Bill Beckner stories, Page 144

Picture this. WPIAL generational talent Terrelle Pryor and young Rodney Gallagher, a fast-rising athlete of growing reputation, eye-to-eye in a barber shop setting, discussing the nuances of being dual-sport athletes, the pressures of staying at their hometown schools, what it’s like to lose a parent and how to maintain focus...

Dan Boring knew Charlie Swink had been hinting about stepping down as athletic director at Southmoreland for some time. As the Scotties wrestling coach, Boring had many conversations with Swink around the athletic department water cooler. He even inquired about what Swink’s position entailed — the schedule-making, the meetings, the...

Add midfielder Zach Lorenz of Franklin Regional to the watchlist for the 10th High School All-American soccer games. He was a late addition to the list, which came out last week. That makes 16 WPIAL players in line to make the country’s premier soccer all-star games. Eleven of the 30...

With a nonexistent running game, a problem that was compounded by a multitude of injuries to its offensive line, Norwin struggled to move the football last season. Rifle-armed quarterback Jack Salopek threw it 303 times but often had to scramble to avoid a rush. Salopek is off to Western Michigan,...

Ninth-year coach Rich Bowen wonders what might have been last year had his Hempfield Spartans not been ravaged by injuries early in the season. An exciting offense, powered by star running back Nathan Roby, and a hold-it-together defense still allowed the Spartans to finish 4-6. But a 2-6 mark in...

Low roster numbers have plagued Avella before, but coach Ryan Cecchini can assure you, he’s shaken all he can from the bushes in the school district. He has exhausted his recruiting in the school halls options. The football team had between 12 and 16 players for summer workouts and, “We’ll...

J.J. Knabb, a teacher at Bentworth who doubles as the football coach, took over lunch duty last year so he could get the word out about his team’s sparse roster. If there were football players camouflaged into the student body, his goal was to find them. “It gave me a...

Rumblings about Monessen possibly folding its proud football program because of low roster numbers were quickly stamped out when Shane Swope was hired during the winter to lead the Greyhounds. Numbers actually began to grow over a coronavirus-disrupted spring and summer as Swope, a former Yough assistant, began his mission...

Fifteen WPIAL players are up for the country’s premier soccer all-star game. Five hail from Westmoreland County. The watchlist for the 10th High School All-American Game was announced last week, and the WPIAL is well-represented, particularly on the girls side with 11 of the 30 nominees picked from Pennsylvania coming...

Girls volleyball teams in the WPIAL are beginning to feel like the walls are closing in on them. Volleyball is an outlier in the fall season because it is the only indoor sport, so it is up against tighter covid-19 safety guidelines. The virus, experts say, thrives in enclosed spaces,...

Saint Vincent was primed to begin women’s tennis season. Opening day at Grove City was less than a month away. Finally, there would be some real, live college sports played. Then the racket strings popped. Initially, the NCAA Division III Presidents’ Athletic Conference sought to play “low contact risk” sports...

Offseason training has made Nate Dlugos a better quarterback mechanically and has boosted his confidence. It also has given the Greensburg Central Catholic sophomore a pretty good practice partner. Dlugos has been throwing passes to Terrelle Pryor, the former Jeannette star and NFL free agent wide receiver. Dlugos and Pryor...

Fourteen WPIAL players have a chance to play in the country’s premier soccer all-star games. The watch list for the 10th High School All-American Game was announced this week and the WPIAL is well-represented, particularly on the girls side with 11 of the 30 nominees from Pennsylvania coming from District...

Coronavirus times gave D3baseball.com a chance to shine a spotlight on its best players a little ahead of schedule. With the pandemic wiping out the 2020 college season, the website had more time to compile a list of the top talent of the past 10 years. A former WPIAL player...

Jenna Kaufman was ready to sling her basketball high-tops over the telephone wires when she returned home to Damascus, Md. from Ireland following a year in the Victory Scholar program. By all accounts, her basketball career was complete. But after more time passed — more time that did not include...

Since WPIAL girls golf went to two classifications in 2012, eight team champions have been crowned. But one team has hoarded the trophies handed out each October at Cedarbrook Golf Course. Greensburg Central Catholic has won the last five titles and has its sights on a six-peat as a new...

Northgate had a young roster last year when it struggled and finished winless. The Flames’ losing streak, which dates to 2017, reached 24 games. But hope flickers on the eve of a new season. “We’ve been young the last couple years,” third-year coach Mike Fulmore said. “We have had some...

After 36 holes of the Charles Schwab Series, Phil Mickelson is in prime position to win his debut on the PGA Tour Champions. But a cigar-chomping veteran from Greensburg isn’t far behind on the leaderboard and is out to spoil Lefty’s fun at the rare, early-week tournament. Rocco Mediate followed...

A championship family man and a championship coach, Harry Hickle was loyal to his loved ones and his student-athletes. If Norwin’s track and field teams were winning — and they won a lot — he was happy. Victories by the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pirates and Notre Dame didn’t hurt, either. Watching...

Plan B never was an option for Trevor Blondin. The former Seton Hill basketball standout wanted to play his sport professionally. Make that, expected to play his sport professionally. “It’s something I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid,” Blondin said. “Anybody that’s ever asked me, ‘What do you want...

Charlie Swink was there to see the football team’s breakthrough season. He witnessed the championship run of the softball team, a state-championship wrestler and he looked on as the girls basketball team made history. But Swink’s days around the Southmoreland athletic department are over, at least for now. Swink recently...

One day Max McDowell was out of a job, a pro baseball catcher with nowhere to play. The next he was wearing pinstripes and practicing on the hallowed grounds of Yankee Stadium. McDowell, a former Norwin standout who played with four teams in five years in the minor leagues but...

Gordon Vietmeier started the second round of the Tri-State PGA Senior Section Championship three shots behind Jim Cichra, who posted a pace-setting 65 to open the tournament. But as Cichra faded Friday, Vietmeier seized the opportunity and rallied for a one-shot win over Cichra and Joe Boros at Green Oaks...

The PIAA will meet at 3 p.m. Friday, presumably to make its final decision on the fate of fall high school sports in Pennsylvania. To play or not to play? The association’s action finally will give member schools a concrete initiative with which to move forward. It is not hyperbole...

Another Westmoreland County school district is looking for an athletic director. The local AD carousel continues to turn as Southmoreland has a vacancy after the resignation of Charlie Swink. The head of Scotties athletics since 2010, Swink plans to stay as the district’s transportation director. This means six county schools...