First Posted: 8/17/2014
Ron Musto Jr. stopped for a second to gather himself.
The question, although expected, just hit the long-time baseball coach. What does it mean to be a member of the Luzerne County Sports Hall of Fame?
“Amazing,” Musto said Sunday night at the ceremony held at the Genetti’s Hotel and Conference Center. “Man, I can’t even describe it.”
Musto was one of 13 people inducted into the Luzerne County Sports Hall of Fame John Louis Popple Chapter.
Hall of Fame honorees included Ronald Hungarter, Leonard Augustine, Karen Stefanowicz Brubaker, Neil Corbett, Tom Gauntlett, Stephanie Jallen, Alex “Rep” Junevitz Jr., Musto, Charles Podlesny, Thomas Rokita, Gary Siegel, Elliot Silkowski and Gordon Williams.
A standout player at Wyoming Area, Musto also excelled while playing for the Greater Pittston American Legion squad. After a successful career at East Stroudsburg, Musto came home where he took over the Warrior baseball program in addition to continuing the proud tradition of the legion squad.
“To be put into such an elite institution with spectacular people, from my perspective, it’s a reflect of the talented players I’ve had throughout the years and all the teammates and coaches I had,” he said. “It’s truth to my personal accomplishments that I couldn’t have done without my teammates. To my coaching accomplishments, I couldn’t have done it without the talented players. Most importantly, I came from a very sound family.”
Shock and surprise were a common theme on this night.
Most laughed when they found out. Some shed some tears. Others, well, just wondered.
“To be honest, I was shocked. I read these impressive biographies and I couldn’t believe that I was included amongst this group of amazing athletes,” said Hungarter, who still holds the discus record at Meyers High School and earned a scholarship to Ohio University.
The accomplishments, quite incredible when you search through them.
Star basketball players who netted 2,000 points.
Olympians in Hungarter and Jallen.
Distinguished baseball players and coaches.
Tennis players. Soccer standouts. Dominating athletes in the pool.
Then, you have Gauntlett – who lettered in five sports at Dallas High School. He later traveled to Chapel Hill where he started two years for the University of North Carolina basketball squad where he was nominated for the all-ACC freshman team, played in a Final Four and was teammates with NBA stars like Billy Cunningham and Charlie Scott.
“At my age, I try not to look back too much,” he laughed. “It’s nice to see old friends that I’ve played against and that I know. When you play sports for as long as I have, it’s amazing to see all the elite athletes that have come from this area. When I played, there was so many smaller schools. Now, you have a lot of jointures with the schools combining together.”
Each one takes pride in their respective sports.
Hungarter walked down memory lane about his track and field days.
Stefanowicz Brubaker just smiled when someone brought up about her days of dominance as a spiker where she was named all-state honorable mention and second-team selection.
Siegel, a PIAA state wrestling champ in 1978 and an 88-match winner at Syracuse, took a different approach.
“I’m representing the entire wrestling community tonight,” he said. “Luzerne County has had some amazing athletes and special wrestlers. To me, wrestling is one of those sports where it is a team sport and an individual sport. Some of my fondest memories are from the team aspect of the sport. My uncle was induced into the boxing hall of fame in Luzerne County, and I remember coming to that. It was so excited to be there, and I remember all the old stories. It left a strong impression on me. I’m just so happy to be honored here, and have the opportunity to catch up with some old friends.”
