JACKSON TWP — There have been many great athletes, coaches and influential people in the 44-year history of Seneca Valley High sports.

Ten of them were honored Saturday night.

The inaugural class was inducted into the Seneca Valley Sports Hall of Fame during a ceremony in the intermediate high school auditorium.

The group included Ken Lockey, Rich Barron, Tim Kearns, Martha Fox-Weygandt, Van Walker, Dan Swingle, Mark Van Dyke, Gus Nicoll, Wayne Roccia and George "Doc" O'Shea.

"I tried to get a hall of fame started here back in the mid-1980s," said Lockey, legendary wrestling coach at SV. "But I couldn't get the support, at least from the people I needed it from.

"Then, over a year ago, (athletic director) Greg Caprara called me up and said what do you think of getting a Hall of Fame started?

"I said I think it's the greatest idea in the world," added Lockey.

Caprara had previous experience with such an undertaking.

"At Fox Chapel, I was the liaison between the school district and the athletic hall of fame," Caprara said. "Athletic halls of fame are mainstays at many high schools."

A committee made up of Caprara, Lockey, Roccia, current SV boys golf coach Steve Mayes and former athletic director and football coach Tom Heckendorn was formed to pick the first class.

The inductees were notified about three months ago.

"We wanted to start with the people who graduated or were involved with Seneca Valley sports from the mid-1960s through the mid-'80s," Lockey said. "They are the people who have waited the longest. The other halls of fame I'm involved with, that's how we've done it."

Evans City High and Zelienople High merged in 1964 to form Seneca Valley.

The challenge for SV's sports teams at that point was to take athletes who considered each other heated rivals and make them teammates under the same colors.

Walker and Roccia were members of the first class of athletes to spend their freshman through senior year at SV. Both starred on the school's football team.

During his induction speech, Walker recounted a story from the weeks before the SV football team played its first game.

"It was the morning of August 18, 1964, when the 14- and 15-year-old football players gathered for the first practice at the old Zelienople High School locker room," said Walker, who grew up outside of Evans City. "The kids assembled to see what 'Seneca Valley' was and to see if the reputations that followed kids from the other school were true.

"We didn't even have our new uniforms yet and we had to practice in old Zelienople uniforms, with the purple and gold colors."

Soon the players received their new colors: Columbia blue and black.

And the players soon became a true team.

"Kids were kids, and before long, we were without a doubt Seneca Valley," added Walker.

Fans, on the other hand, needed a bit longer to embrace the merger.

"Actually, I think it was easier on the players than it was on the older fans," said Roccia. "Evans City and Zelienople — that was a big rivalry. It took some of the fans a while to come around, but they finally did."

In the first few years of its existence, Seneca Valley needed stars to emerge on its sports teams to promote support from the student body.

This was especially true with a sport like wrestling, which Lockey introduced in 1966.

That's when Kearns came along.

"Tim was the guy who popularized wrestling in the school," said Lockey, who coached Kearns for four seasons until the latter graduated in 1970. "(Former Butler Eagle Sports Editor) Mike Surkalo called him the Babe Ruth of Seneca Valley wrestling."

Kearns reached the state title match his senior year.

"A lot of credit goes to Coach Lockey because he talked me into wrestling," said Kearns. "I wanted to go hunting and fishing.

"I lost my first three matches and then didn't lose again until my senior year," Kearns added. "I was pretty lucky."

All nine living honorees were present at the ceremony. O'Shea, who died in 1971, was represented by his son, Tim.

Several inductees came from as far away as Colorado, Texas and Florida.

"We appreciate the time it took them to get here," said Caprara. "It's an honor to have them here."