Four Selected to 2023 Brookville Area High School Hall of Fame Class
Four outstanding individuals have been selected to the 2023 class of the Brookville Area High School Hall of Fame at the HOF Review & Selection Committee‘s annual meeting on Thurs., Aug. 10.
The 2023 class includes Kenneth Burkett, a 1970 graduate; Brookville resident Dr. John Grottenthaler; the late Larry McManigle, a 1950 graduate; and the late H.C. "Chuck" Taylor, a 1920 graduate.
The 2023 class selections were announced by John Pozza, chairperson of the school’s ad hoc HOF Committee.
The four will be inducted at a public assembly during the school day on Thurs., Sept. 21 in the high school auditorium.
Kenneth Burkett
Burkett, executive director of the Jefferson County History Center, has turned the center into a mini-world class museum. He started his tenure on its board of directors, became board president and eventually executive director. He has been the mastermind behind most of the center's award-winning exhibits, bringing in prestigious state and national awards. He has also volunteered countless hours in planning and building the history center's highly acclaimed and award-winning Scripture Rocks Heritage Park.
A resident of Fairmount City, Burkett's accomplishments as an archaeologist are many, and he has been recognized by the volume of awards he has received and archaeological projects and publications he has done.
In 2022 he received: the Society for American Archaeology Crabtree Award for his many important contributions to the field; the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology (SPA) Lifetime Achievement Award; the PA Museum Award for the Pollinator Pond Habitat at the Heritage Park; and U.S. Congressional, PA State Senate, PA House of Representatives and Jefferson and Clarion County Citation Awards. In 2021 he also was awarded the annual Dr. Walter Dick Memorial Award from the Brookville Area Chamber of Commerce for his outstanding community service, the highest honor bestowed in the Brookville community.
In 2021, Burkett proposed and won approval from the PA Historical and Museum Commission to have a state historical marker placed in western Clarion County marking the site of the Parkers Landing Petroglyphs, one of the rarest prehistoric sites where native peoples inscribed images into the bedrock outcrop of the Allegheny River. He also spent almost 20 years excavating the Fish Basket Native American Village sites near New Bethlehem that eventually earned a state historical marker from the commission.
On behalf of the history center, he also received the PA Museums’ Special Institutional Achievement Award in 2020 for the Stones N’ Bones 3-Gallery Exhibit at the PA Museum’s annual conference at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh.
A student of the Central Technical Institute based in Kansas City, MO, Burkett is a requested speaker at various venues on topics from Scripture Rocks Heritage Park to archaeology and Native Americans.
From 1988-2000 he was the EMS director at Clarion Hospital and from 1996-2000 the regional EMS inspectorfor the PA Dept. of Health. Burkett is also a paramedic in Jefferson and surrounding counties, and still assists Emergency Management of Jefferson County with consultations and event assistance.
Burkett has served on the boards of the North Fork Chapter 29 of SPA, the PA Great Outdoors Visitors Bureau, PA Lumber Heritage Region, Brookville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Hawthorne Fire Dept.
Dr. John Grottenthaler
Dr. Grottenthaler was the Superintendent of the Brookville Area School District for 22 years, from 1974 until 1996. Under his leadership the school district thrived.
He not only continues to be a pillar in the community, but he has mentored many superintendents in the area, which is a credit not only to his leadership style but to his dedication to the profession. Dr. Grottenthaler's dedication went beyond his service to the schools. He believed in his community and gave back to it.
He served on the WRC Senior Services' board, focusing on bettering the lives of seniors in the community. He also volunteered his time for various fundraisers and festivals at Brookville's Immaculate Conception Church. The community showed their appreciation and gratitude for Dr. Grottenthaler and his work by making him the Grand Marshall of the 1996 Western Pennsylvania Laurel Festival.
Dr. Grottenthaler played a key role in the development of prospective teachers. He believed that teaching was a noble profession. Consequently, he not only promoted the profession but touted his staff and faculty in his daily interactions. His dedication and commitment to making the district a focal point of the community was extremely important to him.
He respected the views of students, parents, teachers, staff and the school board. He believed in a team atmosphere and felt that every person or group he worked with were there for the students of the district. His time as superintendent wasn't about him as a leader; it was about creating an educational experience that benefited both the students of the district and the community. In other words, it is and was the BASD community that played a large role in Dr. Grottenthaler's success. He loves Brookville and has remained a resident after retiring.
He earned his Bachelors degree from Clarion State Teachers College in 1957, and his Masters degree from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and Doctorate in Education from the University of Pittsburgh in 1970.
In 2013, he received the distinguished alumni award from his alma mater, the Deer Lakes School District in Allegheny County, just outside Pittsburgh.
Larry McManigle
McManigle was a math and health teacher at Brookville for over 30 years and served two stints as the high school mens head basketball coach from 1960-1974, and from 1987-1993.
He is the winningest mens head basketball coach in BAHS history (261-229). The annual traveling trophy is named after McManigle and his long-time friend, former all-time Punxsutawney, NBA, Olympic and Naismith Hall of Fame coaching great Chuck Daly, in the annual Brookville-Punxsy basketball rivalry with the trophy awarded to the winner.
McManigle, who passed away in 2016, was a leader of youth and adults on various projects within the Brookville community, through his dedication to personal growth, hard work and education. He was also an active member of the Brookville Presbyterian Church.
He improved the lives of the many people who had the privilege of being mentored by him. His memory and example will carry on through the many stories of those who respectfully remember him as their teacher, as their coach and as their patriarch.
Teachers at BAHS gave Mr. McManigle the quality education and mentorship he strived for, as well as the opportunity to play sports that served him well in pursuing his own career as a teacher and coach.
McManigle earned his Bachelor's degree from Slippery Rock University in 1954. After receiving his degree, he joined the military and was awarded the Good Conduct Medal at Fort Sill, OK while serving as a Specialist 3rd Class with the US Army's 18th Field Artillery Battalion from 1954-1956.
After leaving the military, he started his first teaching job working at the former Summerville High School. Eventually, when the school district consolidation took place, he began working at the Brookville High School.Multiple generations of families had him as a teacher or coach in school until his retirement in 1993.
H.C. "Chuck" Taylor
Taylor was an outstanding athlete in both track and swimming at Brookville and Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, PA. He held several BHS school records in both sports. He was also an international track and field athlete at both Mercersburg and at the Ivy League's Princeton University, winning numerous medals, including a gold medal in the long jump and a silver medal in the pole vault at the World International AAU Games in London in 1921.
Following his graduation from Brookville, he attended Mercersburg for two years, graduating in 1922. He then went onto Princeton University, in Princeton, NJ, where he earned his Bachelor's degree in Economics in 1926.
As Taylor’s former track coach Jimmie Curran at Mercersburg stated, “As far as I can see, his success never spoiled his work ethic, as is the case with so many young athletes.” Curran said Taylor knew how to keep his head straight in both failure and success in the true spirit of a sportsman.
Professionally, Taylor worked overseas in Switzerland a few years before returning to his hometown of Brookville for good in the early 1930s. He worked for the W.J. Sandt Co. in Brookville, an oil and gas wholesaler, for the rest of his professional life, retiring in the early 1970s.
He was recognized both nationally and internationally for his accomplishments, both at the Sandt Co., the Pennzoil Corporation’s first oil and gas wholesaler, and in athletics for his prowess in track & field. Taylor was previously inducted into the former Brookville Sports Hall of Fame and received the Brookville Chamber's annual Dr. Walter Dick Memorial Award for community service in 1965.
Taylor, who passed away in 1988, was the long-time board president of the Brookville Area Chamber and the Brookville Area Industrial Foundation.