Around Hopewell
Hopewell HS Sports Hall of Fame Announces Class of 2024
It’s a big day as this morning the Hopewell High School Sports Hall of Fame announced its Class of 2024.
After considering various nominations and other worthy options, the committee decided on these six inductees (5 individuals and 1 team) for the Class of 2024.
On August 16th, these six inductees will formally be placed in the Hall of Fame at Hopewell’s sixth annual Hall of Fame banquet at The Club at Shadow Lakes.
Here is Hopewell’s Class of 2024:
*Becky Novacek
*Gregory Rosatelli
*Nate Guenin
*Andy Robertson
*Ed Wilamowski
*The 1971-72 Hopewell football teams.
Here is a quick breakdown of the Class of 2024.
Becky Novacek:
-Novacek, a 2007 Hopewell graduate, is one of the greatest girls’ athletes in the entire WPIAL. Consider that, Novacek became the first athlete in Pennsylvania history with PIAA gold medals in 3 sports when she won the high jump event at the Track and Field Championship. Prior to that, Becky helped the Hopewell basketball team to win two state titles (2006 and 2007) and won another state title for Hopewell in Volleyball.
Novacek was a 3-time all-State selection in volleyball, a two-time all-state selection in basketball and a 4-time state medalist in the high jump. She recorded a school record of 470 kills in volleyball, finished with over 1,500 points and 987 rebounds in basketball.
After graduating from Hopewell, Novacek continued her athletic career for Dayton volleyball. As a senior, she earned A-10 Conference first-team honors and was named the A-10’s Volleyball Student-Athlete of the Year.
Greg Rosatelli:
-As a senior in 2003, Rosatelli helped the Hopewell boys’ basketball team advance to its first ever WPIAL championship game and its first trip ever to the state quarterfinals. As a senior, Rosatelli averaged 23 points and 8 assists per game. As a 3-year starter, the talented guard finished his Hopewell career with 1,265 points and is one of the top five scorers in Hopewell boys’ basketball history. After graduating from Hopewell, Rosatelli attended St. Vincent College for two years before transferring to Westminster College. As a senior, Greg averaged 15.6 points and 5.6 assists per game and was named first team PAC. He was also named Westminster’s MVP.
Nate Guenin:
-Guenin played with the Pittsburgh Hornets hockey under-18 team in 1999-2000. From there, the talented defenseman spent two seasons with the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League and made the USHL All-Rookie team in 2001. From there, Guenin was drafted by the NY Rangers 127th overall in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. However, Guenin decided instead to accept a scholarship to play at Ohio State. In 2004, Guenin and Ohio State won the NCAA Championship. He also was an academic All-American in 2004 and a second-team All-American in 2005.
After finishing his collegiate career, Guenin signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2006. On January 18, 2007, Guenin made his NHL debut with the Flyers. He then spent most of the next six years playing minor league hockey in the Flyers, Penguins, Blue Jackets and Ducks organization. In 2013, Guenin got a big break as he signed with the Colorado Avalanche. Over the next two seasons, Nate played 97 regular season games with Colorado and 7 games in the playoffs. During his NHL career, Guenin played in 205 games, scoring 5 goals and was a huge asset as a penalty-killer.
Andy Robertson:
-A 1964 Hopewell graduate, Robertson lettered in 4 sports (football, basketball, baseball and track). He was a quarterback on the 1963 team and the Vikings went 7-2. Robertson was also the third baseman on Joe Colella’s first baseball team at Hopewell. After high school, Robertson attended Southern Colorado State College where he played football for four years and baseball for one season.
After college, Robertson went on to coach for 53 years (30 on the college level and 23 on the high school level). He coached football, golf, wrestling, track and girls’ basketball. Robertson served as Hopewell’s football coach from 1997-2000. It was actually Robertson’s idea to start a Hopewell Sports Hall of Fame six years ago.
Ed Wilamowski:
-Wilamowski is considered one of the best defensive players in the history of Hopewell football and arguably the schools best ever to play defensive end. Following his career at Hopewell, Wilamowski accepted a scholarship from Johnny Majors to play football at Pitt and joined teammate Tony Dorsett. Wilamowski was a 3-three letterwinner at Pitt and was the starting defensive end for two-and-a-half seasons, including the 1976 team that won the National Championship.
1971 and 1972 Football Teams:
-The Hopewell team of 1971 is considered one of the greatest teams in Beaver County history. That ’71 team was led by Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett but also had eight seniors that went on to play college football- Jimbo Iannini (Arizona), Alkey Hummel (Penn State), Dave Baron (Idaho State), Gary Poland (Mississippi State), Don McKinney (Tulsa), Marty Cable (Idaho State), Joe Smith (Princeton) and Mark Skof (Princeton).
Hopewell 1971 football team
Five juniors from that 1971 team signed with major colleges when they were seniors (Dorsett (Pitt), Wilamowski Pitt), Dan Rains (Cincinnati), Butch Bass (Cincinnati) and Jeff Ferezan (Wake Forest).
Tony Dorsett
Tickets for the Hopewell High School Sports Hall of Fame banquet cost $50 per person. Anyone wishing to attend should call Mike Bires at 412-908-5858. Deadline is August 9.
