The 26th Annual Carbon County Hall of Fame induction ceremonies and banquet will be held Sunday, May 26, at the Franklin Township Fire Company social hall.

The doors will open at 1 p.m., with the dinner to start at 2 o’clock followed by individual inductions of 22 who attained athletic accomplishments.

This year’s inductees are:

Coaldale – Cindy Hassler, John “Ronnie” Drosdak and Jake Flyzik.

Jim Thorpe - Geoff Kelowitz, Chuck McGowan and David Mueller.

Palmerton – Jason Balliet, Frank Zelinsky and Manny Guedes.

Lehighton – Gregory Ebbert, George Ebbert, Tom Mullen and Bob Capasso.

Nesquehoning – William Sluck, Joseph Blazosky and Daniel Blazosky.

Lansford – Ron Swider, Cory Sheridan and Edmund Gargula.

Summit Hill – Nadia Gauronsky, Bruce Frassinelli and Eugene DeGiosio.

Carbon County - Blue Ridge TV-13 sports reporter Bob Capasso.

Banquet tickets can be purchased from the following Hall of Fame committee members: McGinley, 570-325-3550, Vince Spisak, 570-645-4542, Art George, 610-826-2830, Jake Boyer, 610-751-6634, Trevor Lawrence, 570-645-4722, Bill Gardiner, 570-669-6564, Bob Gelatko, 570-645-8652, and Evan Evans, 570-645-7716. Tickets are $35 for adults. For children under 12, the cost is $15.

The following will be inducted representing Summit Hill:

Bruce Frassinelli

Bruce Frassinelli is a proud native of Summit Hill and a 1957 graduate of Summit Hill High School, where he lettered in three sports and served as co-captain of the Hillers’ football team in his senior year.

His extra-point kick made the difference in a thrilling 7-6 win against Jim Thorpe during the 1956 season. As a tackle, he was named to the all-Panther Valley team during his senior year.

He also threw the discus and shot put on the track team for three years and was first baseman and hit .383 on Summit Hill’s first-ever baseball team during the Spring of 1957. He served as statistician for the school’s varsity and junior varsity teams.

Frassinelli was a PIAA football, basketball and baseball official. While at WVPO AM-FM in Stroudsburg, he was also a play-by-play announcer of high school and college football and basketball games, as well as Little League playoff games. He was a Little League coach in the Stroudsburg area for a number of years.

He was class president and yearbook editor and participated in every extracurricular activity Summit Hill High School offered, except cheerleading. He won the Panther Valley Boys’ Oratorical Contest in 1956.

The son of Italian immigrants, Frassinelli has been in the communication and education professions simultaneously for almost 60 years. At 79, he continues to write columns for the Times News newspaper and two magazines in Oswego, N.Y.

He delivered the keynote Memorial Day address in Summit Hill during the community’s annual services in 2018.

Frassinelli is a 1961 graduate of East Stroudsburg University, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in education, majoring in French. He was one of the first three recipients of a master of art’s degree in political science from ESU in 1969.

In 2011, he was named recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from his alma mater, and in May, 2012, he was the keynote speaker at the ESU Graduate Division Commencement ceremonies.

His career started as a part-time radio announcer at the Stroudsburg radio station while he was a junior at ESU in 1960. Three years later, he became the station’s program, news and sports editor.

In 1966, he was named Pocono Bureau chief of The Easton Express (now The Express-Times), where he served for 25-1/2 years, rising to editor, then general manager. He and his colleagues were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1972 for Rape of the Poconos, a series of articles about abuses in the vacation-home industry, which led to corrective Congressional legislation.

While he was editor of the Easton daily, it was named one of the 14 best small-city newspapers (under-50,000 circulation) in the United States and the best in Pennsylvania by the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

In 1992, he was promoted to publisher and editor of The Palladium-Times, the daily newspaper in Oswego, N.Y., where he served until his retirement in 1998.

For 25 years, he was an adjunct instructor of communication courses for the State University of New York at Oswego. For the last 10 years, he also has taught political science courses at Lehigh Carbon Community College, Schnecksville, where he resides. He also has taught courses at ESU, Northampton Community College, Strayer University and Stroudsburg Area and Notre Dame high schools in the Stroudsburgs and at the former Washington, N.J., High School.

During his time in Oswego, Frassinelli served as chair of the board of directors of Oswego County National Bank and chair of the bank’s philanthropic foundation. He was also governor of Rotary International District 7150 in Central New York, president of the Oswego Rotary Club and chair of its board of directors.

He served as coordinator and master of ceremonies for the regional finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee for 25 years.

Frassinelli was president of the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors Association and the Professional Journalists and Communicators of Oswego County. He has won prizes for column-writing in both Pennsylvania and New York.

He was cited by both the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the New York State Legislature for more than a half century of “outstanding contributions in the fields of communications and education.”

His brother, Charles “Bombo” Frassinelli of Summit Hill, was an inductee into the Hall of Fame in 1995. “Bombo” and another brother, Jack, now deceased, were also captains of their Summit Hill High football teams in 1942 and 1947, respectively.

Frassinelli has three sons, two stepsons and nine grandchildren. His wife, the former Marie Macaluso of New Columbus, passed away in January, 2015.

Eugene DeGiosio

Eugene “Gino” DeGiosio, a 1979 Panther Valley High School graduate from Summit Hill, was a two-sport athlete who excelled on the football field and most notably starred on the Panthers’ track and field teams, garnering league, district and statewide acclaim as a sprinter for the Black, Gold and White. He was also a member of Panther Valley’s Marine Physical Fitness team that competed in statewide competitions.

DeGiosio was a key member of the successful Panther Valley football teams of the late 1970s. During three varsity seasons, the Panthers compiled an impressive 22 wins and had a 70 percent winning percentage. In DeGiosio’s senior year, PV Head Coach Trevor Lawrence’s team had perhaps the fastest backfield in the state of Pennsylvania, when DeGiosio lined up alongside fellow runningback Dave Slonaker. DeGiosio rushed for 749 yards that season on just 100 carries for an impressive 7.49 yards per carry. He scored six touchdowns and helped the Panthers to an 8-2-1 record. After the season, DeGiosio was named to the East-West All Star game, in which he started at running back for the East team.

It was on the cinder track for Panther Valley where DeGiosio was one of the most accomplished athletes in Panther Valley history. He excelled in the 100 yard/meter dashes, 220 yards and 200 meter dashes and on the 400 yard-400 meter relay teams for Head Coaches Frank DeFebo and Geno Poli. In his senior year of 1979, the state of Pennsylvania made the transition to metric races in some post season meets. Despite only getting a few opportunities to run in races measured in meters, DeGiosio left his mark in those opportunities. He was the Schuylkill League champion in both the 100 meter dash (10.1) and 200 meter dash (22.8). The following week, it was back up to yards for the District 11 championships and DeGiosio won the gold in the 100 yard dash with a time of 10.28. Unfortunately, a false start in the 220 yard dash prevented him from sweeping the sprints again.

At the state track meet in Shippensburg the following week, DeGiosio faced one of the fastest fields ever to compete in the 100 meter dash at a state meet. Grove City sprint sensation Jeff Brown won the event in a blistering time of 10.58. That time stood as the state record for 38 years and was finally broken in 2017 and stood as the longest PA state track meet record at the time it was eclipsed. DeGiosio had a strong performance himself in the finals and earned a bronze medal with a third place finish. That medal was the first to be won by a Panther track and field athlete since Bill Pilconis’ win in 1987. The third place finish also ranks as the highest in the 100 meter dash at the state track meet by any male sprinter in Carbon County history.

In addition to earning his medal in the 100M, DeGiosio anchored the Panther’s 4-by-100 meter relay team that included Dan McHugh, Sam Canzoneri and Slonaker. That foursome sped around the track in 44.17 seconds to bring home more state hardware with a sixth place finish overall. That time of 44.17 still stands as the Panther Valley school record today, almost 40 years later.

By the end of his track and field career, in addition to the various Schuylkill League, District 11 and Pennsylvania State Meet medals DeGiosio earned, he also held several track, meet and retired school records. The aforementioned 4-by-100 meter relay team broke the Mt. Carmel Relays meet record while individually he holds the retired Panther Valley track and school records in the 100 yard dash (9.98 set vs. Mahanoy Area) and the 220 yard dash (22.53 set vs. Pottsville).

DeGiosio is a son of the late Eugene DeGiosio and the late Gerry DeGiosio McArdle, and the stepson of Paul McArdle Sr. of Summit Hill. He resides in Summit Hill and is married to the former Irene Hellmund, a 1981 graduate of Panther Valley. They have a son Brian, who was also a standout athlete at Panther Valley and who resides in Charlton, MA.

DeGiosio is a graduate of East Stroudsburg University and is currently the vice president of commercial lending for the Jim Thorpe Neighborhood Bank.

Nadia Gauronsky

Gauronsky scored more points on the hardwood on behalf of Panther Valley High School than anyone else who ever put on a boys or girls Panther uniform. Before picking up her diploma in 1999, Nadia Gauronsky amassed 1,554 points and helped lead the Panthers to the PIAA Eastern championship game in what was arguably Panther Valley’s finest moment ever in basketball.

Nadia became PV’s all-time leading scorer on Jan. 4, 1999, in a 62-54 win over Shamokin and that year captained her team which won the only girls’ District 11 basketball championship in the school’s history. To do that, they defeated Catasauqua, 64-43, on March 5, 1999, then advancing to the Eastern Finals before bowing to Bishop Hoban, 63-46, in a matchup played at Hazleton.

As a junior, Nadia was the leading scorer for the Panthers, averaging 18.4 points per game. On Jan. 22, 1998, she scored her 1,000th point in a 53-38 victory over Mt. Carmel.

She converted 196 of 254 free throws that season and the Panthers earned a District 11 silver medal, losing to Pine Grove, 63-47, in the championship game, after which time Nadia was selected as a member of the Times News All Star First team.

Earlier in her basketball playing days, Nadia was voted the Most Outstanding Player at the Keystone State Basketball Camp (1996), and while competing in the Keystone State Games, she was a silver medalist for the Pocono Region girls’ basketball team (1995). The prior year, she was the Knights of Columbus State Free Throw Champion.

Also at PVHS, Nadia ran cross country for four years. As a sophomore, the team earned a District 11 runner-up medal. In her junior year, the team won the Schuylkill League Division II title, as well as the league meet crown. She also played softball in her junior and senior years. As a first baseman, she committed just three errors in two seasons.

Nadia finished 15th out of 110 students in the Class of 1999 and was a member of the yearbook and newspaper staffs and a National Honor Society inductee.

She signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Lock Haven University but saved her eligibility to compete in the PA State Athletic Conference, transferring to Mansfield University in the Fall of 2000.

At Mansfield, she earned a partial scholarship and became a starting point guard for a team that was ranked the eighth most improved team in the nation in Division II basketball.

When she finished her bachelor’s degree in elementary education studies, she was given an Academic/Athletic Scholarship as a graduate assistant. At the conclusion of her career at Mansfield, Nadia ranked fifth all time in free throw percentage, seventh in three-point goals made and eighth in assists. She was presented the team’s Most Improved Player Award.

Nadia began her coaching career in Lehighton as the girls’ JV basketball coach, where she coached from 2007-2009. In 2007, she was an assistant softball coach at Lehighton Carbon Community College.

In May, 2009, she was named head coach at Pleasant Valley High School, where during her second season, 2010-2011, her team won the Mountain Valley League Championship and earned the No. 1 berth in the 4A District 11 tournament, resulting in her being named Coach of the Year by the Pocono Record.

The following year, the Bears repeated as the MVL champs, and again was the No. 1 seed in District 11. They advanced to the state playoffs for the first time since 2003, and Nadia again was named Pocono Record Coach of the Year.

In her eighth year, Nadia reached 100 wins with a 46-29 win over Dieruff. During her tenure in Brodheadsville, the Bears have made the District 11 playoffs seven out of nine years and have won two league championships among her 118 career wins.

Nadia is currently a sixth grade teacher in the district.

She is engaged to be married to John Pavuk this summer. She resides in Parryville.