Jim Render, Charlie Batch, Zack Washington Sr. selected to National H.S. Football Hall of Fame

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Wednesday, January 22, 2025 | 5:03 PM

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A coaching great and two former star playmakers from the WPIAL are headed for the National High School Football Hall of Fame.

Longtime Upper St. Clair coach Jim Render, quarterback Charlie Batch of Steel Valley and running back Zack Washington Sr. of Jeannette are among 33 inductees who will be enshrined June 14 in Canton, Ohio.

An array of big-name talent highlights the hall’s third class. Among them are Michael Vick, Ray Lewis, Warren Moon, Jim Thorpe, Richard Dent and others.

Seven from the WPIAL were nominated in the fall.

Render won five WPIAL titles and two PIAA championships, coaching 49 seasons at three schools.

He also coached at Carrollton and Uniontown and compiled an overall record of 406-141-6.

Render won 23 conference titles and made 38 playoff appearances.

Batch was a two-year starter for Steel Valley in 1990 and ’91 and led the Ironmen to the WPIAL semifinals as a senior, as well as a No. 1 ranking.

He went on to play at Eastern Michigan, where he was an all-conference selection, and was taken in the second round of the 1998 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. He played for Detroit from 1998-2001 before joining the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2002 and playing 11 years for his hometown team.He won two Super Bowls.

Washington displayed speed and power as a Jayhawks running back. He was an all-conference selection and often was regarded as one of the program’s better big-play threats by late coach Joe Mucci, who also is in the national hall of fame.

Render and Batch also are in the WPIAL Hall of Fame.

Other WPIAL players selected to the NHSFHOF, all from Jeannette, include: Mucci, John “Showboat” Crowell, Dick Hoak and Terrelle Pryor.

Wednesday’s announcement follows news of the national hall of fame getting a new home. A $5 million facility is in the works and will be built 3 miles from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.

Plans are for the building to open next year.

Hall founder and CEO Lamont “Showboat” Robinson, a Jeannette alum and former Harlem Globetrotter who also has ties to the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, said it is a hallmark year for the high school game.

“This year marks the 150th anniversary of the first high school football game, played on May 12, 1875,” Robinson said in a news release. “To establish a hall of fame dedicated to the sport’s history in Canton, the birthplace of football, is an incredible milestone.”

Tickets for the enshrinement ceremony are available at www.nhsfootballhof.com.

The full 2025 class:

• Steve Atwater, Lutheran High School North (St. Louis, Mo.)
• Charlie Batch, Steel Valley High School (Munhall)
• Jerry Butler, Ware Shoals High School (Ware Shoals, S.C.)
• Andre Coleman, Hickory High School (Hermitage)
• Tim Couch, Leslie County High School (Hyden, Ky.)
• Tom Cousineau, St. Edward High School (Lakewood, Ohio)
• Richard Dent, J.C. Murphy High School (Atlanta)
• Hanford Dixon, Theodore High School (Theodore, Ala.)
• Luke Fickell, St. Francis DeSales High School (Columbus, Ohio)
• Jeff Herron (coach), Camden County High School (Ga.)
• Allen Iverson, Bethel High School (Va.)
• Craig James, Stratford High School (Houston)
• Leroy Kelly, Simon Gratz High School (Philadelphia)
• Ray Lewis, Kathleen High School (Lakeland, Fla.)
• Frank Minnifield, Clay High School (Lexington, Ky.)
• Warren Moon, Hamilton High School (Los Angeles)
• Eric Metcalf, Bishop O’Connell High School (Arlington County, Va.)
• Louis Riddick, Pennridge High School (Perkasie)
• Jim Render (coach), Upper St. Clair High School (Upper St. Clair)
• Bob Sebo, Salem High School (Salem, Ohio)
• Percy Snow, McKinley High School (Canton, Ohio)
• Troy Smith, Glenville High School (Cleveland, Ohio)
• Andre Smith, John F. Kennedy High School (Cleveland, Ohio)
• Micky Sullivan (coach), Fork Union Military Academy (Va.)
• Donnell Thompson, Lumberton High School (Lumberton, N.C.)
• Jim Thorpe, Carlisle Indian Industrial School (Carlisle)
• Wally Triplett, Cheltenham High School (La Mott)
• Mike Vrabel, Walsh Jesuit High School (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio)
• Virgil Walker (coach), East Tech High School (Cleveland, Ohio)
• Zack Washington Sr., Jeannette High School (Jeannette)
• Tyrone Wheatley Sr., Hamilton J. Robichaud High School (Dearborn Heights, Mich.)
• Lorenzo White, Dillard High School (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)
• Antoine Winfield Sr., Garfield High School (Akron, Ohio)
• Michael Vick, Warwick High School (Newport News, Va.)

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Jeannette, Steel Valley, Upper St. Clair