Nine individuals, one team to be inducted into Hopewell High School Sports Hall of Fame
HOPEWELL TWP. ―The Hopewell High School Sports Hall of Fame has announced its 2022 induction class.
It’s a star-studded class that includes the greatest football team in Hopewell history and a former United States Olympian.
In all, nine individuals and one team will be honored at an induction banquet on Thursday, Sept. 1 at The Fez in Hopewell.
This year’s inductees are:
2002 FOOTBALL TEAM
The 2002 Vikings were the first and only football team in school history to win WPIAL and state championships.
On Saturday, Nov. 3 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Hopewell edged Pine-Richland, 20-15, for the Class 3A title.
Then on Dec. 7 at HersheyPark Stadium in Hershey, the Vikings capped off a 14-1 season with a 21-10 upset of Strath Haven in the state final.
It was quite an impressive performance for a Hopewell team that was a decided underdog against Strath Haven, which was 14-0 and making its fourth straight appearance in the state final.
"It didn't really matter what anyone else thought about our chances," Hopewell coach Dave Vestal said after winning states. "We knew a lot of people thought we didn't have a chance but our kids believed the whole time. They knew if they went out and played their game they were capable of beating anyone. What it all came down to is our guys refused to lose."
Hopewell was led by senior running back/linebacker Paul Posluszny, who rushed for 167 yards and a touchdown in the state final. A Penn State recruit who would go on to play 11 seasons in the NFL, Posluszny finished his senior season with 1,569 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns.
"I'm happy with the season I had but happier about the kind of the year we've had as a team," Posluszny said. "I don't think anyone could ask for a better senior season than to win WPIAL and state championships.”
CHRISTA HARMOTTO DIETZEN
Earlier this year, Christa Harmotto Dietzen, a 2005 Hopewell graduate, was inducted into the Western Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame for her illustrious career as a volleyball player.
During her three seasons at Hopewell, she helped the Vikings go a perfect 59-0 against WPIAL competition with WPIAL titles each year and a state title in 2004. Considered one of the country’s top 15 recruits, she was named the Pennsylvania State Gatorade Player of the Year and earned All-American honors. She was a member of the 2004 USA Women's Junior National Team that won the NORCECA Championship in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and was also selected to the 2005 USA Junior National Team that competed in Ankara, Turkey, at the FIVB Under-20 World Championships.
Harmotto Dietzen then moved on to Penn State University where she enjoyed a record-setting career. A four-time All-American, she helped the Nittany Lions win national titles in 2007 and 2008. An education major, she was named ESPN The Magazine’s Academic All-American of the Year in 2008.
Then as a member of the U.S. national team, she played on teams that won the silver medal at the 2012 London Summer Olympics, gold at the 2014 World Championship and bronze at the 2015 World Cup and 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
JOE VERBANIC
A 1961 Hopewell graduate, Joe Verbanic was the first Viking to play Major League Baseball.
He first caught the attention of big-league scouts when he had an exceptional season as a pitcher and middle infielder his senior year at Hopewell and then again while playing American Legion ball. He signed with the Philadelphia Phillies in the summer of ‘61.
After spending four seasons in the minor leagues, Verbanic was promoted to the Phillies’ major-league roster in midsummer of 1966. His first win came against the Pittsburgh Pirates in a game in which he got out of a bases loaded, no outs situation by getting future Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente to hit into a double play.
Verbanic was traded to the New York Yankees in 1967 and spent the next three seasons with the Yankees as a spot starter and reliever. In ‘67, he pitched in 28 games (six starts, 22 relief appearances) and compiled a 4-3 record. In 1968, he appeared in 40 games (11 starts, 29 relief appearances) and compiled a 6-7 record. However, he missed the entire 1969 season with arm injuries and was released by the Yankees in 1970.
In all, he pitched 207 innings in 92 major-league appearances and finished with a career record of 12–11.
Verbanic rejoined the Phillies' organization in his final pro season, 1972, and pitched for triple-A Eugene.
At 79, Verbanic still lives in Oregon. He was inducted into the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame in 1999
JAN REDDINGER
A 1982 Hopewell graduate, Jan Reddinger recently completed her 26th season as Westminster College’s women’s softball coach. The Titans have gone 598-384-2 during that time for a 60.8 winning percentage.
Westminster has qualified for the President’s Athletic Conference tournament 15 times in the 20 years it has been eligible under Reddinger. She led Westminster to its first Presidents' Athletic Conference title in 2005 while also leading the Titans to postseason appearances in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III South Championships in both 2005 and 2007. Reddinger was also named PAC Co-Coach of the Year in 2005 and PAC Coach of the Year in 2007.
In addition to her softball duties, Reddinger serves as a physical education instructor at Westminster. She previously served as an assistant coach of the Titan women’s soccer program and head women’s basketball coach for four years.
Prior to coming to Westminster, Reddinger served as head softball coach and assistant basketball coach at La Roche College. While at LaRoche, she made a bit of history in 1993 as the softball team won the first conference championship for any sport in school history.
During getting into coaching, Reddinger was a standout athlete on both the high school and college levels. At Hopewell, she was a four-year starter in both basketball and softball and earned all-section honors in both sports as a junior and senior. She then played both sports at Penn State Beaver before finishing her career at West Liberty.
Reddinger was inducted into the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.
TERRY BORKOVIC
This fall, Terry Borkovic will begin his 33rd season as Hopewell’s girls volleyball coach. The only coach in school history with more years as a head coach is the late Joe Colella, who guided the baseball team for 48 seasons.
Not only is Borkovic’s longevity impressive, so too is his resume. Consider that he’s the first Beaver County girls volleyball coach to lead his team to a WPIAL championship and the only Beaver County girls volleyball coach to win a state title.
The Vikings won four straight WPIAL titles from 2003 through 2006 and then two more in 2008 and 2012. They ended the ’04 season with a state title. Borkovic’s teams also earned two third-place and three fifth-place finishes at the state level.
A graduate of New Brighton High School who attended Slippery Rock University, Borkovic has a career record of 406-152 with a winning percentage of 72.7. From 2001 to 2009, the Vikings won 104 consecutive matches in section play.
His teams qualified for the playoffs 20 times, including 16 years in a row at one point.
He’s coached 16 all-state players and 60 players who played college volleyball.
In addition to coaching Hopewell’s girls team, Borkovic also coached the boys team for 23 years.
In 2013, Terry received the Rich Schall Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association, presented in recognition and appreciation for being a major contributor to Pennsylvania Volleyball. In 2018, he received the Excellence In Coaching Award by the Pennsylvania State Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation.
Borkovic, a retired physical education teacher in the Hopewell school district, was inducted into the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.
TIM ELLISON
A 1986 Hopewell graduate, Tim Ellison is not only one of the best wrestlers in Vikings' history but also one of the best ever in Beaver County.
With a career record of 100-16-2, he was the first county wrestler to record 100 career wins. As a senior, he became the county’s first wrestler to reach the state finals.
Before going to states, Ellison repeated as section champ, Midwestern Athletic Conference champ and won the WPIAL title.
Ellison, who now lives in Arizona, wrestled collegiately at Lock Haven University, an NCAA Division I program.
He then served as Hopewell's head wrestling coach from 1995-2002 and was active in Hopewell's youth wrestling programs.
Ellison was inducted into the MAC Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003.
RALPH VEIGHTS
The late Ralph Veights was the first Hopewell football coach to experience the thrill of winning a playoff game and the first coach to lead the Vikings to a WPIAL championship game.
After serving six seasons (1958-63) as the head football coach at Warren (Pa.) High School and then two seasons as an assistant at Uniontown (1964-65), Veights arrived at Hopewell in 1966 when he landed a job as a history teacher. He then began a 12-year run as a Vikings assistant coach, mostly as defensive coordinator.
After a three-year break from coaching, Veights was hired in 1981 for the first of two stints as Hopewell’s head coach. When he was hired, Hopewell had just gone 4-24-1 in its previous three seasons and 13-62 in its last 75 games. Over the next four years, the Vikings went 3-7, 5-4-1, 7-3 and 3-7 for an overall record of 18-21-1.
Veights, a Uniontown native, resigned as head coach after the 1984 season but two years later was coaxed out of retirement. Hopewell was coming off a 1-9 season and its school board figured Veights would be the right man to turn things around. Veights did just that.
Hopewell went 4-6 in 1986, but went 7-2-1, 5-4-1, 6-4 and 9-3-1 the following four years. That was the best four-year stretch for Hopewell football since the early 1960s when Hopewell Hall of Famer Bill McDonald was coach.
In 1990, Hopewell won a playoff game for the first time in school history and advanced to the WPIAL 3A championship game where it lost to Seton La Salle, 30-23, at Three Rivers Stadium.
In June of 1991, Veights retired for good.
Veights, 89, died in March in Jamestown, NY. He and Bernice Veights, his wife of 62 years, had moved to western New York in 2003.
DORSEY SMALLWOOD
A 1969 Hopewell graduate, Dorsey Smallwood is on the short list of best overall athletes in Vikings history. He was an all-star in football, a two-year starter in basketball and a medalist at the WPIAL and PIAA track & field championships.
As a running back/defensive back in football, he was named first-team all-conference and honorable mention all-state as a senior.
As a senior on the track team, Smallwood set school records in the 120-yard high hurdles (14.6 seconds) and 180-yard low hurdles (19.2). He won both events at the Midwestern Athletic Conference Championships and finished third and second, respectively in those hurdle events at the WPIAL Championships. At the state meet, he finished third in the low hurdles. He was then named winner of the Barry Van Emburgh Award, which at that time, was awarded to the track team’s most valuable performer.
Smallwood started his college career at Virginia Military Institute on a football scholarship. But after his freshman season, he transferred to North Carolina State when he was a wide receiver on the football team, ran track and even played lacrosse.
As a senior in 1973, he set a school record in the 60-yard indoor dash with a time of 6.2 seconds. At the Atlantic Coast Conference Indoor Track Championships, he placed second in the 60-yard high hurdles and third in the 60-yard sprint. Then in the ACC Outdoor Track Championships, he placed second in the 120-yard high hurdles (13.5), third in the 100-yard dash (9.4) and fourth in 220 (20.6). He was then named MVP of the Wolfpack track team.
Beside his athletic career in high school and college, Smallwood also took care of business in the classroom. He graduated third in his class at Hopewell and first in N.C. State’s school of engineering in 1973. He then spent his life’s work in the oil and gas industry, and now currently in Houston, Texas.
RAY ANTONELLI
In his playing days, Ray Antonelli was a crafty left-handed pitcher who helped Hopewell win baseball games in high school and in American Legion play. He clearly ranks among the top five pitchers in Hopewell history.
In 1997 when Antonelli was a 15-year-old who just finished his freshman year, coach Joe Colella gave him the ball in the best-of-three Beaver County American Legion finals. Never had Colella started a pitcher that young. But Antonelli seized the moment by beating arch-rival Blackhawk and helping Hopewell win the county title.
Fast-forward to Antonelli’s senior season in high school. He was the ace on a pitching staff that propelled Hopewell to the 2000 WPIAL Class 3A championship. He had a 12-1 record that year including 4-0 in the playoffs. It was Antonelli who pitched in the Vikings’ 3-1 win over highly-regarded North Allegheny in the final. He earned numerous awards that year including Beaver County Times, Pittsburgh Tribune Review and WPIAL Player of the Year. He also earned honorable mention honors on the USA Today All-USA High School Baseball Team.
Antonelli then moved on to Gulf Coast Community College in Panama City, Fla., where he earned first-team All-Panhandle Conference honors in 2002 after going 5-2 with an ERA of 1.84. He then moved on to play major-college baseball at Southern Mississippi where he helped the Golden Eagles advance to two NCAA Regional appearances. At Southern Miss, he was used primarily as a reliever and pitched in 45 games, going 4-0 as a junior and 2-0 as a senior.
After college, Antonelli has worked in various capacities as a coach. Antonelli’s college coaching resume includes two years as recruiting coordinator/pitching coach at Youngstown State and a three-year stint at LaRoche College as pitching coach. He was the head coach at Central Valley High School (2015-2018) where he’s a business education teacher. He’s now a coach with the Pittsburgh Spikes’ player development organization.
STEVE DAY
A 1999 Hopewell graduate, Steve Day was one of the most prolific running backs in school history. He was a 5-foot-7 speedster who to this day ranks second on the Vikings’ all-time rushing chart with 2,758 career yards.
As a junior, Day rushed for 1,441 yards, including 387 in a game against Hampton that set school and Beaver County single-game records that stood until Hopewell’s Rushel Shell rushed for 392 in a game in 2010. Day also led Beaver County in scoring that year with 95 points. He scored 14 touchdowns – 11 rushing, two receiving and one on a punt return – and also kicked 11 extra points. He then rushed for 1,267 yards as a senior.
In both his junior and senior seasons, Day was named to the Class AAA Parkway Conference Top 22 all-star team.
Day continued his football career at Geneva College and lettered in 1999, 2000 and 2001.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Nine individuals, one team to be inducted into Hopewell High School Sports Hall of Fame
