The Carbon County Hall of Sports Hall of Fame committee will hold its 2024 induction dinner and program on Sunday, May 26, at the Franklin Township Volunteer Fire Company hall.

The ceremony will honor 21 inductees from six Carbon County communities and Coaldale who were selected for the honor by committees representing each of the towns.

The doors will open at 12:30 p.m. and the banquet will commence at 1:45.

The honorees include:

Coaldale – Bernie Krasnisky, Joseph J. Hedash and Charles Sproule.

Jim Thorpe – Phil Redline, Craig Zurn, Joe Eichorn and Jim Strubinger.

Lansford – Dan Wynn, Lacy Gonzalez Horan and Caz Kosciolek Sr.

Lehighton – Mike Tkach, Duane Heydt and Jennifer Lobasso.

Nesquehoning – Joe Tout, Esther (Hoffer) Dycziewycz and Dr. Scott Marek.

Palmerton - Lori Ann Weaver and Steve Endres.

Summit Hill – Trevor Lawrence III, Jill Zwiesdak and Trish O’Gurek.

Tickets to the event ($40 for adults and $25 for children) are available from the following: Dan McGinley, 570-325-3550, Vince Spisak, 570-645-4542, Jake Boyer, 610-751-6634, Trevor Lawrence, 570-645-4722, Bill Gardiner, 570-669-6564, Bob Gelatko, 570-645-7565, and Evan Evans, 570-645-7716.

The Times News will begin running the biographies of the inductees by town) on Saturdays. The inductees representing Summit Hill are as follows:

Jim Strubinger

Fifty-three years in athletics has earned Jim Strubinger induction into the Carbon County Sports Hall of Fame.

The lifelong resident of Jim Thorpe has had an impact on thousands of athletes as a football and basketball referee and a softball umpire on the high school level.

He has called the roundball games for boys and girls for 53 years, the same length of time in which he refereed football games, reaching the highlight of his career on the gridiron when he was put into action in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association’s 5-A state championship game between Imhotep Charter and Peters Township in 2023.

While blowing the whistle kept him busy enough, Jim was also a leader in Little League Baseball in his hometown for a long time. He coached the “Giants” in the league for 29 years, during which time he also helped with administrative duties as the league’s treasurer for that length of time. For six years, Jim served as administrator of District 18, Little League Baseball, which covers chartered programs in Carbon, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties.

Jim graduated from Jim Thorpe Area High School in 1967 and served two years of active duty in the Navy aboard the USS Pocono, and another five years in the Naval Reserves.

He and his wife, Diane, married on July 14, 1973, and are the parents of Susie, Jimmy Jr., Mary, Joey and Allison, and the grandparents of Sydney, Haylee, Hannah, Christian, Elaina, Aidan, Emma, Adeline, Jillian, Eli, Nora and Willow.

Jim worked in the Carbon County Recorder of Deeds and Register of Wills offices at the courthouse, Jim Thorpe, both for one year, and then worked for Blue Ridge Pressure Castings, Lehighton, including five years in truck delivery and 11 years as its purchasing agent.

He was a newspaper carrier for The Morning Call for 30 years, during which time, he said, it was “a family affair” as all of his family got involved in the process.

He worked for 25 years as a clerk for the U.S. Postal Service before retiring in 2013.

Joe Eichorn

He started in sports as a member of the St. Joe’s Hammers Catholic Youth Organization basketball team in Jim Thorpe and made his way to Villanova University where he became the “voice” of the Wildcats in several sports.

Joe Eichorn, whose late father, Joe Sr., was known as “Mr. Shortstop” for his play with the Mauch Chunk A.C. team, grew up in Jim Thorpe in the late 50s and 60s, when the family lived on Center Street in the community.

Joe attended St. Joseph’s Grade School in Jim Thorpe for six years and played basketball for Coach Smokey Moser’s Hammers. He also played Little League Baseball in the community for coaches Sweeney and Reabold.

From 1965-67, Joe was a student athlete at Lansdale Catholic High School, where he was a two-year letter winner in basketball, cross country and track.

He moved on to Temple University in 1967, where he was a cross country runner and became a race winner.

In 1975, he joined WZTA-FM, Tamaqua, as a sports announcer. Later that year, he moved on to the sports director position at WBUX-AM, Doylestown, a post he held until 1983, and from 1983-85, he was the sports director and announcer for Home Vue Cable, Doylestown.

Joe served as the race track announcer at Liberty Park, Philadelphia, from 1979-85, and held the same positions at Freestate Raceway, Laurel, Maryland, 1981, and the Atlantic City Race Track, 1987.

Moving on to football announcing, he was he voice of the University of Pennsylvania Quakers’ team from 1981-86, and then did radio play-by-play announcing from 1987-2014 for the Villanova gridiron squad.

Joe served as the radio play-by-play announcer for the women’s basketball team at Villanova from 2002-2006, and the public address announcer for VU’s men’s and women’s basketball teams from 1996-2006.

Since 2009, he has been the public address announcer for Villanova’s men’s and women’s lacrosse teams and part-time public address announcer for the Wildcats’ women’s basketball team.

Craig J. Zurn

Craig J. Zurn was an outstanding football player for Jim Thorpe Area High School who garnered an amazing list of honors and awards before graduating in 2007.

They included being the first Jim Thorpe athlete to be selected to play for the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association East-West All Star Game and being the second Jim Thorpe player to be named to the WNEP-TV Super 16 Dream Team.

Craig was also inducted into the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame as the Lehigh Valley Chapter Scholar Athlete.

For two seasons, 2005 and 2006, Craig was the leader of Coach Mark Rosenberger’s Olympians.

His 2005 laurels include: Reading Eagle All Anthracite Big School Football Team – Defense; Republican Herald All Area Football Team – Second Team Offense; Schuylkill County Football Coaches Association North All Star Team – First Team Defense and Offense; Anthracite Football League Coaches All Star Team – First Team Offense; and Times News Area All Star Team – First Team Offense, Quarterback.

The same season, when he was the Olympians’ captain, he was named the All Coal Region Specialist of the Year and won the JTHS MVP awards in Football and as its Offensive Player of the Year. Also as a junior, Craig received the Blue Ridge Channel 13 Male Athlete of the Week Award, Times News Football Player of the Week and the MVP trophy of the Route 209 game with Lehighton.

His 2006 honors and awards were equally impressive. As a senior captain of the team, he was named to the Anthracite League 10-Year Anniversary Team and was selected to the Reading Eagle All Anthracite Small School Football Team.

His other awards in ’06 included: Republican Herald All Area Football Team – First Team Defense; Schuylkill County Football Coaches Association North All Star Team – First Team Offense and Second Team Defense; Times News All Star Team – First Team Offense and Specialist; PA Football News All Academic Gold Team; Anthracite Football League Co-MVP; Anthracite Football League – Second Team Defense and First Team All Star; and All Coal Region Team, Specialist.

His other senior honors included being named the Times News Player of the Week, JTHS Offensive MVP and JTHS Football MVP, and recipient of the Phil Heraty Leadership Award.

Craig attended St. Joseph’s Regional School, Jim Thorpe, from 1994-2001, graduated from Jim Thorpe High in 2007 and was president of the Student Council, treasurer of his class and a member of the National Honor Society and Peer Helpers.

In 2011, he was inducted in the Jim Thorpe Area High School Hall of Fame with his 2004 Olympian teammates, and, in 2014, he was inducted individually into the school’s HOF.

Craig accepted a scholarship to play football at Lehigh University, where he graduated in 2011 with a bachelor of science degree in business and economics, with a major in management and a minor in entrepreneurship. At Lehigh, he belonged to the Community Outreach by Athletes Caring About Others and Delta Upilison Fraternity.

He and his wife, Michelle, and their two children, Julian and Nora, reside in Jim Thorpe. He is the son of Craig A. and Lisa (Thear) Zurn and a brother to Jacob A., Tricia R. Klotz and Lauren E. Kale, all of Jim Thorpe.

He is currently employed as an account executive for Kellanova, Wholesale UNFI, East Region.

Phillip Redline

A 2008 graduate of Jim Thorpe Area High School, Phillip Redline earned four varsity letters in both football and track and field for the Olympians, while also being a six-year member of the school’s Powerlifting Team.

On the gridiron, he finished his career as Jim Thorpe’s second leading rusher and scorer, tallying 2,750 yards and 244 points, respectively.

In his senior year, Phil was named First Team Runningback in the Times News balloting and also made the All Anthracite First Team at the same position. He attained the latter honor also as a junior in the 2006 season.

Phil compiled an impressive list of other accomplishments throughout his JTHS career, including: Schuylkill County First Team North – Runningback, 2006 and 2007; recipient of the Ed “Fuzzy” Fahey Memorial Award; Republican Herald All Area Second Team – Runningback (2007); Jim Thorpe Olympian Co-MVP, Offense, 2007; and Jim Thorpe Area Sports Hall of Fame Scholar Athlete, 2008.

His other scholastic football awards include: 2007 – Morning Call, Magic 105 (twice), Times News, TV 13, Republican Herald Player of the Week; and 2006 – T102 and Times News Player of the Week.

Phil went on to play for four years at Moravian College, where he helped the Greyhounds win the ECAC Division III Southeast Bowl Championship and received the Moravian College Varsity Athletic Award for Football.

A speedy athlete on his high school track and field team, from 2005-08, Phil won numerous medals in the 100, 200 and 400-meter runs, as well as being a member of the Olympians’ 1600-relay teams. He is a former JT record-holder in the 100 and 200-meter runs and as a member of the 400-meter relay team.

As a member of the Powerlifting Team, he finished in first place in 2005 and second place in 2006 in the Third and Fourth Annual Abington Heights Bench and Dead Lift Classics; won first place in 2006 in the Power Lifting Classic; was the Best Deadlifter in 2006 in the Third Annual Olympian Ironman Lift-a-Thon Bench and Deadlift; and was the Best Lifter in 2007 in the 4th Annual Olympian Lift-a-Thon Bench and Deadlift.

A son of Wilmer and Donna Redline, Phil is married to the former Mandee Raabe of Lansford. They reside in Chambersburg and are the parents of Maverick, Celina and Niko.

At JTHS, Phil was in the top 10 percent of his class, was a member of the National Honor and Spanish National Honor societies, was a Peer Tutor and Peer Mentor and served on the Prom Committee.

He received a bachelor of science degree in accounting in 2012 from Moravian, where he was a Dean’s List student, a member of the Omicron Delta Epsilon International Economics Honor Society, was named to the Centennial Conference Fall Academic Honor Roll in 2009 and served on the Student Advisory and Senior Class Gift committees and the Accounting Club.

In 2016, he received a master’s degree in accountancy from Wilson College.

Phil is employed as an assistant controller of the Adams County National Bank, Gettysburg, and during his spare time is a volunteer football coach for the Chambersburg Trojans Youth Association.