WPIAL HALL of FAME 2011 CLASS ANNOUNCED

By: Bruce Markey
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 | 12:00 AM

One of the WPIALs greatest football players and the two greatest sprinters in WPIAL track history are some of the headliners in the WPIAL Hall of Fame class of 2011.

The WPIAL held a news conference this morning at the Heinz History Center in the Strip District to announce the class, which includes 14 individual and two teams. Selections were made by the WPIAL Hall of Fame committee in five categories athlete, coach, team, official and contributor. Also selected to this class was the annual Courage Award winner, started in 2009 and named after former Freedom athlete John Challis, whose courageous battle with cancer became a national story.

Also this year, the WPIAL started a Heritage Award winner, given to a former WPIAL athlete/individual who competed before 1950 and had an impact on sports.

Included in the class is LaVar Arrington, a 1997 North Hills graduate who was selected the No. 1 player in the country as a senior by Parade magazine. Arrington now lives in Annapolis, Md., with his wife and family.

Other inductees were sprinters Clinton Davis of Steel Valley and Marla Puryear of Thomas Jefferson. Davis state records in the 200- and 400-meter dashes still stand today while Puryear won multiple gold medals at the WPIAL and PIAA level.

Davis was one of the inductees who attended the news conference. Puryear died in 2009.

All inductees will be honored at a banquet at the Radisson Hotel in Green Tree June 24. The banquet is open to the public, but tickets must be purchased by June 16. No tickets will be sold at the door. Tickets can be purchased by using the form downloaded from the WPIAL web site at www.wpial.com .

Here is a look at the WPIAL Hall of Fame class of 2011.

ATHLETES

* LaVar Arrington, North Hills class of 1997 You might know him as a great linebacker, but he was also the first running back in WPIAL Class AAAA history to rush for 4,000 career yards. Besides football, played two years of basketball at North Hills and was all-section as a junior. Finished second in the WPIAL long jump as a senior and fourth in the state. Won the Butkus Award as a linebacker at Penn State and played in the NFL with the Redskins and Giants, and was a three-time Pro Bowl selection.

* Melanie Buddemeyer, Penn Hills class of 1984 One of the greatest swimmers in WPIAL history. Her WPIAL record in the 100-yard butterfly still stands today. She was valedictorian of her senior class and set three state records. She also was part of a U.S. relay team that had a world record at one point. She was a two-time finalist at the Olympic Trials and went on to swim at North Carolina, where she was twice andNCAA All-American and an eight-time ACC champ.

* Clinton Davis, Steel Valley class of 1983 The only male in the history of the WPIAL to win six gold medals in individual events at the PIAA track championships. He won the 100, 200 and 400 two years in a row at the state meet and won a gold medal at the 1982 junior Pan Am Games. Also played receiver on Steel Valleys 1982 WPIAL championship football team.

* Adam DiMichele, Sto-Rox class of 2004 One of the best three-sport athletes in WPIAL history. He started four years in football, basketball and baseball. In his final two years at Sto-Rox, he had a combined record of 103-20 in those three sports. He finished his football career as the WPIALs all-time leading passer and went on to play quarterback at Temple. He is now playing arena football.

* Aaron Gatten, Washington class of 1996 A football, wrestling and track standout at Washington, Gatten won 12 varsity letters in three different sports. He also won four state titles and six WPIAL championships. He was a state champion sprinter and wrestler who went on to play linebacker at Penn State.

* Troy Letters, Shaler class of 2001 He won four WPIAL wrestling championships. At that time, he was one of only nine four-time winners in WPIAL history. He was 38-0 as a senior and his career mark was 145-5. He went on to win an NCAA championship at Lehigh University.

* Marla Puryear, Thomas Jefferson class of 1989 She never lost a race in high school. She won the 100-, 200- and 400-meter races at the WPIAL and PIAA levels as a freshman, junior and senior. She couldnt compete as a sophomore because of a pulled hamstring suffered in cheerleading tryouts. Her 1989 WPIAL championship time of 11.2 seconds in the 100 is still the best in WPIAL history.

COACHES

* Bob Miller, North Allegheny volleyball One of the greatest volleyball coaches in WPIAL history boys and girls. He won seven state championships and eight WPIAL titles before retiring in 2002. He is a 1963 North Allegheny graduate who was a four-sport letterman. But the school didnt have a volleyball team back then.

* Joe Colella, Hopewell baseball Colella is still coaching today, in his 48th season as Hopewells coach. He has 662 career wins. He also has coached Hopewells American Legion team for 47 years and has more than 1,600 wins between the two teams. He has three WPIAL titles, one state title and 16 section championships.

* Tom Dolde, Connellsville wrestling Dolde is the winningest coach in WPIAL wrestling history with a record of 448-137-6 in 34 years. He won four WPIAL team titles and he coached seven individual state champions.

TEAMS

* Uniontown basketball, 1964 Coached by legendary Abe Everhart, Uniontown finished with a 28-0 record. It started a 52-game winning streak, which is still tied for the longest in WPIAL history today. Five of Uniontowns top six players went on to play Division I basketball or football. Stu Lantz played at Nebraska and then in the NBA.

* Chartiers-Houston wrestling, 1982 Chartiers-Houston was a small school, but beat all the big boys years ago. The Bucs won the 1982 state team championship in Class AAA. The team played "up" in classification. During the season, Char-Houston defeated Hempfield, Mt. Lebanon, Canon-McMillan, Trinity and North Allegheny.

COURAGE AWARD

Rich Constantine Rich died last summer after a courageous battle with cancer. He was the WPIAL president for four years, a longtime member of the Board of Control and also athletic director at Uniontown High School. He was a standout football player and wrestler at Uniontown in the 1960s.

HERITAGE AWARD

Willie Thrower, New Kensington High School In 1953, Thrower became the first African-American quarterback to play in an NFL game with the Chicago Bears. He also attended Michigan State and was the first black quarterback in the Big Ten Conference. Thrower played halfback and helped New Kensington win WPIAL football titles in 1946 and 47. He also was a standout basketball player.

OFFICIAL

Pam Cherubin She worked a number of WPIAL and PIAA championship girls contests and also became a Division I womens basketball official. She worked more than 30 years and also is a member of the WPIAL Board of Control.

CONTRIBUTOR

Boyd Stroup He was instrumental in helping establish girls sports in the WPIAL in the 1970s. He was on the WPIAL Board of Control from 1972-84 and also served as basketball coach, teacher and vice-principal at Avonworth High School. Stroup is deceased.