JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — The Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame will celebrate a distinguished group of athletic achievers as it welcomes its Class of 2026 and unveils the inaugural members of its new World Champions Wing during the Induction Banquet on July 11 at the Frank J. Pasquerilla Conference Center.
The Class of 2026 features seven individuals whose accomplishments have left a lasting mark on the local, collegiate, national and international sports landscape: Steve Carlson, Joe Majer, Karyn McCready, Janae (Dunchack) McGuirk, Tim Rigby, Jessica (Brutz) Stoddard and John Strittmatter.
The hall also will introduce the World Champions Wing, established to honor Cambria County athletes and teams who have reached the pinnacle of competition on the world stage.
The inaugural World Champions Wing honorees include the 2025 Little League Softball World Series champion West Suburban Little League 12-Under team, along with three world champion wrestlers: Bo Bassett, Keegan Bassett and Jax Forrest.
“This year’s class and inaugural World Champions Wing honorees represent excellence in every sense of the word,” said Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame Chairman Bruce Haselrig. “Their achievements span generations and sports, but what unites them is the pride and recognition they have brought to Cambria County through dedication, talent and perseverance. We are proud to celebrate their legacies and share their stories.”
The 2026 induction class highlights excellence across a variety of sports and roles:
Steve Carlson became a Johnstown hockey legend as the leading scorer on the 1974-75 Johnstown Jets championship team, which inspired the movie Slap Shot. His career included time in the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association, and he later coached the Johnstown Chiefs to four successful seasons, including an appearance in the 1989 ECHL championship series. Carlson also became widely recognized for portraying one of the iconic Hanson Brothers in Slap Shot, and contributed to Johnstown’s successful Kraft Hockeyville USA effort in 2015.
Joe Majer, honored posthumously, built one of the most successful coaching careers in Pennsylvania high school basketball history. During 38 seasons at Johnstown Catholic (now Bishop McCort Catholic) and Conemaugh Township high schools, Majer compiled more than 600 career victories (607-300), including a 1951 PCIAA state championship at Johnstown Catholic and a PIAA state runner-up finish in 1979 at Conemaugh Township.
Karyn McCready, a Westmont Hilltop graduate, won the 2004 NCAA Division II national championship in the javelin at Slippery Rock University and in 2025 was recognized among the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference’s 75 Greatest Female Athletes. A three-time All-American and three-time PSAC champion, McCready competed in the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team trials. She was a two-time state bronze medal-winner throwing the javelin at Westmont Hilltop.
Janae (Dunchack) McGuirk earned statewide recognition in multiple sports at Northern Cambria High School, where she won four consecutive PIAA high jump championships, before going on to a decorated career at Dartmouth College, where she won three straight Ivy League pentathlon titles and captained the track and field team. A 1,000-point scorer at Northern Cambria, she was part of two state runner-up girls basketball teams, and was a leader on the Colts’ 2009 state championship girls volleyball squad.
Tim Rigby, the longtime sports anchor and sports director at WJAC-TV, spent three decades bringing local sports stories to the community while launching signature broadcasts such as Friday Football Final. He was recognized as the first reporter to break the story of Penn State’s move to the Big Ten Conference and became the first WJAC broadcaster inducted into the prestigious Silver Circle Society. Broadcast live events such as the Sunnehanna Amateur, AAABA Tournament, Johnstown Chiefs, Johnstown Steal and Ken Lantzy Finest 40 football games.
Jessica (Brutz) Stoddard, a Richland High School standout, was a five-time All-American and eight-time PIAA All-State swimmer who also earned multiple YMCA state and district titles and twice placed fourth at YMCA Nationals. She swam at Michigan State University as a Big Ten finalist and two-year letterwinner before transferring to Clarion University, where she helped win a PSAC championship and finished with six NCAA All-American honors. She has since built a successful coaching career at Detroit Central Catholic High School in Michigan, mentoring dozens of state champions and All-Americans.
John Strittmatter, a Cambria Heights graduate, won the 1999 NCAA Division II national championship at 133 pounds at Pitt-Johnstown, where he was a three-time All-American and helped the program win two national team titles in 1996 and 1999. Strittmatter won an East Regional title and was national runnerup at 118 pounds after transferring to Pitt-Johnstown from Penn State University in 1995-96. He now helps develop elite wrestlers as a coach with the nationally renowned Young Guns Wrestling Club.
Click on the Class of 2026 on this website for additional information about the inductees.
The World Champions Wing honorees also have achieved extraordinary milestones.
The West Suburban Little League 12-Under softball team made history by winning the 2025 Little League World Series Softball championship, while wrestlers Keegan Bassett, Bo Bassett and Jax Forrest each claimed world championship titles while attending Bishop McCort Catholic High School.
Additionally, the Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame will recognize Daniel Barefoot, a Richland High School and Penn State University graduate, for representing the United States as a member of the Team USA men’s skeleton squad during the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
“The Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame exists to preserve and celebrate the rich sports heritage of our region,” Haselrig said. “The Class of 2026 and this first World Champions Wing class reflect the extraordinary level of talent that has come from our communities. We look forward to honoring them in July.”
For information on banquet tickets, advertising opportunities or sponsorships, call 814-659-0982 or visit ccshof.org.
Leave a Comment