For Immediate Release
Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame Honors Class of 2006
Eight Inductees made their marks on local and national level
The Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame will honor eight inductees during a July 22, 2006 banquet at the FrankJ.PasquerillaConferenceCenter, 301 Napoleon Street, Johnstown. The Class of 2006 inductees, in alphabetical order, are:
Phil Albert, Towson State University head football coach:
A graduate of the former EastConemaughHigh School, Albert led TowsonState to a 117-91-3 record in 20 seasons.
The Tigers evolved from an NCAA Division III program to NCAA Division II and finally NCAA Division I-AA under Albert. Towson won three Lambert-Meadowlands awards as the top Division II team in the East.
At East Conemaugh Albert was an All-State performer in both football and basketball. He played football at the University of Arizona.
Moses Gray, Indiana University and New York Titans football player:
Also an East Conemaugh graduate, Gray was a 6-foot-2, 260-pound offensive lineman for the Indiana University Hoosiers from 1957-60.
Drafted by both the NFL’s New York Giants and American Football League’s New York Titans, Gray signed with the Titans in 1961 and played two seasons in the AFL.
Sports Illustrated once named Gray one of the best offensive tackles in the AFL.
Galen Head, Johnstown Jets and Bishop McCort hockey player-coach:
Head established himself as one of the best professional players in Johnstown’s storied hockey history with 308 career goals and 601 points.
Head played one game with the National Hockey League’s Detroit Red Wings and 43 games for SaltLake in the former Western Hockey League, a rival to the NHL. Head captained the 1974-75 North American Hockey League champion Johnstown Jets.
Head helped start the BishopMcCortHigh School hockey program. McCort won three of its five state championships under Head while posting a 134-98-9 record overall.
George Mihalik, Slippery Rock University football coach:
Mihalik has 34 years experience in the Slippery Rock football program, including 18 seasons as head coach. He ranks second all-time at The Rock with a 120-73-4 record.
Slippery Rock won four straight PSAC-Western Division championships (1997 to 2000) and earned three NCAA Division II playoff berths in that span. The Rock advanced to the 1998 national semifinals, and Mihalik’s 1999 team ranked second in the final regular-season poll.
Born in Colver, Mihalik grew up in Ebensburg and graduated from BishopCarrollHigh School.
Susan Minchau, Westmont Hilltop High School tennis coach:
The Professional Tennis Registry recognized Minchau as the National High School Tennis Coach of the Year in 2005. Minchau has coached the Westmont girls tennis program for 25 seasons and has guided the Hilltop boys for 23 years.
Her boys teams have captured 17 league titles and the girls have won 10 championships. Combined, Minchau has led the Westmont Hilltop programs to 486 wins entering this spring season.
A member of the Professional Tennis Registry and United States Professional Tennis Association since 1993, Minchau began playing tennis at age 12 and started teaching two years later.
David Roman, University of Pittsburgh basketball player:
Roman is one of the best pure shooters Johnstown or CambriaCounty ever produced. A Greater Johnstown High School graduate, Roman scored 1,446 points in only 1 ½ seasons at Johnstown College-University of Pittsburgh (now UPJ), including a single-season record of 954 points. He also set a national junior college single-game record with 54 points against DuBoisCenter-PennState on Feb. 3, 1962.
Roman earned a scholarship to Pittsburgh’s main campus and led the 1962-63 Panthers with 359 points. His two-year average was 12.6 points a game.
Roman still conducts shooting camps. In 1998, Roman won a national championship and set an all-time record by making 24-of-25 3-point attempts and 75-of-75 free throw attempts at the International Shootout in Las Vegas, Nev.
Paul Schmidt, Duke University basketball player:
Schmidt set Greater Johnstown’s single-season scoring record with 421 points (since broken) and was a first-team All-State selection by both the Associated Press and United Press in 1953-54. After leading the Trojans to a 26-1 record as a senior, Schmidt accepted a scholarship to DukeUniversity, where he started two seasons.
At Duke, Schmidt scored 559 points and had 409 rebounds from 1956-58. He was among the top players on the Blue Devils freshman team in 1954-55 and closed his career by being named Duke’s Most Valuable Player and a second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection as a senior.
Schmidt was the first Johnstown High player to be named first-team All-State. The Trojans had a two-year record of 53-3 with two District 6 titles during his junior and senior seasons, reaching the Western Final and Western Semifinal, respectively.
Jody Strittmatter, Pitt-Johnstown and Iowa wrestler:
Strittmatter won two national championships at the NCAA Division II level for the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, and then finished his college career with two All-American performances at the University of Iowa, one of the top programs in the history of NCAA Division I wrestling.
A CambriaHeightsHigh School graduate and former Pennsylvania state champion, Strittmatter won national titles at 118 pounds as a UPJ freshman in 1998 and at 125 pounds as a sophomore. He was the leader on the 1998-99 Mountain Cats squad that won the national team title.
At Iowa, Strittmatter placed third at nationals as a junior when Iowa won the team title. He was an NCAA Division I runner-up as a senior in 2001. Strittmatter compiled an incredible 150-8 record, going 87-3 at UPJ and 63-5 at Iowa. He had 64 career pins.
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