Hope McCorkle

ALLENTOWN — “I was destined to become an athlete.”

Those are the words of 1994 Knoch graduate Hope McCorkle — and she became a pretty good one.

A three-sport standout with the Knights and a two-sport star at Lafayette College, McCorkle will be inducted into the Knoch High School Sports Hall of Fame Friday during a ceremony prior to the school's football home opener.

“It's quite an honor and a privilege,” McCorkle said of her upcoming induction. “This will be like a family affair for us.”

McCorkle's uncle, Stan Crouch, is also part of this induction class. Her aunt, Jen Crouch, is already in the Knoch Hall of Fame.

McCorkle's father, Tim McCorkle, was a football and basketball standout at West Deer. Her mother, Vicki Osche, played volleyball at Knoch.

“I grew up around sports,” McCorkle said. “It's easy to see how I got involved in them.”

Now working in the marketing field in Allentown, McCorkle said she “learned how to be a team player, how to get the most out of myself and never to quit when you're behind,” through sports.

McCorkle earned all-state recognition in volleyball in 1993 and was a two-time All-WPIAL performer in the sport. She was a middle hitter for the Knights.

She threw the shot put, javelin and discus in track and field and played center in basketball.

“I had a triple-double and a few double-doubles,” she recalled of her basketball career. “I scored 27 points one night, but our team didn't win a whole lot of games.

“We had a lot of team, success in volleyball. That became my favorite sport, partly because of that.”

Moving on to Lafayette, McCorkle made All-East in the shot put and had the fourth-longest shot out in the country one year. She held the Lafayette women's shot put record of 47 feet, five inches for ten years.

In volleyball, McCorkle was ranked among the top 25 in the nation in blocks for three years. She also earned a medal at the Penn Relays.

“I just kept working at it,” she said of her athletic career at Lafayette. “I wanted to be there. I wanted to do that (set the shot put record).”

McCorkle wound up winning three individual Patriot League titles in the shot put. She earned three second team All-Patriot League honors in volleyball.

Her Lafayette record of 611 career blocks may never be broken.

“I think the second most on that list is somewhere in the 200's,” she said. “I'm pretty proud of that one.”

At the time McCorkle graduated from Lafayette, she was the volleyball program's all-time kills leader as well. She now ranks third on that list.

McCorkle was inducted into the Lafayette Hall of Fame in 2012.