Anybody can join. Whether you love sports, are trying to help one of the nominees get into the Hall, or just want to support a local nonprofit organization, all it takes is a $10 membership fee and you will be able to vote on the upcoming Warren County Sports Hall of Fame induction class. The small fee helps fund the ceremony, the awards, as well as any other expenses such as newspaper ads or other ways of advertisement.

Our membership drive started last week and will go on until Friday, May 31. This ballot has a variety of athletes and coaches. Similar to last time, we will be inducting eight living nominees and two deceased nominees. Two organizations will be inducted — the Warren County Special Olympics and the American Legion Post 135. To even be considered for the WCSHOF is an accomplishment. It shows that other people have noticed an individual’s successes and want them to be recognized.

A voting membership into the 2024 Hall of Fame organization costs $10 (an amount that has not changed since 1993), is good for one year, and includes full voting rights.

For anyone interested in becoming a voting member of the WCSHOF, either fill out the form provided, visit the “Warren County Sports Hall of Fame” Facebook page, or contact Nate Sandberg at: natesandy31@gmail.com. The Warren County Sports Hall of Fame does not select who is inducted into the hall; it is determined solely upon the number of votes received by the voting members.

Hank Morrison

For questions, either email WCSHOF President Nate Sandberg at natesandy31@gmail.com, or contact the Facebook page. Mail all membership forms, completed ballot, and $10 to WCSHOF, P.O. Box 61, Warren, Pennsylvania. Make any checks payable to WCSHOF. Once again congratulations to every person nominated for the 2024 WCSHOF class. We would like to thank the Warren Times Observer, The Post-Journal, the Warren Public Library, the Cornerstone Lounge, and all of the board members and people who have made nominations to make this possible.

Following is the second group of nominees. The rest of them will appear in the Times Observer on Tuesday.

ELIZABETH MULLEN

SWIMMING/COACHING

Coach Elizabeth “Betz” Mullen is the founding coach of the Warren Area High School girls swim team that began in 1973.

Joe Letko

Betz is a graduate of Grove City College (1959), where she coached the synchronized swimming team from 1955-59. After college, she moved to Warren to become a history teacher at Beaty Warren Middle School. During her tenure as the Warren Dragon girls swim coach, her record was 155-81-1 and included section titles in 1974, 1978, 1979 and 1980, and District championships in 1978, 1979 and 1980. With her at the helm, she coached 16 all-state swimmers and one all-American, Judy Kylander. This also included Gretchen Sando (placed second at states in the 100-meter breaststroke), and Lisa Huey (placed twice at states for diving). While coaching the girls through 1985-87, Betz simultaneously coached the boys program. Betz finished her coaching career in 1991. She currently resides in Salvo, North Carolina, with her husband Charles.

HANK MORRISON

BASEBALL

After a stellar high school and college baseball career, Hank Morrison was drafted in the 22nd round of the 2016 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Minnesota Twins. More than talent and accolades, Caleb Linkerhof, who nominated Hank for the Warren County Sports Hall of Fame, said he “played against Hank and he brought a level of excitement and humility to the game more than anyone I have ever met. … A great athlete and even better person. He is deserving to be a part of the Hall of Fame.”

While at WAHS, Morrison was a District 10 and multiple-year region all-star at outfield and third base, and was the winning pitcher against McDowell and Erie Cathedral Prep in back-to-back weeks in the spring of 2012 to help the Dragons win their first District 10 title in 35 years. He tossed a complete-game shutout against the Ramblers in a 2-0 win in the championship game. After high school, Morrison — son of Ted and Amy Morrison of Warren — played for Division II Mercyhurst University, where he broke the school record for base hits in a season with 80. He still holds that record today. He was named a DII All-American while at Mercyhurst. The former Dragon standout had a stellar senior campaign for the Lakers in 2016, batting .415 with 10 home runs and 53 RBIs in 54 games to go along with a .486 OBP, .684 slugging percentage and 16 doubles. He was also 14 of 17 in steal attempts.

Lee Chew

Between four years of college at Mercyhurst and summer collegiate-level seasons with the Hornell (N.Y.) Dodgers of the New York Collegiate Baseball League and Martinsville (Va.) Mustangs of the Coastal Plains League, Morrison played 228 games with 742 at bats and 246 hits (.331 batting average), 138 runs scored, 28 doubles, 11 triples, 23 home runs, 167 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. Morrison played two professional seasons for the Minnesota Twins organization, including his final season for Class A Cedar Rapids in the Midwest League, hitting .217 with four home runs and 10 RBIs. He had a 13-game hitting streak during the season.

Morrison also played an integral role on the 2012 WAHS basketball team that was District 10 runners-up, and qualified for the PIAA state tournament. After Hank’s professional career, he moved to the Buffalo, New York, area to work for Full Circuit Power Baseball where he assisted in the development of youth baseball players, and coached various travel teams. Hank currently lives in the Buffalo area.

JOE LETKO

COACHING

Coach Joe Letko was a staple in Eisenhower athletics for many years. He started his coaching career at Eisenhower High School as an assistant wrestling coach for the 1972-73 season, later became the head coach for the 1978-79 season, and retired in 2003. He got his 100th win on Feb. 17, 1993.

Lisa LaVan

Letko coached the Knights to two undefeated seasons in 1994 and 1995, as well as leading them to the top three in every tournament for those years. He was named the section coach of the year three times, the District 10 coach of the year two times, and received the District 10 Coaches Recognition Award. In addition, he coached more than 30 section champions, two district champions and one regional champion. Letko coached two state-place winners (Travis Hummel and Matt Burlingame). His impact on his former wrestlers led some to coach wrestling including Kris Black, Travis Hummel and Drew Wilcox. A Lock Haven College graduate, Joe’s passion in the sport paid off when he was awarded for his 100th victory with a plaque by the Pennsylvania Wrestling Coaches Association. His team’s 27-win match winning streak came to an end at Warren High School in front of a capacity crowd that was ironically coached by Tony Ross, his mentor and friend.

During his tenure, Coach Letko had the good fortune of coaching his son, Joe, who became the Knights’ first 100-plus match-winner.

Letko went to the state championships eight times, coming away with two bronze medalists, Travis Hummel and Matt Burlingame.

Coach Letko left quite a legacy upon his retirement in 2003. His passion and love for wrestling was contagious, and his records and past wrestlers he coached are proof that one person’s influence can impact so many people.

LEE CHEW

COACHING

Lee Chew was involved in Warren Area High School sports since he first arrived here in 1964, and the legacy he left behind consists of almost 40 years of dedication.

Chew wrestled at Clarion University for four years on a scholarship and then earned his master’s degree from Penn State University in educational administration, thus began his legacy. Lee started out as the Warren Area High School assistant wrestling coach from 1964-68 and was promoted to head coach from 1969-82. His tenure included 79 wins as well as coaching WAHS’s first state wrestling medalist in Randy Graves, who placed third in 1979. Lee’s constant passion and fiery personality was instilled on his athletes day in and day out. Lee was also the WAHS athletic director from 1994-2002. As athletic director, he was extremely devoted to his craft, loved and supported all high school events, and never missed a home game during his tenure.

Adding to his contributions, Chew was a PIAA wrestling referee for 30 years, from 1962-92, and was even in charge of the Varsity Club at WAHS. Lee was also extremely prideful in his community involvement and as an educator at Warren Area High School. He even drove a full-size conversion van that had a huge mural of a Dragon on it. To say he “bled blue and white” might have actually been true.

Chew played an integral role in helping the Warren Sports Boosters back when they purchased War Memorial Field from the City of Warren many years ago. He was the mastermind behind the scheduling and coordinating of hundreds of sporting events at War Memorial Field throughout his athletic director years and did so with great dignity and pride.

LISA LaVAN

COACHING

Lisa (Sanders) LaVan could play a little hoops herself back in her days at Bradford High School and then Penn State Behrend. She was twice named to the girls high school all-region team in District 9, twice a Big 30 all-star, and also a member of the AAAA district champion team in 1996 before graduating in 1997. She played for four years under Roz Fornari at PSB, which helped mold a coaching philosophy that translated to success at WAHS during LaVan’s tenure. Her four years at PSB were highlighted by an AMCC tourney championship in 1999, a regular-season championship in 2000, and an NCAA at-large berth in 2001.

Lisa grew into a better coach as the years went by, including a little-known part of her resume that began in 2011 to both give back to the game as well as to better understand from an official’s perspective what they actually see: she became a PIAA basketball official. By speaking their language, respect grew quickly from their community. Smart move, Coach. She has also advocated for and mentored young athletes to move into basketball officiating as well.

From the moment she was hired in the spring of 2008, Lisa wanted to leave her mark on the girls basketball program at Warren Area HS. The wins and losses can be tabulated easily: 268 wins and 122 losses; the first four district titles in WAHS girls basketball history; seven of the program’s 12 1,000-point scorers finished their careers with her at the helm, including the program’s all-time leading scorer, Margo Loutzenhiser with 1,618.

Some of those 122 losses were definitely scheduled losses as she brought in many quality teams from the Buffalo area and Western New York to compete in the Warren Tip-Off Tournament as well as “playing up” in classification the majority of her tenure. Her teams were always better in late February than they were in early December and one reason was not padding the team’s record against inferior opponents early in the season. That approach always paid dividends.

Intense competition would also occur in the offseason as she brought her teams to campuses such as West Virginia University, Notre Dame, Pitt, Boston College and North Carolina (including an uninvited tour of Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke just so they could say they were there). Her teams played other high schools from 21 of the 50 states.

Fundraising efforts the last two years earned her players an opportunity to compete during the season in Florida against some of that state’s best girls’ basketball teams.

For many of her players, these summer trips were their first and maybe only opportunity to travel to a major city such as Boston or Cincinnati or college campuses in South Bend, Indiana or Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She asked a lot from her players. She gave them back more.

If a coach’s career is summarized with an epitaph, a fan from Hickory filing out of the gym may have captured LaVan’s career perfectly after the Hornets knocked off a young Lady Dragon team 12 years ago in overtime in a playoff game that the heavily favored team from Hermitage barely escaped. The fan said, “My goodness those girls from Warren play HARD!” That would be a recurring theme from 2008 all the way through March 2024 when the Lady Dragons ended a 21-6 campaign with a loss to WPIAL champion North Catholic. Those girls from Warren play HARD. They also won three of the most iconic basketball games in the history of Lady Dragon basketball; all at home. The win over Villa Maria in 2019 when Margo broke the school scoring record, the win over Slippery Rock in 2022 when Emma Ruhlman sank three free throws (down two) with no time on the clock to win the program’s third District-10 title, and the program’s first state playoff game victory in 2024 over Elizabeth Forward in overtime.

Lisa’s story doesn’t begin and end with wins and losses. It was about challenging her players to accept the obstacles they would face head on, both on and off the court, in a positive atmosphere. She readily admitted the Lady Dragon program wasn’t for everybody, but if a player survived it for four years they would move on from high school as a member of a close-knit family program that would last a lifetime. With only two losing seasons on her 16-year resume, they certainly enjoyed success on the court as well. Her players were utilized based upon skill sets they possessed and/or learned. Not a scorer? Perhaps a perimeter lockdown defender role kept a player on the court. Not a starter? Perhaps a super-sub role still allowed you to contribute to the team’s success. And for those who couldn’t quite climb the athletic ladder high enough to contribute on the court, you were another set of eyes to contribute feedback to the coaches while making it as challenging as possible for your teammates in practice. Few could score 1,000-plus points over their careers; all could contribute to team success.

What did some of her players have to say about her? “I’ve never been a part of a program that has made me feel more of a family member than they do. They are all like my sisters.” Another said, “She always takes home life into consideration. There were girls that should have been cut and clearly never touched a basketball, but Lisa would find a way to keep them on the team.” A third said, “She cares for every player that has gone through that program during their time there and well after. … She has changed the lives of so many young women in Warren.”

Her teams always gave back to the community. They would visit both young in age and young at heart as the teams were visible at Warren Area Elementary School to make sure future Lady Dragons met the players, as well as Cambridge Warren Senior Living care facility where the residents received Christmas gifts, challenged the players to board games and shared baked goods throughout many basketball seasons.