Coaches, PIAA champs & more: Meet the 2022 inductees to the Centre County Sports Hall of Fame

The Centre County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame’s 2022 class features prolific coaches, PIAA champions, the first Centre Countian to sign an NFL contract, and others.

The new members will be inducted during a banquet on Oct. 16 at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center.

“Again we have a very talented group of electees from football, basketball, wrestling basketball, baseball and golf,” Hall of Fame board of directors president Bucky Quici said. “These people contributed to sports in Centre County in many ways.”

In alphabetical order, the class of inductees are as follows:

Laura Caldwell Cunningham, a Bellefonte graduate, set records for season and career strikeouts (224, 792), and ERA (.490 and .738). She also has the record for career wins (74). At St. Francis University she ranks second in career strikeouts, wins, innings pitched and appearances. She was named the outstanding student-athlete at St. Francis.

Jim Gonder is a former Philipsburg-Osceola softball coach whose teams won three PIAA titles and finished second twice. His Lady Mounties won 682 games and lost 151. He also posted a 404-145 record as the coach of the P-O volleyball team. He has been honored as the Pennsylvania Softball Coach of the Year, the Northeast Softball Coach of the Year and has been president of the Pennsylvania Softball Coaches Association for over 20 years.

Marty Ilgen won 10 letters with the Penns Valley Rams — the first athlete to do so — including four in baseball and three each in football and wrestling. He was the first Ram to be nominated for the Big 33 team while leading his team in rushing, receiving and touchdowns. He won two sectional and one District 6 title in wrestling in baseball he led the team in hitting and had a wining record as a pitcher.

Paul Packer became Bald Eagle Area’s second PIAA champion when he won the 95-pound crown in 1972. He had a three-year record of 43-15 while winning a District 6 and Northwest regional championship. He also won a pair of Manheim Championships. He spent one semester at Lycoming where he went 6-0. He later spent 37 years as a PIAA official, working district, regional and PIAA tournaments as well as Eastern Wrestling League meets and tournaments as well as officiating PSAC tournaments. He was the President and Rules Interpreter for the Charles Goldthorp Chapter of the District 6 Wrestling officials.

Robert “Bo” Sankey won 10 varsity letters for the Mounties, four in baseball and three each in football and basketball. He was an all-county, all-district and all-state in football. In baseball he hit .478 his senior year and was 4-0 with a 0.00 ERA and struck out 35 in 24.1 innings. He played in the American Legion East-West all-star game and played for the St. Louis Cardinals for five years, where he reached the AAA league as a middle infielder and received the Ducky Medwick Silver Bat award as the Cardinals’ top prospect and another year with the Cleveland Indians. He has coached baseball at all levels in the Philipsburg community.

Jerry Shivery is generally considered Bellefonte’s greatest running back. In two nine-game seasons he gained 2,440 yards and scored 35 touchdowns, both school records. He also holds the school records for longest touchdown run (94), longest kickoff return (95), yards in a season (1,792), touchdowns in a season (23) rushing yards in a game (317) and rushing attempts in a game (51). He was a 1967 preseason All-American and was both an AP and UPI all-state choice. A preseason knee injury prior to his senior year ended his high school career.

Jerry Spackman won nine letters at BEA as an end in football, a pitcher/third baseman on the 1961 baseball team that won the Central Penn League championship, BEA’s first championship, and averaged 18 points per game in basketball. He walked on to the Colorado State football team and tied the school record for single games receptions with seven. He later transferred to the College of Southern Utah, where he set a single game record for receptions with 13 and a season record with 53 and a single-game record for receiving yardage with 151 and a season-record for receiving yardage with 727, earning him All-American honors. He went on to sign a free agent contract with the San Francisco 49ers, where he made it to the last cut in preseason. He also lasted until the last cut with the Houston Oilers and also had a tryout with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He is the first Centre Countian to sign an NFL contract.

Larry Walker was a three-sport standout at Bellefonte. He was a Big 8 conference selection as an offensive guard and linebacker. In wrestling he was a District 6 champion and was an all-conference pick in baseball, where he was the starting shortstop on the 1987 team that was ranked No. 6 in the country by USA Today. At Lock Haven University he was the captain of both the football and wrestling teams. He still holds the school record for most tackles in a game and a season. In wrestling he was nationally-ranked at 190 pounds. He coached football, wrestling, softball and golf at Bellefonte.

John Wetzler, a Bald Eagle Area graduate, coached over 40 years at Bellefonte in football, softball, baseball and swimming. He coached football for 13 years at Bellefonte and his 1989 team went 12-1 and finished 10th in the state. He was a Coach of the Year selection in the Big Eight Conference and is a Central Pennsylvania Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame member. His softball teams won six District six championships and belongs to the District 6 Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Deceased honorees are Ellery Seitz and Budd Whitehill, who were both Raiders. Whitehill lettered in four sports at Bellefonte — football, wrestling, baseball and basketball. At Lock Haven University he won the 157-pound PSAC championship. He went on to start the wrestling program at Lycoming College, where his teams posted a record of 376-173-5 and won 10 MAC championships in 37 seasons. He is a member of the National Wrestling, MAC, Lock Haven University and West Branch Halls of Fame.

Seitz won 10 letters at Bellefonte — four in baseball and three each in football and wrestling. He won the CDT’s James Snyder Award for academic and athletic excellence. At Penn State he won three letters each in football and wrestling and was a two-time NCAA qualifier at 191 pounds. He finished second in the national YMCA wrestling tournament and competed in the Olympic Trials.

State College’s Homer Barr was chosen as a legend. As the Little Lions’ head wrestling coach, he compiled a record including a 64-meet winning streak that remains the longest in District 6 history. The Little Lions won the first Central Wrestling championship in 1962 and won District 6 tittles in 1961 and 1965. He produced 17 District 6 champions, 12 Northwest Regional and five PIAA champions. He was the first president of the Pennsylvania Wrestling Coaches Association and was inducted into that organization’s hall of fame as well as the District 6 Hall of Fame.

State’s Don Hastings was recognized as a special contributor to sports. Hastings received special recognition for his leadership of the Burning Tee Golf League at Penn State. The league has 140 members and provides volunteers for many tournaments at Penn State. League members have donated over $54,000 to the Mount Nittany Medical Center since 2008.

To be nominated for the ballot of the Centre County Hall of Fame an individual must be nominated by a member of the Hall. Memberships can be obtained from current members.