Mt. Lebanon adds to Hall of Champions
The Mt. Lebanon Hall of Champions celebration adds a new twist this year.
In addition to enshrining its automatic entries-those athletes and teams that have won WPIAL or PIAA titles or have garnered All-State or All-America recognition, the Hall will christen a Distinguished Blue Devils wing during an Oct. 6 ceremony at Cefalo’s Banquet Facility, located at 428 Washington Ave. in Carnegie. Festivities start at 7 p.m.
According to Mt. Lebanon athletic director John Grogan, the objective of the Distinguished Blue Devils category is to honor the excellence of players, teams, coaches and contributors that throughout history had not made it into the Hall of Champions but certainly were deserving of being included.
“This is something special that we are doing for the first time,” Grogan said.
“We are really excited about this year’s Hall of Champions Celebration. This terrific event gives us an opportunity to celebrate the history and tradition of all of our athletic programs. I’m very proud of the student athletes that will be inductee into the Hall of Champions this year and I am also extremely excited to be adding the Distinguished Blue Devil category. We have some terrific Blue Devils entering the Hall of Champions this year.”
Art Walker and Charlie Stull headline the first class of Distinguished Blue Devils.
Walker coached the football team from 1967-87, compiling a 170-56-6 record that included 10 conference championships, three WPIAL runner-up trophies and five WPIAL titles. He earned Coach of the Year honors four times and had only one losing season at Lebo in 21 years.
Inducted into the Western Pennsylvania Hall of Fame in 1988, the WPIAL Hall of Fame in 2010 and the South Hills High School Hall of Fame in 2007, Walker also won a WPIAL crown at Shady Side Academy, where he garnered COTY recognition twice. Overall, Walker was 207-73-6.
Walker also served as an assistant coach at Carnegie Mellon University in 1993 and at North Allegheny with his son, Art.
For 25 years (1969-97), Stull served as the coach of the boys’ and girls’ tennis teams. Never posting a losing record, he had a career match mark of 855-70. He coached 27 individual WPIAL champions (13 boys and 14 girls) and 22 PIAA winners.
Inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1999 and the WPIAL Hall of Fame in 2009, Stull was recognized by the United States Tennis Association as Middle States Coach of the Year in 1991 and Allegheny Mountain Coach of the Year in 1979. Several of his protégés achieved international professional success and many have become high school and college coaches.
In addition to the former coaches, Russ Jones, Tyler Bluemling and Vince Russo will be recognized as Distinguished Blue Devils along with the 1952 880-meter relay team of Bruce Klingensmith, Bill Bilingsley, George Wells and Jim Murphy.
A Lebo graduate and former scholastic wrestler, Jones worked for the district for 36 years. He starting in 1979 as an equipment and facilities manager but the job evolved into the assistant athletic director position.
According to Grogan, “Russ is the defacto historian for Mt. Lebanon sports. He knows the history, traditions and stories of generations of athletes. He has a tremendous memory for past names, dates and accomplishments.
“Additionally, he worked tirelessly for the district, coaches, and most important the student athletes.”
A basketball standout, Bluemling is the all-time leading scorer in Mt. Lebanon history. After graduation, he continued his career at Duquesne before spending a year as a graduate assistant at the University of Michigan.
In 2010, he joined the school district as a full-time teacher. Bluemling has coached basketball at Mt. Lebanon since 2005. As an assistant to Joe David, Bluemling helped coached the Blue Devils to WPIAL championships and has a PIAA runner-up finish.
“Tyler has had a huge influence on our basketball program,” Grogan said. “He is a tremendous teacher and coach who always puts our students first.”
Russo was the hero of the 1966 WPIAL championship football team, rushing for 101 yards and scoring all three touchdowns. He was also a member of the WPIAL runner-up team in 1967 and gained all-district, all-state and Parade All-America recognition. He captained the Virginia Tech football team.
The school’s Vincent J. Russo Memorial Football Award is named in his honor.
Finally, the 880-meter relay team won the WPIAL title and set a record for the time.
The automatic entries into the Hall of Champions are: Aiden Cain (all-state football); Molly Mangan (WPIAL track champion); Ally Klaber and Lexi Gibbons (All-America lacrosse players; Trinity Ward (WPIAL butterfly champion) as well as the WPIAL champion 200-yard medley relay team that includes Ward, Hannah Morelli, Maddie Dorish and Libby Mcdyer.
NOTE: Reservation deadline for the event is Sept. 28. Tickets are $90 for Class of 2006 and older or $60 for Classes between 2007-2018. Make checks payable to the Blue Devil Club or log onto gofan.co/BlueDevilClub. Email Lebohallofchampions@gmail.com for more details.