Congratulations to Coach Steve Rhodes on his outstanding three-plus decades of coaching and teaching in the Altoona Area School District. Coach Rhodes was also the athletic director at both Roosevelt and the Altoona Area Junior High School. The athletes and students who Rhodes came in ...
Penn State recruiting continues to open doors Several weeks ago, I wrote a letter in which I felt Saquon Barkley’s success and personality would be a magnet that would lure more four-and five-star football recruits to Penn State in the present and future. It is already paying off ...
Amidst LeBron James’ recent dominance in year 15 of his career, the Michael Jordan vs. James argument has ramped up to an all-time high. Jordan was obviously a great player, but, regardless of how the current Eastern Conference finals against Boston turns out, James has surpassed or will ...
As a follower of New York Giants football, I was hoping they would not stay down for long during several lean years. I prayed that Penn State’s Saquon Barkley would be the answer to restoring the Giants back to contention if they would select him, and he would be there when the Giants ...
There is no question that the Cleveland Browns need help at all positions. They have been at the bottom of the NFL for the past few years and this past season became just the second team to go winless. Over the past two seasons, the Browns have an abysmal record of 1-31. Many people ...
It has been since 2009 that the Penn State basketball program has won the NIT. But this one has to be the best one. I have been a big critic of coach Pat Chambers for the last three years and felt his time to go was overdue. Boy, how wrong I was. Evidently his time as an assistant ...
Pay college athletes like they’re employees So the FBI found out elite college hoopsters, families and second cousins were being paid. No way. Geez, Louise: This has been going on since I was in college — and I’m old. This again opens the discussion that scholarship athletes ...
If David Freese hasn’t talked his way out of Pittsburgh by the time you read this, I’ll tell you the real reason he wants out. Freese lost his starting job when Gerrit Cole went to the Astros, and the Pirates got third baseman Colin Moran. Moran could have started on any other team ...
This letter is in response to Les Hart about the Philadelphia Eagles being lucky. Let’s stick to facts, Les, instead of your opinion. Fact No. 1: The Eagles defense (Brandon Graham) stripped Tom Brady of the ball on a timely play and Derrick Barrett recovered it. No luck involved. It ...
I felt Tom Brady was going to pull out the Super Bowl for the Patriots. Two things happened, Brady fumbled while trying to throw a pass in the fourth quarter, and the Eagles recovered. Brady is the last one to do something like that. The other oddity was the “Jesse James” situation by ...
Band tried to stop 1940 riot I enjoyed reading Neil Rudel’s story last Sunday on riot at the conclusion of the Altoona-Johnstown football game at Mansion Park in 1940. My late father, Loy, was a senior drummer in the Altoona High School band. He talked about that game often. As the ...
What is with this Les Hart always cutting down the Dodgers and the Steelers? If Hart wants to cut down a team, he should start with the Pirates and let the Dodgers and the Steelers alone. Sure, the Steelers made some bad calls, but put the blame on Todd Haley, not Mike Tomlin. The ...
I am worried about many of our young athletes. There is far too much fighting going on at sporting events at all of the levels. I am concerned about the pros, all the way down to the pee wees and Little League ages. The rumbles with opponents, the getting furious at officials over bad ...
Reading a recent Cory Giger article (Dec. 28) about a truly unusual college football player, Penn State linebacker Jason Cabinda, reassured me that with such graduating college athletes, our society still has a chance. Often college athletes are touted for their physical prowess and ...
When Penn State basketball coach Pat Chambers recruited a very talented group of players from the same state championship high school from the Philadelphia area two years ago, this was the finest class he had ever recruited. After the 2015 season, he was rewarded with a two-year extension ...
After reading John Mehno’s article in the Altoona Mirror about Jesse James’s catch being ruled correctly, I must disagree. NFL Rules Article 3, Section C says: A player who makes a catch may advance the ball. A forward pass is complete (by the offense) or intercepted (by the defense) ...
Bobby Hansard, who passed away last month, was one of the toughest, best all-around athletes to come out of Altoona during the 1950s-60s, and that is saying something because there was no shortage good, hard-nosed athletes in that era. Hansard took it to a different level. He was ...
As I look back on the Penn State season, I’d like to comment on what I see as a decline in sportsmanship. Those of us used to — and proud of — 40 years of success with honor had to feel a bit squeamish watching James Franklin call timeout on the Georgia State kicker while up 56-0 with ...
Martinsburg High School had a life span of 57 years, from 1893 to 1950. It was first housed in what became known as the Borough Building, still standing on East Allegheny Street. In the 1930s the school played basketball in the Juniata Valley League and baseball in the Blair County High ...
Brooklyn fan will never forget the ‘Bums’ I am responding to last week’s letter from John Wise. There are no real true Dodger fans alive except maybe me. I’m the true Brooklyn Dodger diehard, starting in 1941 and expiring in 1958 when the love of my life deserted me to become the ...