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Ranking the area’s top golfers by decade, part two

The following is a list of the area’s best golfers over the most recent five decades. The list includes amateur golfers only, which affects the likes of Jimmy Gillam, who has spent the bulk of his golfing career as a professional. The list is also limited to members of Altoona-area courses only, so golfers like Ed Strickler and Frank Frontino, who played most of their golf outside of Blair County are also not included in this summary. A look at the past five decades: 1970s: Wes Lingenfelter A standout athlete at Juniata College, Lingenfelter was one of the founding ...

Korda moves to top of women’s rankings after victory

Golf fans were treated to an impressive performance at last week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. At just 22 years old, American Nelly Korda showed the poise of a veteran while posting a four-day total of 19-under par, edging out tour veteran Lizette Salas by three shots. The victory was a popular one for golf fans in this country as Korda’s win moved her to the top of world golf rankings. She is the first American to reach number one since Stacy Lewis in 2014. Korda comes from a family of highly-accomplished athletes. Her sister Jessica is a fellow member of the LPGA, ...

Central Pennsylvania’s best golfers, by the decade

Although golf has been played in central Pennsylvania since the late 1890s, the game didn’t gain a strong foothold in our area until the 1920s when new courses like Blairmont, Park Hills, Tyrone and Summit Country Club opened to the public. With plenty of quality courses in place, top-level completion naturally followed. Since the 1920s, enough competition has occurred to allow the area’s top golfers to distinguish themselves. The following is a list of the top golfers in the greater Altoona area for each decade over the past 100 years. 1920s: Lawrence Canan Known as ...

Hollidaysburg native big part of NBA success story

The heat wave sweeping the western part of the United States drove the temperature in Phoenix to a record 118 degrees the other day. Fortunately, Hollidaysburg and current Phoenix Suns senior vice president Jeff Bower joked Thursday night, “It’s only hot outside.” That’s not ...

Winning Tyrone pitcher adds to his family legacy

UNIVERSITY PARK — Oley Valley got a taste of professional-level pitching prior to Thursday’s PIAA Class 3A championship game against Tyrone. Lynx head coach Nate Reed, the 2018 Atlantic League Pitcher of the Year, who is still only 33 years old and is considering a return to playing with the Lancaster Barnstormers, threw to his team Wednesday in practice. Reed, a left-handed pitcher who was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 2010, was trying to prepare his team for Golden Eagles junior lefty Aiden Coleman, who can hit 90 miles per hour on a radar gun and is committed to Penn ...

Eagles buy into lofty goals

Check it out The Tyrone vs Oley Valley baseball game will air on WRTA-AM 1240 & 98.5-FM on Thursday beginning at 1:15 p.m. with the pre-game show. Dave Shannon will do the play-by-play with commentary from Chuck Banas. First pitch is set for 1:30 p.m. The game will also air live on the Pennsylvania Cable Network. When area baseball coaches fill out preseason questionnaires from local media, goals like winning a league or even districts are pretty common. Central coach A.J. Hoenstine has included winning a state championship among his goals for years, which also doesn’t raise any ...