Inductees

Played in Majors from High School – pitched for New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox and Washington Senators – 1946 won 11 lost 3 – Berks County Outstanding Athlete. Currently, Major League Scout.

Graduated Williamsport High School, 1935. Letters – football, basketball, track. Football scholarship University of Pittsburgh. Member of Pitt’s famous “Dream-Backfield” 1938. Hearst All-American Team 1938. Rose Bowl 1937; East-West Game, 1939. All-Star Game 1939. Assistant Coach University Florida 1939-40. Assistant Coach University Pittsburgh 1941-42. Enlisted U. S. Navy 1942. Honorable. Discharge, Lt. Senior Grade 1946.

Started professional baseball 1937 as an outfielder; 1938 batting average, .366 with Dayton (Mid-Atlantic League). 1939 Eastern League. Batting Champion – .336 – 1943 leading RBI, International League, (Baltimore). Signed with Philadelphia Athletics 1944. U. S. Marines 1944-45. Baltimore Orioles 1946-47. Lifetime, batting average .308. Managed in Philadelphia Athletics Farm System 1945-53. Baltimore Farm System 1954-61. First Base Coach Baltimore Orioles 1963-75. Coached in three World Series, 1969-70-71.

One of top five All-Time Philadelphia Basketball Greats; 1935 South Philadelphia High All-Public; 1936 South High All-Scholastic (City Champs) ; 1937-38 Brown Prep, Glens Falls, N. Y., New York Championship; 1939-40 Mighty-Mites St. Joe College; 1940 Eddie Gottlieb’s SPHAS; 1946-47 Gottlieb’s Philadelphia Warriors, Pro-Basketball Champions. At every level, Petey was a starter and a star and ranks with Gola, Guokas and Chamberlin.

All-Time, Philadelphia Eagles Halfback. World Champion Teams 1948-1949 with Van Buren, Muha, Thompson. 16 letter High School. All Time Virginia Military Institute Football. Virginia Sports Hall of Fame 1977. Pro Stats: Rushing 4.4 yards, receiving 15.6; punt returns 11.3; Kick-Off returns 22.9; Longest Pro Touchdown from scrimmage 77 yards in 1949. Broadcast Eagle, Pennsylvania, Villanova, Princeton Football Games.

Ralph “Lefty” Mellix was a left-handed pitcher most prominently between 1921 and 1957 with Negro League teams that included the Newark Dodgers and Homestead Grays. By his account, Ralph “Lefty” Mellix pitched in more than 1,500 games and threw nine no-hitters. A legendary semi-pro hurler in the Pittsburgh area, Mellix was full of “exuberance, wit and joviality” and used “a mixture of grimaces, one-liners and fine pitching” to entertain the crowd.

Part of his act was bragging, and with spotty newspaper coverage of his career, it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. But surviving box scores prove some of the folklore. “His record of durability is nothing less than amazing,” said the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Ralph attended Margaretta Elementary School and Peabody High School in Pittsburgh. A city directory indicates that he worked as a waiter in 1915. The following year, he was temporarily blinded by acid burns suffered while working for the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, yet it seems he continued there, because the 1920 US Census reports his occupation as “laborer, electric company.”

Mellix married Caroline Cornelia Dodson, and they had two sons: Ralph, born in 1919, and Henry, born in 1921. He measured 5-feet-10 and 170 pounds, and was both a left-handed pitcher and a left-handed batter, according to historian James A. Riley. Another source gives Mellix’s playing weight as 150 pounds. His pitching motion was elaborate. He turned his body like a corkscrew, briefly showing his back to the batter, while rotating his pitching arm like a windmill. He said his best pitch was his slider, which he called a drop ball. The ageless Mellix continued to pitch for the 18th Warders in his fifties. He “has the fire and dash of a man of 25 and looks no older,” wrote one reporter. On June 5, 1951, Mellix struck out 16 batters in a seven-inning, two-hit shutout of Neville-Corry. And on September 9, 1953, his five-hit shutout of the Sheraden Cadets made the 18th Warders champions of Pittsburgh’s South Hills League for the first time in 10 seasons. Finally, in a performance worthy of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, Mellix, at the age of 60, pitched a seven-inning, two-hit shutout on July 11, 1957, to beat the first-place Allegheny Moose of the South Hills League.

To what did he attribute his longevity? “I’m just a clean-living man,” he said. “Oh, I take a smoke or a drink now and then, but only now and then. Course, I chew when I’m pitching.” Mellix retired after the 1957 season, and in his retirement, he regaled sportswriters with stories from his long career. Mellix was a “$35,000 pitcher,” he said, because he earned $1,000 per year for 35 years. Mellix was given a free pass to attend Pittsburgh Pirates games, and Willie Stargell was his favorite player. He chuckled whenever sportswriters referred to Stargell as old; on the Mellix scale, the 40-year-old “Pops” Stargell was a youngster. And Mellix had these words of advice for the Pirates relief pitchers: Throw strikes! “I don’t care if the bases are loaded — you got to challenge the batter and get him out of there!” Mellix, the “Granddaddy of the Sandlots,” died of a heart attack on March 23, 1985, in Pittsburgh and was buried at the Homewood Cemetery. He was one of a kind.

Punxsutawney High Star, 1923 Pitt Football Captain; Jeannette High School Football, Basketball Coach; Head Basketball Coach – Colgate and Amherst; Head Football Coach – Amherst and Harvard. Southern Conference Commissioner; President American Football Coaches Association; Inducted into National College Football Hall of Fame. Played Pro Basketball.

Stan Javie spent 30 years as a National Football League Official; retiring after the 1980 Pro-Bowl Game. He worked four Super Bowl Games and appeared in post-season games for 24 consecutive years. Stan left the game on top, having the acceptance and respect of the coaches and players throughout the League.

American League Umpire, 25 years. Umpired six All-Star Games and six WorId Series, setting a record of umpiring 42 WorId Series Games. Outfielder for International League Baltimore Orioles. Enshrined in Temple University Hall of Fame as fullback and outfielder. John Hopkins University Coach. Lite Beer commercials with Boog Powell – “Hey youre Boog Powell.”

Jack Ernst starred at quarterback at Lafayette College for four years, 1921-24. He then quarterbacked the “Pottsville Maroons” to the N. F. L. Championship in 1925. He spent three years at Pottsville, then on to Boston and the Frankfort Yellow Jackets. He also coached football at Oberlin, Grove City and West Chester State College.

Baseball Scout 42 years, six Major League Clubs, presently Milwaukee Brewers; Basketball Scout 11 years, presently Philadelphia 76ers; NBA. Supervisor of Officials seven years; High School Baseball, Basketball Coach, three Pennsylvania State Catholic and two Delaware State Catholic Basketball Championships; Baseball, Basketball Great, St. Joseph’s Prep., St. Joseph’s College; St. Joseph’s University Hall of Fame.

35 years of competitive rifle and pistol competition. Consistant winner local, state regional and national. Won hundreds of medals and trophies; participated in national matches, Camp Perry, Ohio, 1935-1966. Topped a field of more than 2100 of the nation’s finest to win the National Bolt Rifle Championship 1957-1958-1959. Record in 1958 scored 149×150 – record in 1959 495×500.

Three letter athlete Pottstown High 1955; Baseball, won 48 straight. Enshrined at Cooperstown. West Chester State 1959. 25 years professional baseball, player, coach, manager. Minor League Player of Year 1961, Louisville. Played with Milwaukee and Phillies in Major Leagues. Three times Eastern League, All-Star – broke Drysdale’s consecutive scoreless inning record. Director Phillies Farm System 1980. 1981, Director Training – Kansas City Royals.

Two time Harrisburg Champion. Competed as a Pro in LPGA, playing from the Doral Country Club, Florida. Became President of LPGA. Retired as President and active player and devoted her time to promoting the Avon Tennis and Lady Keystone Open Golf Tournaments at Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Most interceptions lifetime, 79. Most yards gained on interceptions, 1282. Most punts returned 258. Most yards gained – punt returns 2209. Named to Pro-Bowl 1951, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 60. All-Pro 1951, 52, 55 and 56. 1952 gained 924 yards as Defensive Back. Pro-Hall of Fame 1962. Most consecutive games 158. All-American Iowa University. Holder of six N. F. L. Records. Died July 26, 1975.

Won more than 300 featured competitions 1959-1978; Modified Champion 1959 and 1960; Super Modified Championship titles 1963 and 1964; Modified Stock Car Championships 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1975; captured world’s largest modified stock car title, 1975; winner of Tony Hulman Classic 1978; builder and innovator of automobile racing equipment.

Attended Penn State 1941, Service World War II, 1942-45. Returned 1946-47. Played on Cotton Bowl Undefeated Team – Outstanding Lineman 1948-49. Played with Pittsburgh Stee lers. Coached High School at Waynesboro and Kingston. Sons, Larry, Paul and Matt played for Penn State. Was a Salesman for Jewelry and Yearbooks for High Schools. Died on his 55th birthday. His wife is the daughter of Penn State Coach Bob Higgins. Inducted into West Branch Valley Chapter Hall of Fame 1980.