing as well as an important breeder after acquiring Adios to stand at his Meadow Lands Farm in Meadow Lands, Pennsylvania. During a career that spanned eight decades, Miller won major races in the United States as well as in France.
He won $11 million and won 2,442 races.

Townsend helped begin the U.S. Field Hockey Association and her reign as the captain of the U.S. field hockey team ran from 1924-38. She began at University of Pennsylvania and helped start their field hockey program. She was named an All-American in field hockey in 1923. She played in two World Cups as part of the U.S. Field Hockey team and toured Holland and Germany. Townsend served as the president of the United States Field Hockey Association from 1928-32, was the president of the Philadelphia Field Hockey Association and was the secretary of the International Federation of Hockey Associations from 1927-32. She was also a state champion in tennis and squash and captained the Middle States Sears Cup team in Eastern tournaments. Townsend represented the Merion Cricket Club in both sports. At 36, she remained the only undefeated member of the Cricket Club's squash team. Over 20 years later, at age 57, she won the U.S. Senior Women's Doubles title in squash.

Van Buren was a halfback for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1944 to 1951. Through eight NFL seasons he won four league rushing titles, including three straight from 1947 to 1949. At a time when teams played twelve games a year, he was the first NFL player to rush for over ten touchdowns in a season which he achieved three times. He was on the Championship Teams of 1948 and 1949 and scored the only TD of the 1948 game. He has been inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame, Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame, and the Louisiana State University Athletic Hall of Fame, and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.