Four athletes from Tamaqua to be inducted
The 25th Annual Carbon County Hall of Fame induction ceremonies and banquet will be held Sunday, May 27, at Franklin Township Fire Company social hall.
The doors will open at 1 p.m., with the dinner to start at 1:45, followed by individual inductions of 25 who attained athletic accomplishments.
This year’s inductees are:
Coaldale – Ted Bortnick, John Horoschak, Mike Paslawsky and Jack Sweeney.
Jim Thorpe – Clinton Getz and Danny McGinley.
Lansford – Gary Karnish, Emmett McCall and James Steber.
Lehighton – Corey Schaeffer, Matthew Schaeffer and Larry Stern.
Nesquehoning – Jimmy Mikovich, Jim Paluck and Gene Snisky.
Palmerton - Billy Cyr, Barbara (Jones) Larvey and Wendy (George) Nalesnik.
Summit Hill – Rodney Lechleitner, Tony Maholick and Tom Miller.
Tamaqua – Erika (Barron) Davis, Adam Knoblauch, Joseph Romano and Tom Rottet.
Banquet tickets can be purchased from the following Hall of Fame committee members: Danny McGinley 570-325-3550, Emmett McCall 570-645-2093, Vince Spisak (570-645-4542), Art George (610-826-2830), Jake Boyer (610-751-6634), Trevor Lawrence (570-645-4722), Bill Gardiner (570-669-6564), Bob Gelatko (570-645-8652), Evan Evans (570-645-7716), Tom Bonner (570-386-2516), Herb Welsh (570-760-1744). Tickets are $35 for adults. For children under 12, the cost is $15.
The following will be inducted representing Tamaqua:
Erika M. Davis
Erika M. (Barron) Davis started every Tamaqua Area High School girls’ basketball game for a four-year period (2003-2007), setting numerous records, being selected to several all star teams and finishing as the all-time leading scorer in the school’s history with 2,317 points, gaining AAA All State First Team honors as a junior and AA All State Second Team laurels in her senior campaign.
Her point total ranks seventh among all-time leading scorers in the Schuylkill League, but as a Raider, she set record-after-record, including points in a season (738 as a junior), points scored in a game (42 vs. Wyomissing in 2006; tied with Cindy Miller); points scored in a home game (39 vs. Shamokin in 2005); scoring average in a season (27.3 ppg in 05-06); scoring average in a career (21.8 ppg in 03-07); and free throws made in a career (429).
But that’s not all, her TAHS records continue as follows: free throws made in a season (167 in 05-06); free throws made in a game (16 vs. Shamokin in 2005); three-point field goals in a career (332); three-point field goals in a season (111 in 05-06); and three-point field goals in a game (8 vs. Jim Thorpe in 2006).
It’s no wonder, then, that Tamaqua retired her jersey after she ended her career there.
Her postseason honors were plentiful, including being named Times News, Standard Speaker and Reading Eagle Player of the Year as a junior and senior, and being named to the First Team All Area Squad of the Morning Call, also in her junior and senior campaigns.
Like she did in high school, Erika went on to become a four-year starter and letter winner at Susquehanna University, where she finished her career with 890 points, 364 assists and 159 steals. She is the current holder of SU’s record for three-point field goals in a season (67) and three-point field goals in a career (171). While playing for the Crusaders, she made the SU Pepsi-Weiss Market All Tournament Team in 2010, was named to the Landmark Conference First team as a senior, received the Neil Potter Coach’s Award in 2010-2011, and was the Scholar Athlete for both semesters of her senior year.
As if her basketball performance wasn’t enough, Erika played volleyball as a freshman and sophomore at THS, where she was a varsity letter winner, and also lettered for three years as a sophomore, junior and senior on the Raiders’ track and field teams. There, she qualified for the PIAA state meet three times, as a sophomore in the 400 and two relay teams, in the 100, 400 and a relay team as a junior, and on a relay team and in throwing the javelin as a senior. She was also a member of the THS record-setting 4-by-4 relay team and a Schuylkill League champion in the 400-meter run.
She was also a junior and senior varsity letter winner for the Raiders’ cross country team that won the District 11 championship, qualifying for the state meet.
In 2012, she was inducted into the Tamaqua Area High School Hall of Fame.
Erika continued her love of basketball after college by working several basketball camps, including serving as director of the Tamaqua Lady Raiders Basketball Camp, and giving one-on-one private lessons. She also played basketball in the Schuylkill County Summer Basketball League, Pottsville, and was an assistant boys’ coach at Panther Valley for three seasons (2011-2014), before being named head coach at her alma mater, a position she holds today.
At Susquehanna, she majored in elementary and Early Childhood education, with a minor in business, graduating summa cum laude and attaining the dean’s list in all eight semesters. Also at SU, she was a member of the Alpha Lambda Delta and Kappa Delta Pi Education honor societies, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the Study Buddy Program and the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, and was a Teacher/Professor’s Assistant in the Business Department.
Erika teaches fourth grade at the West Pen Elementary School in the Tamaqua School District.
A daughter of Duane and Michelle Barron, she and her husband, Matthew Davis, are the parents of a daughter, Kendall Mae, 2, and Calvin, one month. She is the granddaughter of Joseph and Marge Romano.
Joseph Romano
Joseph Romano was a star basketball player for the Jerries of the former St. Jerome’s High School, Tamaqua, having played for the late, legendary Hugh “Wink” Gallagher and later Eddie Baddick.
He graduated there in 1953 but not before an unbelievable cage season in 1952-53, when, as captain of the team, he scored 909 points in just 25 games, including setting the single-game record with 56 points.
He completed his senior season with an unparalleled 36.4 points per game average, and for the fourth straight year was named to the First Team All Catholic League squad.
After graduation, he entered the U.S. Army, where he was a military policeman, including having served in Japan. He retired from ICI Americas (the former Atlas Powder Company) after 36 years of service.
After high school, Joe continued his athletic prowess by playing basketball and softball and also boxed while in the service.
He is married to the former Marge Kubilus. They are the parents of Teresa Kester, Michelle, wife of Duane Barron, and Marie Sottosanti, and have five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
His one grandchild, Erika Barron Davis, has followed in his footsteps in having the same honor of being inducted into this Hall of Fame.
Thomas A. Rottet
Tom Rottet lettered in three sports for three years at Tamaqua Area High School, before moving on to a stellar career at Gettysburg College.
A 1987 graduate of Tamaqua, he lettered thrice in baseball, football and basketball, being a co-captain of the baseball and basketball teams and a tri-captain of the gridiron squad, all in his senior year.
He was an All Schuylkill County selection in football as a senior, finishing his high school career as a three-year starter in each of those three sports.
At Gettysburg, he played four years of baseball and two years of football, having been the starting outside linebacker as a sophomore.
On the diamond, he was something special, starting in one of the outfield positions as a freshman before moving to shortstop and then third base. He played in the Mid Atlantic Conference and NCAA Division III baseball tournaments in 1988, and, as a senior shortstop, he led the team in hitting with a .348 average.
Tom earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in health science from Gettysburg, where he attended from 1987-91, and studied at Palmer College of Chiropractic from 1991-95, when he earned his Doctor of Chiropractic degree. Later, he received a secondary teaching certification from Drexel University in 2010, graduating with a 4.0 grade-point average with certifications in biology and science.
At Palmer, he played club baseball for three years.
Tom coached Little League Baseball in Tamaqua from 2004-08, with his teams winning the championships in 2007 and 2008. He piloted the Tamaqua All Stars to the 11-year-old District 11 crown in 2007.
He also coaches a travel baseball team from 2004-2011, piloting the Eckley Reds and Tamaqua Sliders. His teams won many tournaments in the Lehigh Valley, Hershey, Reading and Georgetown, DE.
Tom became a PIAA baseball official in 2009 and has since been certified to blow the whistle for basketball and soccer games.
He graduated cum laude in 1995 from Palmer, having attained a grade-point average of 3.69, and practiced chiropractic from 1995-2009. He is a former adjunct instructor at the McCann School of Business and Alvernia University.
He presently teaches science at the Commonwealth Charter Academy and maintains a solo chiropractic business in Orwigsburg.
Tom and his wife, the former Kimberly Heisler, have been married for 25 years and reside in Walker Township. They have two children, Kailee and Boaz.
Kailee is a former two-time All State soccer player from Tamaqua, where she scored over 100 goals and was the 2012 Times News Soccer Player of the Year. She is a ninth grade English teacher at the Commonwealth Charter Academy and is married to former All State wrestler Garth Lakitsky of Tamaqua.
Boaz was the 2014 Times News Player of the Year in baseball and was a 1,000-point scorer on the Raiders’ basketball teams. He currently plays second base for the Kutztown University baseball team. As a sophomore, he led the Golden Bears in batting average (.342), runs (33), hits (55), doubles (11), and triples (4).
Adam Knoblauch
Adam Knoblauch, a 2000 graduate of Tamaqua Area High School, rewrote the Blue Raiders’ record books as a top-notch quarterback.
He played there from 1997-2000, surpassing the 1,000-yard passing mark as a sophomore, throwing for 1,339 yards in 1998. Before his career ended, Adam held the Tamaqua marks for attempted passes (780, completions (352), yards (4,126), touchdowns (31) and touchdowns in a game (4).
Those lofty statistics aside, what Adam would go on to do at Delaware Valley College was special, as he became only the sixth quarterback in NCAA history, including all divisions, to pass for 10,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in a career.
He started every game of his collegiate career, leading DelVal to football prominence, including a 35-10 record overall, a 33-4 mark over his last three years, and 24-2 in his last two seasons. During that time, DVC won back-to-back Middle Atlantic Conference championships in 2004-2005, when it reached the NCAA Division III quarterfinals in both years, and, in 2003, it captured the ECAC Southeast championship.
Adam’s numbers placed him fifth in Division III history in passing yards (11,854) and 10th in touchdowns (101). He also rushed for 1,549 yards in his career there.
He owns the Delaware Valley career records for completions (840), attempts (1,550), yards (11,284), touchdowns (101), total offense (12,854), completion percentage (54.1) and passing efficiency (131.5). He is tied for the DelVal record for career rushing touchdowns with 29.
He also owns the school single-season records for completions (246), attempts (249), yards (3,307), passing TDs (29) and total offense (4,044), and DelVal’s single game records for completions (36), attempts (59), yards (423), touchdowns (5) and total offense (459).
All of those incredible numbers helped earn Adam the Maxwell Club Tri-State Player of the year award in 2005, the same season when he was a finalist for the Gagliardi Trophy that goes to the Division III Player of the Year. He led the team to its second straight undefeated regular season, the MAC championship and an NCAA quarterfinal berth.
Other honors he won that season were being named D3football.com Third Team All American, Don Hansen’s Gazette Third Team All American, MAC Offensive Player of the Year, ECAC Southeast Offensive Player of the Year and the Bert Bell Award winner, given to the Philadelphia Eagles’ Fight for Leukemia College Most Valuable Player.
Adam was named Top Area Amateur Athlete by the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association in 2005, when he was an All-MAC First Team and All-ECAC First Team selection. Twice that season, he received the MAC Offensive Player of the Week.
In 2004, Knoblauch led Delaware Valley to a 12-1 record (10-0 in the regular season), the MAC championship and a trip to the NCAA quarterfinals. He was named an All-MAC First Team member and to the Third Team All East Region by Don Hansen’s Gazette. Voted the team’s Most Valuable Offensive Player, he was named Player of the Week by Hansen’s Gazette; was a two-time MAC Offensive Player of the Week; and was named to the Honor Roll four times.
The previous season, Knoblauch led the team to a turnaround (2-8 in 2002 to 9-2 in 2003) that resulted in the ECAC Southeast title. His efforts resulted in him being named the team’s Most Offensive Player and he was named Most Valuable Player of the ECAC Southeast championship game. His role in the Susquehanna game that year netted him a MAC, ECAC and Don Hansen’s Football Gazette Offensive Player of the Week and D3football.com Team of the Week laurels. In a win over Lycoming, he was named to the MAC Honor Roll.
And, as a freshman, Adam was named the MAC Rookie of the Year and to the MAC Honor Roll for his play against Albright College.
