For the past 60 years, the Pa Sports Hall of Fame has honored and inducted over 753 incredible men and women who have made a lasting impact in Pennsylvania through extraordinary athletic achievement and contributions. Whether these activities have been achieved on or off the field, we honor them. And through our future virtual museum we will educate and celebrate their achievements for years to come.
PA STATE HALL OF FAME 2023 INDUCTION CEREMONY is Saturday, October 28, 2023
William "Billy" Conn
Deceased
Year Inducted:1966
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In the Heavyweight championship fight for the Title in 1941 Conn, a light-heavyweight, was far ahead of Heavyweight Champion Joe Lewis before being knocked out in the 13th round.
James "Jim" Daniell
Deceased
Year Inducted:1966
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Educated in the Mount Lebanon Public Schools, Kiski Prep School and Ohio State University in 1942. Was the captain of his high school team in 1935, Kiski Prep team in 1937 and Ohio State in 1939,’40.’41. He was named to several All-American Teams, and played in the East-West Shrine Game in 1942. Going in to the Navy, he played for Navy training station team in 1942.
After the service, he joined the Chicago Bears in 1945 and was captain of the first Cleveland Brown team in 1946.
Thomas "Tommy" Davies
Deceased
Year Inducted:1966
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Tommy was an All-American at the University of Pittsburgh in 1918,’20 and ’21 gaining 4,620 yards. Assistant coached at the University of Pennsylvania. Head Coach at Geneva, Allegheny, Rochester University, Scranton University, and Western Reserve.
Charles "Charley" Gelbert
Deceased
Year Inducted:1966
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A native of Amber, Pennsylvania was one of the greatest all-around three letter in Lebanon Valley College history. Considered one of the games best shortstops with the St Louis Cardinals in in the early thirties. A gunshot accident, nearly lost a leg, interrupted his season but he returned to help the Cardinals win the World Series. Name the Most Courageous Athlete by Philadelphia Sports Writers. Long time baseball coach at Lafayette College.
Edward "Eddie" Gottlieb
Deceased
Year Inducted:1966
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Known as Mr. Professional Basketball in Pennsylvania Eddie is responsible for building the game of basketball
to the heights that it has reached today. Former owner-coach of the Philadelphia Warriors and has played a part in the development of the game for over 50 years.
Henry Hinky Haines
Deceased
Year Inducted:1966
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A graduate of Red Lion High School playing basketball, baseball and track. No football at Red Lion at the time. Played football. basketball. baseball and track for two years at Lebanon Valley College and played football, basketball, and baseball for two years at Penn State.
Walter Camp All-American in football and two-time All-American in baseball. Signed with the Yankees
after graduation and played on the 1923 World Series team. Was an assistant football coach with several
teams and signed with the New York Giants in 1925.
Thomas "Tommy" Loughran
Deceased
Year Inducted:1966
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Tommy fought a dozen champions in various classes And held the Light Heavyweight Title from 1927 until
1929. Considered by many as a truly great champion.
George Munger
Deceased
Year Inducted:1966
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Coached the University of Pennsylvania to seven Ivy League Football Championships from 1938 Until he retired in 1953. Considered one of the great leaders of young men.
Robin Roberts
Deceased
Year Inducted:1966
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Robin was the winner of 286 Major League baseball Games in a career that started with the Philadelphia
Phillies. Greatly responsible for the “Whiz Kids” team In 1050. He was sold to the Yankees, then to Houston and Chicago Cubs.
Art J. "Art" Rooney
Deceased
Year Inducted:1966
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Art is the owner and President of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He Is considered one of the pioneers of professional football. Art was an outstanding athlete; playing football at Indiana and Duquesne University, minor league baseball player as owner-manager at Wheeling West Virginia. He was also considered
an excellent boxer.
Dr. John Bain "Jock" Sutherland
Deceased
Year Inducted:1966
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Former pupil of Pop Warner began his career as a Head Coach at Lafayette College and then going to the University of Pittsburgh where h coached his team to national prominence.
John "Long John" Woodruff
Deceased
Year Inducted:1966
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John Woodruff, a former track standout at Connellsville High School, blazed into the record books with his Gold Medal victory in the 800 meters at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.
In his high school days, Woodruff had wanted to play football, but his mother felt the practices took up too much of his time, so he was encouraged by a coach to join the track team.
Meanwhile, Woodruff had decided to quit school.
As he recalled, “This was Depression times and there was very little money in our house, so I figured if I could find some kind of job I could earn a little bit of money and help out at home. I quit school, but when I went looking for work, nobody was hiring. I was turned down everywhere. So I decided to go back to school.”
In spring, when it came time for track to begin, Coach Joseph “Pop” Larew approached Woodruff about trying the sport. His mother agreed, since he would be getting home earlier than he had in football and could get his chores done.
The first time he ever ran in scholastic competition, Woodruff won both the 880-yard and mile runs and, before he graduated in 1935, he owned new school, Fayette County, district and state records, plus, in 1935, he broke the national school mile record with a 4:23.4 winning time.
His athletic ability caught the attention of local schools and Pitt and Ohio State were at the top of his list.
“I was interested in Ohio State because Jesse Owens was there, but there were some business people in Connellsville who were also Pitt men and they got me a scholarship to Pitt. If it wasn't for that scholarship, I couldn't have made it. I was the only one from my family to go to college.”
Times were tough and Woodruff struggled to get by in college.
“I reported to Pitt with 25 cents in my pocket. Some people in Pittsburgh helped me get a room at the YMCA in the Hill District and I had to fight the bedbugs for sleeping space. Pitt track coach Carl Olson gave me $5 and since hamburgers were a nickel and hot beef sandwiches were 20 cents, I made that do a week.”
Woodruff was only a freshman at the University of Pittsburgh in 1936 when he placed second at the National AAU meet and first at the Olympic Trials, earning a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. In one of the most exciting races in Olympic history, Woodruff became boxed in by other runners and was forced to stop running. He then came from behind to win in 1:52.9. The New York Times described the race:
He remembered the anguish of his Olympic race: “Phil Edwards, the Canadian doctor, set the pace, and it was very slow. On the first lap, I was on the inside, and I was trapped. I knew that the rules of running said if I tried to break out of a trap and fouled someone, I would be disqualified. At that point, I didn’t think I could win, but I had to do something.”
Woodruff was a 21-year-old college freshman, an unsophisticated and, at 6-foot-3, an ungainly runner. But he was a fast thinker, and he made a quick decision.
“I didn’t panic,” he said. “I just figured if I had only one opportunity to win, this was it. I’ve heard people say that I slowed down or almost stopped. I didn’t almost stop. I stopped, and everyone else ran around me.”
Then, with his stride of almost 10 feet (3.0 m), Woodruff ran around everyone else. He took the lead, lost it on the backstretch, but regained it on the final turn and won the gold medal.
It was another gold medal for the United States’ so-called Black Auxiliaries — the Nazis’ term for the black athletes — and another thorn in the side of Adolf Hitler, who greeted every white winner, but none of the blacks.
Every winner in the 1936 Olympics received an oak tree from the Black Forest of Germany, presented by the German government. John brought his home, and presented it to the city of Connellsville. It was planted at the south end of the city football stadium, where today it still stands more than 60 feet straight and tall.
During a career that was curtailed by World War II, Woodruff won one AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) title in the 800 meters in 1937 and won both the 440-yard (400 meter) and 880-yard (800 meter) IC4A titles from 1937 to 1939. Woodruff also held a share of the world 4x880-yard (800 meter) relay record while competing with the national team.
Woodruff graduated in 1939, with a major in sociology, and then earned a Masters Degree in the same field from New York University in 1941. He entered military service in 1941 as a Second Lieutenant and was discharged as a Captain in 1945. He reentered military service during the Korean War, and left in 1957 as a Lieutenant Colonel. He was the battalion commander of the 369th Artillery, later the 569 Transportation Battalion New York Army National Guard.
Woodruff also worked as a teacher in New York City, a special investigator for the New York Department of Welfare, a recreation center director for the New York City Police Athletic League, a parole officer for the state of New York, a salesperson for Schieffelin and Co. and an assistant to the Center Director for Edison Job Corps Center in New Jersey.
He passed away on October 30, 2007 at the age of 92.
DeBenneville "Bert" Bell
Deceased
Year Inducted:1965
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Bell played football at the University of Pennsylvania, where as Quarterback, he led his team to an appearance in the 1917 Rose Bowl. After being drafted into the U S Army during World War II, he returned to complete his collegiate career at Penn and remained on to become an assistant coach with the Quakers in the 1920s. During the Depression, he was an assistant coach for the Temple Owls and was a co-founder and co-owner of the Philadelphia Eagles. He led the way in the establishment of the NFL Draft and became
sole proprietor of the Eagles. He eventually sold the club and bought a share of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
After the war, he was elected NFL Commissioner. He implemented a pro-active gambling policy, negotiated a merger with the AAFC and crafted the entire league schedule to enhance the dramatic
effect of late season matches, enforced a rule to black out local TV broadcast to safeguard ticket receipts and unilaterally recognized the NFLPA (National Football League Players Association). Bert Bell was elected to the National Football League Hall of Fame In the 1963 Charter Class.
Roy Campanella
Deceased
Year Inducted:1965
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Roy Campanella a native of Philadelphia played in the Negro Leagues and the Mexican League for nine years before entering the minor leagues in 1946. He made his Major League Baseball debut in 1948 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, for whom he played until 1957. He retired in 1958 after being paralyzed in an automobile accident in January, 1958. Campy was widely considered one of the greatest catchers in the history of the game. For his career he batted ,276, with 242 home runs and 856 RBIs. He was inducted into the Baseball hall of Fame in 1969.
Charles Robinson "Chick" Davies
Deceased
Year Inducted:1965
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Chick Davies served as the head men’s basketball coach at Duquesne University from 1924 -1948, compiling a record of 314 – 106. His teams played in one NCAA Tournament and three National Invitation Tournament. He led Duquesne to the 1940 NCAA Final Four as well as the 1940 NIT championship game, where the Dukes lost to Colorado.
James Joseph "Jimmy" Dykes
Deceased
Year Inducted:1965
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Jimmy Dykes played in Major League Baseball as a third and second baseman from 1918 through 1939. Most notably as a member of the Philadelphia Athletics dynasty that won three consecutive American League pennants from 1929 to 1931 and won the World Series in 1929 and 1930.
Jimmy started his major league career in 1918 and served in the wartime Army before reporting back to baseball in 2019. He remained with the Athletics for the next fourteen seasons. He was a league leader in home runs in 1921 and 1922 and batted .312, .323, .324 in 1924, 1925, 1927. He was named team MVP in 1924.
In 1933 he was traded to the Chicago White Sox as Connie Mack was paring expenses. He played his final six- seasons with the White Sox After his playing career, Dykes became the winningest manager In Chicago White Sox history with 899 victories over 13 seasons, even though his team never finished above third place; he later became the first manager in history to win 1,000 games without capturing a league pennant. Over the next 18 years Dykes had short stints as a manager or coach for 9 different major league teams. His managerial record was 1,406 wins and 1,541 losses.
James Emory "Jimmie" Foxx
Deceased
Year Inducted:1965
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Jimmie Foxx played soccer, track and baseball at Sudlersville High School, excelling at all three sports. He joined the Class D Easton Farmers minor league team with the hope of being a pitcher, but since the team was short of catchers he moved behind the plate.He immediately drew interest from the A’s and the Yankees. Foxx Signed with the A’s and made his major league debut in May, 1925 at the age of 17 and still a junior year in high school. In 1929 he was installed as their regular first baseman and Foxx had a breakout year, batting .354 and hitting 33 home runs. He appeared on the cover of Time Magazine. In 1932, Foxx hit .364, with 58 home runs and 169 RBIs, just missing the Triple Crown by three points. Foxx did win the Triple Crown the following season; with a batting
average of .356. hitting 48 home runs and 163 RBIs. He won back-to-back MVP honors in 1932 and 1933. Connie Mack continued to breakup his high- priced stars and in 1936 sent Jimmie Foxx to the Red Sox for $150,000. He played 6 seasons for Boston, including 1938 when he batted .349, had 50
home runs, 175 RBIs and won his third MVP award. He finished his career with the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies, as his skills diminished Foxx 20 year career numbers were outstanding with a .325 batting Average, 534 home runs, 1,922 RBIs, 1,751 runs scored, 2,646 hits, 458 doubles. 125 triples and 1,252 bases on balls. Many were records to be broken in the live ball era of baseball. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1951.
Robert Moses "Lefty" Grove
Deceased
Year Inducted:1965
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Lefty grew up the son of a coal miner in Lonaconing, Maryland. He was a sandlot star in the Baltimore area during the 2010s and didn’t play organized baseball until he was 19 years old. In 1920 he made his professional debut with the Martinsburg Mountaineers of the Class D Blue Ridge League. In six games
he pitched 59 innings with an era of 1.68. He caught the eye of Jack Dunn owner/manager of the minor league Baltimore Orioles. He broke into their starting rotation at midseason and had a 12-2 record the rest of the way . Grove posted marks of 25-10, 18-8, 27-10, 26-6 and led the International League is strike outs each season. He helped the Orioles run their League Titles streak to six. Dunn finally agreed to sell
Grove’s rights to Connie Mack for $100,600 a record at the time.
Lefty battled injuries his first year with the Athletics and despite the injuries he won 10 games and led the league in strikeouts. In 1926 he won the first of a record nine straight earned run average (ERA) Titles with a mark of 2.51. In 1927, Grove won 20 games for the first time and in 1927 raised that to 24. The Athletics won the AL pennant from 1929 to 1931 and consecutive World Series Championships in 1929 and 1930. During this run, Grove was the the league’s top pitcher posting records of 20-6, 28-5, 31-4. In 1931, he led the league in ERA (2.06), strikeouts (175), Winning percentage, complete games, shutouts and earned the League’s MVP award.
In 1933 Connie Max trade Grove and two others to the Boston Red Sox in A three for three and cash deal. Grove got off to another slow start with his new club but came back to post a 14-4 record in 1938 and 15-4 in 1939 along with taking the ERA Title four times between 1935 and 1939. “Lefty” Grove retired after the 1941 season with a career record of 300-141. He was inducted into the Athletics Wall and Red Sox Hall of Fame and named to Major League Baseball’s All-Century Team. Grove was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975.
Clark Hinkle
Deceased
Year Inducted:1965
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Hinkle was widely regarded by teammates and opponents alike As one of the toughest, most talented and dedicated players of the “Iron Man Era” which covered the first three decades of pro football. A contemporary of the Chicago Bears’ legendary Bronko Nagurski, Hinkle was 4 inches shorter and 30 pounds lighter, but just as tough. In an era when players doubled on offense and defense he was everything a team desired in a back; versatile, a rugged line smasher, with breakaway speed, a capable passer, punter and placekicker and a devastating tackler on defense. He was considered by many as the greatest Packer ever. In college he led Bucknell to a 20-5-3 record over three seasons. He became a Packer fan and accepted Lambeau’s offer of $125 a game over others from the Giants, Portsmouth and Boston. In all, Hinkle played in 114 games, started 82 and missed only 5 games in 10 seasons for the Packers. He enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1942 and did not return to the Packers following World War II. He was inducted into the National Football League Hall of Fame In 1972
William Marshall "Bill" Hollenback
Deceased
Year Inducted:1965
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Bill graduated from Blue Bell High School in Phillipsburg. He went to the University of Pennsylvania wjere he became one of the schools most renowned football player from 1904 to 1908, he played end in 2004, sat out the 2005 season with a broken leg and return to play fullback in 2006 to 2008. He was an All-American Fullback in each of those years. In 2008 he was captain of the undefeated Penn team that was named national champion. Hollenback received a degree n dentistry at Penn, but opted to become a football coach. He served as the head coach at Penn State (1909, 1911-1914), University of Missourt (1910), Pennsylvania Military College (1915) and Syracuse (1916). His coaching record was 46-19-8.
Johnny Lujack
Living
Year Inducted:1965
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Connellsville native John Lujack is considered one of the greatest T-formation collegiate quarterbacks of all time. But there was a time when Lujack doubted his ability to get a scholarship and play major college football.
The 1947 Heisman Trophy winner played college football for the University of Notre Dame, and professionally for the Chicago Bears. He was the first of several successful quarterbacks who hailed from Western Pennsylvania. Others include Pro Football Hall of Fame members Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, Joe Montana and George Blanda.
“In my senior year of high school (1941), they named four All-State teams in Pennsylvania and I didn't make any of the four teams,” Lujack recalled.
“I did make All-County, but then, as my good friend and Notre Dame teammate Creighton Miller liked to say, ‘I understand that your high school was the only one in the county.' That wasn't true, but it did make people laugh.
“Honestly, I didn't think I was good enough to get a scholarship to attend Notre Dame. I told people that if I could just make the traveling squad in my junior or senior year, I could probably come back to Connellsville, run for mayor and win it hands down.”
Lujack played for a couple of pretty good teams during his high school playing days with the Cokers.
“I remember that we had an awfully good team in 1941. We were tied the last game of the season against Brownsville or we would have gone on into the playoffs,” Lujack said. “That was a big disappointment to us, but we really had a nice team. We had Wally Schroyer at fullback and Dave Hart at halfback and Dick Pitzer, who eventually went to West Point and was captain of the Army team. I played against him in the 1946 Army-Notre Dame game. I think back to those days many, many times and eventually I get a clipping of some sort and I remember this clipping said that I ran for two touchdowns of over 70 yards against Mt. Pleasant and I don't remember that at all.”
Lujack played for Art Ruff at Connellsville and holds him in high esteem.
“He was a very strong fundamentalist,” Lujack offered. “He was a really fine coach and he was always for the players. If you wanted a good high school coach that would coach my son, I would want it to be Art Ruff.”
When he graduated from Connellsville, Lujack sifted through some college offers and enrolled at Notre Dame in 1942.
“Henry Opperman was a strong athletic supporter of Connellsville and for some reason he thought that I could go on to college,” Lujack recalled. “I was getting offers from Pitt and Duke and other schools. Opperman got hold of a guy named Fritz Wilson in Pittsburgh and he was kind of responsible for Notre Dame scouting in and around the Pittsburgh area. Eventually I went out to Notre Dame for a tryout and after I had the tryout, about a day or two later, I received a scholarship, which really kind of surprised me, because I didn't really think that I was good enough to make a Notre Dame team. I said to my parents and my brothers and sisters, ‘If I can make the traveling squad at Notre Dame my junior or senior year, I will be happy and feel that I had a successful career.’”
Lujack was off the mark in his assessment of his abilities.
He took over at quarterback for Notre Dame as a sophomore in 1943 when Angelo Bertelli joined the Marines and he ended up helping the Irish to three national titles and establishing a reputation as one of the great signal-callers in college football history.
In his initial start versus Army in '43, he threw for two scores, ran for another and intercepted a pass in a 26-0 victory. Lujack spent most of the next three years in the U.S. Navy, but returned in time to earn consensus All-America honors as a junior and senior on Notre Dame teams in ‘46 and '47 that did not lose a game.
Lujack won the prestigious Heisman Trophy in 1947.
“As you look back now, you say, ‘Boy that's something,’” Lujack stated. “In 1947, I was the 13th Heisman winner. It really didn't have the publicity and the hoopla that you have going on today. I was told after the Southern Cal game in 1947 that I won the Heisman Trophy and I was really very surprised, because I wasn't after any individual stuff. Now it really means an awful lot when somebody says John was an All-American at Notre Dame and that doesn't grab them, but then if they add 'and he was a Heisman Trophy winner,’ it grabs their attention.”
Lujack was a No. 1 draft choice of the Chicago Bears, and in four busy seasons, he twice was All-Pro, once on defense and then on offense.
He also was the Bears' extra-point kicker and led the NFL in scoring one season, all for a top seasonal salary of $20,000.
One of Lujack's big highlights with the Bears occurred on December 11, 1949 when he passed for 468 yards and six touchdowns in a 52-21 shellacking of the Chicago Cardinals. The 468 passing yards is a Bear record that still stands today.
When Bernie Crimmins left Frank Leahy's staff in 1952, Lujack was hired as his replacement at Notre Dame.
After Leahy resigned in January of 1954, Lujack had mild aspirations for the head-coaching job, but when it went to Terry Brennan, he returned to the Chicago area and his insurance business.
In 1948, Lujack married Patricia Schierbrock of Davenport, Iowa, a girl he had met with a little urging from Leahy's secretary, Snub Pollard. Pat's father, Frank, had retired from a Chrysler Company dealership in Davenport, but he long had desired a Chevrolet agency.
When he approached Lujack as a partner, they went into business and the Lujack’s were home in the Davenport area for the next 45 years.
Now 96 years old (in 2021) and retired, he is currently the oldest living recipient of the Heisman Trophy., Lujack lives in Iowa during the summer and California during the winter.
Lujack was elected to the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame in 1960 and remains close to the Notre Dame scene.
Edward Everett "Hooks" Mylin
Deceased
Year Inducted:1965
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Mylin attended Franklin & Marshall College where he played quarterback and graduated in 2016. He began his coaching career at Massanutten Military and several years as an assistant at Iowa State. He served as the head coach at Lebanon Valley College (1923-1933), Bucknell University (1934-1936, Lafayette College (1937-1942, 1946) and New York University (1947-1949). He compiled a career college football coaching record of 99-95-17. Edward was also the head basketball coach at Lebanon Valley from 1923-1934 and the head baseball coach at Bucknell from 1935 to1937. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a Coach in 1974.
Frank "Butch" Snyder
Deceased
Year Inducted:1965
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Frank “Butch” Snyder was the oldest of eight children born to German parents in Erie, PA He began working in bowling alleys in the early 1900’s. In 1918, he bowled his first tourney at age 31 and went on to maintain a 192 average while competing in ABC competition for 42 years. He and Mike Flick captured the 1927 ABC doubles title. Butch was a member of three state Championship teams. He was a popular lane manager and was proprietor of the Commodore Bowling Alley in Erie for many years. In November, 1965, at the age of 78, he was recognized as a PA State All-Star. Butch finished his ABC career with an average of 190.83 in 46 years of competition.
Christy "Matty" Mathewson
Deceased
Year Inducted:1965
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About This Inductee:
• Factoryville native
• Keystone Academy (1895) and Bucknell University-baseball
• 1898 with Taunton, Mass. of New England League
• 1899 with Southern League’s Norfolk, Virginia team
• Won 20 games as rookie with New York Giants in National Baseball League
• 1905 shut out Philadelphia Athletics 3 times in one week in World Series
• 1908 beat previous endurance records, pitching 425 innings, winning 37 games
• Helped Giants win 5 National League Pennants
• Played in World Series in 1905, 1911-1913
• Holds record for most consecutive innings pitched (68) without walking a batter
• Pitched two no hitters, and 83 shutouts
• At retirement, he held/shared parts of 57 individual, club and league records
• Managed Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants, president of the Boston Braves
• 1936 inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY
• Inducted into PA Sports Hall of Fame in 1965
Chris as born on August 17, 1880 in Factoryville, PA. Christy’s baseball career spanned over 27 years. Christy began pitching at the age 13 for his hometown team in Factoryville. He earned his first money playing baseball for Mill City, PA in 1895. He entered Keystone Academy in 1895, where he played baseball for the college. After graduating in 1898, he continued his education at Bucknell University, where he made a name for himself in football as well as baseball. Christy signed a contract to play with Taunton, Massachusetts, of the New England League of $90. per month in 1898. The next year, Christy signed a contract with the Southern League’s Norfolk, Virginia team in October of 1899.
The following year he became a member of the New York Giants of the National Baseball League. Christy won 20 games as a 21-year-old New York Giant rookie. His most famous trick pitch was the “Fadeaway.” In 1905, he shut out the Philadelphia Athletics three times within one week during the World Series, scoring his greatest baseball triumph. In 1908, he beat all previous records for endurance by pitching 425 innings, winning 37 games and only losing 11. Christy helped the Giants win five National League Pennants and was in the World Series in 1911, 1912 and 1913, as well as the championship year of 1905. He pitched 16 seasons for the Giants. Christy holds the record for most consecutive innings pitched (68) without walking a baser; he pitched two no hitters-one against St. Louis in 1901 and another against Chicago in 1905. He pitched 83 shutouts in his career. Christy also ranks in the top ten of the all-time strikeout list.
At the time of his retirement, Christy held or shared parts of 57 individual, club and league records. Mathewson’s marks in the record books continue to this day. On his retirement in 1916, Christy began managing the Cincinnati Reds. On August 28, 1918, he left to serve his country in World War I as a captain of the Western Front, where he was hit by a whiff of poison gas. Upon his return from the war, Christy coached the New York Giants from 1919 through 1921. In 1922, Christy became president of the Boston Braves until his untimely death from tuberculosis in both lungs on October 7, 1925. Mathewson was inducted posthumously to baseball’s inaugural class of the Hall of Fame in 1936, with 205 votes of 226 ballots cast (90.71%). Today there is a permanent exhibit dedicating to Christy Mathewson at Keystone College in LaPlume, PA.
Johannes Peter “Honus” Wagner
Deceased
Year Inducted:1964
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(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."
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