SOME PREVIOUS INDUCTEES TO THE BLAIR COUNTY SPORTS HALL OF FAME
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Blair County Sports Hall of Fame!
Induction Class Announced for 2026
By John Hartsock
Altoona Mirror
Girls and women’s basketball, along with football, will take center stage when the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame’s 2026 induction class is recognized on Saturday, April 11, at the Blair County Convention Center.
The 2026 induction class will include Kristi (Little) Kaack, Lori (McConnell) Elgin and Cathy (Cronin) Beam for their playing, coaching and officiating accomplishments in girls and women’s basketball, and two Altoona Area High School girls basketball state championship teams that won PIAA gold medals in 1995 and 1996 will also be recognized.
Former long-time area high school football coach Dave Baker will also be inducted, as will former Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic High School (now Bishop Guilfoyle Academy) and Tulane University football standout George Geishauser.
“Girls basketball has been one of the most successful sports in Blair County over the past few decades, and this year’s class reflects that with two individual inductees in Kristi (Little) Kaack and Lori (McConnell) Elgin, as well as the team award honoring back-to-back Altoona Lady Lions state champions of 1995 and 1996,’’ Blair County Sports Hall of Fame President Neil Rudel said.
“We’re also pleased to welcome the first official into the Hall of Fame in Cathy (Cronin) Beam, who has worked five NCAA Women’s Tournaments and six PIAA finals, and has the most decorated career of our officials,’’ Rudel added. “George Geishauser was an outstanding football player at Tulane, and in coaching high school football for 58 straight years – including 44 as a head coach, the longest stretch in Blair County history – Dave Baker had great success at Williamsburg and Central and touched countless lives.’’
Kaack has excelled as both a player and a coach, enjoying an outstanding scholastic playing career at Altoona High School, where she scored a Lady Lions basketball program career record 1,177 points, before moving on to Duquesne University, where she became one of that college women’s programs all-time leading scorers.
She has also made her mark as a coach, leading the Bishop Guilfoyle Academy girls basketball program to three state championships in her seven seasons with the Lady Marauders.
“The game of basketball has had a massive impact on the person that I have become and has taken me on some of the most meaningful journeys of my life,’’ Kaack said. “My love for the game was encouraged by my family – especially by my parents, who taught me that if I worked hard, I could achieve any goal.
“Being inducted into the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame is incredibly special, because this community has always meant so much to me,’’ Kaack said. “I am thankful for the support that I’ve received as both a player and a coach, and I am especially grateful to my family, coaches, former teammates and players.’’
Lori (McConnell) Elgin was a girls basketball standout at BG who paved the way for area college girls basketball players as the first to achieve Division I college scholarship.
After playing collegiate basketball at the University of New Mexico, she went on to become an assistant coach for the women’s college program at the University of Texas El Paso, before coaching both high school boys and girls basketball – including a high school girls state championship team in Alabama.
Cronin Beam officiated women’s college basketball for 34 years at the Division I, II and III levels, working in major conferences such as the Big Ten, Big East, and Atlantic 10.
“I am very humbled and honored to be included among the inductees into the 2026 Blair County Sports Hall of Fame,’’ Cronin Beam said. “To have the Hall of Fame committee recognize my accomplishments and efforts and bestow upon me this great honor means the world to me, and I am honored to represent all those officials who work hard at their profession of officiating sports at any level.’’
Baker was the dean of area high school football coaches, coaching for 58 straight years, including 44 as a head coach at Williamsburg and Central combined.
He retired from coaching at the age of 79 following the 2023 season with a career record of 245-211-11, after leading Central to seven District 6 championships and four appearances in the PIAA semifinals. He was a 2025 inductee into the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Geishauser was a four-year letterman and two-year starter at defensive back at Tulane, helping the Green Wave get to a pair of bowl games before signing with the Oakland Raiders as a free agent and playing in three exhibition games before being released prior to the start of the 1982 regular season.
He joins his brother, Thom, a former West Virginia football standout and a 2016 inductee, in the Hall.
“Being inducted into the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame is certainly a great privilege and being a member of this exclusive group is a terrific honor,’’ Geishauser said. “I’ve had plenty of role models from this area that motivated me in my athletic pursuits, and I will always be thankful for and treasure my selection.’’
The 2026 banquet will be the 21st banquet since the first one was held in 1987, and will bring the total number of inductees to 110 and teams to 13. Pittsburgh sports media personality Bob Pompeani will return as the event’s emcee, and the guest speaker will be announced at a later date.
Tickets for the induction are priced at $100 and orders are now being taken and tickets will be mailed by March 20. Checks should be made out to the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame and mailed to P.O. Box 162, Altoona, Pa. 16603. Questions can be directed to Kathy Millward at (814) 312-4753 or [email protected].
A closer look at the Class of 2026:
DAVE BAKER: Winningest coach in Williamsburg and Central history, winning 126 games at Williamsburg and 119 games at Central, where his teams won seven District 6 titles and advanced to the PIAA semifinals four times from 2015-22. His 1984 Williamsburg team went undefeated and his 1989-90 teams went 20-3-1 combined. His last four teams at Central went 46-6. Coached high school football 58 straight years (44 as a head coach), with 31 years at Williamsburg and 13 at Central. Career record of 245-211-11. Inducted into the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in May 2025 after being awarded the Lifetime Contribution to Football Award by the National Football Foundation’s central Pennsylvania chapter in 2017.
CATHY (CRONIN) BEAM: Officiated women’s college basketball for 34 years at the Division I, II and III levels, including the Big Ten, Big East, Atlantic 10, Ivy League and Northeast Conference. Officiated in the NCAA Tournament five times as well as in six PIAA championship games. Also officiated in the Division II and Division III Final Four, and served as the Big Ten evaluator of officials and an NCAA Tournament evaluator of officials. Selected as National Federation of Interscholastic Athletic Association (NFIOA) Official of the Year in 1997. First official to be inducted into the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame.
GEORGE GEISHAUSER: Three-year letterman and two-year starter as a defensive back at Tulane. Helped get the Green Wave to a pair of bowl games – the 1979 Liberty Bowl against Penn State and the 1980 Hall of Fame Bowl against Arkansas. Signed with the Oakland Raiders and played in three exhibition games in 1982 but was released prior to the start of the regular season. Product of Bishop Guilfoyle High School. Older brother Thom is a 2016 Blair Hall of Fame inductee.
KRISTI (LITTLE) KAACK: Three-year starter at Duquesne (2006-09) who earned first team Atlantic 10 honors as a senior and was just the second A-10 player ever to twice be named the league’s defensive player of the year. Led the A-10 in steals twice. Scored 1,266 points at Duquesne (10th all-time) and had career highs of 30 points and eight steals vs. Temple as a senior. Inducted into the Duquesne Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016. All-state selection who set the Altoona Lady Lions all-time scoring record (1,177 points). Is now coaching at Bishop Guilfoyle Academy, where her teams have won three state titles. Was named the Pennsylvania Sports Writers Class 1A girls All-State Coach of the Year for the third time in 2025. Her BG teams won Class 1A titles in 2021, 2024 and 2025.
LORI (MCCONNELL) ELGIN: In 1980, she became the first Blair County woman to receive a Division I basketball scholarship when she accepted an offer to play at the University of New Mexico, and was thus viewed as a trailblazer for local girls basketball. All-state selection at BG in 1979-80. Entered coaching and became an assistant coach at the University of Texas-El Paso before coaching both high school girls and boys basketball, and winning a state girls basketball championship as a coach in Hoover, Ala.
TEAM INDUCTEES: The 1995 and 1996 Altoona High School girls basketball teams, which won consecutive PIAA championships and posted a combined record of 51-9 under head coach Art Taneyhill – 25-5 in 1995 and 26-4 in 1996. In 1995, five seniors earned Division I scholarships. Julie Sommer (William & Mary), Jessica Montrella (Davidson), Krista Thomas (Duquesne), Jill Bartley (George Madison), and Michelle Lenhart (Marshall), along with junior starter Courtney Kaup (George Mason) and Jill Humbertson (Robert Morris). Of those seven, Sommer (1,269 points) and Montrella (1,069) scored 1,000 points in college, and Kaup set George Mason’s career assist record. Sommer led Altoona in scoring three straight seasons, and finished with a high school career total of 1,017 points. The 1994-95 Lady Lions won 21 of their last 22 games and averaged 65 points per game. Altoona beat Allentown Central Catholic to win the 1995 title and Northampton to win the 1996 championship.
![Altoona Lady Lions Basketball 1995[1]](https://blaircountysportshof.com/wp-content/uploads/elementor/thumbs/Altoona-Lady-Lions-Basketball-19951-scaled-r8t64npbkzqafoiwfv2lvbz0tqy6nrjwvlnoqb6uh6.jpg "Altoona Lady Lions Basketball 1995[1]")
Little, Muthler Earn Scholarships
By Josh Langenbacher
Little is a soccer standout for Altoona, scoring a team-high 23 goals this season and serving as a two-year team captain. She helped lead Altoona to District 6 championships the last two years and was the team’s most valuable player.
“There are days — the early mornings, late nights and packed schedule – (it) feels like too much,” Little said. “When I’m tired or unmotivated, I think about everyone who has believed in me. I think of my club coaches. I think of my parents, who drove me two hours to Pittsburgh twice a week just for practice and have given me every opportunity I could ever hope for. I think of my teachers, who came in early and stayed late to help me get caught up.”
During the playoffs, Little scored four goals and had five assists as Altoona made its deepest run in the PIAA postseason. She will be attending Division I Iona University to continue her soccer career and study finance. Academically, Little has a grade-point average of 98.1, ranks 11th in her graduating class of 497 and scored 1230 on her SATs. She’s been a member of the National Honor Society and has served on the executive committee of the junior and senior classes at Altoona. Little is the daughter of Jason and Devyn Little.
Muthler was a football and basketball standout at Central who also lettered twice in baseball and track & field.
As a quarterback, he led Central to the District 6 Class 3A championship as a junior. In basketball, he sparked the Dragons to their first district title in 30 years, finished as the fourth leading scorer in school history with 1,000-plus points and earned the Altoona Mirror’s 2025 player of the year honors. In addition, he was named the Mirror’s 2025 athlete of the year on May 19. Academically, his grade-point average was 4.0, he ranked 12th in a graduating class of 130 and scored an 1130 on his SAT.
“Growing up, I had three of the toughest and most loyal coaches at home — my three brothers, Jacob, Noah and Jesse,” said Muthler, who will be attending Penn State Altoona. “They pushed me harder than anyone, whether it was in the backyard, Grandma’s backyard, the weight room or everyday life, they never let me settle. Even though I didn’t always like it at the time, I know now it came from love and believing in what I could become.”
Muthler is the son of Scott and Kate Muthler.
Reliance Bank, along with a contribution from the Hall of Fame, raised the award from $2,000 to $3,500 this year. Reliance has presented scholarships annually since 1988 and has now awarded a total of $141,000 to deserving student-athletes.
“At Reliance Bank, we are proud to support initiatives that reflect our core values,” said Cory Tubo, Chief Commercial Banking Officer. “We are thankful for the opportunity to invest in our local athletes through the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame program year after year.”
The Hall of Fame will hold its next induction banquet – its 21st — on April 11, 2026 at the Blair County Convention Center. Inductees and the featured speaker will be announced at a later date.
‘No Place Like Home’: 2024 Inductees Praise Support Systems
By John Hartsock, Altoona Mirror
During the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame’s 20th induction dinner Saturday night at the Blair County Convention Center, each of the five 2024 inductees — Mark Moschella, Alli Williams, Rachel Gehret, Artie Fink Jr. and Tom Turchetta — effusively praised the family members, friends, teammates and coaches who had helped them to reach the pinnacle of their careers in athletics.
Another common theme expressed by each inductee was the terrific relationship with, and gratitude for, that each inductee had with the community that was honoring them.
“There’s no place like home,” said Gehret, a mother of three and former three-sport athlete at Altoona Area High School who went on to become an All-American in track and field at the University of Louisville.
“It is my greatest blessing to raise my children in the same positive atmosphere in which I grew up,” Gehret added.
Former Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic High School athlete Turchetta, who played football at the University of Miami and went on to a long and distinguished coaching career with several major college football programs, also saluted his hometown.
“This is a tremendous honor,” Turchetta said. “This is an
awesome community that has continued over the years to embrace this awesome event. I had the good fortune to grow up in the glory years of Altoona athletics, when many athletes were being heavily recruited by college sports programs, and many went on to play professional sports.
“Every lesson that I learned growing up in Altoona was related to hard work and teamwork, and I tried to emulate those two things in my coaching career,” added Turchetta, who now lives in Tennessee. “I’m proud to become a member of the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame, and I’ll continue to proudly be an Altoona guy.”
There was plenty of emotion expressed by inductees in Saturday’s ceremony, and Fink — who earned his selection by excelling in both bowling and golf — was the most emotional as he expressed his gratitude to all of those special people who helped him along his way.
“I feel very honored to be inducted, along with so many other athletes,” said Fink, a former member of the Pro Bowlers Association and inductee into the Pennsylvania Bowlers Hall of Fame, who began bowling at the tender age of 7 and has rolled an eye-opening 90 perfect 300 games. “This all wouldn’t have been possible without the love and support of my family and friends.
“Later in my life, I picked up golf, and although it was completely new to me, I couldn’t get enough of it,” added Fink, who learned the game with the help of his grandfather, father and uncle, and was taken under the wing of local area golfing legends like Greg Ferguson, and the late Bob Sweitzer and Jimmy Gilliam. “I got my competitive juices from my father, while my mother has always been my rock — a one-of-a-kind human being who always had the ability to say the right thing at the right time. And to see my son, Derek, to now be doing the same things that I do, is a treasure for me. He is truly my world.”
First-time Blair Hall Master of Ceremonies Bob Pompeani, a veteran Pittsburgh sports television personality, was taking over the emcee duties for his late friend and colleague, Stan Savran, who passed away last June after having served as emcee for the Blair Hall since its first induction banquet back in 1987.
Pomepani carried Savran’s torch well, expressing profound emotion in his tribute video to Savran, which was played at Saturday’s ceremony.
Pompeani also provided some levity after Fink had struggled to maintain his composure.
“There’s nothing wrong with emotion,” Pompeani said, consoling Fink after Fink had finished speaking. “Emotion is a part of life, and it’s good to show it. I actually even cry when they’re opening a new Wal-Mart.”
The Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic High School influence was very much in evidence at Saturday’s induction dinner.
Along with Turchetta, Moschella, who coached the BG Lady Marauders girls basketball program to four PIAA state championships and a Blair County basketball record 603 career wins in 27 seasons, and Williams, a former basketball star at BG and Saint Francis University who went on to play professional basketball overseas, graced the dais with their presence.
“So many great people had such a great influence on my life,” said Moschella, who coached three PIAA Class 1A championship teams that were led by Williams. “Bishop Guilfoyle gave me the opportunity to lead for 27 years, the school always supported the basketball program, and I was blessed to be there.”
Williams thought that it was quite fitting that she was being inducted into the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame on the same night that Moschella was also being inducted.
“It’s tremendous to be inducted into the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame, and I could not think of a better way to be inducted than to be inducted here with my coach,” Williams said, alluding to Moschella that “You were so much more than just a coach to us.”
Williams also said that participating in basketball taught her many valuable life-long lessons.
“Through basketball, I learned vital life lessons — like the importance of teamwork and how to negotiate both success and failure,” Williams said.
Video presenters for the five inductees included: Vince Nedimyer Sr., for Turchetta; Ken Love for Fink; Jake Jacoby for Gehret; Mary (Forr) Szoch for Moschella, and Tom Fox for Williams.
Members of the 2022 Hollidaysburg Little League team that won three games in the Little League World Series were recognized individually, and local soccer icon Jim Fee was honored with the Hall’s Community Service Award.
Tyrone’s Braden Ewing and Altoona’s Hailey Kravetz were $2,000 scholarship recipients.
One Small County, One Big Sports Tradition
Those who have followed sports in Central Pennsylvania may already be aware that Altoona and Blair County can boast a sports tradition that can match most communities our size in America. For proof, just click around to digest the accomplishments of our 105 inductees.
You’ll find photos, a profile story and videos of the acceptances and presentations of all of our inductees and banquets. There’s plenty for your reading and viewing pleasure.
In addition, you’ll find how to nominate an inductee or team for future consideration as well as learning about our scholarship and community service awards along with our past banquet guest speakers.
Although our organization has been in existence since 1987, this is our first venture into cyberspace. We’d like to thank Ed Kruger for helping to get us started along with Matt Clapper and James Henderson of EZtoUse.com, which designed our website. We also appreciate the assistance of graphic artist Tom Worthington III of the Altoona Mirror and photographer J.D. Cavrich.
For a more complete history of the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame, click here or the link at the top of our home page.
Thank you for your interest in the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame.
