Class of 2026
LH鈥檚 Buehner top vote-getter among Fayette County 缅北禁地 HOF inductees
Move over Jack Buehner. A relative is about to join you.
Laurel Highlands graduate Bill Buehner was the leading vote-getter for the Fayette County 缅北禁地 Hall of Fame Class of 2026 that was recently revealed.
鈥淭his is our 17th class and Bill Buehner has been on the cusp of getting in for awhile,鈥� said Hall of Fame executive chair George Von Benko. 鈥淯ncle Jack, who had a great career at Laurel Highlands and went on to play for Penn State, preceded him.
鈥淏ill was a three-sport athlete at Laurel Highlands and then went on to be a starter at Tulsa on some very good football teams there.鈥�
Buehner is one of 10 individuals along with two teams that will be enshrined at the Hall of Fame Golf Outing/Luncheon/Social on June 19 at Pleasant Valley Golf Club in Connellsville.
Other individuals to be inducted are Rich Bierbower, the late Ron Fudala, Shauntail Hall, Erica Hogan Gaster, the late John Kolar, George Link, Brad McLee, Jay Reckard and Jason Tyska.
Two teams are included in the Class 0f 2026. They are the 2005 Connellsville wrestling team and the 1984-87 Leckrone team of the Fayette County Baseball League.
The inductees will be recognized through the 缅北禁地, on Von Benko鈥檚 缅北禁地 Line Talk Show on WMBS and on the Fayette County 缅北禁地 Hall of Fame web page and Facebook page leading up to their enshrinement.
Von Benko, who discussed each inductee, noted Buehner鈥檚 post-athletic career.
鈥淏ill Buehner has continued to make a name for himself afterwards with his officiating,鈥� Von Benko said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 become a top-flight official. He does some of the big high school games and he鈥檚 doing bigger college games.鈥�
The Connellsville 2005 wrestling team, coached by Tommy Dolde, won the WPIAL and PIAA team championships.
鈥淭hey are very, very deserving,鈥� Von Benko said. 鈥淭he Connellsville wrestling team had been on the map as an outstanding program for years and winning the WPIAL and PIAA that year just solidified their standing. They鈥檙e back now as an upper-tier program under coach Bill Swink.鈥�
Tyska, a 1989 Connellsville graduate, made a mark in two sports.
鈥淵ou could make an argument that Jason Tyska might be the best golfer to come out of Fayette County,鈥� Von Benko said. 鈥淗e was tremendous at Connellsville and played in the U.S. Open. The thing about Jason is you can鈥檛 overlook what he did on the baseball field. The year that Connellsville won the WPIAL and PIAA titles (1989), he won 10 games for that team playing for Tom Sankovich.鈥�
Von Benko noted the recent passing of Sankovich, a Hall of Fame member and part of its Board of Directors, who died on April 30 at the age of 85.
鈥淎 great man and valued member of our Hall of Fame,鈥� Von Benko said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e all mourning him.鈥�
It鈥檚 likely Sankovich would鈥檝e been pleased to see a Fayette County Baseball Team being inducted. Sankovich was a longtime coach in the league.
鈥淟eckrone won the championship from 1984 to 1987 and had tremendous talent,鈥� Von Benko said. 鈥淏aseball gets overlooked sometimes in Fayette County. The County League for years and years was just loaded with talent. West Virginia鈥檚 coach and other coaches from the area would just hang around, watching County League baseball and would pick up players from there to play college baseball.
鈥淭he other thing that made Fayette County so good was that guys who went away in the minor leagues, most of them when they came back would play in the County League, so you鈥檙e looking at high-caliber players.鈥�
Kolar, a 1954 Masontown graduate, played for his hometown team in the FCBL when he was 15.
鈥淛ohn Kolar made his mark as a youngster playing baseball against top-notch competition in the Masontown League and then the Fayette County League,鈥� said Von Benko. 鈥淗e went to a tryout and wound up playing minor league ball with the Pirates. After a few years he came back and had a long career playing for the Fayette County Baseball League and is in their Hall of Fame.鈥�
Two girls basketball greats, Hall, who totaled 1,937 points and 1,193 rebounds at Albert Gallatin, and Hogan Gaster, who scored 1,200 points at Geibel Catholic, also went on to play four years in college.
鈥溾�漇hauntai Hall was an outstanding player at Albert Gallatin who went on to play at Penn State and Rutgers,鈥� Von Benko said. 鈥淪he unfortunately suffered a severe knee injury which curtailed her college career. She was a tremendous player.
鈥淓rica Hogan Gaster was a solid player, a 1,000-point scorer on some great Geibel teams under George Bortz and had a very nice career at Saint Vincent and scored 1,000 points there as well.鈥�
Link and McLee made their marks on the gridiron.
鈥淕eorge Link was kind of unique,鈥� Von Benko said. 鈥淗e never left the field as a football player for Laurel Highlands. Offensive lineman, linebacker and he also did the place kicking.
鈥淗e was an all-state player who went on to play at Pitt. He was a junior offensive lineman who saw playing time on their national championship team in 1976, blocking for Tony Dorsett. He moved into a starting role the next season his senior year. Link was one of the better football players to ever come out of Laurel Highlands.鈥�
McLee was considered one of the hardest hitting defensive players from Fayette County.
鈥淎nybody you talk to about Brad McLee the first thing they say is, 鈥楳an could he hit.鈥� He was a beast on the football field, just an outstanding hitter,鈥� Von Benko said. 鈥淗e wound up playing for Duffy Daugherty at Michigan State and had a solid career there and came up with some huge interceptions for the Spartans.鈥�
Reckard was a two-sport star at Fairchance-Georges who threw for 2,225 yards in his high school career while also leading the basketball team in scoring as a senior. He went on to play center in football at Indiana University of Pa.
鈥淛ay Reckard was a great all-around athlete who still dots the record books for Fairchance-Georges in football and later went on to have a distinguished career in the service,鈥� Von Benko pointed out. 鈥淗e was a Colonel in the U.S. Army.鈥�
While many head coaches have been inducted in the Fayette County 缅北禁地 Hall of Fame, Bierbower and Fudala have begun a slightly different trend.
鈥淲e had something interesting this year in Rich Bierbower and Ron Fudala who both made their marks as assistant coaches,鈥� Von Benko said. 鈥淭he assistant coaches get overlooked a lot but what they both gave to their respective programs was significant.
鈥淩on Fudala was Horse Taylor鈥檚 able assistant basketball coach at Laurel Highlands and if you talk to guys like Gus Gerard and Jack Buehner and Rick Hauger, Mr. Fudala worked tirelessly with them on their games on the side and those players just loved him. Plus he was a pretty good athlete in his own right.
鈥淗e鈥檚 in the Salem College Hall of Fame as a basketball player. He went on to be a baseball coach and the athletic director at Laurel Highlands.
鈥淩ich Bierbower was a coach at Uniontown for years and years, not just in basketball but also football and baseball, and a lot of athletes from Uniontown feel the same way about him. He coached under Dave Shuck when Uniontown won the 2002 WPIAL basketball title and made the PIAA final 鈥�
The event will again kick off on June 19 with the golf outing at Pleasant Valley Golf Club which begins at 8:30 a.m. to be followed by the luncheon/social. To register for the golf outing or purchase tickets for the luncheon/social, contact Katie Propes by phone (724-460-9231) or email (katie.propes@bldr.com).
鈥淪pots for our golf outing are already starting to fill up,鈥� Von Benko pointed out. 鈥淲ith the golf and the luncheon, it鈥檚 become a very popular event. I think people look forward to it every year.鈥�
For more information about the event or the Hall of Fame, contact Von Benko at 724-880-4548.