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Over the past four years, our community has had the opportunity to witness the performance of arguably one of its greatest-ever athletes -- swimmer Leah Shackley of Rainsburg.
The incoming North Carolina State swimmer who earned a full athletic scholarship has a list of accomplishments that are too many to mention here, but a sampling includes six PIAA titles, including the fastest female high school swimmer in PA history in both the backstroke and butterfly.
And most recently competing in her second USA Olympic Trials where her best finish included a finals appearance and a seventh-place finish which earned her a spot on TEAM USA's Jr. Pan Pac team.
Leah not only swam but finished high school early so that she could train at the U.S. Olympic Training center in May and worked three jobs as well.
She has always found time to speak with young and old alike and was genuinely interested in the stories people would share with her.
The support from our region, financial and emotional, has been tremendous and truly represents the people of, and who we are as a community.
The media coverage has been appreciated as well.
We were never under the false impression that somehow a single swimmer, no matter how good, was going to push football or basketball off the front pages. We know the Mirror caught a little flack from time to time from Leah's incredible supporters for not splashing her picture and successes throughout your paper.
But in all fairness the Mirror and WTAJ really went above and beyond in providing the coverage of an incredible young person.
Tom Grassadonia
Hollidaysburg
(The writer served as Leah Shackley's personal swim coach.)
Barkman made mark on mound
An obituary of Arlan Barkman, 93, of Woodbury appeared in last Tuesday's Mirror.
As a teenager in 1950, Barkman lived the dream of every sports-struck boy in America. He was being paid to play professional baseball -- $175 a month and $3 a day meal money.
His first professional start as a right-handed pitcher in the then New York Giants farm system was sensational. He threw a seven-inning no-hitter in his first full professional game, for Class D (now single A) Lawton, Oklahoma, in the Sooner State League.
Then tragedy struck.
During the offseason after that rookie season, in the baseball field behind what was then Woodbury High School (now the town's community center), the lanky righthander suffered an injury to his pitching arm that was to end his pro career.
His hopes of advancing through the Giants' organization (now San Francisco Giants) to the major league was doomed.
"I fell awkwardly on my right shoulder while running around the rainy field," he recalls, "and my ability to throw effectively was hindered."
It was on this same field, while playing for Woodbury High (class of 1949), that he gained the athletic skills that eventually resulted in a professional contract.
"My high school coach was Bill McMahon, who taught me everything he knew about the game," Barkman remembered. "But it was in 1950 when I pitched for an all-star team at Roaring Spring against a touring team of Black professionals called the Kansas City Monarchs, that their general manager noticed me an recommended me to the Giants."
The Giants had Barkman pitch a tryout at Point Stadium in Johnstown and gave him a $250 signing bonus.
Barkman's strong points as a pitcher were throwing very hard, with movement on his fastball and a knee-buckling overhand curve ball. His final season record was 2-5, but he returned to Woodbury full of confidence. Then he injured his arm.
Carl Barkman, Arlan's father, who passed away in 1969, and later Arlan, have supported Woodbury sports through the years. In 1949, Carl started and managed the town's early Bedford County and later Blair Twilight League teams that used a diamond constructed on a meadow south of the village.
The teams during the 1950s, with a sore-armed Arlan playing the infield, were especially successful.
Between 1952-58, Carl Barkman managed his Woodbury teams to a record of 111 wins and only 56 losses, a winning percentage of 66 percent. Arlan remembered that the Woodbury games attracted large crowds, that Woodbury ladies hosted a spring dinner for the team's benefit and townspeople took turns keeping the diamond playable.
Arlan Barkman was, in athletic terms, a Cove Giant of the 20th century.
Jim Wentz
McLean, Virginia