An outstanding group of 14 honorees, including 10 living inductees, two deceased inductee and two Volunteers of the Year will be honored at the West Branch Valley Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame during the annual Hall of Fame banquet at the Genetti on Sunday, Nov. 9.

The induction class includes Lon Balum, Darrell Blackman, Kathy Fedorjaka, Chris Howard, Melissa Kellogg, Shawn Kunes, Dan Merk, Brycen Mussina, Joe Person, Kayla (Kline) Zimmerman, Blaise Alexander Jr. (posthumously) and Floyd “Lanny” Reed (posthumously). Volunteers of the Year are Bob Cellini and Kooch Chu.

Rachel (Houseknecht) Anderson and Hannah (Allison) Harris were selected for induction, but can not attend. Their induction will be held during the 2026 ceremony.

The West Branch Valley Sports Hall of Fame is now in its 51st year of celebrating athletes and coaches from the West Branch, which includes Clinton, Lycoming and Union counties, as well as the northern corner of Northumberland County, encompassing 13 local school districts (Jersey Shore, Keystone Central, East Lycoming, Loyalsock Township, Montgomery Area, Muncy Area, Williamsport Area, South Williamsport, Lewisburg, Mifflinburg Area, Milton Area and Warrior Run as well as St. John Neumann Regional and Meadowbrook Christian) and four universities (Lycoming College, Pennsylvania College of Technology, Lock Haven University and Bucknell University).

–Balum wrestled and coached at Muncy. He was a Division III All-American at Wilkes and two-time MAC champion and NCAA qualifier. He went 91-30;@5 Wilkes and 60-7-1 at Muncy as a three-year starter. He won three section titles, two district titles and earned the district’s Most Outstanding Wrestler award twice.

He coached wrestling for 42 years at Coudersport, Wellsville (N.Y.), Southern Columbia, Susquehanna University and Line Mountain and was a District 4 Coach of the Year twice. He’s inducted into Muncy High School (2004) and District 4 Wrestling (2005) Halls of Fame.

–Blackman played football and basketball at Williamsport and was a two-time all-state selection in both sports. He was Lycoming County’s all-time leading rusher when he was done at Williamsport with 6,771 yards and 68 touchdowns, averaging 10.1 per carry.

His 2,547 yards in 2001 set a country record that lasted 12 years and he topped 1,700 yards in each of his three seasons starting and went over 2,400 in each of his final two. He was a second-team All-ACC kick return specialist at North Carolina State, averaging 22.5 yards per kick return and 12.5 yards per punt return in 2008, finishing fourth in the ACC in all-purpose yards (135.5).

Blackman signed with Detroit Lions after college

His No. 2 jersey is one of four retired by Williamsport.

–Fedorjaka coached basketball at Bucknell for 16 years (1997-2012), winning a program-record 209 games (209-211). She led the Bison to two Patriot League titles and two NCAA Tournament appearances (2003, 2008). A two-time Patriot League Coach of the Year, she coached a 2,000-point scorer and a first-round WNBA draft pick, 13 1,000-point scorers, 41 all-conference picks, five Patriot League Rookies of the Year, four Patriot League Players of the Year and two Patriot League Defensive Players of the Year.

She also coached three years at Division II Bloomsburg University and one at Division III Connecticut College, posting a 276-249 record in career. She started the Next Level Strong basketball program in Lewisburg in 2012, which has grown to 20 AAU teams for boys and first in grades 4-12.

–Howard was a football and baseball player at University of Oklahoma, winning national championship with 1985 football team. He was a second-team All-Big 8 designated hitter in 1987 and transferred to University of Louisiana and set school record with 77 RBI in 1988, earning Louisiana Sports Writers Association Newcomer of the Year award. Howard was drafted by Seattle in 41st round of 1988 MLB draft and played nine seasons of pro ball, including two with Williamsport Bills (1989-90), making major leagues with Seattle, playing in 22 games in three seasons with six hits, three runs and two RBI with team.

Howard is has been the baseball coach at Penn College for 18 years (2007-present), has a 371-277 career record, setting program’s all-time wins record, won Pennsylvania State University Athletic Conference titles in 2008-09 and North East Athletic Conference title in 2015 and helped Wildcats earn three bids to United States Collegiate Athletic Association National Championships and has earned three conference coach of the year awards.

–Kellogg played soccer, basketball and softball at Loyalsock. She scored a Loyalsock soccer-record 95 goals from 1998-2002, adding 45 assists and her team went undefeated in her senior season to its first appearance in the state quarterfinals. She was named all-state, all-region and league MVP as junior and senior. She topped 1,000 career points in basketball, helping Lancers win back-to-back league titles while earning two league MVP awards and three all-conference accolades.

Kellogg topped 100 career hits in softball and started all four years at Loyalsock, helping Lancers reach three straight district finals and the 2002 state semifinals. She was a three-time all-conference pick and played college soccer at Division II Shippensburg University, earning second-team All-PSAC honors twice.

–Kunes was a four-year starter as a center at Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania (1987-90), leading the team to back-to-back national semifinal appearances and the 1990 national final and earned three All-PSAC West honors on the offensive line, notching first-team accolades in 1988 and 1990 and second-team plaudits in 1989. He helped team to a pair of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference titles (1987, 1990).

He played three years as a two-way player at Lock Haven High School (1983-85), earning a spot in the Mid-State Classic all-star game and was inducted into Indiana’s Hall of Fame in 2022.

–Merk officiated baseball and softball in the area for 40 years and served as umpire-in-chief for District 12 Little League for 18 years, worked as an umpire instructor for 15 years and officiated at the 2004 Little League World Series, the 1999 Junior Little League World Series and umpired at Eastern and European regionals. Merk also officiated PIAA baseball and ASA softball.

He has worked as a basketball coach at various levels for 48 seasons at Williamsport Area and Muncy school districts, served as junior high boys’ coach at Williamsport for eight years, junior high girls’ coach for seven years and assistant girls’ varsity coach for three years … coached junior high girls at Muncy for 15 years and junior high boys for 15 years. He was a part of the staff for the 1984 boys basketball PIAA champions at Williamsport.

–Mussina earned 16 varsity letters at Montoursville from 2013-17. He quarterbacked Montoursville to two district championships and three straight district finals and graduated as Lycoming County’s all-time leader in both passing yards (6,966) and touchdowns (69), earning all-state honors as a senior in 2016 when he threw for 2,866 yards and 30 touchdowns. He was a three-year starter in basketball, leading team in scoring twice, and in baseball, earning all-conference honors twice in each sport.

He was a three-time district qualifier in track and field and one-time medalist in triple jump, a second-team Academic All-American quarterback at Division II Shippensburg University in 2021, and was a three-year starter that holds school record with 61.6 career completion percentage and is second with 8,500 passing yards, 73 touchdowns and 662 completions.

–Person was a member of William & Mary football team as a tight end (1988-92), helping team to NCAA Division I-AA Championship playoff appearances in 1989-90. Person was a starting tight end on 1986 Williamsport Eastern Conference championship team, and was team’s top receiver and helped the team to Eastern Conference semifinals in 1987. He has been a sports writer for past 33 years, earning 2022 NSMA North Carolina Sportswriter of the Year Award and is a primary beat writer for Carolina Panthers with The Athletic since 2018. He has covered the Super Bowl, World Series, the Masters, Final Four, College World Series, MLB All-Star Game and the Pro Bowl.

–Zimmerman

Kayla (Kline) Zimmerman was the second woman at Lycoming to earn first-team all-conference honors in two sports in the same season (2019). She finished her basketball career 11th with 1,026 points while playing just 79 games and in softball, hit a school-record .457 in career and set record with 193 total bases while playing in 82 games. She was a third-team all-state selection in basketball at Mifflinburg (2015) and set a school-record with 1,211 points, since surpassed. She was a two-time all-state selection in softball (2015-16) ans holds school’s career records with .433 batting average, 140 hits, 22 doubles, 10 triples and 15 home runs

DECEASED INDUCTEES

–Alexander was a professional stock car racer that raced in the ARCA Re-Max and NASCAR Busch Series for five years and the NASCAR Truck Series for one. He had two top-10 finishes in the Busch Series in 2000 and started racing career at age 12 in the World Karting Association, winning the East Series Championship at Age 12. Alexander moved into micro-sprint racing, winning 48 races before moving to North Carolina at age 19 and joining the American Race Car Association Re-Max series.

Alexander was ARCA’s Rookie of the Year in 1996, earning a second-place finish at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, had two second-place finishes in 1997 and won first race in 1998 at Toledo Speedway followed by another at Pocono Raceway and won his final race in July 2001 at Michigan International Speedway.

–Reed coached and taught judo and martial arts in the Williamsport area for 55 years. He began competing in the sport in 1967 while in the Air Force stationed in Alaska and won Alaska State Judo Championship in 1969 and finished fifth in the Air Force’s World Championships after finishing second in state championship in 1968 and finishing fourth in Air Force’s World Championship.

Reed started Golden Dragon Judo Club at the Williamsport YMCA in 1970 before opening dojo in 1988. He focused training at dojo on both youth and law enforcement and security and founded the PA State Judo Championships in 1973 and added judo to Keystone Games. Reed rose to a sixth-degree black belt in USA Ju-Jitsu, third-degree black-belt in USA Judo, fifth-degree black belt in USJA Judo, second-degree black belt in Dan Zan Ryu Ju-Jitsu and also earned a black belt from Hakkoryu Ju-Jitsu.

VOLUNTEERS OF THE YEAR

–Cellini volunteered as an umpire with Little League for past 33 seasons and the John Bower Sunday School Basketball League, the oldest and largest church league in America, for 43 seasons. He worked several district championship games in both baseball and softball in all age groups and now serves as Umpire-in-Chief for the district softball tournaments.

Cellini has worked as a coach with St. Ann’s, a referee and president of the Bower Basketball League and also volunteers with St. Ann’s in concession stands at Little League World Series.

–Chu volunteered as an umpire with Little League for the past 47 years, working both as a baseball umpire and a softball umpire for the past 35 years and has served as Umpire-in-Chief of Flemington Little League and Lock Haven Babe Ruth League. He has worked Mid-Atlantic Regionals of Babe Ruth baseball and also served for 15 years as an umpire with Special Olympics.

Chu also sponsors three community awards: the Kooch Chu Umpire Award, now in its 25th year and given to an athlete for ability and academics, the Thomas Hardy Memorial Award, now in its 18th year in honor of a Little League player that passed in a car accident and awarded based on playing ability, hustle and coachability, and the Aiden Fowler Award, now in its 11th year in honor of a former Woolrich Little Leaguer that passed due to cancer, which is given to a Woolrich Little League player.

Chu was was a three-year letterwinner in basketball at Lock Haven High School from 1977-80, being named one of the top 60 players in the state as a senior, when he hit a half-court shot to win the league title.

NOTE: Rachel (Houseknecht) Anderson and Hannah (Allison) Harris were both selected but can not attend this year’s induction ceremony. They will be honored at the 2026 ceremony.