Four former Penn Manor athletes and one former team will be inducted into the Penn Manor Athletic Wall of Honor Jan. 9.
The ninth class of inductees will be honored beginning at 4:45 p.m. in the Penn Manor High School cafeteria. Dinner will be served at 5:15 p.m., followed by an induction ceremony in the school library.
Tickets to the event can be purchased in advance for $20 per seat from Cindy Bachman, district athletic secretary, at 872-9520, xt. 1867, or at Cindy.Bachman@pennmanor.net.
The 2014 inductees are:
Ralph E. Byers (Class of 1962) – Byers was a three-sport (soccer, wrestling and baseball) athlete at Penn Manor who was named to several all-star teams, played on two championship baseball teams and was named to the All-County soccer team.
Byers later coached wrestling, baseball, and boys’ and girls’ soccer and officiated at wrestling matches on the high school and collegiate level for 27 years.
Jim Amigh – A longtime Penn Manor cross-country and track coach whose teams won several championships, Amigh started the girls’ high school and boys’ and girls’ junior high cross-country programs at Penn Manor.
Amigh also taught health and physical education classes for 41 years, 40 of them in Penn Manor.
Bill Walton (Class of 1971) – Walton was an outstanding four-sport (soccer, basketball, cross-country and track and field) athlete at Penn Manor. He played on county championship teams in soccer and basketball and was named to the All-County team in track and field for the long jump and triple jump.
Walton later coached high school and college cross-country and track and field and was named Mid-Atlantic Track and Field Coach of the Year and Colonial Athletic Association Cross-Country Coach of the Year.
Lauren Schaefer (Class of 2005) – Schaefer was an outstanding three-sport (field hockey, basketball and track and field) athlete at Penn Manor. She earned field hockey All-Star and All-State honors and was named league champion in the javelin. In all, she earned 10 varsity letters.
Schaefer later received numerous honors playing Division I field hockey at the University of Louisville and was a member of the team that earned the Division 1 National Academic Team Award for the highest GPAs in the nation.
2005 Penn Manor Baseball Team – The 2005 team won the PIAA Class AAAA State Baseball Championship by defeating State College High School, 2-0. The Comets earned the title after defeating North Penn, Neshaminy and West Chester.
The Penn Manor team ended the season with an outstanding 24-6 record after earning the first state title in baseball in the school’s history.