Mt. Lebanon welcomes new inductees to Hall of Champions
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Chip and Carole Young pose with one of the lacrosse trophies their sons, Brad, Brian, Brendan and Chip, helped Mt. Lebanon win during their years in high school. The family attended the first Mt. Lebanon Hall of Champions event to induct the Class of 2017 as well as to recall the glory days of athletics in the school district and to raise funds to continue to support the successful programs.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Kelley (Kolankiewicz) Paterno, Cathy (Dawson) Janac, Dr. Robert Schilken and wife, Dolores
During Mt. Lebanon High School’s first Hall of Champions Celebration, it was difficult to tell who was having more fun: the committee members who helped organize the event or the alumni who attended to reminisce about the “good ol’ days” and raise funds for the school’s athletic program.
The Mt. Lebanon High School Hall of Champions formally inducted its Class of 2016-17 on Nov. 25 at the Circuit Center Ballroom in Pittsburgh. Among the honorees were:
- Conner Brumfield-Boys’ Lacrosse All-American who is currently playing at Ithaca College.
- Kate Sramac-Girls’ Lacrosse All-American, who also excelled hockey and basketball, and is currently playing hoops at Cornell.
- Trinity Ward-This junior won the PIAA and WPIAL championships in the 100-yard butterfly and garnered All-America acclaim
- 400-yard freestyle relay team of Trinity Ward, Kathryn Nicholson, Sophia Donati and Emma Graham. The unit won the WPIAL title and claimed All-America status. Nicholson, the lone senior on the team, swims for Alabama.
- 200 medley relay team of Trinity Ward, Maddie Dorish, Sophia Donati and Emma Graham won the WPIAL title and gained All-America honors.
- Owen Johns-Diving All-American.
“I’m very happy with the event,” said Stacey Franklin, who along with a dozen others helped athletic director John Grogan put together the function, held Nov. 25 at the Circuit Center & Ballroom in Pittsburgh. “I’m having so much fun watching everyone. They all have taken to it and each other.
“Plus, my friends came back,” added the former Lebo cheerleader and mother of three Blue Devil athletes. “There are people here that my parents and other good friends of ours knew.”
Dale Cable, Class of 1975, was both a committee member for the event as well as a distinguished member of the Hall of Champions. Cable played football and basketball at Mt. Lebanon. During his junior year, the Blue Devils won the WPIAL football title by edging New Castle, 3-0, on a last-second field goal. That earned Cable an induction.
“It’s wonderful to have this opportunity to celebrate all the players and teams that are a part of the Hall of Champions,” injected Dale Cable (Class of 1975). “It’s a great way to officially welcome the new class to be inducted into the hall.”
WPIAL and PIAA champions, teams as well as individuals, automatically qualify for the Hall of Champions. So do athletes earning All-America acclaim during their scholastic careers.
To date, Lebo has captured 166 WPIAL team championships and 33 PIAA titles. Additionally, there are scores of individual district and state champions, as well as All-Americans already enshrined in Lebo’s hallowed halls. More than 100 of them returned for the festivities.
The following served on the Hall of Champions Committee
- Stacey Franklin
- Elaine Cappucci
- Bob Schilken
- Dale Cable
- Mollie Gannon
- Cissy Bowman
- Tony Ranalli
- Bill Lewis
- Carlie McGinty
- Alex Needles
- Sloan Astorino
- Frank Nappi
- Peggy Hunt
- John Grogan
Because the connection to the community is as strong as the friendship they forged in high school, Kelley (Kolankiewicz) Paterno and Cathy (Dawson) Janac vowed they would return for ensuing events. Kolankiewicz was an All-America tennis player who won two state and three district titles before excelling at the University of Virginia. Dawson played on four WPIAL championship soccer teams that lost only one game to Mercyhurst Prep during her career. She studied at Harvard. Today, the pair both live in State College.
Both still have parents who reside in the same homes they lived in while growing up in Mt. Lebanon. The 1985 graduates have been friends since high school and have remained so even after they went off to different colleges.
“We love Pittsburgh so much,” they said. “So it’s great to be back home.”
Lebo remains home for former standouts like Dr. Robert Schilken, Tyler Bluemling and the Chip Young family.
Schilken excelled on Lebo’s back-to-back WPIAL football championship clubs in 1980 and 1981. Recruited to play at every major university, he competed for Pitt and earned his medical degree from the university. He also did a fellowship in sports medicine at Penn State, so he stays in contact with Kolankiewicz. Plus his daughter Alex attended Penn State while his other daughter, Meghan, was a standout swimmer at Lebo and William and Mary.
“This is a great event,” said Schilken, who is a member of the Hall of Champions Celebration committee. “There are a lot of people, even in the Hall, who don’t know what it’s all about, so that’s a part of the landscape that we are trying to change.
“This is a nice way to catch up with people that you haven’t seen in a while. We hope to keep it going and do it every year.”
For a time, it seemed as if a Bluemling or a Young was being enshrined every year into the Hall of Champions.
Tyler Bluemling wore multiple hats during the evening. He represented his family as well as the boys’ basketball team, for which he is an assistant coach. His sister, Katie Sheldon, who is a lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserves living in Hawaii, along with brothers, Travis and Corey, and father, Tom, are all members in the hall. Tom coached Lebo to its first and only girls’ PIAA soccer title in 1992. Katie, Corey and Travis all went in as volleyball players, and Tyler is in the hall for basketball.
“Since the family is all over the place, I’m representing the family,” said Tyler, noting his father lives in Florida and Travis was currently in Jordan. “It’s neat to be here and see my brothers, sister and dad on the wall. It means a lot and it’s great also seeing all those guys that came before us and we looked up to when we were growing up here at this event.”
The Young family grew up playing lacrosse. Some of them also played football. The four brothers – Chip, Brendan, Brian and Brad – all chose to attend the function as both a celebration of their achievements as well as their father’s 71st birthday.
“It’s nice to be recognized with all the rest of the great athletes from Mt. Lebanon,” said Chip, who lives in Lawrenceville and flips houses with his brother, Brian. “Plus, it’s a great way for us to celebrate our father’s birthday. He means everything to us.”
Athletics play a part in the successes of the players’ lives and such an event like the hall celebration will enable sports to flourish at the high school. Because of budget constraints, it’s a challenge to keep the programs going and growing, said Grogan and Blue Devils Club president Brian Walters.
“So much of what is reflected on the field has nothing to do with luck,” Walters said. “Our student athletes are successful because of the choices that they make and the high standards that they maintain. They are great by choice.”
Grogan agreed, adding that there are many people who help these athletes become successful.
“It starts with great coaching and parents and outstanding family values,” Grogan said. “Without that support, we can’t do anything. Your support goes a long way toward keeping the pride and tradition here going.”