Tom Katona

• Post by: mcalibrary
• January 3, 2024
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INDUCTEE

Tom Katona, today, adds his name to those of 8 classmates from 1971 and to those of 12 teammates from the 1970 championship team to the list of honorees in the Ed Romance Lower Anthracite Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. He also joins brother Tim and mother Betty as members of the hall.

Tom’s athletic career began as a Kulpmont Cougar under coach Bambi Miriello as a running back and defensive back. He also competed in many District and Regional AAU track meets around Pennsylvania. In high school, Tom was also a part of the “Golden Era’ of football where his teams won three consecutive Southern Division Championships and one Eastern Conference Crown in 1969. Those teams won an amazing 34 games while losing only 2 and were a huge part of the 35 game regular season winning streak spanning Shamokin in 1967 thru Panther Valley in 1971. Tom was an outstanding running back on those teams and averaged over 7 yards per carry as a senior, in addition to returning kicks.

In the spring, Tom ran track for four years under coach Gerry Breslin. He ran the 100,220, 4 x 100 yards relay, 4 x 220 yd relay and mile relay. He, along, with Jeff Greco, Gary Diminick, Mike Menapace, Bob Veach, and John Nicoletti, would go on to establish a number of relay records that would stand for many years at MCA. He was part of an era that saw MCA win 4 consecutive District IV titles and place 4th in the state meet in 1968. His track teams went 42 -0 in dual meets during his 4-years there and was part of the 143 meet winning streak held by MCA track teams from 1943-1976.

After offers from Juniate College, Otterbein, Ashland, and West Chester, Tom chose to run at East Stroudsburg University. While there, he ran the 100,220 and 4 x 100 relay. In 1973 ESU placed second at the PA State School Meet, while the 4 x 100 relay team also took home the silver against teams from Temple, Penn State, Pitt, West Chester, etc.

Since his graduation in 1975, Tom has founded and owned 3 corporations – KBM Office Products and Supply, Zonics Inc. and Convergent Solutions Inc. a computer and software consulting firm in King of Prussia Pa. He has had 3 companies in the Top 100 Fastest Growing companies in the Philadelphia Area and has been selected in the Who’s Who of American Business Executives. Tom continues his sports affiliation as the President of Mainline Chapter Red Cross Golf Tournament at Stonewall

Tom and his wife, Maureen, reside in Wayne, Pa and are parents of three children, Kyle, Todd, and Maura.