National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame's Pittsburgh chapter to induct latest class

Three men who have helped shape the Pittsburgh sports scene will be inducted into the Pittsburgh chapter of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame on Tuesday during the organization’s annual scholarship sports night at LeMont Restaurant.

The 2025 inductees are Oliver Carnegie (baseball), Chris LaSala (football) and Tom Yankello (boxing).

LaSala, who has also been inducted into the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame, begins his 29th year working for Pitt this fall. He has been Pitt’s associate athletic director of football administration since 2016 and served as assistant athletic director from 2000-15 and director of football operations from 1997-2015. He previously worked in similar positions at Boston College and Temple.

Yankello, who was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in April for his work as a nationally recognized boxing trainer, founded Stay Off the Streets, a nonprofit organization that helps at-risk youth in Beaver County through boxing training and character development, in 1995. Yankello also started the World Class Boxing Channel on YouTube in 2018 and has gained over a million combined followers across social media platforms.

Carnegie spent 15 seasons playing professional baseball in the early 1900s. He hit .309 with 297 home runs in the minor leagues. He later went into managing and had a record of 70-54. Carnegie, nicknamed “sandlot Babe Ruth,” spent a lot of his career playing semi-professionally in the Allegheny County league while also working with the Pennsylvania Railroad. He was inducted into the International League Baseball Hall of Fame in 1947. Carnegie died in 1976.

“Our Pittsburgh Chapter’s Annual Scholarship Sports Night is always a special evening,” said Tony Ferraro, chairman of the Pittsburgh chapter of the NIASHF. “It is truly a pleasure (to) honor these worthy Italian Americans for their achievements as well as collectively giving back to our communities with numerous student-athlete scholarships.”

In addition to the hall of fame inductees, the organization will honor Ed Manfredi (Joseph B. Natoli Community Achievement Award), Gary Caruso (Dominic T. Roppa Memorial Award), Sam Demarco (Frank A. Santamaria Lifetime Achievement Award), Ross Nicotero III (Dan Marino Sr., Organized Labor Leader Award) and Phil DiLucente (Man of the Year).