Honorary captains selected for game

Game scheduled for Friday, March 28, at St. Francis.


The honorary captains are set for the third Altoona Mirror Classic.

Eddie Miller and Jill Brumbaugh, former standouts at Bishop Guilfoyle and Claysburg-Kimmel, respectively, will represent Blair County while Pat Snyder, formerly of Tussey Mountain, and Mary Markey, formerly of Southern Huntingdon, will serve as honorary captains for the Central Pennsylvania teams.

The top seniors from Blair County will take on the best from Central PA in a girls-boys doubleheader Friday, March 28 at St. Francis University. Tipoff times are 6:30 p.m. for the girls and 8:30 for the boys.

Brumbaugh graduated from Claysburg in 1985 after scoring a total of 1,594 points. She became the first, and still the only, Claysburg girl to earn a Division I scholarship when she signed with Connecticut.

A point guard, Brumbaugh became a four-year starter at UConn under coach Geno Auriemma. She still ranks among the school’s all-time leaders in assists (514, fifth) and steals (189, ninth). Brumbaugh led the Lady Huskies in assists four straight years and had 10 or more assists in a game five times.

She is currently working in the insurance business in Florida.

Miller went from Guilfoyle to the University of Mississippi, where he led the freshman team in scoring and then started for two seasons (1966-68), averaging a combined 9.5 points per game in the Southeastern Conference.

Miller averaged 28 points per game as a senior, and his single-game scoring record at BG — 50 points against Bellwood in 1964 — still stands.

He owns and operates a furniture store in Juniata.

Snyder is a 1993 Tussey Mountain graduate and the Titans’ all-time leading scorer with 2,321 points.

He was a second team Associated Press all-state player and the Mirror’s player of the year in ’93. Snyder was a four-year starter under Central PA coach Dave Bailey at Tussey and a four-year letterman at Shippensburg University.

He is currently a state policeman in Bedford.

Markey is a former standout at Southern Huntingdon High School and St. Francis University. She is the Lady Rockets’ all-time scoring leader, and during her days with the Red Flash, from 1994-98, Markey was part of three teams that went to the NCAA Tournament.

She broke SFU’s all-time scoring record, with 1,709 points, a mark that has since been surpassed by Jess Zinobile and Beth Swink. Markey, the NEC’s player of the year in 1997 and the NEC tourney MVP in ’96 and ’98, played professionally in Europe after college.

She is currently a marketing technician in Chambersburg.

Coaches for the game include Bailey and Penn Cambria’s Bob Gongloff for the Central PA boys and girls teams, respectively, while Bishop Guilfoyle’s Dave Benton and Central’s Vernon Neil will guide the Blair County squads.

Honorary coaches include Central’s Reggie Nevins (Blair boys), Bellwood-Antis’ Terri Harpster (Blair girls), Huntingdon’s John Los (Central PA boys) and Bishop Carroll’s Deb Yesenosky (Central PA girls).

Tickets for the doubleheader are priced at $4. They’re available at the Altoona Mirror, 301 Cayuga Avenue, or at St. Francis on March 28 beginning at 5:30 p.m.

The doubleheader is played in memory of Big John and Tom Riley, and proceeds benefit the Big John Riley Scholarship Fund at St. Francis.

Rosters for the game will be announced in Sunday’s Mirror.