May 15, 2023 6 min read

A talented wide receiver, Perry Ivery was one of the best players in Fort Cherry’s storied high school football history. He’s also the answer to a trivia question about Heinz Field – now Acrisure Stadium – and high school football players.

Ivery is one of 11 individuals, three special honorees, four award winners, one team and a Hall of Fame moment that will be inducted this year into the Washington-Greene County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. He joins Delmer Beshore (basetball), Ruth Ann Burke (women’s sports), Bob Clites (baseball and basketball), Christian Hanson (hockey), Don Hartman (baseball and coaching), “Skip” Koskoski (baseball and basketball), Tamarra Nixon Miles (track), Jeff Mountain (baseball), Shanna Yourchik Meyers (volleyball), Frank Pryor (baseball and officiating) and the 1992 Washington & Jefferson football team in this year’s group, along with special honorees Roy D. Davis (harness racing), Dennis Mader (officiating), Pete Maropis (baseball).

Ceremonies will take place 3 p.m. Sunday, June 11 at the Hilton Garden Inn, Southpointe.

The following is brief bio of six inductees. The speical honorees will be presented in a future edition of the Observer-Reporter.

Perry Ivery

Football

Fort Cherry HS, Toledo and PennWest California

He was Fort Cherry’s most recent first-team all-state player, who finished with 112 receptions, 1,863 receiving yards and 36 touchdowns. Ivery also gained more than 1,500 rushing yards and scored three touchdowns. In the 2001 WPIAL Class A championship game, he became the first scholastic player to score a touchdown at Heinz Field. He was the 2002 Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year and was the basketball team’s career assists leader. He received a scholarship to Toledo, where he was part of the Rockets’ 2002 Mid-American Conference championship team. He finished his collegiate career at Cal and was a four-year letterman from 2005-2008 and the team’s fourth-leading receiver in 2007.

Tamarra Nixon Miles

Track and Field

Washington HS and Kent State

A seven-time PIAA medalist, she won state championships in the 100-meter dash (1998) and the 400-meter relay when Washington won the overall state team title in 1996. She was a five-time WPIAL champion, winning a pair of 100- and 200-meter dash titles and being part of a 400-meter championship relay team and a runner-up showing in the 100-meters. She was a 1998 National Scholastic Track and Field finalist and five-time Washington-Greene County champion. A three-year letterwinner at Kent State, she set the school record in the 60-meters, which stood for 11 years and still ranks fifth in school history. She still ranks third in the KSU record book in the 55-meter dash. She helped the Kent State women’s team win the 2002 Mid-American Conference Outdoor championship.

Jeff Mountain

Coach, Baseball

Washington & Jefferson

Mountain had a program-best 570-279 (.671 percent) cumulative record entering this, his 21st season at W&J. He has guided the Presidents to 14 postseason appearances with 11 Presidents’ Athletic Conference championships and 15 regular-season titles. He coached the 2017 and 2019 W&J squads to the NCAA Division III College World Series and the 2019 team was the national runner-up after winning a school-record 42 games. He has coached 133 all-conference players, 42 all-region selections and 10 All-Americans. Mountain has received 10 PAC Coach of the Year honors and two ABCA Mideast Region Coach of the Year honors. As a school Hall of Fame pitcher at Allegheny, he helped the Gators advance to the 2000 NCAA Division III World Series while winning a school-record 26 games and All-American honors.

Shanna Yourchik Meyers

Volleyball

Jefferson-Morgan HS and PennWest California

A three-sport, four-year scholastic letterwinner, Yourcik Meyers was the 2001 WPIAL high jump champion and two-time runner-up who also was a three-time PIAA high jump placewinner with 9th, 6th and 4th-place finishes. A 1,000-point basketball scorer, Yourcik Meyers also had multiple WPIAL place-winning leaps in the triple jump, long jump, and 100-meter hurdles. She helped the Rockets win a section volleyball championship while leading the team in blocks and setting a school record for kills. At Cal, she set a school record with 218 blocks in 2006 and her 1.76 blocks per-set that season led the NCAA Division II. A first-team all-conference and all-region selection, she ranked eighth and led the team in blocks in 2005. She helped the Vulcans make three NCAA Division II tournament appearances with PSAC title and runner-up finishes.

Frank Pryor

Coach, Athlete, Official, Baseball & Basketball

Beth-Center HS and West Virginia University

Pryor was Beth-Center’s baseball coach for 33 years and won more than 275 games with four section titles and 10 WPIAL playoff appearances. After starring as a player for the Bulldogs, he walked-on and earned a baseball scholarship at WVU as an outfielder from 1973-77 and received a tryout from the Pittsburgh Pirates. He began coaching as a graduate assistant at WVU and was an outstanding basketball and football official for 35 years at the high school and collegiate levels. He officiated two WPIAL football finals, seven WPIAL basketball finals, three PIAA basketball finals, two PSAC Final Fours, two USCAA finals, two Penn State Branch finals and one NCCAA II Regional. Still a football and basketball officials’ evaluator for several conferences, Pryor was also a longtime umpire and Beth-Center athletic director.

1992 W&J Presidents

Team of Yesteryear, Football

Coached by 2022 NFCA Hall of Fame inductee John Luckhardt, the Presidents (11-2) were NCAA Division III runners-up after winning PAC and NCAA South Region championships. In the NCAA playoffs, W&J routed Lycoming, 33-0 and Emory and Henry, 51-15, before a dramatic 18-13 semifinal victory at previously undefeated Rowan, where running back Chris Babirad ran for 207 yards and scored the winning 81-yard touchdown run in the final minutes. W&J lost a heartbreaking 16-12 decision to Wisconsin-LaCrosse in the title game. An amazing 23 W&J players, including 11 first-team selections, were named to the PAC all-conference team. W&J won its first eight games of the season by outscoring their opponents 356-55, a per-game scoring margin of 44.5-6.9.