I love regional hall of fames. You never hear or read about most of them until there is a press release combined with a slow news day. Maybe a little more attention at a smaller paper that has a local connection to one of the inductees.
Take, oh I don’t know, the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. You knew one had to exist. Just never really heard of it.
Well, this year one of the inductees includes Walter Hynoski who starred at Penn in the 50s. Yes, he’s related to Pitt fullback Henry Hynoski — cousins.
Walter gets a pleasant enough piece in his local paper and it lists some of this year’s other inductees.
Hynoski, who is retired and lives in Holland, Pa., was notified of his election recently. The induction ceremony will be Nov. 1. Two others from the area to be inducted with him are Dick Purnell, former Shikellamy High School football coach, and Bob Unger, a Pottsville High graduate who was an All-American in football at Princeton in 1952.
Other members of the 2008 class are former Wisconsin football coach Barry Alvarez, former Minnesota Vikings placekicker Fred Cox, ex-NFL quarterback Joe Pisarcik, Pete Vukovich, who won the American League Cy Young Award in 1982; former Pitt football coach Walt Harris, former NFL running back Doug Kotar, Jim Mutscheller, Elaine Sobansky-Blackhurst and Leroy Hennon. Ted Meredith and Franco Harris will be honored as Atletes of Distinction.
I guess it’s something else to add to the old resume.
Hail to PITT!
-al-
“Walt Harris, widely considered to be one of the top 15 football coaches all-time at Pitt, backed into the program’s lone BCS Bowl, where his squad lost a tough game to the mighty Utes. Many contend that the momentum from that game set the tone for Coach Harris’ next stop in Palo Alto, where he brought the Cardinal to a new level [of terrible].”
I can’t believe he’d even accept this.