Lehigh Valley Hall of Fame announces new class
The Lehigh Valley Sports Hall of Fame announced their newest class, which will be inducted on May 14 at the Northampton Memorial and Banquet Center.
Three-time Super Bowl champion Matt Millen highlights this year’s group of 11 inductees, as well as US National Team soccer player Gina Lewandowski.
The banquet will begin at 6:30 p.m. with doors to open at 5:30 p.m. for a meet and greet and silent auction.
For tickets ($42), call Jeffrey R. Zettlemoyer at 610-585-1111 or email zettdr@gmail.com.
Listed below is this year’s honorees, as well as a brief bio:
Corky Blake
A Wilson Area High School and Moravian College will be the recipient of the John Kunda Memorial Media Award. He began his career as an intern with The Express-Times in 1981. He was hired full-time a year later by the Globe-Times and was the only sports writer retained by the Globe-Times when it merged with The Express in 1991. His career has included covering the World Series, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the 1990 Super Bowl champion Giants, numerous USGA championships, and many other national events. However, his passion always has been covering local high school and college athletes in the Lehigh Valley and western New Jersey.
Jeff Detzi
Named an all-PSAC offensive tackle three years in a row, Detzi, a 1975 Pius X grad, made the Eastern Colleges Athletic Conference Division II all-star team as a senior co-captain in 1978. At ESU, he earned individual game most valuable offensive lineman honors six times. He has been inducted into the ESU Athletic and Lehigh Valley Chapter of the National Football Foundation halls of fame. His pro career included stints with the Baltimore Colts in 1982 and Philadelphia Stars of the USFL the following year.
Joe Detzi
An all-PSAC inside linebacker who set ESU’s single-season record with 120 tackles, Detzi was a key member of a 1977 Warriors team that led Division II football in total defense. He was also named first-team all-ECAC Division II and was a New York Times All-East selection. A broken ankle ended his career one game into his senior year. He was inducted into the ESU Hall of Fame in 2006.
John Detzi
A versatile athlete who played offense and defense for East Stroudsburg University, Detzi was a starter for three seasons on teams that went a combined 35-3-1. He was inducted with his brothers into the ESU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.
Jim Hutnik
Hutnik excelled in soccer, basketball and baseball at Easton and was Easton’s Athlete of the Year in 1973. He played basketball and baseball over two years at Wagner College, and then basketball and golf for two years after transferring back home to Lafayette. His basketball coaching resume had six stops, including stints at Allentown College (now DeSales University), Bethlehem Catholic and Easton. He has coached golf teams at Allentown College, Bethlehem Catholic, and currently is in his 20th season at Lafayette. His high school basketball teams over 20 years never had a losing record and won three District 11 championships. His Easton team in 2006-07 won a school-record 29 games.
Gina Lewandowski
After leading Allentown Central Catholic to three PIAA 3A soccer championships, Lewandowski went on to become a two-time Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year at Lehigh. She parlayed those years into berths on the U.S. National team and a pro career in Germany with FFC Frankfurt (2007-12) and FC Bayern Munich (2012-19). Her career at Lehigh included most career game-winning goals (15) and the distinction of being named the university’s outstanding female athlete.
Matt Millen
After a stellar high school career playing for Andy Melosky at Whitehall, Millen was a four-year starter at defensive tackle at Penn State for teams that went a combined 37-11 with back-to-back 11-1 seasons in 1977 and 1978. He earned All-America honors his junior year when the Nittany Lions reached the national championship game. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the second round of the 1980 NFL Draft and went on to play 12 seasons overall with the Raiders, 49ers, and Redskins. He was named first-team all-pro in 1984 and 1985, and chosen to the Pro Bowl in 1988. He retired following the 1991 season after winning his fourth Super Bowl ring, the last with the Redskins. His career moved into the TV/radio booth as an analyst with CBS and FOX before taking over as president and CEO of the Detroit Lions from 2001-08. He later returned to broadcasting and presently is the lead game analyst for the Big Ten Network.
Frank Scagliotta
A 1,000-point scorer in basketball at both Bangor High and Muhlenberg College, Scagliotta became a teacher, athletic director and coached basketball, football and track at four different schools. While spending 42 years as a teacher and coach, he also spent 35 years as a highly-regarded official first working at the high school level. He later became one of the most prominent officials in NCAA basketball, working 20 NCAA tournaments. He also officiated NIT championship games, both pre- and postseason, and was the Naismith National Official of the Year in 1998.
Jerry Sheska
Sheska played baseball and soccer at Liberty High and East Stroudsburg University but was best known for a 29-year career as men’s soccer coach at ESU. He was inducted into the college’s Athletic Hall of Fame as a player and coach along with one of the teams he played on in the late 1960s. His ESU teams finished a combined 424-156-32 with 15 PSAC championships and 16 NCAA tournament appearances. He is one of three coaches in NCAA history with at least 400 wins at one school. He coached 69 All-PSAC players, nine players of the year and 21 All-Americans. He was conference coach of the year 16 times.
Shawn Thornton
A graduate of Bishop Hoban High in Wilkes-Barre and Dickinson College, Thornton served as head boys basketball coach for 22 years at Stroudsburg High School. His Mountaineers teams won 311 games, producing six Mountain Valley Conference championships with District 11 4A in 1996 and 1999. The ‘96 squad reached the PIAA quarterfinals where it lost to Kobe Bryant and Lower Merion. He recently completed his fifth season as an assistant coach at East Stroudsburg University.
Andre Williams
Williams was a record-setting running back at both Parkland High and Boston College who was selected in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL draft. As a rookie, he rushed for 721 yards and eight touchdowns with 121 yards as a receiver. He played parts of two more seasons with the Giants and finished his career in 2017 with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers. In college, he earned All-America and ACC first-team honors after setting BC’s single-season rushing record in 2013 with 2,177 yards - fifth all-time in NCAA history. He won the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s best running back. He was a Heisman Trophy finalist. He set a BC freshman record with 42 carries in a game against Syracuse. His Parkland career included 1,913 rushing yards and 33 touchdowns his senior year when he was The Morning Call’s Player of the Year.