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 Summit Hill are as follows:

Casey A. Lawrence

As a youngster, Casey A. Lawrence was a student of athletes and their response to sports, constantly analyzing how athletes perform during an event. A very talented student, he participated in football, basketball and baseball and brought the analysis to his sporting career.

During his grade school, one could see the development of a “thinking athlete” who would develop into a talented student.

His high school career was a contest to see which sport would dominate his interest. Football was his first varsity sport, where he was an outstanding receiver and defensive back. By his junior and senior seasons, he was selected captain, a testimony to his maturity.

Basketball followed, where he was an outstanding guard. Baseball was his Spring sport, where he reached the varsity as a freshman.

Football took over as a main sport. As a sophomore, he started and began a journey to the leadership of his personality. His new coach, Frank Damian, moved him to quarterback and taught him the new “pistol” offense. His play-making ability was instantly noticeable; he was able to hide the ball on dive plays while his passing was developing a deep threat. The weight room was the next step in his development, by his senior year he assumed the starting position on the football team.

Casey, the player, emerged, and a new era emerged at Panther Valley. Preparation paid dividends, weight training added speed and strength to his abilities. His youthful curiosity how players responded in situations allowed him to develop his faking technique to confused opponents. He scored three times only to have his scores negated when the player he faked the ball to was “blown dead.” Lessons were learned from the mistakes made. Casey’s total yardage amounted to 3,195 passing yards, making him second on a long list of Panther athletes. His 41 touchdown passes is an impressive total while rushing for an additional 12 touchdowns. Playing both offense and defense, Casey was able to seize eight interceptions during his career.

Numerous awards were earned for his football skills: twice, he was honored by the Times News and Morning Call as a player. The Standard Speaker honored him as Offensive Player of the Year. He was named to the Schuylkill County All Star Team and the Reading Eagle All Anthracite Team.

His greatest honor was his selection as quarterback on the WNEP Super 16 Dream Team, one of only two to be honored to date.

Locally, Casey was the recipient of the Major William C. Whitehead Memorial Award, named in memory of the former West Point and Lansford hero and Hall of Fame member.

Casey took his skills to Albright College, where he played as a defensive back.

Basketball and baseball were victims of his success in football, although his baseball career saw a Division III Schuylkiill League championship. Pitching, and his speed in the outfield, led to a four-year conditioning program while batting near the .300 level over four years.

Casey has earned the right be the fifth member of his family to join the Carbon County Sports Hall of Fame, joining his great uncle, Edward Conahan (1998), his grandfather, Trevor Lawrence (2002), his father, Trevor Lawrence Jr. (2016), and his brother, Trevor Lawrence III (2024).

Lessons learned as a youth have produced a person with excellent credentials.

Richard D. Smith Jr.

Richard Smith Jr., a 2013 graduate of Panther Valley High School, was a four-year letterman and three-year captain of the Panthers’ gridiron team who amassed 1,112 yards rushing on 146 carries in his senior campaign.

He scored 15 rushing TDs and also caught six passes for 105 yards and two six-pointers. Defensively, he recorded 112 tackles, including two sacks, and had a pick-six score for the Panthers.

He was accorded numerous honors for his gridiron performances, including being named to the First Team All Area and All Conference teams as a linebacker and running back, and being named to the League Dream Team ad a running back.

Rich was a Times News First Team linebacker and running back and was named player of the week by the paper for a three-TD, 225-yard game. He was also a Fox News 56 and Blue Ridge TV 13 player of the week, after he scored seven touchdowns and rushed for 246 yards in a game. The seven TDs is a PV record for scores in a game.

Rich was named Offensive Player of the Year in his senior campaign, when he was also the Panthers’ Scholar Athlete, an All County First Team linebacker and running back, a Schuylkill County All Star selection, All State honorable mention player and the team’s MVP as a senior.

He also starred on the diamond for the Panthers, being a three-year letterman and two-year captain. As a junior, he carried a .250 batting average, had seven RBI and was ranked in the top 10 in stolen bases in the Schuylkill League. The following year, he batted .452 with eight RBI and was third in the county in stolen bases. His batting average and on-base percentage as a senior topped the Schuylkill League.

Rich wrestled for a year at PV, lettering with a 21-10 record.

In the classroom, he was a four-year Distinguished Honors student and ranked in the top 10 percent of his graduating class. He was his class president for four years and served on the Student Council for four years.

His extracurricular activities included being a JROTC officer and serving as a A/V Club, Yearbook Committee, Harmony Scholars and Newspaper Committee member for four years, as well as being a church volunteer and altar server and a Toys for Tots and Black and Gold Day volunteer.

Rich went on to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., where he lettered on the football team for one year. In 2014, he had four solo tackles, two tackle assists and one forced fumble. He competed in the Sandhurst Competition there, where he was a team leader in premier military skills, and served as a platoon sergeant and a Scout Master’s Council assistant.

A dean’s list student at West Point, he graduated with a bachelor of science degree in information technology (cybersecurity focus); received the Bilodeau Award as the highest-ranking IT student; and was a co-author of a New York Times op-ed, “The New Face of Leadership We Need; Empathy in Action.”

His military and professional achievements include: medically retired captain (2024); senior instructor who trained over 400 personnel annually in mechanized infantry tactics; company executive officer leading 150-plus personnel and managing over $20-million in assets; platoon leader who directed multicultural team in multiple deployments; and a battalion sustainment officer who managed logistics and procurement for operations exceeding $50-million. His notable deployments were to Syria, Kuwait, Bulgaria and Poland.

Rich is currently a senior product associate for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., having transitioned from military service to a leading role in technology and financial services.