The Carbon County Sports Hall of Fame will hold its 28th Annual Induction Ceremony on Sunday, May 28, at the Franklin Township Fire Company hall.
Doors will open at 12:30 p.m. and the banquet will begin at 1:45.
Tickets to the dinner program are $35 for adults and $15 for children under 12 and can be purchased from the following committee members: Danny McGinley, 570-325-3550, Vince Spisak, 570-645-4542, Jake Boyer, 610-751-6634, Trevor Lawrence, 570-645-4722, Bill Gardiner, 570-669-6564, Bob Gelatko, 570-645-7565, and Evan Evans, 570-645-7716.
The 2023 inductees include:
Coaldale: Bob Urban, Jeff Neitz and the late Cathy (Radocha) Gelatko.
Jim Thorpe: A.J. Petrucci Jr., Mike Paulas and Irene Sebelin Serignese.
Lansford: Tony Zonca, Frank Bydlon and Gina Uher-Lee.
Lehighton: Steven Hawk, the late Marvin J. Barry and George Harris.
Nesquehoning: Jack Corby, Matt Maradeo and Joel Hunsicker.
Summit Hill: Jack O’Gurek and Dan Matika.
The Nesquehoning inductees are:
Jack Corby
Jack Corby, a Nesquehoning native and 1975 graduate of Panther Valley High School, participated in and coached sports in the Panther Valley area for many years. He also proudly served as a school administrator where he was an advocate for student athletes for many years.
From an early age, Jack was a member of the Nesquehoning Little League and Babe Ruth teams, where he was selected to play on All Star teams on an annual basis.
In his junior/senior high school years, Jack was also a member of the Panthers’ basketball teams, but it was in baseball where he truly stood out.
He was a four-year member (1972-75) of the Panthers’ baseball team coach by Bob Gelatko. Although he started out as a centerfielder, Jack spent the majority of his time behind the plate.
As a senior in 1975, he finished as the top hitter in the Carbon County-Panther Valley region with a .407 batting average, led the Panthers to the top finish in the region and was named to the League All Star team, in addition to earning the batting title. Jack also led the region in times on base, hits, runs scored and stolen bases, where he accomplished a perfect 24 for 24 in stolen base attempts. It was truly his speed where Jack stood out. During his entire high school and senior Legion baseball careers, Jack was never thrown out while attempting to steal a base.
After graduating from PV, he went on to further his education in secondary education and educational leadership at LCCC and Kutztown, East Stroudsburg and Lehigh universities, where he earned his master’s degree in educational leadership and his superintendent’s letter of eligibility.
After high school in the late 1970s, Jack was a member of the Lehighton Senior Legion Baseball team and was instrumental in helping the team capture several Pocono Mountain League championships. In 1978, he finished the year a .394 batting average.
For over 25 years, he was a member of several local softball teams, where he constantly batted over .500 each season and helped his teams to advance to several PA State Softball Tournaments. One year that stood out was in 1991 when Jack batted .700 while playing for the Lengyel’s softball team.
During the 1980s, Jack served as an assistant high school football coach for Panther Valley and Tamaqua high schools, incljding from 1982-83 as an assistant to Gary Williams at Panther Valley and 1984-89 as an assistant to Tom Bonner and Wayne Schickram at Tamaqua.
Although Jack was always appreciative of his time participating in sports, he is most proud of his time and accomplishments while he served as a school administrator. Jack was always known as an advocate for all athletic programs and student athletes, especially while serving as a high school administrator in the Palmerton and later as superintendent of schools for over 11 years in the Whitehall-Coplay School District.
Jack always made sure that athletic programs were never cut and adequately funded; that any student athlete who wanted to participate in a sport was given a fair opportunity to do so; that all athletic coaches were qualified to coach the sport and were quality individuals who respected the sport they were involved in; that all student athletes respected the sport they were participating in, their coaches and their opponents; that the athletic department and coaches did all they could to promote student athletes so they could further their educational and athletic skills at higher educations institutions; and that winning was important, but sportsmanship and how athletes represented themselves and their school was equally important.
A highlight for Jack was that upon retiring as superintendent of schools in the Whitehall-Coplay district, he was publicly recognized by the Whitehall High School Athletic Department for support of the students and athletes there.
Jack resides in Schnecksville with his wife Anna and son Jonathan.
Matt Maradeo
Matt Maradeo, a 2001 graduate of Panther Valley high School, played baseball for Northampton Community College in 2002 and 2003 and was named All Conference and All State both years.
He was named 2003 Eastern Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference Tournament Most Valuable Player and was selected Male Athlete of the Year.
Matt set five individual pitching records during his tenure at NCCC: most games started, most games pitched, best won/loss record in a career, most wins in a career and best earned run average in a career.
He was inducted into the Northampton Community College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007.
After a stellar baseball career at NCC, Matt transferred to Kutztown University, where his 2.72 career ERA ranks him third all-time in program history. Overall, he complied a 14-8 record and recorded 173 strikeouts while issuing only 48 walks in his two campaigns with the KU Bears.
He earned Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference First Team All League honors and ABCA North Atlantic All Region honors in 2005 and 2006.
Matt signed a professional baseball contract with the Chicago Cubs after his collegiate career ended.
He played five professional seasons, with his best season coming in 2007 under Hall of Fame manage Ryne Sandberg and the Peoria Chiefs of the Midwest League. He recorded a 2.96 ERA and struck out 45 batters in 45-2/3 innings. He limited opposing hitters of a .197 batting average and right-handed batters to a team best .055 average.
Aside from playing for the Cubs organization teams, Matt played for the Washington Wild Things and the Florence Freedom, both members of the Frontier League of Professional Baseball.
He retired from baseball in 2010 and now resides in Montgomery County (PA) with his wife, Jennifer, and their children.
Matt is currently employed with the Hatboro-Horsham School District, where he is a member of the elementary social and emotional support team.
Joel Hunsicker
Joel Hunsicker was a four-year wrestling star at Panther Valley High School before graduating in 1999.
His wrestling career actually started when he was eight years of age and participated in AAU competition.
Joel’s durability and work ethic served him well as he never missed a match in four years of varsity wrestling.
After posting a 24-9 record in his freshman season, Joel went on to post a 34.5 record the following year, 35-6 in his junior campaign and 36-6 when he was a senior. He had a sparkling 62-21 record in dual meets and became the first Panther Valley wrestler in the 30-year history of the program to attain 100 career wins.
Joel advanced to three state championship tournaments and finished in fifth and sixth places in the finals held at Hershey.
He compiled thee Schuylkill League championships in three different classes – 103, 112 and 119. He also won two silver and two bronze medals in District 11 competitions.
In 1998, Joel was the Southwest Regional champion in the PIAA state tourney.
His winning percentage of 83.1 at 129 wins is still a Panther Valley school record.
Joel was named a Times News First Team All Star selection four times, and three times was named to the Pottsville Republican First Teams.
He was ranked fifth and sixth in the state by off-the-mat ranking in 1996 and 1998 (Small School).
After graduating from Panther Valley, Joel went on to graduate from East Stroudsburg University with a degree in criminal justice in 2005.
He currently resides in Nesquehoning with his son Landon.