SAXONBURG — Wherever he played, he shined. Wherever he coached, he won.

Now Les Shoop, 62, is headed to the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame. He will be inducted at the organization's 45th annual banquet April 24 at the Butler Days Inn.

Winner of 511 games as high school boys basketball coach — including 299 at Knoch — Shoop is entering his third enshrinement. He was inducted into the Armstrong County Sports Hall of Fame in 1984 and Indiana University of Pa. Hall of Fame in 2004.

"This one means more to me because the other two, I went in as a player," Shoop said. "This is the first Hall of Fame I'm going in as a coach.

"As a coach, you can have a greater influence on people. At some point, maybe you contributed to some kids going on to be successful in life. As a player, you don't have that kind of influence."

Shoop was a pretty good player anyway.

A 1965 Shannock Valley graduate, he left that basketball program as its second leading all-time scorer and was third team all-state his senior year.

Shoop was captain of the IUP basketball team his senior year, scored 991 points there and sank 82 percent of his free throws, fifth on the school's all-time list.

"Ever since I was a high school player, I wanted to be a coach," Shoop said. "I had a great high school coach in Tony Bernardi and I wanted to be like him.

"His attention to detail and passion for the game ... I always patterned myself after that."

Shoop went on to become head varsity boys basketball coach at Punxsutawney High School, where he posted a 212-98 record. He won five District 9 Class AAA championships there.

The winning ways continued when he came to Knoch. The Knights won three section titles and reached postseason play 11 times during Shoop's tenure there.

His coaching highlight at Knoch was reaching the WPIAL Class AAA title game in 2003.

"Even though we lost to Moon, just the atmosphere of playing at the Palumbo Center is something I'll never forget," Shoop said.

He followed coaches Terry Thompson and Ken Rhoades at Knoch — and stayed for 23 seasons.

Dee Faulx was his varsity assistant for every one of those years.

"When I took over at Punxsutawney and Knoch, the foundation for winning was already in place," Shoop said. "I was fortunate that way. We just built from there.

"Dee was the epitomy of what a junior varsity coach should be. He was loyal and he developed players. Even if I did something he didn't think was right, he wouldn't tell the players how he felt about it."

Shoop coached three of his sons at Knoch: Aaron, Josh and Jordan. A fourth son, Anthony, ran cross country.

"Dad was demanding as a coach, but fair," current Knoch High School athletic director Josh Shoop said. "You always knew where you stood with him.

"I never gave it much thought, but I guess he's one of the reasons I decided to pursue a career in education."

Les Shoop is most proud of the collegiate athletic success his sons enjoyed. Aaron played in the Division III National championship football game with Washington & Jefferson. Josh played for IUP basketball teams that made three consecutive Elite Eights.

Jordan Shoop played football for Division I-AA national champion Richmond in 2008.

"I was going to retire from coaching two years sooner than I did, but Jordan told me I coached my other sons all the way through high school, so I had to do the same for him," Shoop said.

Shoop announced Jordan's senior season would be his last as a coach — and kept that word despite sitting on 299 wins at Knoch come season's end.

"I had been walking through gym doors for 50 years," he said. "I wanted to do something else and I never wanted to cheat the game.

"It takes a lot of energy to coach. I was running out of that energy. Now I can do whatever I want when I want and I'm loving it."

And Josh loved playing for his father.

"He made you want to win for yourself, your school and him," Josh Shoop said. "That last piece of motivation is hard to come by for most coaches.

"But it wasn't hard for him."

Tickets to the banquet are $20 each with tables of eight available. Tickets are available at Bill's Beer Barn, Moses Jewelry Store at the Clearview Mall, Parker's Appliance in Chicora, Snack 'N' Pack in Butler and Saxonburg Drug.

<I>This is the fourth in a series of seven articles profiling the 2010 inductees into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame.</I>