Lock Haven, Pa. – Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Commissioner Steve Murray announced that a total of five individuals have been selected to receive the league's Award of Merit. They are: former Cheyney men’s basketball coach John Chaney, Slippery Rock graduate and former Cheyney women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer, former Clarion wrestler Wade Schalles, former Bloomsburg field hockey and softball coach and East Stroudsburg graduate Jan Hutchinson, and West Chester graduate Cathy Rush, the former women’s basketball coach at Immaculata College.
The PSAC Award of Merit is the conference’s highest honor. Awarded to individuals with a current or previous affiliation with a league school, either as an alum, coach or administrator, it is given for outstanding and extraordinary accomplishments or services that bring exceptional recognition and honor to the conference.
Three of the honorees are members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame – Chaney, Stringer and Rush. Schalles is a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame – the first Pennsylvanian to ever be inducted -- while Hutchinson is a member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and National Field Hockey Coaches Association Halls of Fame.
This quintet of exceptional individuals will be only the fifth through ninth recipients of the Award of Merit, and the first since 2002. Current Edinboro athletics director Bruce Baumgartner and current Shippensburg head cross country and assistant track & field coach Steve Spence were the inaugural recipients in 1992. Baumgartner, who was then a wrestling coach at Edinboro, was a three-time Olympic medalist at the time after winning his second gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Games. He would later win his fourth Olympic medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games after being chosen to carry the American flag at the opening ceremonies of those games. Spence, a 1985 graduate of Shippensburg, was a volunteer coach at Shippensburg at the time of his award. After winning the bronze medal at the 1991 World Track & Field Championships and winning the marathon at the 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials, he finished 12th in the marathon at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
In 1997 former Clarion wrestler Kurt Angle, an NCAA wrestling champion and 1996 Olympic gold medalist, became the third recipient of the Award of Merit. A three-time PSAC Wrestler of the Year from 1990-92, Angle captured NCAA individual titles in the heavyweight division in 1990 and 1992 and later won gold in the 220-pound class at the Atlanta games. Most recently, the late Chuck Daly became the fourth recipient of the Award of Merit in 2002. Daly, a 1952 graduate of Bloomsburg, is perhaps best known for being the head coach of the 1992 U.S. men’s basketball Olympic team – the “Dream Team.” He also compiled a record of 519-342 as an NBA coach, including his position with the Detroit Pistons from 1983-92, where he won NBA titles with the Pistons in 1989 and 1990. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001, entering in the same class at Chaney.
The PSAC will work in conjuction with its league members to make a formal presentation to each recipeient with dates and times to be announced.
Below are brief bios on each of the five recent selections.
CATHY RUSH, West Chester
Rush, a 1968 (bachelors) and 1972 (masters) graduate of West Chester, gained fame as the head coach at Immaculata College (now University) from 1971-1977. She coached just seven seasons but won three consecutive AIAW national championships from 1972-74 and compiled a 149-15 career record (a .909 winning percentage). In each of Rush’s seven years as head coach, the Mighty Macs appeared in at least the semifinals of AIAW tournament, which was the predecessor to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. They made five straight appearances in the national championship game, finishing as the runners up in 1975 and 1976. Rush also coached the U.S. women’s basketball team at the 1975 Pan American Games, leading the team to a gold medal finish. She was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2008. Rush’s first season as the head coach at Immaculata was depicted in a recently released Hollywood film entitled The Mighty Macs.
JOHN CHANEY, Cheyney
Prior to his successful career at Temple Chaney began his coaching career at Cheyney in the 1970s. Chaney coached the Wolves’ men’s team from 1972-82, compiling a 225-59 record and making eight NCAA Division II Tournament appearances, which included winning the national title in 1978. That remains the only national championship ever won by a PSAC school in men’s basketball. After leaving Cheyney for Temple, he led the Owls to 23 postseason appearances in 24 seasons as head coach, including 17 trips to the NCAA Tournament, five of which resulted in Elite Eight appearances. He compiled a 516-253 record at Temple, and his wins are the most in school history. Chaney was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2001.
C. VIVIAN STRINGER, Slippery Rock/Cheyney
Stringer, a 1970 (bachelors) and 1973 (masters) graduate of Slippery Rock, where she is a member of the Rock Alumni Hall of Fame, coached the Lady Wolves from 1971-83, compiling a 251-51 record. In her second-to-last season at Cheyney in 1981-82, she guided her team to the inaugural NCAA Division I national championship game, where the Wolves finished as national runners-up. Prior to that, the Lady Wolves appeared in two AIAW Tournaments. Stringer was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2009, where she was presented by Chaney during the induction ceremony. After her 12-year run as head coach at Cheyney, Stringer went on to coach at Iowa from 1983-95 and at Rutgers from 1995-present. Entering the 2011-12 season, Stringer had compiled an overall record of 863-308, which ranks third on the Division I all-time wins list. She was the first coach in men’s or women’s basketball history to take three different schools to the Final Four. In addition to Cheyney in 1982, she led her Iowa team there in 1993 and has appeared in the national semifinals with Rutgers in 2000 and 2007.
WADE SCHALLES, Clarion
In a career that has garnered him many claims to fame, Schalles is perhaps best known as the NCAA all-time pins leader with 106, a record he still holds today. He remains the only wrestler in NCAA history to have accumulated over 100 falls and he compiled a 153-5-1 career record at Clarion. A four-time PSAC champion, Schalles won consecutive NCAA individual titles in 1972 and 1973 and also a Collegiate World Championship. Once dubbed “the most exciting wrestler to ever walk onto a wrestling mat” by Sports Illustrated, Schalles is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most wins and pins of anyone who has ever wrestled. In 2005, Schalles was named one of the top 15 wrestlers in NCAA history at the NCAA Wrestling 75th Anniversary Celebration in St. Louis. The Schalles Award is named after him and is presented annually by the National Wrestling Coaches Association and WIN Magazine to the collegiate and scholastic wrestlers with the most pins.
JAN HUTCHINSON, East Stroudsburg/Bloomsburg
Hutchinson, a 1971 (bachelors) and 1979 (masters) graduate of East Stroudsburg, coached field hockey and softball at Bloomsburg for 32 and 33 seasons, respectively. She compiled a total of 1,806 combined wins before retiring at the conclusion of the 2010 softball season. As the field hockey coach, she posted winning records in 31 of her 32 seasons and a career record of 591-75-20, winning 16 national championships, including four straight on two separate occasions, as well as 16 PSAC titles. As the softball coach, she compiled a record of 1,215-288-2 and made an NCAA record 28 consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament. She ranks first on the all-time Division II wins list and sixth on the all-time NCAA wins list, regardless of division. Hutchinson guided the Huskies to the 1982 AIAW national title and to two NCAA runner-up finishes while playing in the NCAA championship round nine times. Her teams won 15 PSAC championships. In 2006, she was honored with an award named for one of her fellow Award of Merit recipients – the C. Vivian Stringer Award by the U.S. Sports Academy.
