Gutowiecz, Orr earn Ryan Memorial awards
Seniors Madison Gutowiecz of Sun Valley and Blair Orr of Episcopal Academy will receive the William “Butch” Ryan Memorial awards at the Aston Sports Hall of Fame’s 19th awards dinner Thursday, March 22, at Kings Mill.
Gutowiecz is a fouryear member of Sun Valley’s varsity softball team and has been captain as a junior and senior. She earned the Coaches Award as a sophomore and was named most valuable player as a junior.
She has completed a number of Advanced Placement and Honors courses and is a member of the National Honor Society, the National Math Honor Society, the National Spanish Honor Society and the National Science Honor Society.
She has been involved in the Aston Community Day, helped with cleanup at neighborhood parks and has been a youth softball clinic instructor. She will attend The University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and enroll in its sixyear Pre-Pharmacy Early Assurance program.
Orr had a 157-36 record as a varsity wrestler at Episcopal Academy. His win total ranks No. 2 in school history. He was a four-time place winner at the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Tournament and a four-time National Prep Tournament qualifier.
He has been named winner of his school’s Allman Award (career contributions) and Bates Sharp Award (outstanding wrestler) as well as a Seventh Congressional District Distinguished Scholar-Athlete Award.
He is Episcopal Academy’s Financial Literacy Club president, has taken part in the EA-THON fundraiser for Children’s Hospital, and has been a member of the Key Club and the Farm Club.
Among the individuals joining the Hall of Fame will be softball player Allie Alkins; football players Glenn Walrath and Ken Novotni; basketball players Sue Malloy (Adelman) and Jenna Crowley; track and field athlete Caitlin Yakas; multi-sports athlete Jim Buggy Jr.; baseball player Dickie Noles; and coach Chris Lambert.
The 2012 Sun Valley softball team also will be honored, and Nancy Sipple will be the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement award.
Alkins earned AllDelco and All-State honors in softball at Sun Valley, where she won the Ray Withelder Memorial Scholarship and received the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame/Delaware County Chapter’s Aggie Stegmuller Memorial Award. She made the Presidential List of Scholars at Widener University as well the Middle Atlantic Conference All-Academic team. She was Widener’s Class of 2016 valedictorian.
Walrath was Sun Valley’s outstanding male senior athlete in 1967, earning All-Delco honors in football and serving as captain of the baseball team. He was a three-year football starter at linebacker at PMC Colleges, where he became linebackers coach.
Novotni set Sun Valley records for most career interceptions by a linebacker and most career punting yards. He helped the 1979 Vanguards record seven shutouts and was named All-Delco in 1980. He played collegiately at Western Maryland College and has coached girls basketball and travel soccer for Aston A.A.
Malloy played basketball for Aston A.A. before being a three-year varsity player at Villa Maria, where she earned All-Academic honors and was a member of three district championship teams. She played for one year at Princeton University.
Crowley helped St. Joseph’s CYO to a pair of regional basketball championships then was a threeyear starter at point guard at Sun Valley, leading the team in assists, steals and scoring as a junior and senior while serving as team captain.
Yakas was archdiocesan runner-up in the shot put while at St. Joseph’s School, then was an All-Delco selection and a state and national meet qualifier at Sun Valley. At Widener University, she earned All-Middle Atlantic Conference honors in the shot put and discus.
Buggy Jr. played football for Aston A.A. and baseball for Aston Valley before becoming an AllCatholic and All-Delco selection in baseball at St. James, where he threw a no-hitter in the Catholic League playoffs. He was a defensive back for the 1991 Catholic League Southern Division championship football team and set a school record with four interceptions in one game. He played baseball at Wesley College and has been inducted into Wesley’s Athletics Hall of Fame as well as the Delco Athletes Hall of Fame.
Noles pitched for the Phillies, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, and Baltimore Orioles, earning 35 major league wins. He helped the Phillies to the 1980 World Series championship. After leaving pro baseball, he became an Employee Assistance Professional for the Phillies and has spoken to school students as part of his Students, Attitude, Values, Education and Substance Abuse (SAVES) program. He coached championship baseball teams for the Aston Valley Babe Ruth League.
Lambert played for the Aston Youth Soccer Travel Club, then was most valuable player of the Sun Valley soccer team as a junior and senior. After studying physical therapy at Thomas Jefferson University, he played for the Hellenic Flames and began coaching for Aston A.A. and at Sun Valley.
Tickets to the dinner are $35. Additional information can be obtained by contacting Rob Locklear at 610-675-6674 or 19lock57@gmail.com; Bob Weeks at 484-432-4598 or BobWeeks709@gmail.com; or Nancy Sipple at 610494-1705, 484-437-7633, or siphoops56@hotmail.com.
Two All-Delco basketball players were members of the officiating crew that worked Villanova’s Big East game against Georgetown last week.
Wally Rutecki, who earned All-Delco honors at Monsignor Bonner, and Clarence Armstrong, a Chichester All-Delco, officiated the contest with Brian O’Connell.
Rutecki was back on a court for a Georgetown game several days later when the Hoyas met St. John’s in the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden.
The Sports Legends of Delaware County Museum on Iven Road in Radnor is making final plans for its June 2 dedication of a statue of Emlen Tunnell, the Radnor graduate who saved two lives while serving with the Coast Guard during World War II.
Anyone who would like to purchase an ad in the commemorative program can visit www.emlentunnell.com or contact Jim Vankoski at 610-909-4919.
The Delaware County Athletes Hall of Fame’s 2018 awards dinner will take place Sunday, April 22, at Concordville Inn. Social hour is at 4 p.m., with dinner at 5.
Among those joining the Hall of Fame are basketball players Clarence Armstrong, Bill Carr, and John O’Reilly; football players Tim Chambers, Dan Connor, and John Esher (deceased); multi-sport athletes Dave Kasarsky, Rachael Becker-DeCecco and Joe Piela; track and field athletes Bo Smart and Jim Tuppeny (deceased); lacrosse players Jenn Cook and Kerri Whitaker; Olympians R. Norris Williams (deceased), Daniel Barrow (deceased) and William Hermann (deceased); body builder Cynthia Anast; and soccer player Sinead Farrelly.
Tickets are $45 for adults and $15 for children 10 and under.
The deadline for table/ group reservations (10/12 per table) is April 7, and the deadline for ticket sales is April 12. The organization also is accepting ads for its program booklet.
Additional information can be obtained by contacting Patricia Mescanti at delcohalloffame@ gmail.com or by calling 610-793-7931.