The Carbon County Hall of Sports Hall of Fame committee will hold its 2025 induction dinner and program on Sunday, May 25, at the Franklin Township Volunteer Fire Company hall.

The ceremony will honor 17 inductees from five Carbon County communities and Coaldale and Tamaqua who were selected for the honor by committees representing each of the towns. The doors will open at 12:30 p.m. and the banquet will commence at 1:45.

The inductees include:

Coaldale: Dennis Gildea and Sami Vavra.

Jim Thorpe: Corey Cinicola, Justin Young and Chris “Chopper” Figura.

Lansford: Bob Thomas and Charles “Sparky” Williams; special recognition: Brenda Banks.

Lehighton: Roger Neff, Jean Buskirk and Thomas A. Schaeffer.

Nesquehoning: Frank J. Damian, Bobby Agosti and Elizabeth “Lisa” (Evans) Johnson.

Summit Hill: Casey Lawrence and Richard D. Smith Jr.

Tamaqua: Michael W. Hromyak Jr. and Jon Bonner.

Tickets to the event are available from the following: Dan McGinley, 570-325- 3550, Vince Spisak, 570-645-4542, Jake Boyer, 610-751-6634, Trevor Lawrence, 570-645-4722, Bill Gardiner, 570-669- 6564, Bob Gelatko, 570-645-7565, and Evan Evans, 570-645-7716.

The Times News will begin running the biographies of the inductees by town on Saturdays. The inductees representing Lansford are as follows:

Bob Thomas

Bob Thomas compiled a lengthy list of track accomplishments at Panther Valley High School, where he lettered for four years. He also lettered for two years in the Panthers’ wrestling program.

On the track, the speedster set three sprint records - 10.08 in the 100, 23.5 in the 220 and 50.8 in the 440.

He was undefeated in the 440 for three years in dual meets and held the Schuylkill League record in that event.

As a junior and senior, Bob was the Carbon County points leader in the Spring sport. He went on to win the Charlie Williams and Tom Ramer awards; was named Most Valuable Player in Track in his senior year; and won the Schuylkill League 440 championship three times.

At the district level, Bob became the 440 champion and 100 runner-up in his senior year. The year prior, the finishes were reversed, as he won the district title in the 100 and was its runner-up in the 440.

As a senior, he placed third in the state in the 440.

Bob ran summer races in Philadelphia, Allentown, Bangor and Nazareth and moved on to run cross country at Lehigh County Community College as a freshman and sophomore, gaining honorable mention status in his second campaign.

At East Stroudsburg University, he lettered in cross country as a junior and senior and ran indoor and outdoor track, setting the 880 indoor record in 1:57.7 and competing in the 440, 1,000 and two-mile relay competitions. He place sixth in the 880 ESU championships in a time of 1:54.8.

At the same time, he was used as a utility runner in events from the 100 to the mile, including relays, and in his senior season, he was a member of the winning mile-relay team in the Penn Relays’ college division.

In post college and summer races, Bob recorded some impressive times, including: 9.6 in the 100, 21.8 in the 220, 47.4 in the 440, 1:54.8 in the 880, 4:27.6 in the mile, 9:27 in the indoor mile, 1:08.12 in the 13.1-miles race, 14:32 in the indoor three mile, 14:30 in the 5K, 19:04 in the four mile, 24:10 in the five mile, 30:05 in the 10K, 52:00 in the 10 mile and a marathon time of 2:27.51.

He qualified for and ran the Boston Marathon six times and also ran in the New York, Philadelphia (9th), Atlantic City, Niagara Falls, Disney, Mechanicsburg and Pittsburgh marathons.

Bob has coached many sports, including cross country at Panther Valley and Jim Thorpe Area High schools, track and field at Panther Valley, as an assistant track and field and cross country coach at East Stroudsburg University, swimming, wrestling, basketball and presently adult baseball out of Bethlehem.

Charles Williams Jr.

Charles Williams Jr., a Lansford native, was a member of the first graduating class of Panther Valley High School in 1965. Prior to that, he attended Lansford High School, where he lettered in football and basketball for two years.

In his junior year at Lansford High, he quarterbacked the football team to a 6-0 victory over Coaldale High School in the final Thanksgiving rivalry game before the Panther Valley jointure was formed.

During Panther Valley’s initial season, Charlie was the first football player to score a touchdown for the newly-formed Panthers. He was a tri-captain of the 1964 team as well.

He also excelled on the basketball court and was captain of the 1964-65 Panther team. He received many accolades for his contributions on the court.

Upon graduating from Panther Valley, he attended Massanutten Military Academy in Woodstock, Virginia, for one year. He continued his role of quarterback there and was a co-captain of the football team in 1965.

Charlie then went on to further his education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1970 with a degree in education and majoring in comprehensive social studies.

After graduating from Indiana, he began his career as an educator in the Northampton Area School District. He taught driver’s education for several years before teaching social studies at the high school. He retired from the district in 2002 after a successful teaching career of 32 years.

While at Northampton, he coached the boys’ ninth grade basketball team for three years, before accepting the boys’ head coach position. Within three years, he helped to develop the high school basketball team to increasingly successful seasons, culminating in a trip to the state playoffs for the Konkrete Kids.

Charlie was also an assistant coach for Northampton’s track and field program at the high school.

He served as a mentor to many students during his time as an educator and continues to actively follow high school sports in the area.

He was an active member of the National Education Association, the Pennsylvania State Education Association and the Northampton Education Association.

Following his retirement from education, he was employed as a courier for the AD Company for 15 years.

Charlie has lived for many years in Bethlehem and was happily married to his wife, Carol, for 36 years before her passing.