Athletic Hall of Fame Ceremony Celebrates Pitt-Greensburg’s Best On and Off the Field

On Feb. 10, Dr. Rick Fogle, Kelsey Wilcox, Kevin Conlon, Jim Kubicek, and the 1997-2000 men’s golf team were inducted into the Pitt-Greensburg Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2023. The ceremony was full of noise and laughter as old friends saw each other again for the first time in years. It was topped off with a buffet of delicious food provided by Chartwells Food Services.

(Photo Courtesy of Pitt-Greensburg University Relations & Institutional Advancement)

Dr. Rick Fogle, former dean of Student Life and Success at Pitt-Greensburg who retired last year, tried for about 10 years to create a hall of fame after roughly 25 years of having an athletics program. With assistance from Jeromy Yetter, current director of athletics and recreational sports, and Dan Swalga, former athletics director, the Pitt-Greensburg Athletics Hall of Fame was finally brought about last year.

“Being inducted is overwhelming, too much attention, but I’m also very grateful. I am humbled to be in the same group with people like Kelsey and Kevin. I watched them play,” Fogle said. 

“My favorite memory is when the basketball team was playing Behrend in the conference tournament. They’d beaten us during the regular season, and during the tournament the score kept going back and forth, but nearing the end we were down and not scoring a thing. Clyde Manns, who was our point guard, took charge. From that point on, they dominated the game and they won the conference championship. Seeing his face and seeing how happy they were afterwards was meaningful to me. I think Clyde should be inducted, because he made everybody else play better.”

When Fogle was a kid, he was a catcher in baseball, but also played football and basketball. Once his son got involved in soccer, he ended up becoming coach and president of the Arsenal Football Club in North Hills.

“I always loved sports, but I didn’t consider becoming a coach until my son was born,” Fogle said. “So, as a parent, whatever your kids want to do directs your interests. It helped to be part of the soccer club and I think my life benefited from that. The people I met, the joy of watching games, it just enriches everything. I’d hate not to have had those experiences.”

(Photo Courtesy of Pitt-Greensburg University Relations and & Institutional Advancement)

Kelsey Wilcox, a 2010 Pitt-Greensburg graduate, played NCAA Division III women’s basketball for Pitt-Greensburg and went to the NCAA tournament her junior year. She went on to coach basketball for 10 years after she graduated.

“It is a privilege and an honor to be inducted. The family unity we felt as a team was very memorable – us girls really got close when we were here,” Wilcox said. “I took some time off coaching to raise my son, but coaching brings me joy, so I think that I do it so I can feel that same joy in other people that I felt when I played. 

“My advice to current athletes would be to really enjoy every single second of it because it goes by really fast. You look back and you’re graduated or you’re 35 with a five year old. So just seriously take every second in so that you can enjoy your coaches, enjoy your teammates, and just have fun.”

(Photo Courtesy of Pitt-Greensburg University Relations and & Institutional Advancement)

Kevin Conlon worked for two years at Pitt-Greensburg after he graduated, coaching the women’s basketball team. He then worked for ESPN in Connecticut for five years. Conlon and his wife have two kids, so they’re continuing the sports family legacy and becoming coaches themselves for the next generation.

“Being inducted feels great and really meaningful. I loved my time at Pitt-Greensburg. I really enjoyed just being at the school, on the basketball team, and involved with all kinds of different things,” Conlon said. 

“I couldn’t tell you what happened in probably 90% of the games that I played in, but I have so many memories of my teammates both at practices, games on the road, traveling in the dorms, parties, anything like that. So, most of my best memories, just from being involved with athletics, were just the teammates and the friends that you make when you’re in it.”

(Photo Courtesy of Pitt-Greensburg University Relations and & Institutional Advancement)

Jim Kubicek is a sports addict. He’s from the Pittsburgh area, but he and his wife raised their two boys in eastern Pennsylvania. Regardless, Kubicek’s children are still Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates fans.

“I am overwhelmed and it’s a privilege and an honor to accept this induction, not that I ever expected it to happen, but it feels good. So I’m gonna enjoy every moment of it,” Kubicek said. “The relationships we built on and off the floor were the best part of playing here – the people that I met and my teammates, my friends, my brothers, just made it all that much better.”

(Photo Courtesy of Pitt-Greensburg University Relations and & Institutional Advancement)

Scott Statler, the coach of the 1997-2000 men’s golf team, still competes himself. He plays four professional tournaments a week in south Florida. On the other three days that Statler’s not playing, he’s practicing.

“It is great to be inducted. It’s an honor that you go through your life and you wonder, did I make a difference to anybody? And then something like this comes along and you say, well, I think I made a difference in those kids’ lives. There are so many memories that are very poignant for me. The kids whispering up there, ‘I love you coach’ in my ear, that’s pretty cool. I wasn’t expecting that. It’s very humbling. You spend four years, you do everything you can for a kid and it comes back like that. And I think it did make a difference,” Statler said.