Other Local category, Page 71

The executive director of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference sat down with outspoken public school advocates in February for a frank conversation about the current PIAA playoff system. Those talks in Harrisburg, facilitated by state Rep. Aaron Bernstine (R-Beaver/Butler/Lawrence), led to the “Parity in Interscholastic Athletics Act” that the Western Pennsylvania...

Former McKeesport basketball star Swin Cash is reportedly set to join the front office of the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans. ESPN is reporting Cash, who played at UConn and in the WNBA, will become vice president of basketball operations and team development. Her duties will include scouting, developing players and...

Kevin Rabbitt’s company, Harmar-based NEP Group, is behind the scenes of many sporting events you watch. But his post-athletic career started much differently. Rabbitt, an Overland Park, Kan., native, is chairman and CEO of NEP Group, a worldwide outsourced technical production partner that supports producers for live sports and entertainment....

Kevin Rabbitt’s company, Harmar-based NEP Group, is behind the scenes of many sporting events you watch. Rabbitt, an Overland Park, Kan., native, is chairman and CEO of NEP Group, a worldwide outsourced technical production partner that supports producers for live sports and entertainment. He joined Gus Frerotte and Dave Hager...

A birdie on the final hole helped Franklin Regional senior Palmer Jackson and Greensburg’s Kevin Fajt won the annual Westmoreland County Golf Association’s Better-Ball tournament at Hannastown Golf Club in Greensburg. Jackson and Fajt approached the final hole a shot behind Greensburg’s Arnie Cutrell and Javon Trout, but Cutrell and...

A day after Palmer Jackson and Kevin Fajt won the Westmoreland County Golf Association’s Better-Ball tournament, the duo were in Johnstown participating in the Sunnehanna Amateur qualifier. Jackson and Fajt each earned a spot in the prestigious tournament by earning one of the five qualifying spots. Jackson shot a 1-under-par...

Though her days of leaving NAIA competition in the dust are over, Anna Shields is far from the finish line as a runner. After a stellar career at Point Park that produced 10 national titles and 15 All-American accolades, she is spending part of her summer exploring options to compete...

In a way, baseball can be broken down to a variable equation: pitching, defense and hitting. Kiski Valley Legion coach Den Montgomery feels his team has two-thirds of the puzzle with pitching and defense, but the hitting remains a work in progress. The Vikings have a deep pitching staff and...

It’s back, and it returns with much anticipation and fanfare. The 36th annual Brentwood Firecracker 5K Run, which begins and ends at Brentwood Towne Square and annually kicks off Brentwood’s Fourth of July holiday festivities, takes place at 9 a.m. on July 4. The 3.1-mile race course runs on Brownsville...

Expectations are “relatively high” for Quaker Valley’s American Legion baseball team — and for good reason. The team is led by veteran pitchers Jake Commens and Isaiah Piatt — recent graduates — and has a core of juniors and sophomores that has won more than a dozen tournaments in Western...

Jon Stickel stuck with a steadfast in-season rule: no “heavy-lifting study sessions” after practice. If that meant the Franklin Regional graduate and hockey player at Division III Hamilton — a prestigious liberal arts college located in Clinton, N.Y. — hit the books at 7 a.m., Stickel knew what worked best...

It has been a slow start for the Norwin PAL Junior Legion baseball team. The squad opened the summer season with a 1-4 record. But the more time the team sees on the field, the more good things coach Ken Lindsay is seeing. “We are young and trying to get...

It will be a busy weekend for Murrysville’s Palmer Jackson and Greensburg’s Kevin Fajt. They will be teamed together in the Westmoreland County Better-Ball tournament, which will begin at noon Saturday at Hannastown Golf Club. There are 16 two-man teams competing for the title. Some of the other teams include:...

The Hempfield East American Legion baseball team is on a mission. The 2018 season had its great moments — winning the District 31 and Region 7 tournaments — and it’s not so great moments — barely having enough players to compete in the Pennsylvania Legion State Tournament. The 2019 team...

There was no stopping Alex Stopperich. The Valley Brook Country Club member was the medalist with a 6-under-par 66 and 11 other players joined him as qualifiers for the 119th Western Pennsylvania Golf Association Amateur. Stopperich eagled the 344-yard par-4 first hole and made six birdies to pace the 72-player...

After her freshman season with the Kent State women’s basketball team, Alexa Golden lost some of her passion for the game. The Golden Flash won six games overall and only three in the Mid-American Conference. A new coaching staff, headed by Todd Starkey, came in the next season, and Golden,...

What is Mike Ditka’s favorite thing to do when he returns to the Pittsburgh area? What is his favorite type of cigar? Gus Frerotte and Dave Hager go one-on-one with the former Pitt All-American and Pro Football Hall of Famer in the final segment of this week’s “Huddle Up with...

Evan Sante is pulling double duty this summer. In addition to playing for the Plum Pterodactyls in the Daily News adult baseball league, the soon-to-be high school graduate — he and his Plum senior classmates commence Thursday — is a member of the Plum Legion squad for the first time....

The 1985 Chicago Bears offense couldn’t help but be good, having practiced daily against one of the NFL’s all-time great defenses, Mike Ditka said. “If we didn’t defense ourselves, we were going to get killed,” Ditka told Gus Frerotte in the third part of this week’s “Huddle Up with Gus”...

Sunnehanna Country Club head professional Jason Martin was 1-over par through his first eight holes of the final round of the Tri-State PGA Open on Tuesday. But the first-round co-leader wasn’t getting pushed by amateur Jake Sollon, who was at 4-over par, or any other golfer in the field. Then,...

Future Pro Football Hall of Famer Mike Ditka’s first professional football contract was for … $12,000. “I was the (fifth) player picked in the draft — $12,000 with a $6,000 signing bonus,” Ditka told Gus Frerotte during the second part of this week’s “Huddle Up with Gus” podcast. Ditka recalls...

Sunnehanna Country Club pro Jason Martin and Peters Township graduate Jake Sollon shared the first-round lead at the Tri-State PGA Open at Chartiers Country Club on Monday. Each shot a 3-under par 67 to lead Nevillewood’s Kevin Shields and amateurs Justin Griffiths and Alec Stopperich by two strokes heading into...

Brennan Marion brought an avant garde approach to the spread offense when he broke onto the college football scene two years ago. The fast-paced, “Go-Go” offense put up points, yards and highlights at Howard University and now Marion hopes it translates in his first season at William & Mary. But...

Mike Ditka, the former Pitt All-American and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, grew up wanting to be a dentist. “That didn’t work out, you can tell,” he told Gus Frerotte in the first part of this week’s “Huddle Up with Gus” podcast. Ditka tells the story of...

Treesdale Golf and Country Club director of instruction Joe Boros shot a 5-under par 67 during the final round and held off two golfers to capture the 2018 Tri-State Open at Williams Country Club. Boros finished at 5-under for the tournament as he held off Shawn McCall and amateur Andy...