Hempfield assistant coach LaRoyal Wilson selected as Ferrante Memorial Award winner

By: Paul Schofield
Sunday, April 16, 2023 | 11:48 AM

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If you ever attend a Hempfield track and field practice, you would swear the coach conducting calisthenics was a U.S. Marine Corps officer.

No, it’s just LaRoyal Wilson, who is the 2023 recipient of the Mike and John Ferrante Memorial Award.

It’s an honor that usually goes to head coaches or individuals who promote high school athletics, such as athletic directors or members of the media.

But for the first time, this deserving honor goes to an assistant coach.

He will be honored Tuesday at the annual Westmoreland County Scholar-Athlete banquet at Ferrante’s Lakeview. This year’s sponsoring judge is Michael Stewart.

“I’m honored by it,” Wilson said. “It means that I’ve been doing something right. I can’t thank people enough. You go out and do your work every day and that’s what I’ve always been about.”

Wilson has been coaching track since 1971 when he began at John F. Kennedy High School in Willingboro, N.J.

The 1966 graduate of Mt. Pleasant Area High School, who was recently named to the school’s Wall of Fame and was a WPIAL long jump champion, has been coaching track and field at Hempfield for 50 years.

He taught at Hempfield for 35 years and was an assistant football coach for 40 years.

Wilson also ran the Hempfield Area summer school program at Westmoreland County Community College for 26 years and was nominated for Teacher of the Year in 1991.

Wilson was senior class president at Mt. Pleasant. He went on to attend Westminster College, where he was a seven-time varsity letterwinner in football and track and later was inducted into the Westminster College Sports Hall of Fame.

He is a deacon at Mt. Pleasant Second Baptist Church and has been active in the Mt. Pleasant community as a board member of the Westmoreland County Health System Foundation and the Mt. Pleasant Library. He also volunteers for the Westmoreland County Food Bank.

The selection committee, which includes Westmoreland County athletic directors and others, met last month to pick the top female and male scholar-athlete winners. Only the athletic directors voted on the winners.

After listening to their fellow athletic directors talk about their two candidates — two each from the 18 high schools — the group voted on the candidates.

Because of a tie, the group then voted on the 13 finalists — seven girls and six boys — to pick the female and male winners.

This year’s group consisted of PIAA and WPIAL individual champions and individuals who were on championship teams. They also are excellent students, many being ranked No. 1 in their class.

It was also announced that former Pittsburgh Steelers lineman and current color analyst Craig Wolfley will be the guest speaker at Tuesday’s banquet.

The sponsors are Excela Health, Drs. Geoff and Greg Bisignani and Ferrante’s Lakeview.

JOHN AND MICHAEL FERRANTE MEMORIAL AWARD WINNERS

1984: Frank Buscanics

1985: James Weir

1986: Robert Rodebaugh

1987: John Bacha

1988: Donald Hall

1989: Henry Funk

1990: Lawrence Dalla Betta

1991: Frank “Patsy” Malpezzi

1992: Oliver “Ollie” Molter

1993: Howard “Huddie” Kaufman

1994: Gary Garrison

1995: Robert Van Atta

1996: Ralph W. Snyder

1997: Ronald Peduzzi

1998: Joseph Mucci

1999: Judge Charles E. Marker

2000: William “Bill” Abraham

2001: Joseph E. Pellis

2002: Bob “Spike” Melago

2003: Ralph R. Conde

2004: Bob Trautwine

2005: William “Bill” Priatko

2006: James “Jim” Farrell

2007: Dave P. McNichol

2008: Ron Firment

2009: Gerald Page

2010: Patrick Ratesic

2011: Raymond Zsolcsak

2012: Tom Traynor

2013: Bob Murphy

2014: Carl Davis

2015: Art Tragesser

2016: Paul Schofield

2017: John Sullivan

2018: Bob Kalp

2019: Lynn Jobe

2020: Ron Colland

2021: Chuck Tursky

2022: Roy Hall

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Hempfield, Mt. Pleasant