Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2016 Announced

Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame announces Class of 2016

Six inductees, three accomplished area high school teams to be honored July 9

A sextet of athletic figures who burnished their credentials in careers that spanned decades and in several cases, crossed international borders, is the Class of 2016 that will enter the Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame.

The Class of 2016 officially will be inducted into the Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame during a banquet at the Frank J. Pasquerilla Conference Center on Saturday, July 9.

The Class of 2016 includes:

Greater Johnstown High School graduate Geroy Simon, whose athletic skills took him north of the border to Canada, where he carved out a record-setting career as a wide receiver in the Canadian Football League, is one inductee who will bring international flavor.

Another is former Westmont Hilltop High School multi-sport standout Karlee McQuillen, who was a track and field standout at Penn State University and competed internationally in the 2008 World Junior Championships in Poland.

The careers of Evan Slonac and the late General George B. Simler reach back more than six decades, with Slonac playing in the backfield of Michigan State’s 1952 national championship football team and Simler serving as athletic director at the United States Air Force Academy from 1957 to 1960. Give a nod, too, to Simler, for his share of border crossing during two combat tours of duty in Europe during World War II.

John Goettlicher, a long-time golf professional at Berkley Hills and Sunnehanna Country Club, was a fixture in the area golfing scene over the course of multiple decades.

Of a more recent vintage is Samantha Pollino, who had more than 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds during her career at Conemaugh Valley High School, and went on to finish in the Top 10 of career scoring for Duquesne University’s women’s basketball with 1,437 points.

The Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame also will recognize three distinguished high school teams. The Conemaugh Valley girls basketball team, led by Pollino, was the PIAA Class A state runner-up in 2006; The Westmont Hilltop girls basketball team, which featured McQuillen, earned PIAA silver after state championship game appearances in 2005 and 2006; and the Johnstown Vo-Tech undefeated football team won the 1986 PIAA District 6 AAAA championship in what still is regarded as one of the biggest upsets in the region’s football history.

Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame Fast Facts

First Banquet: 1965.
First Chairman: Richard Mayer.
First Location: Cambria County War Memorial Arena.
Number of Banquets: 19 including 2016.
Total Inductees: 136 including 2016.
Female Inductees: 19.
Male Inductees: 117.
Largest Class: 18 in 1965.
Most Inductees: Football (42).
2016 Chairman: Bruce Haselrig.
2016 Master of Ceremonies: Tim Rigby.
2016 Location: Frank J. Pasquerilla Conference Center.
CCSHOF website: www.ccshof.org (Powered by MASSolutions)