Nine former athletes and one achievement award nominee will be inducted at the Mountain Valley Golf Course.
Dr. Stephen John Debuski
Dr. Stephen John Debuski spent four years at Mahanoy Area High School Class of 1972. He was a football and track team member achieving the Pottsville Republican All County Middle Guard Award, All Anthracite Offensive Tackle Harrisburg Patriot Award, Evening Herald 1st Team All County End Honor, senior year team captain and he twice qualified for Districts in track. Following with four years as a Bloomsburg University football team member achieving All conference recognition, voted “most valuable offensive player” and senior year team captain.
Earning a BS degree and graduate credentials from Bloomsburg University, he began his professional career as a Biology Teacher at Bishop Hafey for one year continuing as a Mahanoy Area faculty member for six years. Serving as an Assistant Football Coach at Cardinal Brennan for one year and the Defensive Coordinator Coach at Mahanoy Area for six years. Then he was accepted at and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine with honors, continuing with admission to an Oral & Maxillofacial Surgical Residency at Temple University. He then began a distinguished career serving the Schuylkill County community in a surgery practice where he specialized in oral surgery for 27 years. He continues athletic accomplishments earning in Kempo Karate a First-Degree Black Belt at age 48 and a Second-Degree Black Belt at age 65.
Each day, he is a devoted runner around his Lake Wynonah home, an active Mahanoy Area Football Alumni member and married 44 years to Marianne (Murphy) with two daughters Jaime Sheatler and Stephanie Friedman and four grandchildren.
Carter Green
Carter Green made her debut at North Schuylkill as a freshman and before graduating with the class of 2014, she turned her athleticism as a standout track and field performer and a standout volleyball player for the Spartans. Green earned post season honors twice as a volleyball player, but on the track team is where she used her gift in the throws, bot shotput and discus.
Green was a four-time gold medalist District 11 champion in the discus event, and added a gold medal in the shotput. To this day, Green holds the North Schuylkill girls’ record in the discus event. At the coveted state championships, Green finished 5th and second during her career tossing the discus. Green’s scholastic career as a discus thrower, earned her honors by New Balance National All-American Team.
Green caught the attention of college coaches earning a scholarship to the University of Virginia, where she had an impressive four-year career. During her four years in the highly competitive Atlantic Conference, she earned academic honors all four years; qualified for the ACC championships all four years; East Regional Qualifier twice.
She is working in the technology sales and part-time throws coach at Catholic University, and living Washington, D.C.
Sean Kramer
Sean Kramer’s high school career at North Schuylkill began as a four-year letterwinner in three sports; football, basketball and track and field. During his senior season on the football team, he was voted captain of the squad and helped lead the Spartans to a District 11 championship before losing to state powerhouse Berwick. Kramer was named first team by the Schuylkill County Coaches twice, 1986 and 1987, and earned All Anthracite first-team twice, as well. Kramer was named to the AP All-State third team, and nominated for the prestigious Pennsylvania Big 33 Football Team.Kramer became a star on the hardwoods earning letters all four seasons, was named to the Schuylkill League All Star team in his senior year. In addition, On the track and field team, Kramer became a 12-time varsity letterwinner for North Schuylkill he was a four-year District 11 Qualifier in three events; discus; shotput and high jump events.
Kramer signed on at one of the top collegiate Division II schools Shippensburg and became the starting tight end at Ship for three seasons earning letters for his standout play.
The North Schuylkill Halftime Club inducted Karmer to its hall of fame.
Kramer is retired living in Ringtown with his wife Jen and three children Kelsie, Madison and Sean.
Bo Neary
Bo Neary made an impact from the day he entered the hallowed halls of Cardinal Brennan, where he immediately starred on the football and basketball teams, all four seasons.Neary became a legendary athlete at the small catholic high school in Fountain Springs, and during his senior season caught 132 passes, tallying 1600 yards and 14 touchdowns. A top-flight defensive back, Neary had 27 interceptions and ran back three for touchdowns. He was named All County Coaches first team; Reading Eagle All Anthracite offense and defense. Neary earned a full scholarship to Towson University in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), but had his career short-changed due to injury.
During his basketball career for the Chargers, Neary scored 1295 points during his career as a point guard for coach Dave Fennelly’s team. He helped lead the Chargers to a District 11 championship in 1980. Neary’s versatility on the hardwoods, not just as a scorer, but set the all-time assist record at Cardinal Brennan.
Today Neary resides in Ocala, Florida with his wife Diane and two daughters Kristen and Kaitlyn.
Bob Racis
Bob Racis is a noted name in the annuals of high school sports at J.W. Cooper High School, Shenandoah. Racis’s career found him earning a starting quarterback for the Blue Devils in his junior season. Playing for the late coach Frank Ulicny, Racis used his extra-ordinary instincts to avoid on-coming defenders attempting a sack and was called “Racis Rollout” by the sports scribes. He peers elected him a captain during his senior season.Racis, who is a nephew of the late great Pottsville Maroon NFL star Frank “Champ” Racis, was voted to the Schuylkill County North Dream Team in December 1964, and he helped engineer the heavily underdog team to a stunning 7-6 win over the South. He added the all—important extra-point after teammate and Shenandoah Catholic star Frank Macus scored the tying touchdown in a driving rain storm at Pottsville’s Veterans Memorial Football Stadium.
Bob was named MVP of the football team at a dinner where one-time Philadelphia Eagles owner the late Jerry Wolman was on hand with stars Pete Retzlaff and Jim Ringo. Bob also was named honorable mention by both news services AP and UPI when all the Pennsylvania High Schools were bunched.
But it was on the basketball team where Bob became a household name helping to lead the Blue Devils to a District 11 championship in 1965, as he cracked the starting lineup for late coach Charles Ratomskin in his sophomore season as a point guard, averaging 16.5 ppg. The Blue Devils were a vaunted scoring machine scoring over 100 points a game several times. Racis led the team to its first ever district championship title over Fountain Hill (Saucon Valley) at the Harrisburg Farm Show before 10,000 fans in a doubleheader before Mahanoy Area won the nightcap led by All-State center Stan Wlodarczyk, who would go on to play at LaSalle.
The Blue Devils came within a whisker of playing for the Class B (5A today) losing to eventual state champions Darby Colwyn. He later was the head coach the Shenandoah Midgets for five seasons.
Raics is retired from Mrs. T’s the World’s No 1 Pierogie Company in America as buyer. He resides with his wife Joanie (Bonner) in Shenandoah, and is a proud father of son Brian and
Nick Rogers
Nick Rogers is another standout athlete that hails from North Schuylkill. Before graduating in 1999, Rogers took center stage on the gridiron earning a starting berth at tight end. By the time Rogers’ senior year rolled around, he was being recruited by some of the finest academic universities. He would accept a scholarship to Colgate.Rogers was a do-it-all two-way starter for the Spartans as he helped lead North Schuylkill to a District 11 football championship under coach Rick Geist. Rogers earned post-season honors on several media outlets, and the Schuylkill County Coaches’ Association first-team both offense and defense. He played for the North All-Star team in 2022.
,
Nick, who is a sibling to Bo Rogers and son of Bill Rogers is the fourth member of his family to be inducted into the Jerry Wolman Hall of Fame. Nick’s grandfather Bill, Sr. was inducted in the 1970s. Nick was also inducted to the North Schuylkill Halftime Football Club.
Nick, who is a sibling to Bo Rogers and son of Bill Rogers is the fourth member of his family to be inducted into the Jerry Wolman Hall of Fame. Nick’s grandfather Bill, Sr. was inducted in the 1970s. Nick was also inducted to the North Schuylkill Halftime Football Club.
Nick’s collegiate career spanned four years the highly acclaimed academic Colgate University where he played fullback and tight end, and was part of the Patriot League championship teams of 1999 and 2002.
Rogers graduated Colgate in a degree in Environmental Science and working for Redtail Renewables, LLC as the Area Environmental Manager, based in Owensboro, Ky.
Rachel Weidensaul Rowley
When one talks about greatness, Rachel is at the top of the charts in high school and college sports. A true multi-sport star it all emanated from Cardinal Brennan High School back in the early 2000s. From the time Rachel set her foot on the tiny historic campus in Fountain Springs, she emerged and grew under the tutelage of her high school mentor Jerry Freiler and Pat Joyce.The Chargers had a phenomenal run of back-to-back District 11, Class A titles, unseating Marian, which was dominating the high school girls’ hoops, especially in the famed Schuylkill Girls’ Basketball League, a league that perhaps produced more state championship wins than any other league from the mid1970s.
Rachel poured in 1205 points, earned honors from the media outlets; Shenandoah Evening Herald, Shamokin News, Hazleton Standard-Speaker and the Reading Eagle. Those championship seasons began in 2002 and the 2003 seasons.
In the spring, Rachel wheeled and deal in the circle for the Chargers softball team. She had over 400 career strikeouts, 19 career shutouts and was Brennan’s Women’s Schuylkill County Scholar Athlete. Weidensaul-Rowley once again was named to various all-star teams for her softball prowess.
The best was yet to come for this superb athlete as she was recruited to play not one, but two sports at Kutztown University in the No. 1 ranked Division II conferences, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC). From 2004-2008, Rachel she helped to lead the Golden Bears’ basketball and softball teams, a rare two-sport collegiate athlete in these modern times.
Weidensaul-Rowley helped to lead Kutztown to the Final 4 two straight seasons, 2005 and 2006. Rachel amassed 931 career points and 386 rebounds. To top it all off, she was honored by Kutztown on its 50th anniversary as one of the top basketball players and softball. Her sensational skills that carried over to pitch for the Bears where she racked up 225 strikeouts and a 2.56 ERA, thus earning her yet another accolade, All PSAC Honors.
Rachel is currently working for JP Morgan Chase, living in the Reading area with her husband Peter and two children Connor and Lucas Rowley.
Joe Yeck
Joe Yeck is a rare story coming out of one of the smallest catholic high schools, Shenandoah Catholic in 1964. He starred early in three sports before deciding to make basketball his main go-to. The Mighty Atoms competed in the PCIAA state tournament, long before the PIAA became a part of the catholic school systems.
Yeck could light it up as a quick, elusive guard with great hands tremendous peripheral vision to pass the ball. As a starting freshman, Yeck eventually became the top guard in the region. Without the 3-point shot, Yeck scored 1090 points during his scholastic career, averaging 23.9 ppg to become the Mighty Atoms all-time scorer in school history, before it merged what would become Cardinal Brennan in the fall of 1968.
The Yeck-led Mighty Atoms in his senior season reached the Class C (1A today) PCIAA Eastern Semifinals. As a sophomore, Yeck was honored by the Shenandoah Lions Club as its outstanding player in 1962. One of his highlight games, found the guard scoring 44 points against Immaculate Heart when there was nary a 3-point line.
Yeck took a different path to basketball stardom after high school. He entered the Army during the Vietnam War, participating on the All-Army team. When he was discharged, Yeck pursued his education on the GI Bill at Temple University, which was coach by the late-Harry Litwack. He was offered a walk-on tryout by the legendary mentor, made the team, but incurred a knee injury curtailing his ambitions. However, his coach allowed him to be a part of the team, though not as a player.
After Temple, Yeck became a teacher in the York/Gettysburg area, coaching both basketball and tennis, along with baseball and cross country. At York, under his coaching, his girls doubles teams won a state championship and three District 3 championships. The boys also won a district doubles championship and one league title. Overall Yeck-coached teams won 463 sporting events.
Yeck also served as an assistant basketball coach at Gettysburg University helping the Greyhounds win three conference chamionships and 3 NCAA appearances. In addition, Joe was a Past Commander at the Gettysburg American Legion.
Yeck lives with his wife Cathy and have three children Kristen, Jennifer and Joe; and five grandchildren Raina, Madelyn, Laila, Evelyn & Kamran.
Tom Zulkowski
Tom Zulkowski became a noted three-sport star at Cardinal Brennan during his four sports seasons in Fountain Springs, beginning in 1997 before graduating in 2000.As a football star, Tom, a native of Frackville, excelled on both sides of the ball as a receiver and defensive back. The sturdy Zulkowski, earned numerous recognition twice on the gridiron. This multi-purpose athlete topped the charts emerging as a potential standout, not just in football but basketball and baseball.
During the 1997 and 98 seasons on the hardwood, Tom was named to the All-Schuylkill County Basketball Division IV team, and played for the North All Stars. It was in baseball that Tom shined, to for the Chargers in 1995 and 1997.
Tom matured as a football player in the collegiate ranks at Lycoming College and in 2000 he was named the Most Improved Offensive Player, in back-to-back seasons ’00-01. He earned first team honors as positional player in the Mid-Penn Conference after hauling in 40 receptions and over 500 yards receiving on a run-oriented football team. For his efforts, Zulkowski was named to the first team MPC tight end.
JEFF KITSOCK
LIFETIME JERRY WOLMAN ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
This year’s Achievement is being presented to Jeff Kitsock.
His accomplishment speaks volumes in the world of tennis, where Jeff has been a teaching professional. Kitsock found the game to his liking going back to nine years of age at the Saint Mauritius Tennis Court in Ashland. As he grew older, he became a steady player and won the Schuylkill County Open in singles once and doubles twice (with Thad Madden and also with Randy Troup).
Jeff graduated from Cardinal Brennan, but the school did not have the sport, instead he played baseball where he was an outstanding player for the Chargers. His managers Pat Kempsey, Bill Shaner and Babe Conroy. Jeff was a shortstop and first baseman, hitting .300 his junior year, and in his senior year batted .463 hit two home runs and 19 rbi in a 13-game season in the Hughie McGeehan League, and was runner-up for the batting title.
Kitsock entered Elizabethtown College latched on to the Men's Tennis team and lettered three seasons; he was No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles his sophomore season. The following two years, Kitsock played between No. 3 and 5 singles and played No. 1 doubles, his final two seasons.
Kitsock’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed and named the Dr. Clair R. McCullough Award for Most Improved Senior Athlete from Elizabethtown College, May, 1981. Jeff began his tennis teaching career at Schuylkill Racket Club in Orwigsburg, 1984, along the way he coached Penn State Schuylkill Campus Tennis Team, 1986; received an instructor certification from the United States Professional Tennis Registry, 1988 and has worked as a teaching professional in the Lancaster, York, and Reading areas since 1988 at Lancaster Host Resort, Racquet Club West, West Side Tennis Club, the Wynfield Club, Lancaster Tennis & Yacht Club, Hempfield Rec Center.
Jeff was a Board Member and Program Director for the Lancaster Tennis Patrons Association which later changed its name to Tennis Central. Jeff has worked with US Open champion, Tracy Austin, French Open Doubles champion, Luke Jensen, USTA President, Katrina Adams, and US Davis Cup captain and tennis broadcaster, Patrick McEnroe.
Kitsock played a point with 20-time major winner, Roger Federer, at the Town Tennis Member Club in New York City on August 25, 2004. Federer autographed a cap that was later auctioned off to fund junior programs in the Lancaster area. And he has written feature articles for Tennis Pro Magazine and columns for the USTA Middle States NetPlay newsletter; has conducted free junior clinics in the Lancaster County Central Park for thirty consecutive years; collected and donated thousands of tennis balls for Father Dan's Saint John Neumann Mission Trips to the Dominican Republic. The balls are distributed to the Dominican Republic children.
In 2023, received the Richard T. Green Community Tennis Service Award presented by Tennis Central at the Lancaster County Tennis Hall of Fame ceremony. He is so well respected in the tennis world and has been a guest speaker for over 80 radio tennis segments for Bill Werndl's "Sports Chatter of Chester County" radio show.
Jeff lives in Lancaster with his wife Judy, has two children John and Carolyn.