SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Mike Garcia, Jr. is flat out the finest wrestler ever produced in our area. No one, ever has produced at such a high level of performance for as long a period of time. And Mike has done it not only on a state-wide basis, but nationally and internationally as well. When the […]

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Jake Cole is a member of that very exclusive fraternity comprised of terrific high school athletes who become even better as college players. Former Tornado assistant coach, Carm DeFrancesco, remembers Jake as “The consummate team player and leader” a kid who even then outworked everybody else. He was a dedicated weight trainer, […]

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Joel Gonzalo, a junior at Mount Carmel Area High School, recently became only the 5th underclassman in MCA history to be named an all-state football player. He was named to the second team Big School All-State team chosen by the Associated Press as a wide receiver. During the 1993 season, Gonzalo established […]

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD In the words of his coach, John McKay, John Christian is a “Gym Rat”. But the way McKay says it, you know he means it in its most positive sense. Christian is a kid who loves being in the gym, loves practicing, loves being there…even when he’s mostly there alone. Christian is only […]

INDUCTEE Steve Jepko was of a rare breed. He was a dreamer. A visionary who could look at things and figure out how they were going to turn out in the future. But more importantly, he was also a doer. Being able to stamp your dreams onto a blueprint and make them a reality makes […]

INDUCTEE Betty Katona has spent a good part of her life in the water. She comes from a family which loved swimming and water sports, and as a result became very good at it at a very early age. Her brother, John Marcinek, built a solid reputation as a diver on a national basis…and together […]

INDUCTEE Al Pavis was ahead of his time. He was a versatile two-way football player; a good enough runner and defender to attract the attention of most of the big league college scouts. But on fourth down he was something special. Kicking the football was what God had in mind for Al Pavis. In today’s […]

INDUCTEE The Mount Carmel Area is widely known as a hotbed of football talent; so it is not surprising that most of the nominees for our Hall of Fame were former gridders. It’s nice, however, that two of this year’s class of honorees are former basketball players. Al Klokis was a real, honest to goodness […]

INDUCTEE Jim Riovito was big and quick and strong and tough. And if you think that combination adds up to an outstanding athlete you are right. The Kulpmont native was the first athlete in Lourdes High School history to be named All State in both football and basketball. In his final year, 1980, he was […]

INDUCTEE When Ed Romance dreamed of the Hall of Fame, which now bears his name, he always talked about what the Coal Regions’ great athletes had become after their playing days were over. He felt the Hall of Fame’s greatest contribution, besides honoring the great athletes themselves, was that it served as an inspiration to […]