Jan 14, 2026 5 min read

By John Sacco

Contributing Writer

Five local natives will be inducted into the WPIAL Hall of Fame this spring, the organization announced Tuesday when it revealed its 2026 induction class.

Tricia Fabian Alderson and Phil Mary, Chartiers-Houston High School graduates, along with the late James Conklin – the first four-time PIAA wrestling champion from Waynesburg Central – and game official Charles Hunnell, a West Greene graduate, have all been elected to the WPIAL Hall of Fame 2026, it was announced Wednesday morning at the Heinz History Museum, Pittsburgh.

Also going into the HOF is former Monessen and Belle Vernon basketball coach Joe Salvino.

“It’s really unbelievable,” Alderson said. “I’m just very humbled and excited to be honored this way. I never thought in a million years …”

Said Mary, who joins his brother Chris in the Hall of Fame: “It’s just a tremendous honor period. When you look at the names of those inducted there, it’s just an honor to be put in there with them.”

Alderson and Phil Mary are the first two Bucs athletes to be named to the WPIAL Hall of Fame. The 1981-82 Chartiers-Houston boys wrestling team, which won a PIAA Class 3A championship, was inducted in 2011.

Chris Mary was inducted in 2016 as wrestling coach at Canon-McMillan. The Mary brothers were key components of the 1981-82 Bucs squad.

The following is a look at the area’s newly elected members:

Tricia Fabian Alderson

She earned the moniker “Queen of the No-hitter” at Chartiers-Houston, compiling a 70-7 career pitching record while throwing 13 no-hitters and one perfect game. She also tossed 10 one-hitters, 12 two-hitters, 30 shutouts and 519 strikeouts in 476 innings pitched. She also posted a career .382 batting average, leading the Bucs to consecutive WPIAL titles in 1987 and 1988 and a PIAA runner-up finish in 1987.

She has been Chartiers-Houston’s softball coach since 2004 and won a PIAA title and six WPIAL championships and four WPIAL runners-up. She was coach at Mt. Lebanon prior to her current post and she has a 462-145 coaching record.

James Conklin (Posthumous)

James “Jim” Conklin is one of the most intriguing individuals in the history of Pennsylvania high school wrestling, being the first to win four PIAA championships. A 1943 graduate at Waynesburg, Conklin won state titles in consecutive seasons from 1939 to 1943 at four different weight classes ranging from 85 to 120 pounds. He compiled a 70-0-1 record during his high school career, with his only draw coming during his freshman season.

Conklin served his country as a navigator in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. He resumed his wrestling career at Indiana University, where he won all but one match in two seasons. He continued his academic and athletic career at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School. Competing for Pitt’s newly formed wrestling program from 1949 to 1951, Conklin lost only one bout.

Charles E. Hunnell

Born in Waynesburg and a 1961 graduate of West Greene High School, Charles Evans Hunnell became a PIAA football official as a 19-year-old.

Hunnell was a high school football official for more than five decades, and officiated 220 college football games.

He attended Penn State where he was commissioned an Ensign in the U.S. Navy Reserve on graduation day. Hunnell was assigned to the USS Beale DD-471 out of Norfolk, Va., as main propulsion assistant to the chief engineer. He was responsible for the boilers and steam turbine engines of Beale and had 65 men in M Division directly under him. Hunnell stood bridge watches as a conning officer while aboard Beale from July 1965 to May 1968.

Hunnell was a teacher of 11th- and 12th-grade U.S. history and economics at Upper St Clair High School from 1968 to June 1997.

Phil Mary

A two-time PIAA champion and 1983 graduate, Mary helped the Bucs to WPIAL team championships in 1981 and 1982 and a PIAA team championship in 1982. Individually, he was a two-time WPIAL champion and one-time WPIAL runner-up.

He placed third in the PIAA as a senior after being upset in the semifinals. He compiled a 109-6-1 career record and earned two High School All-America honors. He continued his wrestling career at Clarion University from 1983-86, where he placed fourth in both the PSAC and EWL in 1986 and was a starter on the undefeated 1985-86 Clarion team that finished 17-0-1 and ranked third nationally.

As head coach at Chartiers-Houston and Peters Township, Mary had a 113-49 record. In 1993, he helped two PT wrestlers reach the state finals with Drew Spencer winning a state title.

Joe Salvino

He won 745 games in 34 years at Monessen seven seasons at Belle Vernon.

After winning the WPIAL title last spring at Belle Vernon, Salvino retired. He ended with a 745-314 record. He is only one of only five coaches to win seven WPIAL titles. Salvino led the Greyhounds to a pair of state championships. Salvino earned Associated Press Pennsylvania Small High School Coach of the Year honors in 1989.

“If you take into consideration, all these people who are inducted, they’re quality people, so I’m honored to be a part of that now,” Salvino said. I’m dealing with (retirement) really well. Maybe that’s because of the way I went out.”

Others to be inducted into WPIAL Hall of Fame are wrestler Kurt Angle of Mt. Lebanon, track and field participants Bridget Guy Williams and Maddie Holmberg Nickal of Hempfield, basketball coach Tim McConnell, Chartiers Valley and Bishop Canevin, and football standouts Derek Moye of Rochester, Warren Timko (Upper St. Clair) and Jordan Whitehead (Central Valley).

The Courage Award winner is Ethan Keener of South Fayette while Anne Madarasz is honored as a contributor and the two teams being honored are 1981 Mount Lebanon boys soccer and 2004 Hopewell girls volleyball.