An outstanding group of 14 honorees, including 10 living inductees, two deceased inductee and two Volunteers of the Year will be honored at the West Branch Valley Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame during the annual Hall of Fame banquet at the Genetti on Sunday, Nov. 9.

The induction class includes Lon Balum, Darrell Blackman, Kathy Fedorjaka, Chris Howard, Melissa Kellogg, Shawn Kunes, Dan Merk, Brycen Mussina, Joe Person, Kayla (Kline) Zimmerman, Blaise Alexander Jr. (posthumously) and Floyd “Lanny” Reed (posthumously). Volunteers of the Year are Bob Cellini and Kooch Chu.

Rachel (Houseknecht) Anderson and Hannah (Allison) Harris were selected for induction, but can not attend. Their induction will be held during the 2026 ceremony.

The West Branch Valley Sports Hall of Fame is now in its 51st year of celebrating athletes and coaches from the West Branch, which includes Clinton, Lycoming and Union counties, as well as the northern corner of Northumberland County, encompassing 13 local school districts (Jersey Shore, Keystone Central, East Lycoming, Loyalsock Township, Montgomery Area, Muncy Area, Williamsport Area, South Williamsport, Lewisburg, Mifflinburg Area, Milton Area and Warrior Run as well as St. John Neumann Regional and Meadowbrook Christian) and four universities (Lycoming College, Pennsylvania College of Technology, Lock Haven University and Bucknell University).

Two of the inductees have ties to the Lock Haven area.

–Kunes was a four-year starter as a center at Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania (1987-90), leading the team to back-to-back national semifinal appearances and the 1990 national final and earned three All-PSAC West honors on the offensive line, notching first-team accolades in 1988 and 1990 and second-team plaudits in 1989. He helped team to a pair of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference titles (1987, 1990).

He played three years as a two-way player at Lock Haven High School (1983-85), earning a spot in the Mid-State Classic all-star game and was inducted into Indiana’s Hall of Fame in 2022.

–Chu volunteered as an umpire with Little League for the past 47 years, working both as a baseball umpire and a softball umpire for the past 35 years and has served as Umpire-in-Chief of Flemington Little League and Lock Haven Babe Ruth League. He has worked Mid-Atlantic Regionals of Babe Ruth baseball and also served for 15 years as an umpire with Special Olympics.

Chu also sponsors three community awards: the Kooch Chu Umpire Award, now in its 25th year and given to an athlete for ability and academics, the Thomas Hardy Memorial Award, now in its 18th year in honor of a Little League player that passed in a car accident and awarded based on playing ability, hustle and coachability, and the Aiden Fowler Award, now in its 11th year in honor of a former Woolrich Little Leaguer that passed due to cancer, which is given to a Woolrich Little League player.

Chu was was a three-year letterwinner in basketball at Lock Haven High School from 1977-80, being named one of the top 60 players in the state as a senior, when he hit a half-court shot to win the league title.