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Hall of Fame Members
Hall of Fame inductees will be honored at the Via All-Star Basketball Classic Banquet on Thursday, March 29, 2007 at 6 pm. The banquet, at Freedom High School's Gymnasium, will recognize the members of the Via All-Star teams (link to new page), Players of the Year, Teams of the Year, and the Lehigh Valley Basketball Hall of Fame inductees.
John Daday - High School Sportscaster
Nicole Levandusky - Palmerton Area High School 1993-97
Brad Pensyl - Bangor High School 1975-78
Betsy Wilson - District XI and PIAA Official
Call 484-893-5389 for ticket and sponsorship info
John Daday - High School Sportscaster
Although Johnny Daday never achieved national acclaim as a sportscaster, he became known as the dean of the local sports casting. He is undoubtedly the greatest local sportscaster in the history of high school sports in the Lehigh Valley. He described high school basketball action to the Lehigh Valley fans for 43 years.
Daday began his high school basketball announcing career in 1949 at Bethlehem’s WGPA and later at WAEB. In 1967, he made the switch from the radio airwaves to the bright lights of the television camera as he joined the Twin County staff. His first broadcast for Twin County was a Dieruff High School game in a holiday tournament at Johnstown. Four years later, he made another transition, going from Twin County to Service Electric.
Daday described his early days to Keith Groller of The Morning Call. "I worked every old gym in the area," Daday recalled of his radio beginnings. "I did games from the 'sweatboxes' at Liberty, Bethlehem Catholic, Easton and Hazleton. In those days, you just hooked up two wires and went to work."
Each basketball season, under Daday’s direction, Service Electric put together a telecasting schedule which tried to include games which involved as many of the teams as possible in the cable company’s coverage area. Daday always prided himself in his preparation for each telecast. Over the years, he worked with several color commentators including Johnny Howard, Bob Bukvics, Bob Nemeth, and Mike Zambelli.
One source of pride for Daday is that his son Bob also took up play-by-play on radio starting in 1978. Bob has decided, however, that after 25 years in front of the mike, he will retire from local sports broadcasting, after next basketball season. He has hinted, however, that when he begins to be a snowbird in early 2009, in Florida, he may just decide to continue what his father began 58 years ago, perhaps at a big time college level. Bob said recently, “I always told my father that if I was half as good as he was, I would consider myself lucky. Considering he broadcast 2,400 games, and, I recently passed 1,200, I suppose I was right on.”
John Daday is 87 years old these days, but, still has a mind like a steel trap. He remembers, games, dates, players, and, the great sports history of the Lehigh Valley. He talked recently about doing Sunday games at the old Becahi on 4 th street in Bethlehem, and, of broadcasting Sunday games at Rockne Hall. He misses many of the coaches, and, some players who have passed on, but, with a smile, and, a glassy look in his eyes, said, “I will remember them all.” We remember Johnny Daday by inducting him into the Lehigh Valley Hall of Fame.
Nicole Levandusky - Palmerton Area High School 1993-97
In her Palmerton Blue Bomber career, Nicole Levandusky scored 2,662 total points to finish as Palmerton’s all time leading scorer. She currently ranks 17 th on the all time Pennsylvania girls’ scoring list. Her outstanding career has earned her induction into the Lehigh Valley High School Basketball Hall of Fame where she joins 11 other Palmerton alumni who have also been so honored. Levandusky also holds the all time Palmerton single game scoring record with 52 against Northern Lehigh in February 1997.
During her senior season, the Blue Bombers, under Coach Rod Strohl, compiled a 31 game win streak on their way to the PIAA Class 2A Eastern Final. Behind the play of Levandusky, who averaged 22.5 points per game, they won both the Colonial League and District XI AA championships. In the Eastern Final at Pottsville, Palmerton unfortunately could not recover from their 20 turnovers through the first 3 quarters against the Trinity Shamrocks from District 3. They lost to the Shamrocks 50-40 despite Nicole’s 15 points. This brought to an end a brilliant high school career during which Nicole led Palmerton to an overall 101-19 record over her four years.
Nicole’s performance earned her a basketball scholarship at Xavier University in Cincinnati. She currently ranks in the top ten all time at Xavier in career points, scoring average, field goals made, 3 point field goals made, rebounds, steals, and assists. She ranks 4 th all time with 1,755 career points, 1 st all time in both steals (364) and 3 point goals (287). During her four year career, the Musketeers compiled a record of 98 and 29. During her senior year, Xavier finished with a 31-3 record and won both the Atlantic 10 regular and tournament championships.
Levandusky became Xavier’s first ever entrant into the WNBA when she was drafted as the 32 nd pick (2 nd Round) in the 2001 WNBA draft by the Los Angeles Sparks. Nicole played 13 games in the 2001 season as the Sparks went 28-4 and won the western division title. She retired from the WNBA after her first and only season.
Nicole currently resides in the Cincinnati area and works for Peoples Community Bank in Cincinnati.
Brad Pensyl - Bangor High School 1975-78
During his senior season, Brad Pensyl set the season and average per game scoring records at Bangor High School with a total of 675 points and averaged 27.3 points per game. He also set the single game scoring record with 50 points in a game. In addition to these three records, Brad set the single game record for field goals with 21 and free throws made in a season with 215, which have since been broken. His accomplishments have allowed him to join his father Bill in the Lehigh Valley High School Basketball Hall of Fame with his selection as a 2007 inductee. He was previously inducted into the Bangor Hall of Fame in 1999.
Brad won three varsity letters in basketball at Bangor. He scored a total of 1152 points during his career. During his junior season, Bangor won the Colonial League title in 1977. Brad was also honored as an all league performer during his junior and senior seasons. He senior year exploits earned him 3 rd Team All State Honors.
Pensyl participated in the 3 rd annual LARC Classic (the original name of the Via Classic) in 1978. He scored 18 points as the Colonial League team lost to the East Penn League II team 92-89. This game was coached by two HOFers, Bob Bukvics and Bill Paulik, and refereed by a third, Frank Scagliotta.
Brad was also an outstanding baseball player earning three varsity letters and all league distinction twice.
Brad continued his education and basketball career at West Chester University which was Division I at the time and a member of the East Coast Conference. His collegiate basketball career was as outstanding as his scholastic career. He finished with a career total of 1254 points in 104 games from 1978 through 1982. He ranks 13 th on the WCU career scoring list. Other notable stats and the position on WCU’s all time list include career average 11.8 ppg (12 th), 445 field goals (16 th), 340 free throws (8 th) and 534 rebounds (16 th). Brad w as named to the 1978-79 East Coast Conference All-Rookie Team. He also served as Team Captain for 2 years. Pensyl was inducted into the WCU Basketball Hall of Fame in 1982.
Brad began his high school coaching career serving as his father's assistant. During this time, the Slaters won league crowns in '86, '87 and '88. In the 1989-90 season, Brad became the boy’s head basketball coach at Pocono Mountain succeeding Rich Catalano. He coached 13 years and under his direction, Pocono Mountain captured a Centennial League title in 1990-91 and Mountain Valley Conference titles in 2000-01 and 2001-02. In 2002, he moved onto the newly created Pocono Mountain West school district to serve as its Athletic Director and Head Boys’ Basketball Coach. With his first victory in the 2006-07 season, Pensyl experienced his 300 th career coaching victory. He also led PM West to MVC championships in 2004-05 and 2006-07. Now in his 18 th season as a head coach, his overall career coaching record stands at 319-149. His teams have qualified for the district playoffs in all 18 years.
Brad and his wife Jill, who live in Swiftwater, are the parents of a son Bradley and daughter Natalie.
Betsy Wilson - District XI and PIAA Official 
The casual Lehigh Valley high school girl’s basketball fan would probably not recognize Betsy Wilson nor would they appreciate the contributions she has made to the game. Nonetheless, the role and contributions she has made to girls’ basketball are immense. Her extensive contributions and support of girls’ high school basketball in the Lehigh Valley have earned her induction into the Lehigh Valley High School Basketball Hall of Fame.
Betsy’s basketball career began at Scranton Central High School in Scranton, PA. From there, she went on to play basketball for four years (1954-58) at West Chester State Teachers’ College (now University). She also played field hockey at West Chester.
Betsy began officiating basketball from the time she graduated from West Chester. She continued to officiate games into the 1990’s. Currently she is the Colonial League officials’ assigner for girls’ basketball and has served in this capacity for at least the last 10 years. Since 1980, Betsy has been the District XI girl’s tournament assigner for the District XI playoffs. She has been an outspoken proponent of women as basketball referees. A number of Lehigh Valley women have become outstanding referees and Wilson has promoted their efforts and pursued their assignment to games in all the local high school leagues. It is fair to say that without Betsy’s efforts many of these women would not have had the opportunity to hone their skills and become renowned as outstanding referees.
Betsy also served as the Athletic Director at Moravian Academy from 1985-96. During her stay at the Academy, she assisted Girls’ Basketball Head Coach Doug Trotter from 1985 to 1990 and also coached middle school basketball. In earlier years, she also served as the Freshman Girls’ Basketball Coach at Emmaus High School.
Wilson has also been honored for her outstanding efforts in support of field hockey. She is credited for changing scholastic field hockey's overtime and substituting procedures. Her longtime efforts in this sport earned her recognition by the National Federation Interscholastic Officials Association as an At-Large National Distinguished Official Contributor for 1996. She currently serves as the PIAA Statewide Field Hockey Rules Interpreter and as the NFHS Field Hockey Rules Committee Chairperson.
Wilson has been involved with the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association for many years. Since 1980 she has served as officials' representative on the District 11 Committee. She also currently serves as the Chairperson of the PIAA Field Hockey, Softball, and Swimming and Diving Steering Committees.
Wilson is the proud mother of three children. Unfortunately her husband Gerry, her biggest supporter, passed away unexpectedly two years ago. Betsy currently lives in Emmaus.
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