George Guido: Armstrong County Sports Hall of Fame welcoming 12 new members

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, January 29, 2019 | 6:36 PM

Plans are moving along for the 47th annual Armstrong County Sports Hall of Fame banquet. This year’s induction is April 28 at Freeport’s Laube Hall.

Here’s a sketch of each of the 12 inductees, many of whom made their mark in county scholastic sports:

Dino Aimino: Lettering in four sports at Freeport, Aimino was best known for football, basketball and track. He, however, led the baseball team to the 1979 WPIAL title, posting a 6-0 record with an 0.60 ERA before heading to Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y.

Kate Costanza: While at Kittanning, Costanza was a three-sport standout and set eight career school records. At Penn State Behrend, she helped lead lead the basketball team to two conference runner-up finishes and an NCAA playoff bid, scoring 1,055 career points.

Steve Flanagan: An ouitstanding baseball player at Kittanning, Flangan went on to Cal (Pa.) where he was PSAC West Player of the Year in 1995. He finished his career in the school’s top 10 in five offensive categories and played minor league ball for three years.

Greg Fox: A graduate of Apollo-Ridge at Edinboro, Fox was on some outstanding Vikings basketball teams from 1987-89 and remains second in career scoring. As a senior at Edinboro, he dished out 222 assists and is the coach at Apollo-Ridge.

Ann Hreha Fritz: The 1994 Valley News Dispatch Player of the Year, she finished her career at Apollo-Ridge with four letters and 1,124 points. At Carlow, she was a four-year starter and finished with 1,252 career points and was a Kodak All-America honorable mention.

Bob Grove: An inductee in the Builder category, “Grover” is a Freeport and Penn State graduate. He is best known as pre- and post-game host for the Penguins Hockey Network. Grove authored “The Official History of the First 30 Years” of Penguins hockey.

Trevor Henderson: While with West Shamokin, Henderson set the Armstrong County record for career passing yards with 5,132. He started all four seasons at Hiram, owning or sharing seven school records in various passing categories.

Robert Jarosinski: A member of Freeport’s 1991 WPIAL runner-up, Jarosinski was a two-time Allegheny Conference performer at linebacker. He started three seasons at linebacker for Clarion and was a member of the 1983 PSAC champions.

Randy Sturgill: A baseball standout at Leechburg, Sturgill compiled a .621 batting average as a senior while striking out 88 batters in 33 innings. While at Cal (Pa.), he set a school record with 23 wins and pitched as a pro in the Frontier League.

Jack Swigart: Another inductee in the Builder category, Swigart coached three age levels of Little League with Ford City, guiding the 14-15 age group to a third-place finish in the state. He has also coached with Kittanning Little League, Kittanning High School and now Armstrong.

Marisa Wolfe: At Ford City, Wolfe was part of four of the 20 consecutive WPIAL playoff teams, an A-K Valley record. She scored 1,542 points for the Sabers before moving on to Penn State and helping the Nittany Lions to two Big Ten regular season titles.

Major Benjamin K. Bower: This year’s Military award goes to Maj. Bower, a Kittanning and Gannon graduate. Entering active duty in 2005, he has earned 10 military awards, including the Iraq Campaign Medal. He is Army Fitness School Director

George Guido is a freelance writer. His column appears Wednesdays.