Inductees

Gibson played for the Homestead Grays from 1930 to 1931, moved to the Pittsburgh Crawfords from1932 to 1936, and returned to the Grays from 1937 to 1939 and 1942 to 1946. Internationally he played a year in the Dominican League and two years in the Mexican League.
Josh was the first manager of the Santurce Crabbers, a historic Franchise in the Puerto Rico League.
Gibson never played in the major leagues because of the unwritten “gentlemen’s agreement” that prevented non-white players from playing. He stood 6 foot-1 and weighed 210 pounds at the peak of his career. Baseball historians consider Gibson to be among the very best power hitters and power catchers in baseball history. In 1972, he became the second Negro League player to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

“The Pittsburgh Windmill” as he is known in the trade was widely regarded by many boxing historians as one of the best pound- for-pound boxers of all time. He was the American heavyweight champion from 1922 to1923 and world middleweight champion from 1923 to 1926. He fought a record 298 times in his 13 year career. He fought against the best opposition the talent rich 1910s and 1920s could provide him, including light heavyweights and even heavyweights. Greb, had a very aggressive, fast moving style of fighting and would bury an opponent with a blizzard of punches. At the time of this writing, Greb was considered one of the best fighters of all time, 9th by BoxRec, and was named the 7thgreatest fighter of all time by Ring Magazine,

Francis better known as Red because of his red hair and freckles. He was the water boy at Penn from the age of 12 until he became a student in 1945. Before entering Penn, Red was a two-sports letter Winner at West Catholic High School and led his school to Catholic League football championship in 1944 and 1945. He was named the outstanding Football player in Philadelphia in 1945. Red also became an All-American football player and team captain his senior season in college and became only the fifth player in school history to win nine letters. He was a starting guard on the basketball team, an out-fielder on the baseball team. He was an All-American tailback at the University of Pennsylvania graduating in 1951. He won the Maxwell Trophy and was runner up
for the Heisman. After graduation, Red served four years as a naval officer. Returning to Philadelphia he became a broker and very Active in community affairs. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1977.

Henie was a Consensus All- American at Rutgers In 1924 when he led the East in scoring with 100 points. Also 2nd Team All-American in Lacrosse in 1925. He ran for 2,124 yards during his career at Rutgers. He played in the NFL for three different teams from 1925 -1929.

Blinco began his hockey career with the Cresent Athletic Club in Brooklyn. NY. He spent the next six years with the Hershey Bears. He was the team’s star player and captain, and then Become part of the managerial team running the then year-old Hershey Bears. He quickly became general manager of the Hershey Bears and the Arena, a position he held until 1968.
In 1963 another title was added to his position. Blinco became the general manager of Hershey Park.

Tom was a star defensive back who helped lead the Philadelphia Eagles to the 1960 National Football
League Championship. He joined the Eagles in1953 out of the University of Colorado. In training camp, he made an impression on coach Joe Trimble by knocking out the Eagles receiver their, #1 draft pick. Tom intercepted 8 passes that season and was a key contributer to the Eagles defense. Chuck Bednarik said that Brookshier was one of the toughest defensive backs of our era. He was selected All-Pro and to the Pro Bowl in 1959 and 1960. Playing seven seasons and intercepting 20 passes, his No. 40 jersey was retired. His playing career, interrupted by two-years in the Air Force, ended After he broke his leg in a game against the Bears in 1961. He began his broadcasting career with WCAU in Philadelphia and later teamed with Pat Summerall as CBS’s No.1 professional football broadcasting duo, working three Super Bowls together.

Just two days before the men’s figure skating free skate in the Moritz 1948 Olympic Winter Games. Dick Buttons successfully landed a double axel in practice. Forty- eight hours later with the bright lights shining, the eighteen-year-old Button was not about to back down; he became the first skater to land a double axel in competition, propelling him to become the first American man to win a gold medal in figure skating singles.
Four years later, at the Oslo 1952 Olympics Winter Games Button took things one rotation further – as he became the Skater to land a triple jump in competition. The judges, Unanimously, voted him the gold medal.
In addition to Olympic gold, he took home five consecutive Gold medals from the World Championship.

Paul Costello was an American Triple Olympic Gold medal winning in rowing. He was the first rower to win a gold medal in the same event, double sculls at three consecutive Olympics. He also won numerous national tiles in the single and double sculls in the 1920s. Costello won the double sculls face with his cousin John B. Kelly, also known as Jack, at the 1920 Olympics at Anttwerp, Belgium and the 1924 Olympics in Paris. France. He repeated his winning ways at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands with new partner Charles McIlvaine. Historically Costello has been overshadowed by Kelly who was also a triple Olympic gold medalist. Member United States Rowing Hall of Fame, double sculls.

Crowley’s early fame came as a one-fourth of the University of Notre Dame’s legendary “Four Horsemen” backfield where he played halfback from 1922 – 1924. After a brief period as a professional football player, he turned to coaching. He served as the head coach at Michigan State College from 1929 to 1932. Fordham University from 1933 to 1941 and at the North Carolina Pre-Flight School in 1942 compiling a career college coaching record of 86-23-11 He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1966.

Elroy Face was born on February 20, 1928 and was a big-league relief pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1955-1968). A pioneer of modern relief pitching, he was the archetype of what came to be known as the closer, and the National League's greatest reliever until the late 1960s, setting numerous league records during his career. Face was a six-time All Star. He used the “forkball,” one the rarest pitches in baseball. The forkball is known for its severe downward break as it approaches the plate. Because of the torque involved with snapping off a forkball, it can be one of the more taxing pitches to throw.
Face was the first major leaguer to save 20 games more than once, leading the league three times and finishing second three times. In 1959 he set the still-standing major league record for winning percentage (.947), and single-season wins in relief, with 18 wins against only one loss. He held the NL record for career games pitched (846) from 1967 until 1986, and the league record for career saves (193) from 1962 until 1982. Face still holds the NL record for career wins in relief (96), and he held the league mark for career innings pitched in relief (1,211⅓) until 1983. On his retirement, he ranked third in major league history in pitching appearances, behind only Hoyt Wilhelm and Cy Young, and second in saves behind Wilhelm. Nicknamed "The Baron," because of his command performances, “Little Elroy,” 5’8,” holds the Pirates franchise records for career games (802) and saves (188). During his baseball career, Face, in keeping with a family tradition extending back two generations, worked as a carpenter during the off-season. Following his retirement, this became his full-time occupation, and beginning in 1979, Face served as the carpentry foreman at Mayview State Hospital until his retirement in 1990.

After a long tenure as an assistant football coach James was named head coach and compiled a 14-year record at Cornell of 66-58-2 with four of his teams figuring in unofficial Ivy Titles. Cornell topped the circuit in 1948, ’49, ’53 and ’54. From 1948 through 1951 his Big Red teams won 29 of 36 games with an 8-1 mark in both 1948 and 1949. Other highlights were three straight triumphs over Princeton and a 20-7 Victory over Michigan, Big Ten champions and a Rose Bowl winner the year before. Coach James was a graduate of Bucknell University and was Inducted into the Bisons’ Hall of Fame as a football player.

Ralph Kiner (October 27, 1922 – February 6, 2014) was a big-league player (1946-1955) and broadcaster (1961-2013). An outfielder, Kiner played for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1946-1953), Chicago Cubs, and Cleveland Indians. Following his retirement, Kiner served from 1956 through 1960 as general manager of the Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres. He also served as an announcer for the New York Mets from the team's inception in 1962 until the year before his death. Though injuries forced his retirement from active play after ten seasons, Kiner's tremendous slugging outpaced all of his National League contemporaries between the years 1946 and 1952. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975 with just over the necessary 75% on the 13th ballot. Many of Kiner's homers were hit into a shortened left-field and left-center-field porch at Forbes Field (originally built for Hank Greenberg and known in the press as "Greenberg Gardens"); the porch was retained for Kiner and redubbed "Kiner's Korner". Kiner would later use "Kiner's Korner" as the title of his post-game TV show on WOR-TV for the New York Mets. Kiner hit 369 home runs in his career. He was an All Star from 1948 through 1953. Greenberg tutored Kiner on the fine art of hitting home runs in the year they played together in 1947. Pirate left fielder Jim Russell was moved to center field in 1947 because, as Russell observed, both Kiner and Greenberg were “tanks’ in the outfield. Kiner was a fan favorite on some very bad Pirate teams in the early 1950s. Due to continued salary disputes with Pirate general manager Branch Rickey, Kiner was told, "We finished last with you, we can finish last without you." By 1953 Kiner, was in a Cubs uniform.

John attended the University of Pittsburgh where he Started for three seasons, playing on Jock Sutherland’s national championship teams in 1936 and 1937. He was team captain in 1937. After his college career he and Sutherland continued their relationship as a player and coach in the football Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Steelers until Sutherland’s death in 1948. Michelosen was the backfield coach on the 1946 and 1947 Pittsburgh Steelers coaching staff. He served as the Steelers head coach from 1948 to 1951, compiling a record of 20-26-2. From 1955 to 1965 he was the head football coach at the University of Pittsburgh tallying a 56-49-7 record.

George Newmaster was considered one of the country’s greatest trap shooters. He excelled at every shoot he entered. A typical report of George’s skill set was recorded in this article. “George Newmaster, Lebanon’s outstanding trap shooter, shared the spot light yesterday in the Pennsylvania State target shoot at Shamokin on Friday.
Competing in the individual class shooting, the Lebanon crack shot topped a field of 89 Class A shooters to win one of eight titles decided at yesterday’s firing.”