Important Events in District 5 History #PIAA

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Important Events in District 5 History #PIAA

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Jeff Batzel, Northern Bedford AD has been working on this. I thought many of you would find this interesting. If you have things to be considered for addition you reply to this thread. Enjoy!!


IMPORTANT EVENTS
IN DISTRICT 5 HISTORY

1924 – Salisbury wins the first ever awarded PIAA District 5 title in Basketball. A member of that squad, Charles “Rip” Engle went on to coaching fame as the Head Coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football team from 1950-1965.

1930 – John “Boots” Clark of Bedford wins the PIAA sprint titles in both the 100 (10.0) and 220 (22.2) yard dashes at the State Finals. He is the first District 5 Individual state champion in any sport.

1933 – Windber, the Western Conference football champion, defeats John Harris, the Eastern Conference Champ, 7-6 to claim the mythical state championship in a playoff game in Johnstown.

1937 – Sat. Dec. 4 at Johnstown’s Point Stadium, Western Conference Champion Windber defeats Eastern Conference Champion Steelton 21-0 to win the mythical state championship. Windber finishes 8-0 and allows just one touchdown the entire season.

1942 – Windber’s football squad, Coached by Joe “Pearly” Gates, finishes undefeated including big victories over defending WPIAL Champion Johnstown, 20-13, and previously undefeated Altoona, 13-7. Johnstown and Altoona each lost just once in ’42. Center Pat Torquato was named 2nd Team All-State. In many circles this team was considered the mythical state champions for 1942.

1943 – Pat Krupper of Boswell High School wins the PIAA State 138 lb. Wrestling Championship becoming District 5’s first state wrestling individual champion. Krupper would graduate and serve his country in WW II and at the Battle of Normandy before returning to a stellar Wrestling career at IUP.

1943 – Windber’s football team continues their winning streak going 10-0 and again are considered mythical State Champions by many accounts. Nunzio Marino was 1st team All-State and played at Notre Dame in 1944 before being called to duty in World War II.

1946 – Stoneycreek Twp. wins the District 5 Class “B” Basketball Championship and makes it to the State Championship Game before bowing to Fell Twp., at the Wilkes-Barre Armory by a 37-34 score.

1946 – Don Thomas of Boswell wins the 154 lb. state wrestling championship making him the first two time (He also won in 1945) state wrestling champion in District 5 history. Thomas would medal twice in the NCAA wrestling tournament during his college career at Waynesburg and the Naval Academy.

1947 – Frank Kush, a guard on Windber’s football team was named 1st Team All-State. Kush went on to star at Michigan State before becoming a College Football Hall of Fame Coach at Arizona State.

1949 – Carl Paylor of McConnellsburg wins his third straight PIAA Class “B” State Pole Vault title with a 12-3 effort which is a Class “B” State Record. Within weeks, Paylor was playing Minor League Baseball in Lockport, NY as an outfielder for the Reds organization. He would have a 6 year minor league career.


1953 – Jimmy Kaplan of Windber scores 63 points in a 71-44 win over Bedford. Kaplan would go on to become a 3-year starter at William & Mary. The Tribe’s arena is named Kaplan Arena after Jimmy because of his 7-million dollar gift to the basketball program in 2006.

1955- Vincent Bestvina of Shade wins his third straight PIAA Class “B” State Pole Vault title, duplicating fellow D5 vaulter Paylor. His Senior year height of 12’0” was his best of his 3 championship years.

1955 – Park Baker of Conemaugh Twp. Finishes his football career with 475 points scored, a State record. Baker was a two-time First Team All-State selection when All-State teams were not broken down by classification. Baker attended and was a two-time letterwinner at Michigan State.

1957 – Mike Kasnick of Shade scores 92 points in a 107-53 win over Turkeyfoot on Feb. 27. This ties the state single game basketball scoring record in Pennsylvania. Kasnick would play 4 years at Bucknell University.

1960 – Bob Bussard, an offensive lineman from Everett, becomes the first District 5 football player selected to compete in the Big 33 Classic. Bussard receives a full scholarship from NC State.

1963 – Fri. Nov. 1 – Charlie Banks of Meyersdale scores his 476th career point in football in a game versus Jenner-Boswell to set a new state career scoring record. Banks needed 18 points and got 19 when he booted an extra point after his 3rd TD of the game. Banks also held the state career rushing record with 4,835 yards on 502 career carries (9.6 yards per carry). Banks was selected 4th team All-State (All Classifications) and played at Florida A&M.

1966 – Derry Stufft of Forbes Joint High School is named 1st Team UPI Little All-State (Class C) . Stufft goes on to play on St. Johns University’s 1969 NIT team.

1973 – Fred Glasgow of Northern Bedford rushes for a state single game record 414 yards against Shade. Glasgow also breaks the state single season rushing record with 2,061 yards for the season.

1977 – Jan Clark completes his wrestling career at Northern Bedford with his 3rd consecutive state individual title. Clark was a runnerup in his Freshman season. His 109 career wins is a state record at that time.

1978 – Chris Stoner, a Junior at Hyndman hit 46 consecutive free throw attempts in games during the season but came up just shy of Tom Mueller’s (Latrobe) 1968 record of 48 consecutive free throws made in games.

1979 – Jeff Hostetler leads Conemaugh Twp. to the District 5 Basketball Championship and to the State Finals where they lost a 51-48 decision to St. Pius X at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena. Hostetler went on to play as a football Quarterback at West Virginia and was drafted in the 3rd round of the 1984 NFL Draft by the New York Giants. Hostetler Quarterbacked the Giants to a 20-19 win over the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV and was named to the Pro Bowl in 1994 when he played for the Raiders.

1984 – Kim Spriggs and the McConnellsburg Girls Track & Field team. Spriggs wins 3 individual state Championships (100H, LJ, TJ) and scores enough points singlehandedly to give Coach Greg Hays District 5’s first and only team championship at the PIAA championships held at Shippensburg. Spriggs, who at one time held the state 100 meter Hurdles record, would later be inducted into the Pennsylvania Scholastic Track & Field Hall of Fame.

1991 – McConnellsburg Girls Basketball team defeats Nativity BVM 66-60 to capture District 5’s first and only State Basketball Championship at Hersheypark Arena. Coach Audrey Hall’s Lady Spartans, who finished 31-0, outscored Nativity 14-2 over the last 4:44 of the game to overcome a deficit and earn the state crown. The Lady Spartans were led by senior scoring ace Marla McElhaney who averaged 25 points per game and scored 2,281 career points.

1993 – Joe Nastasi of Northern Bedford is named the Pennsylvania small school football Player of the Year by the Associated Press. Nastasi would become the all-time basketball scoring leader in District 5, and #5 in state history, that winter by scoring 2,961 career points. Nastasi went on to excel at Penn State as a starting WR and played in the Rose Bowl Game.

1994 – Jamie Eichelberger of Everett makes it 2 years in a row for Bedford County having the AP Small School Football Player of the Year in Pennsylvania.

1996 – Brian Sell runs a 4:30.1 1600 meter run at the District 5 Championships to win his 3rd straight gold medal in the District 5 metric mile. Sell would go on to glory as a distance runner at St. Francis University and finish 3rd in the 2008 US Olympic Trials Marathon held in New York City. Sell represented the US in the Men’s Marathon at the Beijing Olympic Games.

1998 – Feb. 9, 1998 AJ Nastasi of Northern Bedford breaks Tom McMillen’s (Mansfield HS) career state basketball scoring record in a win over Everett. Nastasi would finish the ’98 season with a state record 3,833 (33.3 per game) points and was named the AP Small School Basketball Player of the Year in Pennsylvania. Nastasi would go on to a successful college football career at West Virginia.

2010 – May 29, 2010 at the Hershey Racquet Club. Peter Riley, a student at Northern Bedford playing in a coop program with the Tussey Mountain team, wins the state singles tennis championship. Riley becomes the first District 5 tennis player to win a state title.

2012 – June 15, 2012 Fannett-Metal wins the State Softball Class “A” title at Penn State with a 1-0 victory over Southern Columbia. All-State Pitcher Blaire Lauthers had the winning RBI single for the Lady Tigers.

2012 – Natalie Dell from Everett wins an Olympic bronze medal as a member of the US quadruple sculls rowing team. Dell, a multisport athlete at Everett, won 7 Track & Field District 5 Gold Medals and 2 state medals as part of the Everett Track squad from 2001 through 2003.
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Re: Important Events in District 5 History #PIAA

Post by dadw/2sons »

That was nice to read. Good work Jeff and thanks for sharing it with us Coach.
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Re: Important Events in District 5 History #PIAA

Post by WPIAL~Titan »

Excellent work and very interesting read!
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Re: Important Events in District 5 History #PIAA

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I have a few for consideration. First, 1996 Beth Burkett from Chestnut Ridge captures back to back silver medals at the state track and field meet. Has the 9th best throw in the United States that year in high school and goes on to compete on scholarship at Div 1 Kentucky and I'm pretty sure was an academic all American. 2002 Tracie Clair finishes her highschool track career at Chestnut Ridge with a total of 8 state medals. Including 4 individual medals her junior year and a pair of state runner ups her senior year. While leading her team to a top 8 finish in the team standings. I think she is the only Bedford county girl to win 4 medals at one state meet.
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Re: Important Events in District 5 History #PIAA

Post by youngbuck »

2001 and 2002 despite being beaten by Bishop Carroll , district 5 still lists Windber as champions and Windber has the banners in the gym, the districts were combined at that time
Check it out, different champions listed on the D5 and D6 sites , but conveniently D5 does not post any scores.
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Re: Important Events in District 5 History #PIAA

Post by Lefteyelouie »

Bill Benbow, Bedford, 1994 State track 100 m champ and 200 m runner-up.
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Re: Important Events in District 5 History #PIAA

Post by Coach »

To the best of my knowledge, D5/6 played in a joint playoff structure but the districts were still separate. It probably bugs some people but the champion was declared by whomever was the top seed/point getter in D5 in the regular season. It is like winning your conference so to speak. This is a different topic for a different day but I wish CK and Portage were in D5 to add to the numbers. They wanted to do that years ago but were unsuccessful.
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Re: Important Events in District 5 History #PIAA

Post by usatf oldguy »

usatf oldguy wrote:I have a few for consideration. First, 1996 Beth Burkett from Chestnut Ridge captures back to back silver medals at the state track and field meet. Has the 9th best throw in the United States that year in high school and goes on to compete on scholarship at Div 1 Kentucky and I'm pretty sure was an academic all American. 2002 Tracie Clair finishes her highschool track career at Chestnut Ridge with a total of 7 state medals. Including 4 individual medals her junior year and a pair of state runner ups her senior year. While leading her team to a top 8 finish in the team standings. I think she is the only Bedford county girl to win 4 medals at one state meet.
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Re: Important Events in District 5 History #PIAA

Post by dcxad »

1991 Jason Cole, BHS, wins first D5/6 Crosscountry Title. 
1992 Jason Cole, BHS, wins 3rd D5 800 and 1600 meters.
1992 Jason Cole, BHS, 1600 meter PIAA AA Champion. Goes on to run for PSU. 
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