National Football Foundation L.V. Chapter Hall of Fame inductees

Written by: David Mika on Thursday, March 31st, 2016. Follow David Mika on Twitter.

Hall of Fame Class of 2016

May 6, 2016 at 6:00pm at the Northampton Community Center

1. Dr. Dennis McGorry, Allentown Central Catholic ’63, Rutgers ’67. Dennis was the NFF LV Chapter Scholar Athlete 1963. At Rutgers he played defensive back from 1964-66 and also played Lacrosse. He was the Athletic Physician for ACC from 1975-2015 and also for the McDonald’s All Star Football Classic from 1976-1985. He has been inducted into the Rockne Wall of Fame in 1998 and McDonald’s All Star Football Classic Hall of Fame in 1999.

2. Dick Snell, Tri Valley HS ‘65, Lebanon Valley ‘69. Four-sport athlete (football, baseball, track and field, wrestling) at Tri Valley HS. In football, was 1st Team All League at tackle and played in the Schuylkill All Star Football Classic. Played football at Lebanon Valley College and was an All-MAC Center as a senior. Taught in Northern Lehigh School District for 34 years. He coached football briefly at Northampton Area High School and then officiated for 16 years.

3. Marty Ondrovic, Emmaus HS ’51, PIAA Official (football 43 years, baseball 54 years). While an athlete at Emmaus HS, Marty was a 4 year letterman in football, baseball, and track and field earning MVP in football his senior year. He was a 1st Team guard in the Lehigh Valley League for three consecutive years. He officiated the Stroudsburg – East Stroudsburg Thanksgiving Day Football Game for 30 years. In baseball, Marty served as PIAA Interpreter for 35 years.

4. Les Steckel, Whitehall ’64, University of Kansas ’68. Les coached football for over 32 years at the collegiate (Un. of Colorado, U.S. Naval Academy) and pro levels (San Francisco, Minnesota Vikings, Tennessee Titans, New England Patriots, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Super Bowl 2 times). In addition, Les was a Golden Gloves boxing champion at the University of Kansas while studying for a triple-major bachelor degree in Political Science, Social Work, and Human Relations. He then enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and then served in Vietnam. He then joined the Marine Corps Reserves. He became the seventh President and CEO of the Fellowship of Christina Athletes on March 1, 2005. His book One Yard Short: Turning Your Defeats Into Victories was published in 2006.

5. John L Bendekovits , Northampton ’62 , Kutztown University ’70. Spent 32 years as a football player and coach in the Lehigh Valley. He played football at Norhampton Area High School for Al Erdosy. He continued as a player at Kutztown University and started for four years at defensive and offensive tackle. He then began coaching at Whitehall HS under Andy Melosky and Joe Gerencser. He was part of coaching staffs that won 8 league or district championships from 1973-1986. He was the head coach at Whitehall HS in 1989 and won the District XI Championship and runner-up in 1990. He was the head coach at Northampton Area High School in 1997 when they won the Mountain Valley Conference Championship. He coached in the McDonald’s All Star Football Classic five time being inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2005. He has since been inducted into Whitehall HS Zephyr Hall of Fame in 2008.

Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball

---

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

Δ