The Carbon County Hall of Sports Hall of Fame committee will hold its 2026 induction dinner and program on Sunday, May 24, at the Franklin Township Volunteer Fire Company hall.

The ceremony will honor 25 inductees from six 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 p.m.

The inductees include:

Coaldale – Christa (Mantz) Evanko, John Molotzak and Dr. Karoline Vavra.

Jim Thorpe – Walt Schlenner, David Reese and Joe Rader.

Lansford – John “Jack” Steber, John Hackash Jr. and Jake Figner.

Lehighton – Glenn Neff, Jacen Nalesnik and Rick Kirkendall.

Nesquehoning – Dr. Mark Makovec, Mike Makovec, Ryan Richards and Mike Lopata.

Palmerton – Geno Roberts, Darryl Roberts and Jerry Snyder.

Summit Hill – Ed Shober Jr., Fred Cinicola and Victor Koshuta.

Tamaqua – Brayden Knoblauch, Emma Kuczynski and Amber Carroll.

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, Evan Evans, 570-645-7716, Jeff Hager, 610-737-2577, and Brandon Heffelfinger, 570-273-5555, or 570-449-6664.

The inductees representing Lehighton are as follows:

Rick Kirkendall

Rick Kirkendall, a 1977 graduate of Lehighton Area High School, was an outstanding wrestler there who won a series of championships on the mats.

Wrestling for the Indians from 1974-77, he was a two-time league champion, District 11 champion in the 1975-76 season and a runner-up at the district level the following campaign.

In both the 75-76 and 76-77 seasons, he finished as a runner-up in the Southeast Regional tournaments of the PIAA.

Before he graduated, he compiled a record of 80-17-1 while in an Indian uniform, a winning percentage of 82 percent.

Rick was also a first place winner in the United States Naval Academy Takedown Tournament held at Annapolis, Maryland, and was a Junior Olympics medalist.

He won numerous other tournaments before his career ended, including the Saucon Valley Tournament.

Glenn Neff

Glenn Neff was a star wrestler and football player for Lehighton Area High School from 1972-75.

He was a District 11 and Southeast Regional champion (with only three years of wrestling under his belt and no exposure before high school).

Glenn was a member and captain of the football team that participated in the last year of the Lehigh Valley League. In his junior year football season, he was selected, along with Jim Tkach, to the All Lehigh Valley League Team, but was then sidelined for much of his senior year due to an injury.

Glenn was a member of the Indians’ wrestling team coached by Roland Alger that still holds the best record, with victories against Nazareth, Northampton, Whitehall, Dieruff, Allen and Emmaus. Its only loss was to Bethlehem Catholic by a 22-21 score.

Glenn was inducted into the Lehighton Wrestling Hall of Fame, along with his brother Roger.

In 1976, he had an appointment to the Naval Academy but opted to attend nearby Kutztown University, where, as a freshman, he qualified for and attended the NCAA Division 3 wrestling tournament in Iowa.

In the early 1980s, Glenn considered LVL president Dr. Dale Poe’s offer for the Lehighton High head coaching position, but chose to stay at the Bethlehem Steel Corporation (1978-84). This gave him the opportunity to coach his brother, Roger, as they traveled from Lake Placid to Florida (with stops all along the East coast), culminating in Roger becoming a member of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic wrestling team.

It was those experiences that prompted Glenn to travel and work in different areas of the country, including a position as head of security at Coeur d’Alene Resort, Idaho.

Ultimately, his talents for guiding and coaching led him to work in special education.

As a certified paraprofessional, he worked through the Carbon-Lehigh Intermediate Unit with students in enhanced autism as well as emotional support in the Jim Thorpe, Palmerton and Northern Lehigh school districts.

Glenn continued this work in New Jersey at the Harbor School and summers were spent at the beach as boardwalk supervision for the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association in Ocean Grove, New Jersey.

Now retired, Glenn is back in the Lehighton/Palmerton area. You can often find him “out and about” with his stepson, George Bartels. He is grateful for his opportunities and experiences and that his sons, Jarrod, English teacher at Parkland High School, and Tyler, U.S. Navy (16 years), and their families, are happy and healthy.

Jacen Nalesnik

Jacen Nalesnik graduated from Lehighton Area High School in 2013. As a student-athlete, he left his mark on each sport in which he participated.

Jacen’s love of baseball started at a young age. He was a pitcher, shortstop and catcher in his Little League years. Throughout these years under the leadership of Coach Joe Hedash, the teams brought home three District 18 titles (2005-07). Jacen continued to play baseball for various travel teams and the Lehighton Legion team until he started his high school career as an Indian.

While playing as an Indian under Coach Polaha, the team won the 2010 District 11 championship when Jacen was a freshman, and reached the district finals again in his senior year. Jacen was the team’s catcher throughout his four varsity years.

He is the Indians’ current leader in all-time hits (138), runs (112) and RBIs (113). Jacen was also named a MaxPrep Freshman All American and Times News Player of the Year, and was a selectee four times to the Morning Call First Team, three times as the school MVP and three times to the Mountain Valley Conference First Team.

Jacen also received four varsity letters for his contributions to the Indians’ football team, where he played multiple positions throughout his career, including tight end, quarterback, punter and kicker. In his junior year, he led the Times News area in scoring with 144 points and 19 touchdowns and was named Offensive MVP for the Indians. In his senior campaign, he finished the season with 14 touchdowns, 728 yards rushing and 34 receptions and was named team MVP. He ended his gridiron career with over 100 career receptions and over 1,000 receiving yards.

Throughout his years at Lehighton, Jacen earned an additional four varsity letters, two each in wrestling and basketball, and was named basketball MVP in his junior year. He was named a Scholar Athlete for the Mountain Valley Conference in baseball, basketball and football, which was the first time a student-athlete received the honor in three sports. He was also valedictorian of his graduating class.

Jacen continued his baseball career at Lehigh University. Under the leadership of Coach Leary, the Mountain Hawks brought home the Patriot League title in 2015, earning them a bid to play in the NCAA tournament at LSU. Throughout his career at Lehigh, Jacen was named two-time All Patriot League, earned ABCA All East honors in 2015, received Second Team All ECAC honors in 2016, was named First Team All ECAC in 2017 and was named to the Academic All Patriot League Team.

In his senior year, he led the Patriot League in home runs (13) and slugging percentage (.606) and was second in runs scored (53). When he graduated in 2017, he left his mark on Lehigh baseball as third in at-bats (702), third in hits (218), second in home runs (22), sixth in RBIs (123) and fifth in runs scored (140).

Jacen continues to play baseball in the summer for the Northern Yankees in the Blue Mountain League, where the team won the Blue Mountain League title in 2021.

Several years ago, he returned to his Lehigh alma mater as an assistant baseball coach before teaming up with Coach Polaha as an assistant baseball coach at Northwestern Lehigh High School for the past three years, where the Tigers won the 2025 District 11 championship.

Jacen continues to give back to the sports that shaped his youth by officiating baseball and football at various levels.