Armstrong County Sports Hall of Fame welcomes 50th class

By: George Guido
Sunday, April 27, 2025 | 9:40 PM

Sometimes athletes begin their sports climb with humble beginnings.

For Leechburg’s Paul Noonan, being part of the high school’s first track team was an experience in itself.

The school didn’t have a track, so cinders from the nearby Allegheny Ludlum Steel plant were brought in to give the runners a track surface.

But the humble beginning didn’t affect Noonan negatively. The 1965 Leechburg graduate enjoyed a solid football career under the guidance of future hall of fame coaches Frank Cignetti Sr. at Leechburg and Chuck Klausing at IUP.

Noonan used his football lessons to carve out a career as a longtime high school assistant coach, most notably at Jeannette, where he helped guide the Jayhawks to two WPIAL titles and 14 conference championships.

“I accept this induction very humbly,” Noonan said. “I was able to do what I loved doing with all the relationships and friendships I developed over 60 years.”

Noonan was one of 11 inductees Sunday at the Armstrong County Sports Hall of Fame’s 50th banquet at Freeport’s Laube Hall.

Another inductee who fondly recalled his relationships was Ted Faber, a football and basketball standout at the original Apollo Area High School.

“I know I wouldn’t be where I am today without my high school teammates, coaches and athletes from Apollo,” Faber said.

Denny Wolfe, a 1993 Leechburg graduate, was a Valley News Dispatch sports reporter right after his degree was earned at Westminster and became a highly decorated senior producer at ESPN.

“I tell people I’m basically the guy who fills in the black holes between the commercials,” Wolfe said in the most entertaining speech of the banquet.

One of his most unusual assignments was covering basketball great Shaquille O’ Neal conducting the Boston Pops Orchestra.

Several inductees were once among the student honorees.

Terra Schall Finch, one of the final stellar athletes produced by Kittanning High School before it was consolidated with Ford City, thanked volleyball coach Kara Klingensmith and her own family for “giving me the tough love when I needed it and my (four) siblings for great competition.”

Another former student honoree, Joe Diani, was an All-Eastern Conference selection as a three-way player, excelling as a receiver, defensive back and punter for the Blue Devils who went on to further football success at Grove City College.

“My son asked me if today was the day Daddy got the big trophy,” Diani said with a laugh.

Dr. W. David Hoff said he was honored as an Apollo-Ridge senior in 1978 before going on to Pitt-Johnstown where he led the nation with 13 strikeouts per nine innings in Division II. He was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers and helped lead the team’s Butte, Mont., affiliate to the Pioneer League title before entering chiropractic school.

Tye Desiderio was a key cog in Kittanning’s and IUP’s dominant football teams of the early 2000s, playing in coach Harry Beckwith’s final year with the Wildcats and, later, the final IUP season under Cignetti.

“Both (coaches) stressed fundamentals and attention to details,” said Desiderio, who made it a goal as a youngster to rewrite some of Kittanning’s record book.

Gary Montebell made his mark in sports management, running the show at hockey rinks and recreational facilities in New Jersey, Virginia and the U.S. Air Arena in Landover, Md., for the Washington Capitals. He returned home in 2005 when he became the director of the Belmont Complex in 2005.

Dayton High School graduate Al King has been the athletic director at Ashland College for 11 years, overseeing 24 sports at the Ohio institution, though he has never forgotten his small-town roots.

“We didn’t have dugouts at our ballfield, a track or a pizza parlor,” said the 1978 grad. “But what we did have was the support of our town of 800 people.”

Inductee Jack Huth, all-state Freeport football player from the mid-1970s, is recovering from surgery and called on his son, John Huth III and childhood pal Don Gancas to give the acceptance speech.

“My father was a humble, hard-nosed Freeport kid,” John Huth said. “He had an incredible career as an electrical project contractor that took him around the United States.”

Judge J. Gary DeComo of Ford City is best known for his “Drugs Kill Dreams” program that has garnered statewide recognition from the legislature.

DeComo thanked Tara Powers Maruca, who came up with the phrase as a fourth grader 25 years ago.

Ten student-athletes, a male and female from five Armstrong County high schools, were introduced and awarded $1,000 scholarships funded by corporate sponsors such as TribLive and the CNX Mentorship Foundation, a program designed for high school students contemplating careers in the natural gas and oil drilling industries.