Nesquehoning inductees to Carbon Hall are Mikovich, Paluck, Snisky
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 Nesquehoning:
Jimmy Mikovich
Jimmy Mikovich graduated in 1986 from Panther Valley High School, where he played two years of track and four years of basketball and football.
After two injury-plagued seasons, he put together a solid senior season for the Panthers’ gridiron team. Jimmy was at his best on the defensive side of the ball, having made 72 tackles, 14 quarterback sacks, two fumble recoveries and a blocked extra point try from his defensive tackle position.
On the offensive side of the ball, he managed 16 catches from his tight end position. He was named to the Schuylkill County Coaches First Team and the All Anthracite Team, Third Team in the Reading Eagle and Associated Press International All State Honorable Mention for his defensive efforts.
On the basketball court was where Jimmy was at his best. After breaking into the starting lineup at the end of his sophomore year, he played on arguably two of the Panthers’ best teams. The 83-84 Panthers advanced to the eastern semi finals before bowing to Lourdes Regional by a single point.
Jimmy was co-captain of the Panther cage teams in his junior and senior years. As a senior, he became one of only three players to break the 1,000-point mark in the Panthers’ history, joining teammate Brian Raabe and 1980 graduate Gary Barna in the 1,000-Point Club.
During his senior year, he set the single game scoring record of 45 points against West Hazleton and also broke the Panthers’ single-season scoring record, finishing with 536 points for the campaign. He also pulled down 731 rebounds for the Panthers, which is second on the all-time list.
For his efforts on the court, Jimmy made the Schuylkill League All Star Team, Slatington All Tourney Team, First Team Standard Speaker, First Team Reading Eagle, First Team District 11 and Honorable Mention All State honors, and also won a WNEP-TV Player of the Week Award.
The 85-86 Panthers had the best season in PVHS history, winning the Slatington Christmas Tourney, Schuylkill League title, District 11 Class AA crown and went all the way to the Eastern Final, where they lost by two points to Wilkes-Barre GAR. The team ended up with a 29-2 record. It defeated Pottsville twice during the season and had a 21-game winning streak among its accomplishments.
In a rare family feat, his father, Carl, and brother, John, were all captains of their respective basketball teams and each won the District 11 title in their senior seasons, Jimmy with the 86 Panthers, John with the 79 Panthers and Carl with the 52 Nesquehoning squad. Jimmy and John played on the last two PV championship teams.
Jimmy went on to graduate from Bloomsburg University and has been employed by Air Products and Chemicals for the past 20 years.
He lives in Lake Hauto with his family.
Jim Paluck
Jim Paluck is a 1988 graduate of Panther Valley High School who was an outstanding athlete in four sports – basketball, football, baseball and track.
He ran track in his freshman and sophomore years, when he excelled in both hurdle events (100 meter and 300 meter intermediates), the 4-by-100 relay team and in throwing the javelin. He held the PVHS record in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles for 23 years with a time of 43.6, and advanced to the 100-meter high hurdle district competition as a sophomore.
On the baseball field, he was a three-year letter winner. He had the privilege of being coached by the late Cazzie Kosciolek, playing the outfield as a sophomore and earning the catcher’s position for two subsequent years. He batted cleanup and held a .335 batting average his senior year.
In the gym, Jim was a four-year starter for the Panthers’ cage teams. As a sophomore, he was instrumental in the team’s success as a defensive specialist on the “all-time winningest team” in PV history. The team ended the season with a loss to GAR in the Eastern State Final, finishing with a record of 29-2. Jim excelled in his final two years, concluding his career with 858 points. He was also the first athlete to score a three-point shot in Panther history.
Jim was a four-year letter winner and starter in football. Under the direction of Coach Joe Leonzi, Paluck led the Panthers to a 9-2-1 record as the starting as quarterback in his senior year, defeating Mount Carmel, Marian and North Schuylkill in the same season, which was a first in the school’s history.
Jim went on to pass for over 1,000 yards that year and recorded 118 tackles as a defensive back, leading the team to its first-ever District 11 Class A title, a victory over Pen Argyl, 28-6, in a blizzard.
Jim received many honors, but none more rewarding than in 1987 when he was selected as one of the best 33 players in the state. In June, 1988, he played in the Big 33 Game vs. Maryland at Hersheypark Stadium.
Jim was heavily recruited by Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland and Missouri, and went on to further his education and play football at the latter university in Columbia, where he contributed on special teams as a linebacker and was later moved to tight end. He had the opportunity to be mentored by some of the best, including Andy Reid, Marty Mornhingweg and Dirk Koetter, all currently coaching in the NFL.
Jim continued to pass on his athletic knowledge after college and coached several sports. He coached Little League Baseball for nine years, basketball at St. Joseph’s in Jim Thorpe for 10 years, and was involved with the Lil Colts football program since its inception at Marian Catholic High School. He was fortunate enough to be invited by Head Coach Stan Dakosty at Marian to assist on his staff for two years, and is currently on the staff at Marian with Head Coach Pat Morgans, where Jim is charged with leading both the quarterbacks and tight ends on offense and linebackers on defense.
A son of Leah Paluck of Nesquehoning, and the late Joseph J. Paluck Sr., Jim currently resides in Jim Thorpe with his wife, Ann Marie, and their two sons, Jacob and Seth. He has been employed by Silberline Manufacturing Company, Hometown, for the past 20 years, holding the position of product manager.
Gene Snisky
Gene Snisky attended Panther Valley High School where he excelled in numerous sports, including track and field, basketball and football.
His basketball career led him to the Pennsylvania Keystone Games, where he was the starting center for the Northeast Region. He was a four-year letterman who led the Panthers in scoring two straight years, being part of a team that still holds the best records in the history of the school.
In football, Gene was a three-year letterman, leading the team to its first-ever championship. His gridiron skills earned him First Team All State honors, becoming only the third person in the school’s history to attain that achievement. After a very successful athletic career at PVHS, Gene was offered several full athletic scholarships and ultimately chose to attend the University of Missouri on a Division 1 full football scholarship.
In college, he was a three-year letterman in football, seeing action in his sophomore year and starting during his junior and senior seasons. While at Missouri, he was coached by former Philadelphia Eagles and current Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid. After graduating from Missouri, he was invited to the NFL combines and eventually signed a free agent contract with the San Diego Chargers, where a torn labrum required surgery and prematurely ended his NFL career. After recovering from the surgery, he returned to professional football in the CFL, playing with the Birmingham Barracudas, but due to ongoing shoulder issues he was forced to an early retirement. The injury was actually a blessing in disguise as it triggered Gene’s wrestling career.
Gene always had professional wrestling in his sights. After a tireless search, he found the Wild Samoan Pro Wrestling Training Center in the Lehigh Valley. Gene had to go through a rigorous tryout and evaluation process. Seeing his potential, Afa, the Wild Samoan, decided to take Gene under his wing. As a mentor and friend, Afa, a WWE Hall of Famer, provided Gene with the valuable learning tools needed to be successful in professional wrestling.
While training with Afa, Gene held numerous odd jobs just to get by, always knowing someday he would become a WWE Superstar. During these years, he drove all over the country for little or no money, as what is known in the wrestling world as “paying his dues.”
He quickly impressed Afa to the point where he was invited to join Afa’s son, Samu, on a 28-day tour of military bases in Egypt, Afghanistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, South Korea and Japan. Things picked up after this tour, with Gene earning a tryout match for WWE later that year. The tryout went so well that he was offered a WWE developmental contract shortly thereafter.
Upon signing the contract with WWE, he relocated to Louisville, KY, to attend its training camp there, during which time he progressed quickly, wrestling under the moniker Mean Gene Mondo. He rose rapidly to the top of the developmental system, making it to the main WWE live TV roster in only four months’ time, fulfilling his dream of becoming a WWE Superstar.
His first major feud was with WWE veteran Kane. Over the next four years, Gene would have many memorable feuds with a number of WWE greats. During his tenure, he experienced great success as a wrestler, always loving becoming a character that was larger than life.
He has celebrated some historic milestones in his wrestling career, including WWE: Raw 100 – The Top 100 Moments in Raw History; Top 10 Royal Rumble Eliminations; Top 50 OMG Moments in WWE History; and induction into the WXW Hall of Fame as a member of the inaugural Hall of Fame class.
Gene now focuses his energy on acting and producing. He has been in a number of independent films, infomercials, episodes of ABC’s “What Would You Do?” and, most recently, he has produced his first independent film, “100 Acres of Hell,” in which he has the lead role and is an executive producer, lead stunt coordinator and writer.
Gene is very active in charity events and foundations and is the proud spokesman for the “Buck Autism” campaign. He is a member of Brandon McManus’ “Anti-Bully Squad” and works closely doing appearances and events for “Bustin’ for Autism,” and numerous other charities.
He currently resides in Orwigsburg with his wife, Diahann (Ouly) Snisky, who is also a Panther Valley graduate, and his Great Dane Maximus.
