'Tis the season for area high schools to honor some of its all-time best athletes, coaches and teams.
At Northern Lehigh tonight, the school will welcome five individuals and a championship team into its Slatington/Northern Lehigh Ring of Honor. The ceremony will take place at halftime of the Bulldogs' boys basketball game against Northwestern.
Then at Central Catholic's Rockne Hall on Saturday, the school will induct four individuals and two state championship teams into its Wall of Fame before a varsity boys basketball game featuring CCHS against Danville. With the JV game set to start at 3 p.m., the ceremony will begin at approximately 4:15.
Here's a brief summary of the careers of those being honored:
NORTHERN LEHIGH
Yogi Edwards — A 1975 graduate, Edwards played baseball, basketball and football. He helped the football team win the Lehigh Valley League title in 1974 when he as an all-league defensive back and wide receiver. He had 11 interceptions as a senior and 21 in his career. He was also the school's scholar-athlete. He went on to a Hall of Fame career at Muhlenberg College where he set numerous school records in baseball.
Cathy Frohnheiser — A 1990 graduate, Frohnheiser excelled in basketball and softball for four years and in field hockey for two. In basketball, she still holds the school single-season records for field goals made and points in a season (633). She finished her career with 1,216 points. In softball, she had a .471 career batting average and helped the Bulldogs finish second in the district twice and win the 1988 state title. She went on to a record-breaking softball career at Furman.
Bruce Kemmerer — A 1952 graduate, Kemmerer was a member of the football team for four years and a co-captain of the team as a senior. In the1951 season, he had five touchdowns against Northampton, helping to end 24 years of Bulldogs futility against the Konkrete Kids. He also played baseball and basketball and served in the Armed Forces before graduating from East Stroudsburg University. He retired from the Northwestern School District in 1989 after 30 years of service.
Kristin (Kern) Rose — A 1996 graduate and co-valedictorian of her graduating class, Rose played field hockey, basketball and softball for three years and was a key member of the Bulldogs' 1996 state title team in softball. She went on to a solid collegiate career at the University of Delaware. She is currently working for a military contracting company in Belcamp, Md., and lives in Middletown, Del. with her husband and two children.
Lloyd Williams — Williams, who died in 1992, was an East Stroudsburg University grad who taught at Slatington for 37 years before retiring in 1972. He coached basketball, track, baseball and football at Slatington from 1934-66, but is best known as coach of the school's "Iron Men" basketball team. He coached Slatington to the Lehigh Valley League title in 1952-53 and league and district titles in 1953-54. He was named "Man of the Year" by the Slatington Rotary Club in 1954 and was inducted into the Lehigh Valley Basketball Hall of Fame in 1986.
1953-54 Iron Men team — It was the school's first district championship team. Slatington defeated East Penn League champ Allentown High 63-56 in the semis and an estimated 3,000 residents jammed the intersection of Main and Church streets to welcome the team home. The team went on to defeat St. Clair 76-73 in front of a crowd of 7,000 for the district gold. The team featured Robert Schirmacher, Richard Nissen, Roy Hankee, Merrill Eckhart, Dr. Edward Torbey, Raymond Follweiler, Richard Frantz, Steven Kern, Richard Jones, Maurice Schleicher, George Dilliard, Edward Welliver, managers Lee Kreidler and Wallace Kern, and coaches Lloyd Williams and Fred Snyder.
CENTRAL CATHOLIC
Pat Boyle — A 1989 graduate, Boyle earned eight varsity letters in basketball, baseball, soccer and golf. He was the school's top male athlete as a senior and was the captain of the 1988-89 boys basketball team that went 30-3 and won the East Penn Conference and District 11 titles and advanced to the state championship game. Boyle went on to an outstanding collegiate basketball career at Muhlenberg and a highly successful coaching career at Notre Dame-Green Pond where he has won 307 games.
Rev. Frans Berkhout — As the school's principal from 2000-04 and its president from 2003 to 2006, Berkhout was instrumental in CCHS becoming a member of the Lehigh Valley Conference when it was formed in 2002. He also encouraged and supported Central's involvement with LVC academic activities such as scholastic scrimmage, chess, debate student forum and the Science Olympiad.
David Rivera — The 2002 graduate was the school's first PIAA champion in wrestling, winning the 160-pound title as a senior. He was a District 11 runner-up in both his junior and senior seasons and was an Ephrata tournament and Christmas City champion. He finished his career with a record of 106-31 and holds the school record for most wins.
Jackie Adamshick — The 2002 graduate was one of the best players in the school's storied girls basketball history, compiling 1,848 career points. She was a two-time Morning Call player of the year and a two-time East Penn Conference MVP. She was the AP big school player of the year as a senior. She was also an accomplished cross country runner, being named team MVP four times and also becoming a state medalist twice. She went on to a stellar collegiate basketball career at Villanova, finishing with 1,372 points and 703 rebounds. She also played overseas in three different European pro leagues.
2000-01 and 2001-02 Vikettes — In consecutive years, Central's girls basketball team won East Penn Conference, District 11 and PIAA 3A state titles and were a combined 57-5 — 30-1 in 2001-02. The '02 team also was remarkably dominant in the postseason, winning all nine games by a minimum of 12 points. Their average margin of victory in the state tournament was 24.6. They ended the season with a 27-game winning streak.
