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Stories of the year

Opposition to a Catholic school consolidation plan and fallout from the lack of a state budget were among the top local stories of 2015.

The Mirror’s news staff voted on the top stories from a ballot that contained 26 prominent local news items.

The following is a look at the top stories, as chosen by the Mirror news staff:

1. Catholic school

consolidation plan

sparks division in diocese

In early June, both parents and teachers were angered when Bishop Mark L. Bartchak of the Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown unveiled plans to consolidate Altoona quadrant schools.

The plan would establish Hollidaysburg Catholic and Altoona Central Catholic as the region’s binary choice of Catholic K-4 elementary schools, with St. Rose of Lima to be turned into a middle school serving grades 5-8.

St. Patrick’s School in Newry and St. John the Evangelist School in Lakemont would be closed under the bishop’s proposed plan for the 2016-17 school year.

Meanwhile, Altoona Central Catholic, Hollidaysburg Catholic and St. John the Evangelist Catholic schools would close after the next school year under a competing consolidation plan submitted to the diocese in August.

St. John the Evangelist and St. Patrick school boards offered the diocese a counterproposal to the plan by Bartchak’s school consolidation advisory board, which recommended closing St. John and St. Patrick with St. Rose of Lima in Altoona serving solely as a middle school. Altoona Central and Hollidaysburg Catholic would remain open but only have kindergarten to fifth grade.

St. Patrick parents decried the fact that the principal of Hollidaysburg Catholic sat on the bishop’s school consolidation board but there was no representation from St. Patrick. A joint plan by St. Patrick and St. John school representatives would consolidate the diocese’s five schools to two: St. Patrick and St. Rose of Lima, which would remain kindergarten through eighth-grade schools.

On Aug. 19, the diocese announced a final decision to keep its original plan for consolidating schools in the Altoona quadrant.

The diocese’s school governing board for Altoona made the decision final during separate, closed-door meetings with the councils for the five schools. The five schools are set to be consolidated to three in the 2016-17 school year, and the diocese is moving away from its pre-kindergarten to eighth grade model. Hollidaysburg Catholic and Altoona Central Catholic will serve children through fifth grade, and St. Rose of Lima school will serve as a middle school for the students in grades six to eight. St. Patrick and St. John the Evangelist are scheduled to close.

On Aug. 25, holding signs saying “Save Our School” and “Put Kids First,” about 30 students and parents of St. Rose of Lima School rallied at Sixth Avenue in front of the school, protesting the consolidation plans.

In October, St. Joseph’s Foundation canon lawyer Philip Gray of Hopedale, Ohio, told local parents the diocese’s decision to consolidate parochial schools next year violated church law.

In mid-December, St. Patrick Catholic Church parish administrator the Rev. Allen Zeth announced after a school play that he is joining parents and parishioners against the diocese’s plan to close the school next year.

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2. Local impact

of state budget stalemate

The lack of a state budget created havoc both locally and across the state.

As of Dec. 23, Pennsylvania was one of just two states along with Illinois still fighting over a budget for the fiscal year that began July 1. With billions in state aid held up, cash-strapped school districts were borrowing to stay open, social service agencies were laying off workers and state-subsidized prekindergarten programs were closing to hundreds of children in low-income families.

Domestic violence shelters were filled to capacity and home care services for the elderly in many counties were unable to take new enrollees.

The state’s largest school system – Philadelphia – said it would close Jan. 29 without state aid while several school districts have raised the idea of staying closed after the winter break to avoid having to borrow more money.

For example:

  • Directors of the Greater Altoona Career and Technology Center decided to use savings and withhold a portion of tuition refunds from member school districts to continue its daily operations amid the state budget stalemate. The center had received none of the million-plus dollars it expected from the state budget.
  • The Blair County commissioners directed Finance Director Robert Kuntz to collect interest rates for $6 million in tax anticipation note borrowing.

The commissioners directed Kuntz to solicit interest rates on the proposed borrowing and have them ready for review. If the money isn’t needed until 2016, the authorization must wait until the new board reorganizes in January, Chief Clerk Helen Schmitt said. Kuntz said the county did not need to borrow money to get through the rest of the year.

  • The Cambria County commissioners unanimously approved an ordinance allowing the county to take a private $11.6 million loan in the budgeted amount of its absent state revenue.
  • Bellwood-Antis School Board members approved an $8 million line of credit with First National Bank of Pennsylvania. District officials said the action was necessary because of the lack of a state budget. The money was needed to meet current expenses.
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3. Attorney General Kane

swirled in controversy

Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Kathleen Kane was charged Aug. 6 with leaking secret grand jury information to strike back at her critics, then lying about it under oath, in a case that could spell the downfall of the state’s highest-ranking female politician.

Kane leaked the material to a political operative to pass it on to the media in hopes of embarrassing and harming former state prosecutors she believed, without evidence, made her look bad, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said.

Kane, the first woman elected attorney general in Pennsylvania, was charged with perjury, obstruction, conspiracy and other offenses.

On Aug. 24, Kane was ordered to stand trial on charges she leaked secret grand jury information to embarrass a rival prosecutor.

On Sept. 21, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a 5-0 opinion to put Kane’s license on temporary, indefinite suspension, but delayed implementation for 30 days. The high court said its order did not remove her from office. Kane told her staff that about 98 percent of her job won’t be affected by the suspension.

On Oct. 1, prosecutors added a new perjury count and other criminal charges against Kane, saying they found a signed document that contradicts her claims she never agreed to maintain secrecy of a grand jury investigation in 2009, before she took office. The Montgomery County district attorney charged Kane with felony perjury and two misdemeanors false swearing and obstruction based on a secrecy oath she signed shortly after taking office in early 2013.

Kane said at her arraignment that she recently gave ethics agencies about 1,500 emails linked to state Supreme Court Justice Michael Eakin, in a new allegation in an ongoing scandal over the exchange of pornographic and otherwise inappropriate emails among state prosecutors, judges and others.

On Dec. 9, the Pennsylvania Senate voted unanimously for a plan that could result in the removal of Kane from office. The process involves a hearing on Jan. 12 by the Special Committee on Senate Address about whether she can perform the attorney general’s duties with a suspended law license.

On Dec. 22, Eakin was suspended from his job with pay while a state judicial ethics court considers allegations his email exchanges, including photos of nude or topless women, crude jokes and salacious Internet memes, have tainted the court system. A three-judge panel of the Court of Judicial Discipline described Justice Michael Eakin’s emails as insensitive and inappropriate regarding gender, race, sexual orientation and ethnicity.

Eakin’s suspension is the latest fallout from an email scandal that has roiled Pennsylvania’s legal and law enforcement community for over a year. Fellow Justice Seamus McCaffery abruptly retired last year after being suspended over his participation in the email swapping. The emails were uncovered as part of Kane’s internal investigation into how the office handled the Jerry Sandusky child molestation investigation before she was elected.

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4. NCAA lifts sanctions on PSU

The NCAA agreed Jan. 16 to restore 112 football wins it had stripped from Penn State and Joe Paterno in the Jerry Sandusky child-molestation scandal and to reinstate the venerated late coach as the winningest in major college football history.

The agreement, swiftly approved by the boards of the NCAA and the university, lifted the last of the sanctions imposed in 2012 and wiped away the black marks that had tainted one of the nation’s most celebrated college athletics programs.

After more than two years of criticism that the NCAA had overstepped its authority, officials with college sports’ governing body did not back down. Instead, they said they were focused on ending litigation that had held up distribution of the university’s $60 million fine to fund child abuse-prevention programs.

Before the deal, the NCAA had agreed last year to eliminate some of the sanctions, including reinstating Penn State’s full complement of scholarships and letting the team participate in post-season play.

Friday’s agreement threw out the rest of the sanctions, including eliminating a five-year probation period and scholarship and transfer rules, and restoring the wins that had been wiped out. It also bowed to Pennsylvania officials’ desire to see the $60 million fine spent in Pennsylvania, not spread to abuse-prevention programs around the nation.

The pact emerged just days after a federal judge declined to rule on the constitutionality of the sanctions and weeks before a Pennsylvania court was to hold a trial on the legality of the penalties.

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5. Easter Seals leaves and takes nearly all therapy equipment

Officials of Easter Seals of Western and Central Pennsylvania on Feb. 13 removed tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment inside children’s therapy rooms and plaques displaying local donors’ names from the walls at the 501 Valley View Blvd. building.

Easter Seals had been providing medical rehabilitation programs in the Altoona area for more than 50 years for children with lifelong disabilities. The decision to cease the program, announced in November 2014 because of financial reasons, had been made by the Pittsburgh headquarters of Easter Seals Western and Central Pennsylvania. Easter Seals Central and Western Pennsylvania affiliates were merged in 2013. A press release from the nonprofit said insurance reimbursement rates for medical rehabilitation programs at the Altoona clinic, such as speech, occupational and physical therapies, “do not cover the costs to provide them, having caused significant organizational cash deficits for a number of years.”

After the November announcement, Tyrone Regional Health Network secured the lease for the building, and along with ProCare Health Systems, announced plans to save therapists jobs and children’s therapy at the same location.

We CARE – a partnership of Tyrone Regional and ProCare, opened Feb. 16, though the Easter Seals has left little equipment for the children’s various therapeutic services to continue without interruption.

However, Easter Seals prohibited the new team from entering the building until its lease on the building expired. Over that weekend, Tyrone Regional staff was able to come in and clean the entire building, scrub the carpets and do all necessary equipment inspections. Numerous maintenance problems were left behind.

Meanwhile, Kids First Family Services opened a center in February at 4 Sheraton Drive to provide services for Easter Seals clients.

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6. (tie) School shakeups

across the area

Three area school districts went through administrative shakeups during the year.

Altoona Area School District Superintendent Tom Otto announced in March that he was retiring at the end of the school year even though there were two years left on his contract.

The school board unanimously accepted his resignation at a public meeting held after an executive session.

After the meeting, Otto didn’t paint a rosy picture of his relationship with the board but didn’t single out specific members. “My comment about the school board is that I’m not going to have a comment,” he said.

But he said no board members pressed for his retirement and said it was a decision he’d considered since August.

Otto had made waves in the community by proposing to reopen one of the schools the board closed as a magnet school.

Overcrowded buildings had been a direct result of closing Wright and Washington-Jefferson schools in 2013, he said.

Otto said he began thinking about retiring in the summer of 2014, seeing the work ahead of the district to solve its capacity issues would likely take him beyond his four-year contract.

In addition, he believed the district should renovate its high school.

In May, board members hired John J. Kopicki of Clarks Summit as the district’s new superintendent.

The board signed Kopicki to a five-year contract providing a first-year salary of $165,000. That figure is slated to increase by $2,000 when he earns a doctorate degree. Kopicki’s starting salary was more than the $144,525 salary Otto was retiring with, two years into his contract with a doctorate degree.

Kopicki came to Altoona from the Forest City School District, a small, rural district, in Susquehanna County.

Also at the May meeting, the board approved a mutual agreement between the board and Otto that placed him on paid leave from May 18 to June 30, his retirement date.

The board gave no further explanation for Otto’s paid leave during the meeting. Otto said the board asked him to take a paid leave.

In April, Penn Cambria High School Principal William Marshall was hired to lead the district as superintendent through summer 2020. The board set his starting salary at $104,621 with a July 1 start date.

Marshall, 46, a 23-year veteran educator, came to the district in 2007 from Westmont Hilltop High School and earned his superintendent’s letter of eligibility in 2012.

Marshall succeeded longtime educator Mary Beth Whited, who had served the district for more than two decades, nine years as superintendent. She had announced her retirement in March.

In June, board members hired James Abbott of Altoona as high school principal at an $88,000 annual salary. He had spent 25 years in the Altoona Area School District.

Board members also reassigned Cynthia Pacifico, who served as principal of the district’s preprimary, primary and intermediate schools covering grades pre-kindergarten through fourth grade, to serve as principal for only grades pre-kindergarten through second grade so she could better focus on early childhood education.

The board also promoted former Assistant High School Principal Dane Harrold to principal of grades three through six, which covers the intermediate school and half of the middle school and Jeff Baird, who had been middle school principal for grades five through eight, was made principal of grades seven through eight while also taking on responsibilities as liaison for safe schools and attendance.

Meanwhile, in southern Blair County, the Spring Cove School Board suspended Superintendent Robert Vadella and launched an investigation Sept. 22, but board members revealed little about the allegations against him. In three resolutions passed unanimously, the board agreed to suspend Vadella immediately with pay, approved an interim superintendent and hired attorneys from New Jersey to conduct a thorough investigation into the unspecified allegations.

The board retained former Altoona Area School District Assistant Superintendent Frank Meloy as interim superintendent, to work two or three days each week for a $425 daily rate.

One week later on Sept. 29, district officials confirmed they had suspended Director of Special Education Mitchell Price.

Price was suspended with pay by administrative action. The suspension is pending an internal investigation. District officials offered few details on the circumstances surrounding Price’s suspension.

The fact that Spring Cove’s special education director was under investigation suggested a possible link to an ongoing lawsuit against the district. That lawsuit, filed in August in federal court by several parents, accused the district of mistreating special education students.

Among other complaints, the parents said Spring Cove administrators singled out special education children in a yearbook, made them sit at preselected lunch tables and had them clean the cafeteria after other children ate. At the time of the lawsuit’s filing, attorneys for both sides addressed the concerns but acknowledged some of the problems had already been resolved.

Meanwhile on Oct. 12, the board hired a temporary special education director hours after Price resigned amid an investigation.

Board members hired James Kauffman, a former special education administrator with the Intermediate Unit 8 regional school authority who had consulted with Spring Cove in 2013, as the interim special education director.

On Oct. 19, board members accepted Vadella’s resignation after a somewhat lengthy executive session held to discuss personnel. When announced, board members did not provide any information about why the resignation was given.

District officials revealed the terms of a release and settlement agreement with former Vadella less than 24 hours after school board members accepted his resignation.

Under the terms of a settlement agreement, Vadella was to receive regular pay for a time period from Sept. 22 the day he was suspended until Dec. 31. During that time, Vadella was to be paid for 31 sick days, four personal days and 28.5 vacation days. The agreement also called for Vadella to be paid $7,678.77 within 30 days of Dec. 31. That money is the sum of 16.5 unused vacation days. He also was to remain on the district’s health care plan until Dec. 31, and an additional $10,701.54, the cost of six months of current health care premiums was to be deposited into Vadella’s 403 (b) account, a tax-advantaged retirement plan available for public education organizations.

Vadella also was prohibited from applying for employment within the district, must return all district property and must cooperate with any state Education Department investigations. The agreement also prohibited Vadella from taking legal action against the district for anything that happened up to his resignation date.

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6. (tie) Teens charged

with murder in Bedford County

Two teenagers were charged with a Jan. 8 Bedford County murder.

Ryan Hardwick, 15, of Martinsburg and Deauntay Moye, 17 (16 at the time) of Woodbury, were charged with the fatal shooting of Stephanie Waters, 21, of Roaring Spring.

According to police, Hardwick and Moye met Waters in the Woodbury Area Community center parking lot to buy marijuana when Moye drew a pistol and shot her in the neck. They drove around the Altoona area as she bled out and eventually died in the back seat.

Both boys face charges including robbery, abuse of a corpse and aggravated assault. Moye also has been charged with murder, while Hardwick faces a conspiracy charge.

Meanwhile, in April, police charged Waters’ boyfriend for setting up the alleged drug deal that authorities say ended in Waters’ murder.

State police said Benjamin Holsinger, 22, of Roaring Spring would face charges for delivering marijuana and making criminal use of a communication facility.

Holsinger allegedly sent Waters, his girlfriend at the time, to sell marijuana to Moye and Hardwick on his behalf.

On Aug. 31, Bedford County Judge Travis Livengood ruled that Moye and Hardwick would be charged as adults in the murder.

The teenagers’ attorneys had requested the case be transferred to juvenile court.

In October, Holsinger pleaded guilty to possession with intent to deliver for setting up the drug deal that led to Waters’ murder.

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8. Pacifico elected full-time mayor

Republican Matt Pacifico was elected as Altoona’s full-time mayor during the Nov. 3 election.

Pacifico captured 70 percent of the votes to easily defeat Democrat Jason Imler.

Pacifico, who had been serving as part-time mayor under the third-class city code, will become full-time in January as called for under the home rule charter city voters approved in November 2014.

Pacifico had defeated councilman Bruce Kelley and former police chief Peter Starr in the May primary election.

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9. Three die in house fire

A mother and two children died in a January Altoona house fire.

The Jan. 17 blaze at the 2-1/2-story wood-frame home at 1814 11th Ave. claimed the lives of Jessica Giarth, 31, and her children, Kea Barnes, 9, and Lyric Giarth, 20 months.

All three died of smoke inhalation after the fire broke out at 11:04 a.m. in the house along a steep hillside below the Booker T. Washington Community Center.

The cause of the fire has yet to be determined as Altoona police are continuing to investigate whether the fire was intentional.

The fire was the deadliest in the city since March 22, 2011, when five people perished in a fire at 1607 18th Ave.

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10. Police misconduct

Altoona City Council May 13 voted unanimously to fire police officer Mark Sprouse, on the recommendation of new City Manager Marla Marcinko. Council members and Police Chief Janice Freehling declined to provide any more information, saying it was a personnel matter.

Sprouse was involved in a tumultuous arrest on Feb. 11 that state police had been investigating. After that arrest, suspect Allen M. Mowery, 30, Altoona who admitted to being drunk, mouthy and uncooperative, told the Mirror that police slammed his head against the top of the door frame of a police car, gashing his forehead, struck him in the eye and kicked him repeatedly while his hands were cuffed.

Also according to the criminal complaint, Sprouse hit Mowery in the midsection several times to obtain compliance and placed Mowery’s hands behind his back. But according to the complaint, Mowery, who is charged with felony aggravated assault, burglary and criminal trespass, pushed back when Sprouse grabbed him from behind, threatened police continually, raised his hands with clenched fists, lurched away from officers and grabbed a handrail, tried to punch an officer and struck Sprouse in the face.

Meanwhile, on April 9, Hollidaysburg Borough Council voted to immediately dismiss Henry T. Fownes, a borough police officer after a lengthy executive session.

A council member said the dismissal was the result of improper conduct.

At a public hearing held before the borough’s Civil Service Commission in May at which Fownes could appeal council’s decision to terminate his employment, he admitted comments he made at a March training might have been inappropriate, but he questioned whether they were enough to merit Borough Council’s decision to fire him.

At the hearing, it was revealed that Fownes’ firing stemmed from a March police training session, which focused on human sex trafficking, when Fownes made a lewd comment in reference to a mug shot that depicted a woman with an open mouth.

It was borough labor counsel Dave Andrews’ position that Fownes comments constituted a fireable offense because they showed conduct unbecoming of a police officer, a matter covered in a Hollidaysburg police manual.

But Fownes’ attorney, Roberta Binder Heath, argued against that point, explaining “conduct unbecoming of a police officer” is defined clearly by borough police policy as something that would “reasonably destroy public respect” toward an officer.

She argued that because Fownes’ comments were made during a training with only male law enforcement present, his actions could not have swayed public opinion.

The borough Civil Service Commission ruled in July that Fownes was to be given back pay from April 9 to April 27, the day of his termination to the day he was hired at the Allegheny Township Police Department.

Also, all mentions of his termination were to be removed from his personnel file, according to the commission decision.

Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 946-7467.

Stories of the Year

The Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic High School football team enjoyed a stellar season in 2014, posting a 16-0 record and defeating WPIAL powerhouse Clairton, 20-19 at Hersheypark Stadium in the PIAA Class A state championship game.

The prevailing thought was whether the Marauders could come up with an encore performance in 2015. They did – emphatically.

Sparked by a powerful offensive attack that led the Mirror coverage region in scoring with an average of 45.2 points per game, and a staunch defense that allowed a region-best average of just 4.4 points per game, the Marauders lived up to their name and rolled through their regular season and playoff schedule with another perfect 16-0 record that included a 35-0 romp over District 10 champion Farrell in the PIAA Class A title game in Hershey Dec. 18.

Bishop Guilfoyle’s offense, led by junior halfback Evan Chadbourn’s 2,249 rushing yards on 239 carries for 40 touchdowns, scored at least 40 points in 11 of the Marauders’ 16 games.

BG’s defense compiled eight shutout victories as the Marauders defended their Class A state title without much difficulty in 2015.

BG rolled to a 50-0 victory over Moshannon Valley in the District 6-A championship game, then pounded Camp Hill (38-3), Old Forge (43-13), and Farrell on the way to a second straight state title.

The Marauders’ football success ranked as the Altoona Mirror’s top sports story of the year in 2015 and helped head coach Justin Wheeler earn his second consecutive Associated Press Class A Coach of the Year recognition. Wheeler was also named the Altoona Mirror’s Coach of the Year for the second straight season.

Chadbourn – who accounted for a total of 53 touchdowns rushing, passing and receiving combined – was named the Associated Press Class A Player of the Year for the 2015 season, and was also named the Mirror’s Player of the Year.

With a solid nucleus, including Chadbourn, returning in 2016 for Bishop Guilfoyle, the Marauders will be considered prohibitive favorites to win a third consecutive state title next season.

A look at other big stories in the Mirror coverage area during 2015:

Cora hired as Curve’s new manager

The Altoona Curve hired arguably the highest-profile manager in the team’s 17-year history when former American League all-star Joey Cora was named the ninth skipper in the club’s history in mid-December.

Cora, a 50-year-old native of Puerto Rico, was a first-round draft pick by the National League’s San Diego Padres in 1985, and played 11 major-league seasons (1987-98), earning a spot on the American League all-star team in 1997.

Cora had interviewed to be the Pittsburgh Pirates’ manager eight years ago before the Bucs hired John Russell for the position, and Cora had experience as a coach with the World Champion Chicago White Sox in 2005 and managed some games in the major leagues from 2004-12 while working as a coach under Ozzie Guillen with the White Sox and Miami Marlins.

Cora replaces former big-league catcher Tom Prince as the Curve’s manager. Under Prince, the Curve punched their ticket to the Eastern League playoffs in 2015 by finishing in second place in the league’s Western Division with a 74-68 record, five games behind the first-place Bowie Baysox.

The Curve enjoyed a memorable season in which two of their parent club Pittsburgh Pirates’ top prospects, first baseman Josh Bell and pitcher Tyler Glasnow, took the field for Altoona.

The Curve’s Adam Frazier finished second in the EL batting race with a .324 average. Altoona came from way behind in the first game of its best-of-five first-round playoff series with Bowie to post an 8-7 win at Peoples Natural Gas Field, but Bowie won the next three games and the series.

Penn State shakes up coaching staff

The honeymoon period is over for Penn State head football coach James Franklin and his staff.

The Nittany Lions’ offensive struggles in 2015 resulted in Franklin terminating his offensive coordinator, John Donovan, after the Lions had concluded a 7-5 regular season.

Donovan was replaced in mid-December by Joe Moorhead, who had spent the past four seasons as the head coach at Fordham University.

Donovan was under the most scrutiny of all the Penn State coaches after the Lions’ offense ranked just 108th out of the 127 NCAA Division I teams in total offense, with 344.3 yards per game, and just 101st in scoring (with 23.7 points per game).

The Nittany Lions floundered because of an offensive line that was usually overmatched, especially against the team’s better opponents, and because highly-touted quarterback Christian Hackenberg, who will likely declare his eligibility for the National Football League draft in the spring of 2016, never fit into Franklin’s offensive scheme.

The result was a unit that frequently looked out of sync, especially in the red zone, and made the Nittany Nation openly question whether Franklin’s appointment as Penn State’s coach in January 2014 after a highly-successful run at Vanderbilt University might have been the wrong choice.

With plans for either a renovated Beaver Stadium or a new stadium altogether in the talking stages (see related note below), Penn State will be looking to bring the football program that was rocked by the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal back to its former glory.

As Franklin publicly admitted after the Nittany Lions were shellacked, 55-16 at Michigan State in their regular-season finale this past November, there is plenty of work left to do.

The Nittany Lions will seek to continue that work on Saturday, when they play Georgia in the TaxSlayer Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla.

Legendary late coach Joe Paterno’s biggest fans no doubt felt somewhat vindicated early this year, when 111 of Paterno’s coaching victories that had previously been vacated from his record by the NCAA in the fallout from the scandal were reinstated on Jan. 16.

A settlement that the NCAA reached with Penn State – which came about after two Pennsylvania state officials, Senator Jake Corman and Treasurer Rob McCord, had filed a lawsuit challenging the NCAA’s 2012 punishment of the school and its football program – reinstated a total of 112 Penn State football victories, including the 111 under Paterno.

The settlement means that Paterno is again major college football’s all-time winningest coach with 409 career victories, surpassing former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, who has 377 wins. Bowden also had 12 victories vacated and not reinstated due to a cheating scandal at Florida State in 2006 and 2007.

The settlement also put an end to what could have been extended litigation between the NCAA and Penn State, and kept the $60-million fine from the NCAA’s original 2012 sanctions in place to fund programs in Pennsylvania for the prevention of child sexual abuse and treatment for victims.

In another related development that took place in September, a man appointed to monitor Penn State’s athletics program after the scandal announced that his work in that role is ending at the conclusion of the 2015 calendar year because he believes that the university has made sufficient progress after the scandal had highlighted shortcomings in its operations.

Athletics integrity monitor Charles Scheeler said that the agreement involving Penn State, the Big Ten Conference, and the NCAA concluded at the end of 2015 instead of at the end of the 2017 calendar year, as the terms of the original agreement had stated.

Penn State also pulled off a local recruiting coup last Feb. 3, when Altoona Area High School defensive standout Kevin Givens decommitted from the University of Pittsburgh and committed to play for the Nittany Lions just one day before national signing day.

The 6-foot-3, 235-pound Givens, a Class AAAA all-state and Big 33 selection, was the first Altoona player ever named to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Fabulous 22 after leading Altoona to an 8-3 record and a berth in the WPIAL playoffs in 2014.

Penn State decided to redshirt Givens for the 2015 football season.

Beaver Stadium renovations planned

Penn State’s Beaver Stadium has been one of the largest college football cathedrals in the country, with a current seating capacity of 107,000.

That may change in the coming years, as Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour said in early November that renovations to the stadium that may involve reducing its seating capacity could come to pass.

Barbour said in November that her preference would be to renovate Beaver Stadium instead of building a new football home for the Nittany Lions.

Such renovations may reduce the number and alter the types of seats at Beaver Stadium, which needs significant infrastructure work. Penn State has begun a project to study all of its athletic facilities and will devise a master plan, due early in the 2016 calendar year, to determine the feasibility of renovating or rebuilding certain venues.

Media legends pass on

The Mirror coverage area lost two of its most impactful veteran radio sports media commentators in 2015 with the passings of former Penn State University football play-by-play voice Fran Fisher, 91, and long-time high school football and basketball play-by-play announcer Charlie Weston, 65.

Both died in May. Weston, who succumbed to an aggressive form of skin cancer on May 1, was widely considered the voice of Altoona Area High School Mountain Lions’ sports, handling play-by-play of the school’s athletic events from 1981 through the 2014 football season before Forever Broadcasting discontinued its coverage of scholastic games.

Fisher, who died of natural causes May 14, began working on Penn State football radio broadcasts in 1966 and took over as the Nittany Lions’ play-by-play broadcaster in 1970. He held that position through the 1982 season, calling the Nittany Lions’ national championship victory over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl before retiring for the first time.

Fisher returned to the broadcast booth more than a decade later, in the 1994 season, and resumed calling games before retiring at the end of the 1999 season.

Other area sports notables who passed away in 2015 were former Spring Cove Area High School basketball coach Max Baker, 94; former Roaring Spring School District athletic coach Joe Conlon, 90; former St. Francis College athlete Gene Kruis, 90, an Altoona native who went on to also become a long-time high school sports coach in the Lancaster area; former Penn State Altoona, Hollidaysburg High School, and Tyrone High School basketball coach John Wiberg, 85; former Hollidaysburg Area High School athlete Bill Benson, 80, patriarch of the famous Benson football family that produced four Division I college players, two of whom, Brad and Troy, went on to play in the National Football League; Huntingdon High School and former Hollidaysburg High School athletic director Dean Rossi, 79; former Northern Bedford High School baseball coach Eddie King, 79; former Central Cambria and Johnstown High School football coach Ron Carnicella, 77; former Juniata Valley High School football coach Bill Clouse, 75; well-known area sports fan and Blair County Jury Commissioner Vince Frank, 72; successful area businessman and distance runner Denny Kelly, 69; Altoona AAABA League executive director Gary Bevan, 68; former Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic High School basketball player and coach Dave DiPietro, 59; Altoona Teener Baseball League vice president Brian Deremer, 46; former Williamsburg High School athlete Joshua Fay, 26; former Williamsburg High School and Penn State Altoona women’s basketball player Allison Edwards, 21; former Moshannon Valley High School football player and wrestler Dylan Ludwig, 21.

Pirates return to National League playoffs

The Pittsburgh Pirates made their third consecutive appearance in the National League playoffs as the league’s top wild card team this past fall, and for the second straight year, saw a superb season end in a span of three hours.

After finishing the 2015 regular season with a 98-64 record – their most wins since the 1991 Pirates also won 98 games – the Pirates were one-and-done in the wild card game, losing 4-0 to the Chicago Cubs and their Cy Young Award-winning right-handed pitcher, Jake Arrieta, on Oct. 7 at PNC Park.

Arrieta pitched a masterful four-hit shutout while striking out 11 batters and walking none, and Kyle Schwarber drove in three runs, including two with a mammoth third-inning homer, as the Cubs drew the curtains on the Pirates’ season before a new PNC Park single-game record 40,889 fans.

Golden football for Benson, Altoona

The Altoona Area High School football program and one of its most esteemed alums, Brad Benson, were honored by the National Football League this fall.

Benson, a 1973 graduate of Altoona who spent 11 years in the NFL as an offensive tackle with the New York Giants, and helped the 1986 Giants defeat Denver in Super Bowl XXI, was among 3,000 players representing 2,000 high schools from around the country who were recognized as part of the NFL’s Super Bowl High School Honor Roll Initiative.

The Super Bowl Honor Roll program is part of the NFL’s Super Bowl 50 celebration celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Super Bowl this February.

High schools from throughout the United States received a commemorative Wilson golden football for every player or head coach who graduated from their high school and was a member of an active Super Bowl roster.

Benson received the golden football from the NFL and returned to Altoona to present it back to his high school in a ceremony held Oct. 23 when the Mountain Lions hosted Hempfield at Mansion Park.

A total of 10 Altoona Area High School football players have gone on to play in the National Football League, but of those 10, Benson was the only one to have also participated in a Super Bowl.

Steelers’ playoff hopes in doubt

The Pittsburgh Steelers opened the 2015 calendar year in the American Football Conference’s playoffs.

They closed the 2015 calendar year needing some help from the outside to return to the playoffs in January 2016.

The Steelers started 2015 in the American Football Conference playoffs as the 2014 AFC North Division champions, but suffered a quick exit from the postseason, dropping a 30-17 decision to the Baltimore Ravens in the wild-card round on Jan. 3 at Heinz Field.

The Steelers played the game without the services of talented running back Le’Veon Bell (knee injury) and his absence was keenly felt, as Pittsburgh managed just 68 yards in rushing offense.

The Steelers have a 9-6 record through 15 games in the 2015 season, and their hopes on returning to the playoffs hinge on a combination of needing to win at Cleveland in their regular-season finale this Sunday, and needing the New York Jets to lose at Buffalo.

A damaging 20-17 loss to Baltimore this past Sunday, coupled with the Jets’ win over New England, left the Steelers with precarious playoff chances heading into this weekend.

The Steelers made a significant change in their defensive game plan after the 2014 season, parting ways with 77-year-old defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, who had been an integral part of the team’s two Super Bowl championships over the past decade.

LeBeau later signed on to be part of the defensive coaching staff with the Tennessee Titans. The Steelers promoted long-time defensive assistant coach Keith Butler to the defensive coordinator’s position.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and the team agreed in July to a contract extension that will keep Tomlin – who has a 91-52 coaching record in nine seasons – with the Steelers through the 2018 season.

One Steelers’ legend retired during the past calendar year, while another will be around quite a bit longer.

Veteran safety Troy Polamalu, an eight-time Pro Bowler, announced his retirement from football in mid-April after 12 seasons with the Steelers. Also retiring in 2015 was long-time cornerback Ike Taylor.

The Steelers inked quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to a five-year contract extension in the offseason, replacing the eight-year, $102-million deal that Roethlisberger had signed back in 2008.

The Steelers lost standout running back Bell for the 2015 season on Nov. 1 when he suffered a medial collateral ligament tear in his knee, but Roethlisberger led a powerful air-oriented offensive attack that helped the Steelers’ offense compensate for below-average play on the defensive side of the ball.

West takes over at PSU-Altoona

Penn State-Altoona’s new head men’s basketball coach brings a decorated resume to the job.

He’s also a very familiar face to local fans.

Former Altoona Area High School and Villanova University standout Doug West, who also spent 12 years in the National Basketball Association, was named to direct the Penn State Altoona program in July.

West, who became PSU-Altoona’s fifth men’s head basketball coach since the program became a member of the NCAA Division III ranks in 1998, was chosen from among a field of 150 applicants.

Along with his playing accolades, the 48-year-old West’s 14-year coaching career included five years as an assistant coach on the Villanova staff, helping direct the Wildcats to the Final Four in 2009. He also was an assistant coach for the Rio Grande Vipers, who won an NBA Developmental League championship in 2013.

West was selected from a field of 150 applicants for the Penn State Altoona job, which became open when Billy Clapper’s contract was not renewed after six seasons at the helm of the program.

Narduzzi coaching era begins at Pitt

Pat Narduzzi, who was hired as the University of Pittsburgh’s football coach late last December, guided the Panthers to an 8-5 overall record in his first season as their head coach in 2015. Narduzzi earned a contract extension through the 2021 season.

Pitt lost to Navy, 44-28 in the Military Bowl in Annapolis, Md. this past Monday.

Pitt hired a new athletic director, Scott Barnes, last April to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Steve Pederson late in 2014. Barnes had formerly served seven years in the same capacity at Utah State.

Pitt started 2015 with a calamitous effort in the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Tex., squandering a 31-6 lead and suffering a 35-34 loss to Houston last Jan. 2. Pitt played the game under the direction of interim coach Joe Rudolph after head coach Paul Chryst had left Pitt to accept the head coaching position at Wisconsin in December 2014.

Murin, Gabriel win PIAA mat titles

The 2015 PIAA state wrestling tournament at Hershey’s Giant Center was an extraordinarily eventual one for area wrestlers.

Two of them, Central Cambria sophomore 113-pounder Max Murin and Bedford junior 126-pounder Jonathan Gabriel, became Class AA state champions.

Four other wrestlers – Huntingdon’s Jacob Oliver and Chestnut Ridge’s Josh Burkett in Class AA and Altoona’s D.J. Hollingshead and Cole Manley in Class AAA – reached the championship finals at states before losing their bouts and finishing second.

Murin became the second wrestler in Central Cambria school history to win a PIAA championship last March 7, capturing the Class AA 113-pound title with a come-from-behind 7-4 win over Lancaster Catholic’s Joe Lobeck in the championship match.

Murin, who finished fifth at 106 pounds in Class AA states as a freshman, capped a 37-1 sophomore season by joining Nate Morris, who won a gold medal in 2003, as the only two wrestling champions in Central Cambria’s long wrestling history.

Gabriel became Bedford’s first state champion since Ron Hamilton in 1964 by winning the Class AA 126-pound title with an 8-4 decision over Reynolds’ Seth Hogue in the finals.

It was sweet redemption for Gabriel, who had also reached the Class AA finals at 113 two years ago as a sophomore before losing to Bethlehem Catholic’s Luke Karam.

Huntingdon sophomore Oliver reached the Class AA 152-pound championship match last March but lost a 4-2 decision there to South Park’s Josh Wentzel. Burkett also lost a 4-2 decision in the 106-pound title match to Jefferson-Morgan’s Gavin Teasdale.

Altoona senior Hollingshead (170) and sophomore Manley (106) both reached the Class AAA state championship finals, before both lost tough decisions on last-minute takedowns to settle for second place.

Hollingshead, a two-time PIAA medalist who accepted a Division I wrestling scholarship to Bucknell University, was defeated in the PIAA championship match, 4-2 by unbeaten Te’Shan Campbell of Penn Hills, while Manley was edged out, 3-1 by Nazareth’s Tyson Klump.

Hollingshead and Manley were Altoona’s first representatives in a PIAA Class AAA wrestling championship match since Ernie Bonsell finished second for the Mountain Lions at 155 pounds back in 1981.

PSU’s Brown earns NCAA title

Penn State’s string of consecutive NCAA Division I wrestling team championships was snapped at four last March during the 2015 national tournament at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, but the Nittany Lions did crown one individual champion in senior Matt Brown, who captured the 174-pound title with a 5-4 win over Pitt’s Tyler Wilps.

Brown won the title on a last-second penalty point when Wilps was called for interlocking hands. Brown was awarded the point after Penn State coach Cael Sanderson asked for a video replay on the maneuver.

Biddle, Voyzey win PIAA track and field gold

Williamsburg High School senior Mike Biddle and Tyrone High School junior Erika Voyzey were gold medalists at the PIAA Class AA state track and field meet May 22 at Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium.

Biddle won the boys javelin event with a throw of 199 feet, six inches, which was nearly 10 full feet ahead of runner-up Ian Behm of Wilmington’s effort of 189 feet, 10 inches.

Voyzey won her second straight gold medal in the girls high jump by clearing five feet, eight inches. Central Columbia’s Lindsey Carl and Holy Redeemer’s Caroline Banas both achieved heights of 5-6.

PSU wins NCAA women’s soccer title

The Penn State women’s soccer team etched its own special place in the school’s athletic history on Dec. 6, defeating Duke, 1-0 in the NCAA championship game in Cary, N.C.

Raquel Rodriquez scored the only goal of the game with eight minutes left to play as Penn State finished the season with a 22-3-2 record and won its first national title in program history three years after falling to North Carolina in the championship game.

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