By: Chris Harlan
Friday, June 6, 2025 | 10:14 PM
The WPIAL Hall of Fame Class of 2025 was inducted Friday, June 6, 2026 at the DoubleTree in Green Tree. Inductees were, in the front row, Terry Kushner, Charel Allen, Dori Oldaker, Trilby Busch, Brooke Stewart and Rick Saccani and in the back row, Fred Hartman, son of late Seton LaSalle coach Ben Hartman, Rodney Wilson, Aiden Hanna, Russ Grimm and Rick Locaitis.
When Spencer Lee first heard he was chosen for the WPIAL Hall of Fame, the former Franklin Regional wrestler thought he might be too young for such an honor.
The story of his career isn’t written.
“I’m still competing,” Lee said he briefly thought. “I’m not retired yet. Why am I in the hall of fame?”
But the honor is based largely on what an athlete accomplishes in high school, and Lee was unquestionably one of the best on the WPIAL mat. Before becoming a three-time NCAA champion and Olympic medalist, Lee compiled a 144-1 career record at Franklin Regional while winning four WPIAL titles and three state championships.
The 26-year-old was among 13 individuals and two teams inducted Friday night into the WPIAL Hall of Fame with a banquet at the DoubleTree in Green Tree. The hall’s 18th class also included two members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Southmoreland’s Russ Grimm and Aliquippa’s Ty Law.
The group also featured standout athletes Charel Allen of Monessen (girls basketball), Ron Semkiw of Baldwin (track and field), Brooke Stewart of East Allegheny (girls basketball) and Rodney Wilson of West Greene (football, wrestling and track); coaches Dori Oldaker of Blackhawk and Mt. Lebanon girls basketball and Rick Saccani of Upper St. Clair boys tennis; heritage honoree Trilby Busch of Munhall (rifle); official Rick Locaitis; and WPIAL contributor Terry Kushner, a retired football coach and school administrator.
Receiving the Courage Award was Hampton baseball player and golfer Aiden Hanna, who created a cancer-related foundation while battling osteosarcoma.
The championship teams inducted this year were 2012 North Allegheny football and 1983-84 Seton LaSalle girls basketball.
Unfortunately, Lee’s very-much active career kept him from attending Friday’s banquet.
The reigning Olympic silver medalist was in Iowa training for a crucial June 14 match that can earn him a spot on the U.S. World Team. He’ll compete at Final X in the men’s freestyle 57-kilogram bout at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. The winner represents the United States at the World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia, in September.
“Breaking away from training even for one day, especially when you’re cutting weight, truly does not get any easier as you get older,” Lee said. “I wish I could’ve been attended tonight.”
In a prerecorded acceptance video, Lee called it “surreal and humbling” to join a hall of fame that already included wrestlers Nico Megaludis, Cary Kolat and Jason Nolf, a former club teammate of his.
“The WPIAL is not your run-of-the-mill region in America,” Lee said in the video. “It’s probably the toughest region in the entire country. I wanted to be the best I could be, and thankfully, I was in the toughest region. There’s no better place than the WPIAL to sharpen my skills and to strengthen my resolve.”
Grimm and Law both had professional football careers that earned them induction in Canton, but they first were WPIAL stars. Grimm was a quarterback and middle linebacker at Southmoreland before a position switch at Pitt made him one of the NFL’s greatest offensive linemen.
“(Pitt offensive line coach) Joe (Moore) gave me the famous saying that, ‘There’s no greater feeling that moving a man from Point A to Point B,’” Grimm said. “I tried it. I liked it. So, I stayed with offensive line.”
Law was unable to attend the banquet.
Girls basketball was well-represented in this year’s class, headlined by former players Allen and Stewart, who each scored more than 3,000 career points.
Retired girls basketball coach Dori Oldaker won WPIAL titles at both Blackhawk and Mt. Lebanon. The 1983-84 Seton LaSalle team won WPIAL and PIAA titles that season, led by Parade All-American Suzie McConnell-Serio.
Allen, now an assistant coach at her alma mater Notre Dame, shared how her career didn’t start in a gym.
“Growing up in Monessen, I didn’t have access to an indoor gym, but I made do, with my father and my mother,” Allen said. “We’d go outside and just work on our game whether it was rain, snow or sleet. It didn’t matter.”
Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.
Tags: Franklin Regional
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