Mary Jo Frail Hromchak

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Mary Jo was a multi-sport athlete who graduated from E.L.Meyers High School in Wilkes Barre.  A co-captain of the field hockey, basketball, softball and volleyball teams, Mary Jo lettered a total of twelve times. This was a first for any female athlete at Meyers.  She was voted MVP  in field hockey, basketball and volleyball. She was All-Scholastic and an East All-Star in basketball. She was listed among the top  ten scoring and assist leaders in field hockey and basketball. She was a member of the first ever softball team at Meyers starting and starring for three years at first base. As a senior, in her first and only year on the volleyball team, she was voted MVP.  In 1976, she was named female athlete of the year and received the Beatrice Rosenthal Outstanding Female Athlete Award.  In 2011, she returned to Meyers to be inducted into the E.L. Meyers Sports Hall of Fame.

Hromchak continued her athletic career at Wilkes College. There, she earned eleven varsity letters in field hockey, basketball and softball, again, a record first for any female athlete. As a field hockey player and team co-captain, she helped lead the field hockey team to four consecutive Northeast Pennsylvania Women’s Intercollegiate Athletic Association (NPWIAA) conference titles and two Mid-Atlantic Conference Northern Division titles. She was selected second team MAC, first team NPWIAA All-Star, third team Susquehanna Field Hockey Association, and represented Wilkes at the Mid-East Field Hockey Tournament.  In basketball, also a co-captain, she ranked fifth in Division III assists nationally.  Her record stood for over 10 years and was finally broken while she was head coaching for Wilkes in 1991. She also finished ranked among the top ten all-time scoring leaders and was named MVP Defensive Player of the Year as a senior.  As in high school, Hromchak helped to pioneer the first ever softball program at Wilkes. In softball, she co-captained a three time NPWIAA championship team and was an NPWIAA all star first baseman. At Wilkes, she was selected Beacon Athlete of the Year as  freshman; Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year as a sophomore and senior and was inducted into the Wilkes University Hall of Fame in 1994.

Following graduation, Mary Jo spent twenty two  years coaching at Wilkes.  She served as an assistant field hockey and basketball coach, an interim head basketball coach, and an assistant lacrosse coach. As an assistant in the field hockey program  she helped coach some of the most successful teams ever at Wilkes celebrating six MAC Freedom league championships; four ECAC finals; three ECAC championships; one Overall MAC title, and one NCAA appearance.  Her contributions as a former athlete and coach resulted in her induction into the MAC Hall of Fame in 2020.

Hromchak’s other coaching contributions across the area included softball at WB Meyers, tennis at WB Meyers, field hockey at WB GAR, and basketball at Dallas Area. She also coached medal winning basketball and field hockey teams in the open divisions of the Keystone State Games. Combined Mary Jo either assisted or head coached for 35 years on both the collegiate and high school level. She retired from coaching in 2016 and now serves as the curator of our Luzerne County Sports Hall of Fame Museum.