Longtime basketball coach headlines Knoch sports hall of fame class

By: Triblive
Monday, December 2, 2024 | 10:51 PM

Knoch announced its ninth sports hall of fame class, and it is rich with basketball talent and expertise, which probably means there are Shoops involved.

Legendary boys hoops coach Les Shoop headlines the six-person group, which also includes athletes Josh Shoop, Jade Thrower, Brittany Faust, Celina Sanks and Greg Bzorek.

The inductees will be honored later this month. A ceremony will take place Dec. 13 prior to Knoch’s home boys basketball game against Valley.

Athletes must be 10 years removed from Knoch to be eligible for hall of fame consideration.

• Les Shoop led the Knights from 1982-2006, building a record of 299-246 with 11 WPIAL playoff trips and six PIAA tournament berths.

Knoch made its first and only WPIAL finals appearance in 2004.

An avid runner, Shoop, who also coached boys basketball for 13 years at Punxsutawney and won five District 9 titles, started and coached the cross country team at Knoch. He also was the athletic director briefly.

Shoop is a member of the Armstrong County, Butler County, IUP and Punxsutawney sports halls of fame.

• Josh Shoop, the son of the former coach, was a talented post presence for the Knights. A 1991 grad, he was a three-year starter and all-section player who averaged 18.5 points and once had four straight 30-point games.

Shoop, who still holds the Knoch single-season record for points with 558, finished with 1,202 career points, which was the program record when he graduated.

He went on to play at IUP and started all four years, winning a PSAC title in 1995 and helping the team make the NCAA Division II semifinals.

Shoop has coached basketball at Knoch and Homer-Center and has served as athletic director at Knoch, Pine-Richland and Plum.

• Bzorek, a 2001 alum, was a multiple letterwinner in three sports.

Known for his durability as a football lineman, Bzorek was a two-time all-conference selection at tackle.

He also lettered in track and field and basketball before going on to play football at Edinboro, where he was an All-American in 2005 and a finalist for the Gene Upshaw Award.

Bzorek won three PSAC titles, played in the Cactus Bowl and was inducted into the Edinboro Hall of Fame.

• Thrower (Class of 2008) played several sports but was proficient in softball as a four-year letterwinner. A power-hitting first baseman, she led the Knights to their first section championship in 2007 and another in ’08.

She also played basketball for four years before playing softball at Edinboro, later joining the Pittsburgh Power semipro softball team, along with the Pittsburgh Patriots, Pittsburgh Pride and Pittsburgh Spirit.

Thrower homered in her first and last at-bats in college.

• Faust (2010) was a standout wrestler before girls wrestling became a sanctioned sport in the PIAA. She won a USGWA national championship in 2009 and is a two-time USGWA Pennsylvania state champion and also won a USGWA New York state championship.

She wrestled in college at Missouri Valley from 2010-13 and at King University (2013-15), earning All-American honors.

Faust won titles in 2012 at the Missouri Valley College Women’s Open and the Jamestown Open.

Faust also played soccer for two years and football for one.

• Sanks (2014) was a terrific volleyball player, dominating the net as an outside hitter.

A first-team all-state player and all-WPIAL pick, Sanks was named to the 2013 Junior National USA Division all-tournament team.

She played collegiately at Eastern Kentucky where she was a four-year starter and an All-Ohio Valley Conference first-teamer. She still ranks in the top 10 all-time at EKU in three categories.

Tags: Knoch