West Wyoming Warren Lahr was an outstanding high school football and basketball player who went on to play college and professional football. Lahr went to Western Reserve on a football scholarship, but left to serve three years in the Navy during World War II. In 1946,...
Nanticoke Syl Bozinski is one of the greatest high school basketball coaches in Pennsylvania history, log-ging 31 years at Nanticoke with over 600 wins. Bozinski lettered in football and basketball at Nanticoke. He was an all-scholastic center in 1944, when he led the league in scoring....
Luzerne Mickey Witek went on to an outstanding base-ball career after his graduation in 1933 from Lu-zerne High School, where he excelled in football and baseball. Witek, who hitchhiked to his first professional baseball tryout, eventually joined the Yankee or-ganization in 1936. The Yankees first assigned...
Wilkes-Barre Lou Palermo was a teacher, coach and ath-letic director for over 45 years. He starred for four years on both the Coughlin varsity baseball and basketball teams, and earned a baseball scholarship to St. Bonaventure University. Palermo began his teaching and coaching career at Swoyer§ville,...
Swoyersville Varaitis was a three-sport star at Swoyersville High School. He excelled in football, as he was named to all-scholastic and all-state teams in 1948-49. Swoyersville was undefeated his final two years. One game in particular highlighted Varaitis' career. Against Plymouth in 1949, he rushed for...
Larksville Joe Skladany was one of the best football play-iars to come out of the coal regions. Skladany :started his career by winning all-scholastic hon-I ors at Larksville High School in 1928 and 1929. He went on to play at the University of Pitts-burgh under Coach...
Wilkes-Barre Jim McCarthy was a pioneer in the radio and television industries in Pennsylvania. He was the official ring announcer for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a boxing promoter and a radio and television sportscaster. McCarthy spent 55 years in broadcasting. In 1980, he marked his 50th...
Swoyersville A 1952 graduate of Swoyersville High, Holup was a member of both the football and basketball teams. He was an all-league performer for four years in basketball in the North League and led his team to several district titles. In his final two years at...
Old Forge George Billick was the first bowler to roll 17 perfect games in American Bowling Congress sanctioned events. His record stood for many years and was compiled over a 25-year span. His best tournament series was in 1978 at the age of 68, when he...
Pittston Frankie Cawley, known as the "Fighting Miner from Pittston", was a big favorite in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Cawley had a brilliant career in the early 1930s, with only nine losses in over 100 fights. He was the amateur lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight champion of Northeastern Pennsylvania....
Wilkes-Barre When you think of basketball in the Wilkes-Barre area, one name comes to mind — Eddie White. White enjoyed a highly successful 42-year ca-reer, coaching in the Penn-State, New York-Penn and American leagues and with the Bullets in the NBA. His list of accomplishments is...
Pringle In his career, Eddie O'Leary was called "The Pride of Pringle", one of five fighting O'Learys. He made his ring debut while still a high school student at age 15. By World War II, Eddie had 239 amateur and professional fights, winning 226 of them....