Jul 8, 2025 By Eleanor Bailey 10 min read

An adage about luck applies to Mallory Kuntz. For if she didn’t have bad luck, she would have no luck at all.

Each year that Kuntz attempted to play the sports she loved for Bethel Park High School, she suffered a catastrophic injury. She tore her ACL three times.

After being a starter on both the basketball and soccer teams from grades 5 through 8, she sustained her first tear during her first high school practice. Six games into her sophomore year, she ripped the ACL in her other knee. During a summer league game after her junior year, she incurred another ACL injury.

Despite excruciating pain, mental anguish and personal hardship, Kuntz persevered. Throughout each rehabilitation, she underwent a process of development. While she certainly recovered physically, she also matured mentally and grew as a person.

Each setback, Kuntz said, was a “unique character-building experience” that shaped the person she is today.

“The first time it happened, I was devastated for myself,” Kuntz said. “Thinking there was no reason to go to practice every day for a sport I couldn’t play, I made a poor choice to not join the team my freshman year. I focused on myself and put my rehab commitments above supporting my teammates and best friends from the sidelines.”

Kuntz said the decision was a missed opportunity to “build character” as she could support and cheer for others instead of dwelling on her own situation.

“During my second and third tears, my mindset shifted,” Kuntz said. “My injuries made me realize the importance of supporting others around you, even if you are not personally achieving your own.

“Each time I came back from an injury, I felt immense support from my teammates. They were truly happy to see me back on the field and thriving. I made the choice to learn from them.”

Kuntz became the “best sideline cheerleader” the Lady Hawks ever had. She was the ear ready to listen and the heart set to empathize. In a different way, she led.

By focusing on helping others thrive, Kuntz cultivated her character and that particular quality enabled her to turn her luck around.

Kuntz recently was recognized as the 2025 Ken Waldie Memorial Scholarship winner. The award carries a $18,000 stipend for which Kuntz will apply to her education at Purdue University.

The largest monetary scholarship given at Bethel Park High School, the Ken Waldie Award honors the 1973 alumnus by providing opportunities for young athletes to achieve their academic and athletic dreams. It was established to commemorate Waldie, who perished Sept. 11, 2001. He was a passenger aboard the first plane to crash into the World Trade Center in New York CIty.

Waldie swam at Bethel Park as well as the United States Naval Academy while also serving as president of his classes. He maintained excellence in the classroom as well as demonstrated leadership.

“I thought Mr. Waldie’s story was really inspiring. He was a leader and a hard worker,” Kuntz said. “I strive to be both of those too. I aspire to be like him. So it was really an honor that I was picked to continue his legacy,” said the 18-year-old daughter of Amy and Mike Kuntz.

In addition to demonstrating workmanship and leadership qualities as well as fulfilling other requirements, applicants like Kuntz had to write about character. According to Terry Crump, who was one of the founders of the scholarship along with Waldie’s classmates, Steve McGinnis, Tom Etzel and Frank DelPercio, the essay that Kuntz submitted was “the best” the selection committee had ever received in the 24-year history of the award.

Mallory wrote about her scholastic experiences as well as her trials and tribulations. She defined character as the daily actions and small choices made when no one is watching. She said that she learned to build up others around her while remaining true to herself.

“My character wasn’t built overnight,” Kuntz said. “My team on the bench helped. Character is about putting aside what’s comfortable and easy in order to do what’s best for others.”

At Purdue, Kuntz intends to continue doing just that. She plans to major in business as well as engineering with an emphasis on the environment. This summer, she is traveling to Peru and will learn about water sustainability in the Amazon.

“I’m really interested in that and what they’re doing there. So I hope to use some of that for some of the projects that I will be working on back here. I’m really interested in environmental engineering and a lot of that is focused on helping others and finding solutions to problems.”

Through her class work, not just through sports, Kuntz resolved issues.

She maintained a 4.512 GPA and belonged to the National Honor Society. She was a two-time AP quarterly champion and the secretary of the Spanish Club.

Additionally, Kuntz earned the Joan of Arc Medallion for completing 200 community service hours. She volunteered at the SHIM food pantry and traveled on mission trips with her church group. She was a group leader at Vacation Bible School and a youth official and camp instructor with the Bethel Park Soccer Association.

Most recently, Kuntz participated in the Pittsburgh Marathon.

“After my third surgery, they told me I could run and I didn’t have any plans to play soccer further so I needed something to do,” Kuntz explained. “It was a great event. Because I couldn’t play, I found other ways to compete.”

As a member of the DECA Club, she competed at the state and national level and attended the international conference. Her team placed first in the state competition. She also earned an excellence award.

By watching her coaches and listening to her mentors, Kuntz said she also learned how to motivate others. She hopes to apply those techniques when faced with group projects in college.

“Some people can do more and some people can do less, but everyone can still contribute in their own ways,” she said. “For example, I was on the bench but I still felt like I was able to contribute and motivate people. That’s what I tried to do from the bench, even though I wasn’t on the field playing.

“Coaches are there to be honest with you and tell you when you’re not doing something right. I’ve learned that and I’m willing to tell other people when they have got to pull a little bit more weight. This whole experience has helped me to become a better leader. I’ve learned to get through so many setbacks, fought back and moved forward from it. That’s helpful.”

Beneficial have been the bonds Kuntz created while attending Bethel Park High School. She believes that when she reaches the age of Waldie’s friends, who are all enjoying retirement, she will still be in contact with her classmates because Bethel Park is a “special place” in which to live.

“I think it’s cool how close Mr. Waldie’s friends still are and how much they cared about him to honor and support his memory. I hope that I still have people like that when I’m gone.

“That’s Bethel Park though,” Kuntz added. “I definitely have a lot of tight friends, definitely people like that. We hang out together, keep in contact. I think that comes from playing and participating in a team sport. Making those friendships is really important. It makes your team better when you’re close friends and you tend to have better chemistry on and off the field.”

Scholarship preserves Waldie legacy

The Ken Waldie Memorial Fund, Inc was established by the Friends of Waldie Organization as a tribute to the Bethel Park High School graduate, who was tragically killed Sept. 11, 2001.

The group consists of classmates Steve McGinnis, Frank DelPercio, Terry Crump and Tom Etzel,

To date, Waldie’s classmates have awarded 23 Bethel Park High School students more than $185,500 to distinguished seniors for their college pursuits. Additionally, they have contributed to The Almanac’s Waldie/Shaeffer Scholarship Award from 2002-2017. There have been 15 Almanac winners.

The fund and scholarship will end after the award’s 25th year.

“It’s a little bittersweet that it’s coming to an end. We are getting older,” said McGinnis of the founding foursome who are all retired now and at or hitting the 70-year-old mark. “It’s been far more successful than we ever expected. It really evolved and has gotten bigger and better every year.”

Waldie was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 11 that struck the first World Trade Center Tower. He was a swimmer in high school and at the United States Naval Academy.

After fulfilling his five-year military commitment, Waldie used his mathematics degree to gain employment with Raytheon Corporation. While working, he earned a masters degree and graduated first in his class.

Forty-six at the time of his death, Waldie left behind a wife, Carol, three sons, Andrew, Jeffrey and Jonathan, and a daughter, Meredith, along with a brother, Jack, and three sisters, Jane, Mary Louise and Grace.

Visit: www.forukenny.com for more information on the scholarship or to submit an application for next year’s award.

Brushes with greatness

Bethel Park natives Mallory Kuntz and Steve McGinnis have had their brushes with greatness.

As a youth, Kuntz participated in the South Hills Kids Triathlon held for 20 years at the South Park Wave Pool while McGinnis enjoyed watching his son, Brendan, compete in basketball.

At the time, the competitions featured relatively unknown athletes like Josh Matheny of Upper St. Clair and T.J. McConnell from Collier Township.

Mallory watched her brother, Logan, finish fourth behind Matheny in the 2010 and 2011 youth races. Matheny, who won his 8-year-old age group and finished runner-up as a 7-year-old, has grown up to be an Olympian and World Championship swimmer. He competed in the 2024 Summer Games in Paris and will be participating in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke events during the 2025 World Aquatic Championships being held July 11 to Aug. 4 in Singapore.

“It was a heck of a heat,” said Mallory’s mom, Amy. “A future Olympian as well as a kid from West Mifflin who plays in the NHL.”

Logan had his own respectable career. He played volleyball at Seton LaSalle High School in Mt. Lebanon and later golfed at Westminster College.

Kuntz’s other brother, Nathan, currently is a senior at Loyola in Chicago. He is the manager of the men’s basketball team.

Meanwhile, McGinnis’ son played against T.J. McConnell, who shattered scoring records at Chartiers Valley High School before becoming a professional player. Most recently, McConnell led the Indiana Pacers to the NBA finals before losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7 for the championship title.

“They were in seventh grade,” McGinnis recalled. “I caught it on my phone. Here was this skinny kid and he makes this basket and points to the stands, motioning “3” and I’m thinking that’s so sweet. Who is this dude?

“I edited the video and sent it to one of my buddies and he goes, “Man, that looks like two future NBA players. He was half right,” McGinnis said with a laugh.

While McConell is excelling in the NBA, Brendan McGinnis is serving his country.

After he attended Duquesne University and was a member of the NROTC, Brendan is now a lieutenant on active-duty with Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23 and an SJO.