George Guido: Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame to honor student-athletes

By: George Guido
Saturday, April 17, 2021 | 7:12 PM

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Despite the absence of a formal induction banquet for the second consecutive year, the Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame will recognize 12 local student-athletes for recent accomplishments.

A luncheon will be held May 8 at the New Kensington Quality Inn. Because of the pandemic, the event will be closed to the public.

The honorees will be:

• Alex Arledge, Burrell, 2019 Valley News Dispatch offensive football Player of the Year;

• Logan Harmon, Apollo-Ridge, 2019 VND Defensive POY and ’20 VND Offensive POY;

• Michael Sullivan, Deer Lakes, 2019 and ’20 VND male soccer POY;

• Allie Vescio, Burrell, 2019 VND female soccer POY;

• Johnny Crise, Highlands, 2019-20 VND boys basketball POY;

• Kennedie Montue, Plum 2019-20 and ’20-21 VND girls basketball POY;

• Logan Dexter, Springdale, 2020 VND defensive football POY;

• Gina Proviano, Plum, 2020 VND female soccer POY;

• Eli Yofan, Fox Chapel, 2020-21 VND boys basketball POY;

• David Manelis, Fox Chapel 2021 PIAA diving champion;

• AJ Corrado, Burrell, 2021 PIAA wrestling champion at 160 pounds;

• Sophie Shao, Fox Chapel, 2021 PIAA champion in the 100-yard butterfly.

Parents, coaches and athletic directors from the respective schools also will be in attendance.

The hall of fame plans to resume inductions of local athletic greats on May 21, 2022.

Red Mack dies

The man who put Hampton High School sports on the map and made the first tackle in Super Bowl history died.

William “Red” Mack, a 1957 Hampton graduate whose six-year NFL career primarily was with the Pittsburgh Steelers, died last week. He was 83.

Mack earned a football scholarship to Notre Dame, where he graduated in 1961. He was selected by the Steelers in the 10th round of the ’61 draft. He also played for the Eagles and the Falcons before closing out his career with the Packers in ’66.

He was born June 19, 1937 in Wisconsin, but spent much of his youth at St. Paul’s Orphanage.

One would assume the toughest coach he ever played for was Vince Lombardi, but Mack told a Notre Dame publication in 2017 that his toughest coach was Sister Madeline at St. Paul’s, who once grabbed the back of his shirt and urged him channel his aggression by playing football.

She also would critique his football games when he played poorly.

At Hampton, Mack played under coach Chuck Fay and for Terry Brennan at Notre Dame. When he was cut by the Falcons, Lombardi called him and asked him to play for Green Bay.

He was on the Packers special teams that year and made a tackle on the opening kickoff in Super Bowl I against the Chiefs on Jan. 15, 1967, and added another tackle later in the game.

Mack retired to South Bend, Ind., and lived about a mile from Notre Dame Stadium. He worked as a supervisor for the Bendix Corporation — now known as Honeywell.

Mack was a member of Hampton’s first Sports Hall of Fame class in 2001. He returned to Hampton in 2015 to present the school a gold football as part of the NFL’s 50th anniversary Super Bowl commemoration in which past Super Bowl participants returned to their hometown high schools.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Saturday at Christ the King Church in South Bend.

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Burrell, Deer Lakes, Fox Chapel, Hampton, Highlands, Plum, Springdale