Other Local category, Page 77
NCAA wrestling championships: Class-by-class preview
Nearly 350 of the nation’s best college wrestlers will converge on Pittsburgh this week for the NCAA Division I championships, with the city hosting the event for the first time since 1957. From Thursday to Saturday, wrestlers will compete for the most prestigious honors. Eighty will become All-Americans. Ten will...
Bucknell wrestler Drew Phipps of Norwin set for NCAA championship debut
Falling tantalizingly shy of qualifying for the NCAA wrestling championships last season pushed Drew Phipps to make sure it wasn’t going to happen again. A Norwin graduate, Phipps is having his best collegiate season as a junior for Bucknell. A 197-pounder, Phipps carried a 14-match winning streak into last weekend’s...
Belle Vernon product Zach Hartman enters NCAAs with confidenceVideo
Zach Hartman might not end his freshman college season as an NCAA national champion. But if the Belle Vernon alumnus doesn’t, rest assured it won’t be because he wasn’t aggressive about going for it. “The thing that makes Zach really tricky and really dangerous,” Bucknell coach Dan Wirnsberger said, “is...
WPGA opens Frank Fuhrer III Hall of Fame
Moving day for the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association a year ago brought it to a new home on Pittsburgh’s North Side. A spacious and classic-style red brick building — as vintage-looking as an Arnold Palmer cardigan — not only allowed the organization to stretch its legs but also afforded them...
YWCA of Westmoreland County announces award winners
Several individual and team winners were announced this week for the annual YWCA Sportswomen of the Year Awards Banquet set for 5:30 p.m. April 15 at the Ramada Inn, Greensburg. Sports Girl of the Year for Excellence in a Team Sport: Morgan Phillips Sports Teen of the Year Excellence in...
WPGA offers assistance for golf rules changes
Trying to figure out some of the new rule changes in golf can be enough to cause a club toss. That might result in said club being damaged. But wait, there is a new rule for that. A club damaged during a round can now continue to be used, “even...
Passion releases 2019 schedule
The season opener for the Pittsburgh Passion women’s semi-pro football team is less than a month away. The team kicks off its 17th campaign April 6 against the Cleveland Fusion at West Allegheny’s Joe P. DeMichela Stadium. A road game against longstanding rival D.C. Divas follows on April 13. The...
Former Steelers DB Russell Stuvaints signs with Pittsburgh indoor team
The Burgh Defenders, who will open their first season in the American Arena League on March 23, signed McKeesport native and former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back Russell Stuvaints, majority owner and coach Tjuan Benafactor announced Thursday. Stuvaints, 38, played three seasons for the Steelers, including four games in 2005 when...
Rickie Fowler paying tribute to Arnold Palmer at Bay Hill
PGA Tour player Rickie Fowler once again will personally honor the late, great Arnold Palmer this week at The King’s signature event, the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, Fla. Fowler will team with his sponsor, Puma, and the Arnold Palmer Foundation to pay homage...
Steelers basketball team seeking opponents
While it would be hard-pressed to match the offseason drama of its NFL counterpart, the Pittsburgh Steelers Footballers basketball team is gearing up for another season — and looking for games. The team, consisting of current and former Steelers, plays games at high schools and colleges around western Pennsylvania as...
Climb North sends pair to bouldering nationals
Pittsburgh might not be located out west, but there’s still plenty of enthusiasm about the sport of climbing at Climb North in Hampton. The indoor climbing gym at Jewart’s recently sent two individuals to the Bouldering Youth National Championships, putting them in the top 50 nationally in their respective age...
WPGA holding 2019 rules of golf workshops
Golf has seen numerous rules changes implemented this year, and the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association will be conducting 10 Rules of Golf Workshops over the next three months explaining the 31 major changes. These workshops are to help educate golfers on the changes. All WPGA members are welcomed unless noted....
Tri-State PGA announces award winners
Each year, the Tri-State PGA Section recognizes the top contributors to its organization and the district golf community. Award winners for this year were announced this week. They are as follows: Golf Professional of the Year: Tom Beeder, Grandview Golf Club Teacher of the Year: Chuck Scally, Scally’s Golf Center...
Sharpsburg trainer champions local boxers at Millvale fight
Boxing fans might want to head to Millvale on Feb. 23. Ray Schafer Boxing Association will present Road to Nationals Golden Glove Boxing at VFW Post 118 on 605 North Ave. Sharpsburg’s Jose Caraballo, a trainer and former boxer, is promoting the event. “One of the reasons we’re holding it...
Pitt’s Pickett stops by Freeport to see basketball player’s comeback from spinal disorder
Freeport eighth-grader Drew Furer developed a friendship with Kenny Pickett as he spent time at Children’s Hospital recovering from a spinal cord disorder last spring, and the Pitt quarterback made sure he was there for Furer’s comeback. Pickett dropped by Freeport’s Junior Jacket Classic junior high basketball tournament Saturday to...
Franklin Park’s Wright takes part in 24-hour endurance auto race
Franklin Park auto racer Kris Wright recently faced the biggest test of his career. Wright, 24, competed in the Rolex 24 at Daytona race Jan. 24-27 in Daytona Beach, Fla. His first endurance race, it lasted 24 hours over two days at the Daytona International Speedway circuit. Wright drove the...
Longtime pro pitcher Mike DeMark enters Marietta College Athletic Hall of Fame
Mike DeMark occasionally pitched during his playing days at Penn-Trafford, but his knuckleball wasn’t enough to become a regular part of the Warriors rotation. Not that DeMark minded. He preferred hitting, and his abilities in the batter’s box got him to perennial Division III power Marietta. But after a year,...
St. Joseph graduate featured in Super Bowl ad
A former St. Joseph boys basketball standout will get a shining moment on professional football’s biggest night. Chris Conroy, a 2005 St. Joseph graduate, is starring in a Super Bowl commercial for Mercedes Benz’s A-Class model. In the ad, which was posted online Thursday and is titled “Say The Word,”...
Cheswick’s Liberati brothers hope to climb hockey ranks together
Cheswick natives and brothers Miles and Mario Liberati carved out different careers in hockey. Miles is a professional player in the ECHL, and Mario works on the business side. A few weeks ago, their careers came together. Mario received a job offer with 85 Sports Management, a startup hockey player...
Brentwood girls youth basketball program keeps growing
The Brentwood girls youth basketball program has experienced steady growth. Started in 2013-14 by varsity coach Rachel Thomas, the youth program consists of 35 players in grades 3 through eight and 10 volunteer coaches this year. “I restarted this program — we call it the Brentwood Girls Winter League —...
Israeli hockey team to play ex-Penguins, Duquesne to benefit Jewish community
It took one trip to Pittsburgh for Shai Maaravi to be hooked. Traveling with the Canada Israel Hockey School as an assistant coach, Maaravi and his team from Israel were brought to Pittsburgh in 2015 as part of Emily Pressman’s Bat Mitzvah project. Stacey Pressman, Emily’s mom, said Emily always...
Burgh Defenders arena team ‘childhood dream’ for hip-hop artist owner
Indoor football has failed twice in Pittsburgh, but that isn’t stopping hip-hop artist Antjuan Washington from trying to revive it. “I’m living out part of a childhood dream,” said Washington, head coach and part owner of the Burgh Defenders, an expansion team that plans to play this year in the...
John Steigerwald: Antonio Brown the Steelers’ greatest receiver? Not so fast
Antonio Brown, the greatest wide receiver in Steelers history … Hold on a minute. It seems to have become a requirement to include the declaration that Brown is the Steelers’ greatest receiver ever in any story about his most recent immature, narcissistic, selfish, stupid behavior. If you’d like to make...
Gateway ice hockey alumni gather for Black vs. White game
Gateway ice hockey alumni from five decades gathered recently at Center Ice Arena in Delmont to celebrate an athletic tradition and to honor three past Gators greats. Corey Perhac (2010), Shawn Jesih (1996) and Joe Kasper (2007) were recognized with induction onto the Gateway Hockey Honor Roll. They are the...
Franklin Park’s Catanzarite claims USTA Gold Ball in Orlando
After a string of second- and third-place finishes, Franklin Park junior tennis player Ava Catanzarite ended the year on top. Catanzarite, 16, and her partner, Avery Durham, of South Carolina, took first place in girls 16 doubles at the U.S. Tennis Association National Winter Championships on Dec. 29-Jan. 4 at...
