Five individuals and the 1980 Blue Bomber boys basketball team will be inducted into the Palmerton Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday, Jan. 20 between the junior varsity and varsity boys basketball games against Northern Lehigh at the Palmerton Area High School gymnasium.

"Art" George Jr., the late G. Thomas Wargo, Debbie Rodrigues Samok, David Lucykanish and Nicole Levandusky will join the 1980 team as inductees. The last induction was held in 1988.Here is a brief biography of the inductees:"Art" George Jr."Art" enjoyed an outstanding career as a student/athlete and later as a teacher of "Industrial Arts" and coach at Palmerton Area High school. He graduated in 1954.He played baseball and started as a freshman and sophomore before switching over to track and field, where he threw the shot put and discus (setting the school record at the time), and long jumped. He led both the basketball and track team in scoring and was selected as the Most Valuable senior in both sports.In basketball, he was a unanimous selection to the Lehigh Valley League All-Star Team, was named to the Panther Valley All-Area All-Star team and to the Bloomsburg All-Tournament team.Art began his teaching and coaching career as the head baseball coach at Coplay High School (1962-63). Following those two years, he moved his teaching career to Palmerton, where he stayed until he retired in 1997.He spent 10 years as the Bombers head boys basketball coach, compiling a pair of 20 win seasons, 119 victories, and a Lehigh Valley League championship. He also guided his teams to four District 11 playoff wins, including a big 74-62 win over the Allen Canaries in 1970-71.His 30 years as track coach began in 1968 and produced championships in three different leagues (Lehigh Valley, Centennial and Colonial). The boys teams won 16 championships. During those events, there was 47 individual league champs and seven relay champions. At the District 11 meets, there were 36 individual champs and nine relay champs. At the PIAA State meets, there were two state champs and 53 who medaled second or third."Art" started a girls track program in 1975 and he guided the Lady Bombers to 15 various team titles. That included 37 league champs, eight relay team champs, 19 individual district champs, eight relay district champs, three PIAA state champs and 11 who medaled second through eighth.His boys overall record was 171-108-2, while the girls record was 115-97.G. Thomas WargoWargo graduated from Palmerton Area High School in 1957, earning 10 varsity letters (four in baseball, three in football, two in basketball and one in track and field.)On the gridiron, Tom played quarterback, was MVP his senior season, and also was named All-Lehigh Valley Honorable Mention that year.He was a guard on the Eastern Regional Championship basketball team and was named to the All-Lehigh Valley second team in 1957.On the track, Wargo ran the quarter-mile and was a fifth-place medalist at the District 11 meet.He was a pitcher and also played infield for the Blue Bombers on the baseball diamond. Tom participated in the District 11 golf tournament and was also active in intramural gymnastics.At the time, he became the fourth four-year letterman in the history of the school. He shared the first ever Varsity Club Trophy with Bob Mlkvy for the most high school career varsity letters.He was also President of the Student Council and a member of the National Honor Society.In the fall of 1961, he began his teaching career at Dieruff and went on to teach at Whitehall and Palmerton, before retiring in 1998 after 36 years in the classroom.He coached football, swimming, gymnastics, basketball and golf at Dieruff and Palmerton.Debra Rodrigues BiroDebra (Rodrigues) Biro graduated from Palmerton Area High School in 1976 as one of the finest female athletes in school history.She competed in field hockey for two years, gymnastics for four years, girls track and field for two years and cheerleading for two years.As a senior, she received awards for both the Outstanding Senior in gymnastics and Outstanding Senior in track and field.As a gymnast, she was third at the District 11 Tournament in 1973 for vaulting, second at the Lehigh Valley League Tournament for vaulting in 1974, second at the LVL Tournament and third at districts in vaulting in 1975 and LVL and District 11 champion in vaulting in 1976.Even though Palmerton had no organized girls track team, Debbie qualified for districts in the 100 and 200 yard dashes, as well as the long jump in her junior year. She won the long jump by setting a new District 11 record of 18 feet, 3 inches, becoming the school's first girls track and field district champion. She also finished second in the 100.She also qualified for the PIAA State Track and Field Championships that season, and was the state champion in the long jump with a leap of 18-9, setting a new state record in the event. The record stood for 18 years before it was broken in 1993.In 1976, as part of the school's first girls team, she won the Centennial League championship in the long jump and finished second in both the 100 and 200 dashes.She defended her district championship in the long jump and finished second in the 100-yard dash. She also repeated as state champ in the long jump with a mark of 18-8.After graduation, she coached gymnastics and track and field at both Panther Valley and Palmerton, serving as the Blue Bombers head coach for two years.David LucykanishDave's wrestling career at Palmerton Area High School was a classic.Beginning his career on the mat at the age of seven, Dave finished his high school career in 1987 as the school's first wrestling state champion.As a freshman, Lucykanish placed first in the league tournament.As a sophomore, he finished second at leagues, fourth at districts, third at regionals and set a school record for takedowns that season with 47.In his junior year, he became the first Palmerton wrestler to place at the PIAA State Championships, finishing third and bringing home a bronze medal.He finished an outstanding career when he brought home the 138-pound gold medal from the PIAA State Championships his senior year. His final win was even more dramatic since he wrestled despite an excruciating rib injury, which almost sidelined him.He finished that season with a 32-4 record and his career with 105 wins.Young wrestlers today are still being taught the "Lucy Throw", a move he developed and used to establish his impressive reputation on the mat.Nicole LevanduskyNicole graduated from Palmerton Area High School in 1997 and was one of the finest athletes to participate in the school's sports program. She participated in field hockey, basketball and softball.In basketball, she was a four-time All-League selection (Centennial League in 1994 and Colonial League from 1995 through 1997). She was also a three-time MVP (1995-97). During her career, the Lady Bombers compiled a record of 101-19, set a school record for most wins in a season (31 in 1996-97). She finished her career with 2,662 points, the most in Palmerton history. She also holds the single-game scoring record of 52 points.On the softball diamond, Levandusky, who hit a home run in her first at-bat as a freshman, set season records with 45 hits, 29 singles, 49 RBIs and a .577 batting average. For her career, she set records with 122 hits, 83 singles, 103 RBIs, and a batting average of .526. She was a four-time All-League first team all-star (Centennial League in 1994 and Colonial League in 1995, 1996 and 1997) and three-time league MVP (1995-97). The Lady Bombers won Colonial League titles in 1996 and 1997.In field hockey, she was named to the All-Colonial League second team.Nicole currently resides in Union, Kentucky with her son Luke and partner, Michelle, where she is the owner of Active Edge Apparel. She is also the head varsity girls basketball coach at Randall K. Cooper High School.1980 Palmerton Boys Basketball TeamThe Blue Bombers, coached by Peter J. Delich Jr. and assisted by his brother Donald Delich and Ron DeBias, finished the season with a 25-7 record (tied for most wins in a season).The team was made up of seniors Todd Hesse, Mike Svetik, Art George, Steven Quinn and Brett Craig, juniors Brian Suarez, Frank Johannes, Jeff Hagenbuch, David Silliman, Tom Wargo, Randy Snyder and Bob Anthony, and sophomore Jerry Snyder.Svetik and George were named First Team All-League, Quinn Second Team All-League and Jerry Snyder Honorable Mention All-League.The Bombers won the Lehighton Christmas Tournament by defeating Weatherly 68-58 in the title game.They also won the Centennial League with a 15-1 record and went on to beat Stroudsburg 57-45 in the league championship game at Whitehall.The team was also crowned District 11 AA champions (first district title since 1956 and school's fifth district title; currently PHS has seven district titles). The Bombers defeated Marian 81-75, Panther Valley 58-56 and Nazareth 48-45 at Rockne Hall in the championship game.The team went on to defeat Carbondale 77-59 at Pottsville before losing to Mount Carmel 48-46 at Pottsville in the Eastern Quarterfinals on a buzzer shot.