Female sports pioneers headline 15th WPIAL Hall of Fame class

By: George Guido
Friday, May 27, 2022 | 10:01 PM

Getting girls scholastic sports on the map wasn’t easy at first, but Ruth Ann Burke had faith that female participation would catch on quickly.

Once Burke co-founded the Western Pennsylvania Girls Athletic League in 1971 with Donna Shaver, girls scholastic sports became a reality. In its second year, 51 schools signed up to sponsor girls basketball. Besides that, 26 registered for swimming, 22 for volleyball and 19 for gymnastics.

Soon after, the WPGAL became part of the WPIAL.

“One of the big differences was at first, they only allowed the girls to play on three-quarters of a court, thinking the girls didn’t have the stamina,” said Burke, now 95. “The girls were so excited when they finally got to play on a full court, and they proved they were capable of playing well.”

Burke was one 16 inductees at the 15th WPIAL Hall of Fame banquet Friday night at the Green Tree DoubleTree Hotel.

One of the products of the early WPGAL days was the back-to-back state basketball titles for Aliquippa. The team was inducted Friday, and coach Donna Richey thanked Burke and remembered how “we older ladies fought the battle” to get acceptance for girls sports.

Mallory Dietrich’s career took her from being a record-setting captain of the Oakland Catholic girls swim team to a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. She now is Deputy Director of Protocol for the Superintendent of the Naval Academy in Annapolis.

Fellow Oakland Catholic graduate Brianna O’Rourke-Kelly lost her junior year with the Eagles because of an ACL injury, but came back stronger than ever and started four seasons for Penn State.

Penn Hills long jump standout Dion Bentley had a tough beginning before he became nationally-known in high school.

“I was uncoordinated and clumsy,” Bentley said, thanking the people who saw his talent early.

Chuck Tursky, owner of 505 career wins as wrestling coach at Kiski Area and Burrell, stressed how he had to become a student of the game while competing against heavyweights of different sizes and shapes.

Kittanning High School’s Jason Nolf, who had a career wrestling record of 176-1 with the Wildcats, winning four WPIAL titles recalled “having so much energy as a kid that his father had to take him to a wrestling camp” to channel that energy.

Highlands sharpshooter Micah Mason, who once scored 64 points in a 2011 game against Valley, shot so often that his father bought him a shooting machine in fourth grade so he could put up as many as 500 shots per day.

Mt. Pleasant’s Bob Gorinski had accepted a football scholarship to Penn State in 1970, but all that changed when the Minnesota Twins drafted him in the first round soon after he played in the last WPIAL baseball game held at Forbes Field in June 1970.

Peters Township’s Brian Simmons thought he was “a little naïve and a raw athlete” when picked by the Baltimore Orioles in the MLB Draft. He went to Michigan and excelled on the collegiate level before turning pro with the White Sox.

Chad Salisbury of Frazier helped change WPIAL football in the 1990s from the three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust reputation to today’s modern passing game.

Bob Kalp’s softball teams at Hempfield won 431 games, seven WPIAL titles and four PIAA titles. His secret was “time management” at practices and attention to detail.

Monessen graduate Ron Tyburski starting officiating in rec leagues and ended up becoming one of the most respected officials in the WPIAL and the NCAA.

The 2011 Mars girls soccer team was inducted. The Planets went 25-0-1 and outscored the opposition 193 goals to 8.

Norwin’s Sydney Willig received the Courage Award for overcoming cystic fibrosis to play soccer at Norwin and now at Geneva College.

Connellsville’s Johnny Lujack, the 1947 Heisman Trophy winner while with Notre Dame, was unable to attend the banquet because of a recent hospitalization.