Chaykun among Eastern PA Lacrosse Hall honorees

Long a legend around Delco, it’s official now, courtesy of the Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

Harry Chaykun, the longtime Delco Times reporter and champion of girls sports — above all, girls lacrosse — is among four recipients of the Founders Award of the Lacrosse Hall of Fame, to be honored alongside 11 inductees at the chapter’s Hall of Fame ceremony in February.

Also receiving the Founders Awards in 2019 are coach/ contributor Jim DeRose, Phillylacrosse.com founder and long-time journalist Chris Goldberg and Chestnut Hill Local reporter Thomas Utescher. The Founders Award is given “for significant and enduring contributions to the growth and development of lacrosse in Pennsylvania.”

Chaykun began writing for the Delco Times in 1967. In his tenure with the paper, he covered girls high schools sports with the same zeal and rigor usually reserved only for boys sports, elevating girls sports to the same level of care and attention and enshrining that mindset into the fabric of the newsroom to this day. Foremost among them were spring seasons spent covering lacrosse and following the exploits of those players, coaches and referees long after their high school tenures ended.

Inductees to the Hall of Fame include the late Nick Colleluori, a former Ridley High School player; Episcopal Academy graduates Kurt Lunkenheimer and Jeff MacBean; and Rose Tree Optimist Club president Jeffrey Pettit.

Also being inducted are contributor Cathy D’Ignazio; player and umpire Suzanne Honeysett McKinny; players Robyn Nye Wood and Tami Worley Kirby; and coaches Jill Johnson Redferm and Jon Heisman. Redfern, Wood, Kirby and the late McKinny are members of the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

The induction banquet will be held at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club on Saturday, Feb. 9.