A sporting tradition continues this month.
The Penn Hills Sports Hall of Fame inducts its 24th class on April 25, at Churchill Valley Country Club.
The Class of 2007 is Bill Deem Jr., Angelo Deriggi, Rebecca Donaldson-Shellem, Robert Mauro, Michael Meyers, George Pekich, J. Raymond Reilly, Eric Roberson, Cathleen Shantz-Mills and Tom Truschel.
Tickets to the event are $30 and still are available. They can be purchased by mail by sending $30 per ticket to Penn Hills Sports Hall of Fame, 537 Regency Drive, Pittsburgh, PA, 15239.
Tickets also may be purchased in person at the Penn Hills High School Athletic Office on Tuesdays through Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
E-mail inquiries may be sent to mred32@comcast.net [1]
Rich Walsh, WPXI-TV sports anchor and a Penn Hills alumnus, will be this year's master of ceremonies.
Over the next three weeks, the Penn Hills Progress will profile each of the 10 hall-of-fame inductees.
Tom Truschel
A Penn Hills High School graduate, Truschel learned the game of golf at a young age from his father.
Truschel was scoring in the 70s by the age of 13 and played on the Indians varsity golf team as a freshman.
Penn Hills was WPIAL runner-up in 1958, Truschel's freshman year.
He helped the Indians win three consecutive WPIAL titles from 1959 to 1961.
Truschel also finished second at the PIAA individual state championships as a senior in 1961.
He teamed with current Alcoma golf professional Ray Cerar to win the Tri-State PGA Pro-Junior Golf Championship in 1959.
In 1961, he was a medalist and runner-up at the Western Pennsylvania Junior Golf Championship.
Truschel won the title in the next year and went on to place ninth at the Hearst International Junior Golf Championship in Waterloo, Iowa.
In college at Pitt, he was the team's top golfer in 1962 and 1963 and was undefeated in all of his matches played before his enlistment in the U.S. Air Force in 1964.
Truschel continued to play in the military, leading the 1967 Ramstein Air Base team that won the European Armed Forces Golf Tournament in Germany.
He has recorded five holes-in-one over his playing career.
Truschel remains an avid golfer and co-owns the Monroeville Sports Center with his wife, Mary Joan.
Rebecca Donaldson-Shellem
The 1979 Penn Hills High School graduate set several school records in varsity swimming, including the 200 freestyle.
She was a WPIAL finalist and PIAA state-meet qualifier in both relay and individual events in 1978 and 1979.
Donaldson-Shellem continued her educational and swimming pursuits at Washington & Jefferson College.
At W&J, she became the first woman in school history to qualify for a national competition and achieve All-American status.
Throughout her college career, Donaldson-Shellem earned All-American recognition six times.
She was inducted into the W&J Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001.
After graduating from W&J, Donaldson-Shellem earned a master's degree in exercise physiology from West Virginia University. While at WVU, she served as a graduate assistant coach for the Mountaineer men's and women's varsity swim teams.
She passes her swimming expertise on to young swimmers at the Moorestown Friends School, where she is a pre-kindergarten and nursery school teacher.
She and her husband, Michael, live in Mount Laurel, N.J., with their children, John Michael, 11, and Michaela, 4.
Michael Meyers
The 1970 Penn Hills graduate went on to attend and graduate from, West Liberty State College (1974) and New Mexico State (1976).
Meyers contributed to the varsity swimming programs at all three institutions.
At Penn Hills, he was a four-year letterman, a WPIAL finalist, a PIAA all-state performer and a champion of the Clarion Invitational.
Meyers was a 13-time NAIA All-American and 15-time all-conference swimmer at West Liberty State.
He launched his coaching career at New Mexico State, while earning his master's degree. He served as an assistant swim coach and the head water polo coach.
In 1977, Meyers took the helm of the Peters Township High School swimming teams. Over the course of seven seasons, his swimmers earned 37 All-American awards, set four PIAA and four WPIAL records and garnered one U.S. Open record.
The Peters Township age-group team also enjoyed success, earning seven U.S. Swimming national top-10 finishes.
Meyers left coaching and teaching but continued to swim while working with British Airways. He took part in several triathalons, set the Michigan masters record in the 200 butterfly and won two events at the World Corporate Games in London.
In 1999, he was inducted into the West Liberty State College Athletic Hall of Fame.
Chatham University hired Meyers in 2004 to start its first swim team.
In just three years, Chatham won the AWCC Championship. He is a two-time AWCC coach of the year. He and his wife of 33 years, Judi, have three children, Matthew, 28, Courtney, 25, and Megan, 22.