Norwin overcomes logistics, selects smaller, all-female hall of fame class

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Tuesday, July 28, 2020 | 5:53 PM

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Tom Shirley is used to getting things ready for the Norwin Athletic Hall of Fame banquet.

He has been helping to coordinate inductees, logistics and meetings since 2009.

But 2020 offered new challenges for organizers, with the covid-19 pandemic limiting gatherings and former hall of fame chairman Brandon Rapp, Norwin’s former athletic director, leaving to take the same position at Hempfield.

“Brandon did a great job as chairman,” Shirley said, “and we have advanced to where our total package for the hall of fame, including the banquet, has become a truly outstanding product. I had a goal of electing a 2020 class, even though it would be smaller than previous classes, so that we could maintain our status as an ‘alive and well’ functioning committee.”

Social distancing may have prevented the banquet from happening, but it did not deter Shirley and the new-look committee from honoring another hall of fame class.

Despite no meetings at Norwin since the start of covid-19 restrictions began, and the introduction of former Norwin football coach Tim McCabe as interim athletic director — McCabe was already on the hall of fame committee — plans moved ahead.

A few meetings were held at the Circleville Fire Department, and it was decided the all-female 2020 class will be honored at the 2021 banquet, in the hopes that event will be an in-person affair.

Traditionally, the committee chooses up to 10 inductees.

This year’s banquet would have been during homecoming weekend.

The smaller class includes three individuals and two teams. They are:

• Kathryn Painter, swimming

• Kathy Marshalek Pawluk, track and field, basketball

• Jenna Gigliotti, cross Country, track and field

• The 2008 and 2009 girls track and field teams, both WPIAL champions

Painter, a record-breaker who went on to swim at Kentucky, was a PIAA champion in the 500-yard freestyle in 2015 and won four WPIAL titles in the 200 individual medley and 500 freestyle.

Pawluk was a WPIAL champion in the javelin in 1993 and ‘94 and made the 1995 All-American Intercollegiate Track and Field Team.

Gigliotti, who ran at Duquesne, was a three-time PIAA qualifier and won a WPIAL individual cross country title in 2009. She helped Norwin win team track and field titles in 2008 and ‘09. Also in cross country, she went unbeaten in section dual meets and took first in four invitationals.

And the ‘08 and ‘09 track teams marked a four-year run of district titles in North Huntingdon. The 2006 and ‘07 teams also raised trophies and were inducted into the hall last year.

Norwin only considers high school-level achievements when choosing nominees. College or professional accomplishments do not carry weight.

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

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