By: Ray Fisher 
Sunday, January 5, 2025 | 11:01 AM

The Ohio Wesleyan women’s basketball program — as would be expected — is dominated by players from Ohio.

The 2024-25 team roster consists of 22 players — 18 Ohioans, two from California, one Illinois player and just one from the bordering state of Pennsylvania.

More to the point, Nora Johns, a 5-foot-9 sophomore guard, hails from the Leetsdale area — 17.5 miles from Pittsburgh.

Johns graduated from QV with a sparkling 4.36 GPA and when considering her college choices, narrowed the final options to four — Ohio Wesleyan, Butler, William & Mary and Ohio University.

Johns picked Ohio Wesleyan for a myriad of reasons.

“I chose Ohio Wesleyan because I liked the size of it, and it had everything I was looking for in a school,” she said. “They have a beautiful campus in a good location. It’s a great town, not too far from home, and it’s an overall great atmosphere.”

Ohio Wesleyan is a private liberal arts college located in Delaware, Ohio — 27 miles north of Columbus. The college offers 25 varsity men’s and women’s sports

The women’s basketball team is a member of the NCAA Division III North Coast Athletic Conference with the nickname of the Battling Bishops.

“Things are great here,” Johns said. “I love the school and the team. It has definitely become home, and I am very happy with my decision to come here.”

Ohio Wesleyan won the regular-season conference championship last season along with an NCAA first-round tournament game. The Battling Bishops were ranked No. 12 in Division III last week.

“My expectations for the team this year are to win the NCAC regular season and tournament conference championship,” Johns said. “Also to make it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. I have very high hopes for our team this year since we have everyone back from last year.”

Johns was a three-sport athlete at Quaker Valley, participating deftly in basketball, track and soccer. She earned four letters in all three sports, was an all-section selection in basketball and set the school record in the girls 300-meter hurdles.

“I do miss representing Quaker Valley in all three sports,” Johns said, “but I have loved playing for OWU and playing at such a high level. Being here and playing with some of the best has been such a great experience and has improved my skill and knowledge of basketball so much.”

Johns also was a two-time PIAA and three-time WPIAL titlist in track and field and helped lead the girls track and field team to a pair of WPIAL titles.

“Nora is a great athlete but an even better competitor,” QV track coach Jared Jones said. “It doesn’t matter the sport. If there is a competition involved, Nora is all in and will do whatever it takes to do her best.”

The OWU sophomore’s basketball coach at QV was her dad, Ken Johns.

“Nora’s doing well in her second year at Ohio Wesleyan,” coach Johns said. “She decided to focus on basketball. They have everybody back from last year, and her minutes are increasing as the season is moving along and getting into conference play.”

Johns ended her soccer career at QV by scoring the winning goal late in the game in a 1-0 victory against Blackhawk.

“Nora Johns is the type of player who never stops working hard,” said Rachel Loudermilk, who coaches the girls soccer team along with Maggie Behun. “She spent most of the season playing defense, but we knew with her speed, she was capable of beating our opponent’s back line and scoring goals. In this game and all of our games, Nora never backed down or slowed down.”

Added Behun, “Nora stands out because of her speed and versatility as a player, which is what helps her make an immediate impact on the field.

“Whether she was keeping the other team from being dangerous in our defensive end or creating opportunities in the offense, Nora was a force to be reckoned with. She letters in three sports, which benefits her on the pitch. That is what led her to our game-winning goal.”

Johns was named a recipient of the WPIAL’s James Collins Scholar-Athlete Award in her senior year at QV and was nominated for a few other awards and scholarships.

Johns is majoring in communication and French in college.

By: Ray Fisher 
Sunday, September 3, 2023 | 11:01 AM

Six former Quaker Valley students — all 2023 graduates — are continuing their athletic careers at the next level, including Nora Johns, who will compete in basketball and track and field at Ohio Wesleyan.

Jakub Pickett is playing football at Cal (Pa.). A four-year starter in high school, Pickett led the Quakers in receiving both as a junior and senior.

He also was recruited by the likes of Clarion and Edinboro at the Division II level, along with Division III schools Washington & Jefferson, Westminster and others.

Three of the others who are continuing their athletic careers include Logan Richey, who will be wrestling at Duke, Alex MacDonald, who will compete in track and field at Amherst, and Elinor Graham, who is participating in crew at Brown.

Jimmy Zugai also plans to compete in baseball at Herkimer County Community College, located 60 miles east of Syracuse in Herkimer, N.Y.

“He’s playing baseball and is very happy,” QV coach Rich Garbee said.

PITTSBURGH (Sept. 2, 2022) — Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC will hold a special ceremony to induct former Hounds coach, general manager and television broadcaster Gene Klein to the Riverhounds Hall of Fame at halftime of the Hounds’ home game Saturday, Sept. 10 against Louisville City FC at Highmark Stadium.

Klein will become the sixth member of the team’s Hall of Fame and the first to be inducted after the original class was named in 2019. The ceremony will be the highlight of the team’s Throwback Night promotion, and many of Klein’s former players from the Hounds will be in attendance for the induction.

Scheduled to introduce Klein for induction are Justin Evans, the Hounds Hall of Famer who played under Klein and was his successor as head coach, and Paul Child, the former Pittsburgh Spirit star and Klein’s longtime colleague as a coach and broadcaster.

Media outlets seeking credentials to cover the match and induction ceremony should contact media@riverhounds.com or call Riverhounds SC Director of Communications Matt Grubba at 412-325-7229.

About Gene Klein

Klein was an ever-present figure in the Riverhounds organization from its inception in 1999 when he served as an assistant on coach John Kowalski’s original staff. 

In 2006, he was named head coach of the Riverhounds and served in that capacity through the 2009 season. Klein’s tenure as head coach was a transformative one for the club, which did not field a team in the 2007 season while the front office reorganized. 

Klein also held the role of general manager during that period. Under his leadership, the team found a more stable home at Chartiers Valley High School and established the Riverhounds Academy, forging a relationship with England’s Everton FC and bringing the “Everton Way” training methods to the club in the Academy’s early years. Since then, the Academy has since grown and flourished with thousands of youth players in Western Pennsylvania coming through the Hounds’ programs.

After his coaching tenure with the Hounds, Klein remained visible as one of the club’s most prominent ambassadors. From 2014-19, he and longtime coaching colleague Paul Child reunited in the broadcast booth, providing analysis on telecasts for a new generation of Hounds fans.

In addition to his work with the Riverhounds, Klein is one of the most accomplished scholastic coaches in Pennsylvania history.

Klein won a record six PIAA state championships and more than 500 games coaching the boys soccer team at Quaker Valley High School in Leetsdale, Pa., where he taught social studies for 33 years. He is a two-time inductee to the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League Hall of Fame, both as an individual and as coach of the undefeated 1996 Quakers. He also served stints as Director of Coaching for the PA West state association and as President of the PA Soccer Coaches Association.

• by John Krysinsky

• September 9, 2022

File photo courtesy Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

In a very special edition of Sounding Off on Soccer, Gene Klein joins the podcast to talk about his upcoming induction in the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC Hall of Fame.

Riverhounds SC will hold a special ceremony to induct former Hounds coach, general manager and television broadcaster Gene Klein to the Riverhounds Hall of Fame at halftime of the Hounds’ home game Saturday, Sept. 10 against Louisville City FC at Highmark Stadium.

Klein will become the sixth member of the team’s Hall of Fame and the first to be inducted after the original class was named in 2019. The ceremony will be the highlight of the team’s Throwback Night promotion, and many of Klein’s former players from the Hounds will be in attendance for the induction.

Scheduled to introduce Klein for induction are Justin Evans, the Hounds Hall of Famer who played under Klein and was his successor as head coach, and Paul Child, the former Pittsburgh Spirit star and Klein’s longtime colleague as a coach and broadcaster.

BISON CLUB AWARD:  Presented to the senior athletes who best exemplify the winning spirit of the University's athletic program. (RECIPIENTS: Maggie Wyngowski, Chris Tanabe)

CHRIS TANABE, Men's Golf
Chris Tanabe will go down as one of the finest players in Bison men's golf history. An All-Patriot League selection in 2019 and the winner of two collegiate tournaments, Chris will graduate with the second-lowest career scoring average in program history at 74.4. Last year he had just broken the record for lowest fall scoring average at 72.1 and was off to a great start in the spring when the pandemic halted play for the year. In the fall of 2019, he won the Dartmouth Invitational with scores of 68 and 65. His 9-under total of 133 was a school record for a 36-hole event, and he joined Ben Pellicani as the only Bison ever to shoot 65. Earlier that summer, Chris returned home from a study abroad program in Spain and went right out and won the Pennsylvania Amateur Championship, shooting 5-under par over 54 holes to win the prestigious title by two shots.  https://bucknellbison.com/news/2021/5/17/bison-club-2021-bucknell-athletics-senior-award-recipients-to-be-announced-throughout-this-week.aspx

https://youtu.be/qagRFdcfDCA

Congrats to former QV wrestler, Paige Lenhardt, for winning in her college debut on Saturday!

@TU_WnsWrestling

with the team victory! Way to go, Paige!

@QVAthletics

#RollQuakers

By Timothy Cox

Special to The Times

ROBINSON TWP. — On Saturday, several former star athletes from the local area will be inducted into the annual Pittsburgh Basketball Club Legends Hall of Fame.

This year’s class includes two members from Beaver Falls High School who played on one of the school’s highly touted teams from the 1976-77 season.

Alvin “Emol” Gibson, a senior on that squad, and sophomore forward Dwight “DC” Collins will be honored at the event scheduled for the Chartiers Country Club, 601 Baldwin Road, in Robinson Township from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Other honorees include Larry Slappy, a superbly talented guard from Midland High who played for two Midland state championship teams in 1971 and 1973. Slappy, who also starred at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, died last fall. He’ll be honored posthumously, according to Pittsburgh Basketball Club founder John Giammarco, currently assistant basketball coach at Sto-Rox High School. Slappy also gained 3,000 yards as a running back during an illustrious high school football career.

The youngest honoree is Andrew Wormsley, a former Quaker Valley High School star. After high school, Wormsley enjoyed next-level success at Westminster University from 1997–2001 under head coaches (the late) Ron Galbreath and Jim Dafler. Wormsley, at 6-6, is considered QV’s second-most legendary player next to former NBA star (Chicago Bulls) Keith Starr, according to Stratton Nash Jr., himself a former QV roundballer and newly elected Quaker Valley School Board member.

Wormsley, a Sewickley native, led the Quakers to the 1997 Class AA WPIAL title and was inducted into the Westminster Titans Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. He was also inducted into the QV High School Hall of Fame in 2012. He lives in Riverside, Calif., where he works in the film industry. He’s married with two children.

Before becoming a Hall of Fame guard at Clarion University (Pa.), Gibson honed his craft on the asphalt courts of Beaver Falls’ 15th Street, Mount Washington and Second Avenue playgrounds. He credits his older brother, the late Hoover Gibson Jr., for pointing him to the cross-country team, where he used his physical stamina to outlast his many opponents.

“It was my secret weapon – especially in the fourth quarter when I turned on my engines,” he said.

From his home in Richmond, Va., the janitorial entrepreneur also credits Beaver Falls head coach legend Frank Chan for instilling confidence in him and his teammates. Gibson’s senior-laden squad won the always-competitive Section 3 title – then dominated by Farrell High and their legendary coach Eddie McCluskey.

The ’77 Tigers were upset in the WPIAL title game by a Fox Chapel team led by all-star forward Stu Lyons. Still, the team advanced to the PIAA final-four tourney after upsetting Brashear High and its All-American center Sam Clancy (later an NFL defensive end). The Tigers' state title run was eventually upended by the Norwin Knights.

Slappy’s career flourished at Ohio University, where he and “best friend” center George Green continued Midland’s hoop legacy in the Buckeye State. Johnny Slappy Jr., a nephew of the late Larry Slappy, said, “my uncle’s ball style was a creative juke-and-glide pattern emulated by subsequent Slappy players, including his brothers Don, Jim and nephews Joey, Rodney, Darrell and myself.”

Johnny Slappy Jr., 61, played collegiate hoops at Penn State-Beaver and Point Park University, under coach Jerry Conboy. “Larry was motivated by my Uncle Henry Slappy, George Green and Norm Van Lier (Chicago Bulls),” said Slappy Jr.

Larry Slappy finished his professional basketball career in Brussels, Belgian.

The ’77 Tigers were also complemented by 6-4 center Sam Scott, a highly-recruited leaper who enjoyed a stellar career at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The 10-deep squad also included freshman super-talent Dwight Collins, sophomore sensation Damon Bryant (reportedly a distant cousin to Kobe Bryant); Charles “Yike” Cleckley, Eugene Williams, Bobby Jones, Maurice “Rece” Singleton, Ivan Khan, James “Jimmy” Wallace Jr., Regis Wagner, Ricky Moody, Duane Gibson and Robert “Robby” Mention. Khan, Singleton and Wallace are deceased. Pundits often note this team as Beaver Falls’ most talented ever, in the school’s rich basketball history.

By: Don Rebel
Tuesday, January 5, 2021 | 8:45 PM

In May and June, the TribLive High School Sports Network held a fan vote to determine the Best of the Century among the district’s top male and female athletes.

We also had a chance to visit with some of the participants — interviews that have yet to be seen.

So as we prepare to crank up the high school sports coverage again later this week, join us for a nostalgic look back as we visit with athletes who starred in various sports in the WPIAL from 2000-2020.

A decade ago, she quietly became one of the most decorated female athletes in WPIAL history.

Part of the reason Tabitha Bemis didn’t get the recognition she deserved is because she was a three-sport champion in some sports that don’t get the spotlight that basketball, softball, volleyball or soccer receive.

At the start of her scholastic career at Quaker Valley, she was a gold medal-winning gymnast. However, an elbow injury forced her off the mat and into the pool and onto the track.

By the end of her career, she was a champion diver, hurdler and jumper.

Rebel Yell Podcast with Don Rebel, James Dotson and Tabitha Bemis

Tabitha Bemis – Quaker Valley Class of 2010

(Track and field, gymnastics, diving)

• Won 43 medals in three sports in her high school career

• Won WPIAL gold in 2010 in long jump and 100-meter hurdles and finished second in the triple jump

• A few weeks later, Bemis concluded her scholastic career with state gold in the long jump and 100-meter hurdles and silver in the triple jump in the PIAA championships

• Finished in eighth place in the 2007 WPIAL championship as a freshman in her one and only year doing the pole vault

• Started her high school career by winning gold in the WPIAL and PIAA all-around in gymnastics. However, an elbow injury forced her to give up the sport

• As a senior, she competed for Quaker Valley in diving and finished second in the 2010 WPIAL championships and came in sixth place in the PIAA diving finals

• Bemis was on the track and field team in college at Edinboro

Tags: Quaker Valley

By: Karen Kadilak 
Monday, April 27, 2020 | 4:29 PM

PreviousNext

Former Quaker Valley football coach Jerry Veshio hopes a book he wrote will help readers relive the magical season in which he led the Quakers to WPIAL and PIAA titles.

“Moving Forward” can be preordered in hardcover for $24.99 or paperback ($14.99) at the Penguin Bookshop in Sewickley at penguinbookshop.com.

The 180-page book chronicles the 2017 season, in which Veshio, who had not coached football for 31 years, was asked to replace a coach who resigned shortly before the season. Thinking it would be only an interim position, he guided the Quakers to WPIAL and PIAA Class AAA crowns.

“I’m very excited to release ‘Moving Forward,’” Veshio said. “All of the thrills and enjoyment our team brought to our community in the fall of 2017 was the main reason I decided to write the book.”

Veshio said he wrote the book as a feel-good and inspirational story, as well as a record from inside the locker room of the team’s struggles to become a champion. The book includes some photos of players and coaches.

He dedicated it to all the players, fans, alumni and friends of the community, past and present.

Veshio, a retired teacher and administrator, said he never thought he would write a book.

“I was at a banquet right after the season (and) talked briefly with author Jim O’Brien, who was in attendance, about writing,” Veshio said. “He said, ‘just start from the beginning and tell the story.’

“I am not a writer and, at times, it was hard.”

Veshio said he had the help of Steve Moxie, a retired English teacher.

“He was my first sounding board,” Veshio said.

Kyle Fager, a writer with the Your Words literary services company in Ohio Township, which edited and designed the book, said Veshio has not yet set a publication date. Once he launches, the book will be available anywhere books are sold.

“(By directing) people to Penguin Bookshop he’s trying to help out a local small business,” Fager said.

Penguin Bookshop owner Susan Hans O’Connor said a table signing might be held later.

To reach the bookshop, call 412-741-3838.

KAREN KADILAK  | Friday, March 6, 2020 5:15 p.m.

For the third consecutive season, Quaker Valley alum Harry Harkins sparkled in relays as the SUNY Geneseo men’s swimming team won the State University of New York Athletic Conference title for the seventh year in a row.

Harkins, a junior, anchored the 800-yard freestyle team that improved its meet record to 6 minutes, 50.94 seconds. He also was in the 200 freestyle (1:23.29) and 400 freestyle (3:04.71) relays that won.

“Harry is always a guy I can count on in relays. He really gets up for them,” Knights coach Paul Dotterweich said.

“I always have loved swimming in relays,” said Harkins, the 2017 WPIAL Class AA champion in the boys 50 and 100 freestyles who led the Quakers to three WPIAL titles and the 2015 PIAA crown. “(They) are a great chance to help your team score points.”

Individually, the 6-foot-2 Harkins made the A finals in the 50 freestyle (21.63), 100 freestyle (47.40) and 200 freestyle (1:45.90).

Nine teams scored.

Dotterweich said Harkins stepped up as a leader.

“I look forward to him filling that role again,” he said.

Harkins, who is studying international relations, said he has a few times he wants to hit before retiring.

“And I would love to get back to nationals,” he said.

Harkins competed in the 2018 championship in four relays.

Quaker Valley graduate and Westminster senior Matt Kwalick (1:42.82) capped his career with a gold medal in the 200 freestyle at the Presidents’ Athletic Conference championship.

Kwalick, the 2015 PIAA champion in the 200 individual medley, also was in four relays that won.

“It has been wonderful to get to know Matt for the past four years,” Titans coach Pat Smith said.

“His legacy will be for the attitude he brought to practice each day.”

Karen Kadilak is a Tribune-Review contributing writer.

By Mike Bires

Posted Aug 4, 2019 at 6:01 PM

Updated Aug 4, 2019 at 6:01 PM

SEWICKLEY — When it comes to his golf game, Chris Tanabe keeps getting better and better.

When he attended Quaker Valley High School, he became the first Quaker to win WPIAL and PIAA championships.

During his first two years at Bucknell University, he’s been a regular in the five-man starting rotation and improved his stroke average from 76.3 as a freshman to 74.6 as a sophomore.

Later this month when he leaves for his junior year at Bucknell, he’ll do so with his most impressive accomplishment added to his resume. This past Wednesday, he won the 106th playing of the Pennsylvania Golf Association Amateur Championship.

Tanabe, a 2016 Quaker Valley graduate, might be the first golfer from the Beaver County Times’ coverage area to win the PA Amateur.

In 1911, Henry Heyburn, a member at Allegheny Country Club in Sewickley, won the tournament. But there aren’t any records that show where Heyburn lived at the time.

“Probably my biggest win to date,” Tanabe said.

After shooting a 1-under 69 in the first round at Aronimink Golf Club near Philadelphia, Tanabe was tied for eighth place. But he took the lead for good with a sizzling 65 in the second round Tuesday.

In that second round, Tanabe holed out for eagle on his second shot of the day on the par-4 first hole. He followed that with five birdies in a six-hole stretch to post an incredible 7-under 28 on the front nine.

He held on to the win with a 71 in the third round Wednesday.

In that final round, Tanabe was 2 under through 16 holes before a lightning delay halted play for an hour and 27 minutes. When play resumed, he went double bogey — his only double of the tournament — and bogey.

Still, his three-round total of 5-under 205 was good enough for a 2-stroke victory over Nate Menon, a member of Stanford’s 2019 national championship team, and Kansas State’s Kyle Vance.

Only six golfers in a field of 115 shot under par.

“My goal when I got there was obviously to win,” said Tanabe, who got an exemption into this year’s tournament after a top-15 finish last year when he shot 71-71-71—213 at Sunnehanna Golf Club in Johnstown.

Tanabe was optimistic about his chances at Aronimink, even though he tied for 39th at a U.S. Amateur qualifier at Quicksilver Golf Club in Midway in July 22-23. He shot rounds of 76 and 78 at Quicksilver, but had hardly played or practiced at that point because he had just spent close to six weeks studying in Spain.

“I was just trying to get the rust off,” he said.

After those sub-par rounds at Quicksilver, Tanabe said, “I put in a lot of work. I focused on a couple things my game needed, and I brought that into the tournament and just put it all together.”

In the 54-hole PA Amateur, he led all contestants with 14 birdies. The rest of his stat sheet included an eagle, 29 pars, only nine bogeys and that one double bogey.

If there was one key to Tanabe’s victory, it was his ability to make clutch putts.

“Aronimink is a long golf course (that played over 7,000 yards),” he said. “You don’t have that many opportunities to hit wedges in. So there aren’t a lot of scoring opportunities to get in tight for birdies. So you have to make putts to play well there.

“When you’re putting well, it takes so much pressure off of your ball striking.”

Tanabe, who’s 20 years old and a member at Sewickley Heights Golf Club, won his first significant championship as a Quaker Valley sophomore. He was the 2014 WPIAL Class 2A medalist. Two years later as a senior, he won the state title.

Right after his state championship, he received a scholarship offer from Bucknell. It didn’t take him long to accept.

“At the time, I took golf seriously, but I never expected to turn golf into a (college) career,” he said. “So by going to Bucknell, I’m able to play golf competitively and, at the same time, get a good degree and hopefully set myself up with a job after college.

“Obviously, Bucknell is a great school. The (golf) facilities, the coach and members of the team I met when I made my visit, everything and everybody was awesome. I felt like I belonged there.”

Tanabe, who’s been an honor student throughout every level of his education, is a double major at Bucknell. He’s majoring in economics and Spanish.

This summer, he took two classes at the University of Granada, which is located in south central Spain. He hopes to return to Spain next summer on an internship.

By: Karen Kadilak
Friday, July 5, 2019 | 6:05 PM

Quaker Valley departing senior Katherine Blaugrund put in hours to lacrosse, and she has been rewarded.

Blaugrund, a midfielder, was named a US Lacrosse Girls High School All-American for Western Pennsylvania.

“To be honored with this title is such an incredible way to end my high school career,” said Blaugrund, 18, of Sewickley.

Blaugrund scored 75 goals and had 23 assists and broke the Quaker Valley all-time scoring record this season. She contributed 164 draw controls, 66 ground balls and 14 caused turnovers.

She led the Quakers to the WPIAL Class AA semifinals.

In four seasons, she posted 252 goals, 69 assists, 397 draw controls, 159 ground balls and 62 caused turnovers.

Quaker Valley coach Kristin Semones said Blaugrund, a two-time captain, was a leader on and off the field.

“(She has) great communication skills (and) stepped up this season by communicating changes in offensive and defensive sets on the fly,” Semones said. “(She) contributes all over the field.”

Semones said Blaugrund has the ability to play a full game and rarely comes off the field.

“(She is) always looking to get better,” Semones said. “She played club lacrosse in the offseason. She helps teammates outside of lacrosse (and) was a high school tutor.”

According to the US Lacrosse website, All-Americans are the best players from their area. They exhibit superior skills and techniques, possess exceptional game sense and knowledge and embody good sportsmanship.

Players must be significant contributors to their teams. US Lacrosse oversees the selection of the awards.

The 5-foot-10 Blaugrund thanked her teammates and coaches for pushing her to set challenging goals.

“Being All-American really did come as a surprise, both because it came so far after the season and because it wasn’t exactly something that was on my radar,” Blaugrund. “Our team this past season was such a tight-knit group and all of our goals were so team-oriented that individual goals were not a focal point.”

Blaugrund, who earned all-academic honors last season, hopes to play club lacrosse at Virginia. She is undecided about a major.

Blaugrund was one of two Sewickley area players honored by US Lacrosse.

Sewickley Academy senior defender Daniel Phillips was named boys all-academic, which is awarded to a player who exhibits exemplary lacrosse skills, good sportsmanship on the field and represents high standards of academic achievement in the classroom.