BUTLER TWP — The 56th Butler County Sports Hall of Fame Banquet will take place at 6:30 p.m. April 27 at Founders Hall on the campus of Butler County Community College.

This will be the organization’s first induction banquet since September of 2022.

“We wanted to take a year off to restructure things a little bit,” first-year BCSHOF president Dess Schnur said. “We’ve had some changes in the organization.”

The eight inductees this year are Butler swimming great Josh Barthlow; Seneca Valley, Slippery Rock University and NFL offensive lineman Brandon Fusco; Mars girls basketball standout Lily Grenci; legendary SRU track and field coach John Papa; retired Mars girls basketball coach Dana Petruska; Knoch soccer and running standout Kevin Doyle; Knoch multi-sport athlete Tammie Kelley; and Butler Eagle sports editor John Enrietto.

Tickets are $35 each or $225 for a table of eight. Ticket outlets include the Butler Radio Network, Parker Appliance in Chicora, Saxonburg Drug and Maddalon Jewelers in Zelienople.

Tickets may also be ordered online at butlersportshall.com.

Here is a synopsis of this year’s inductees:

Josh Barthlow

A 2004 Butler graduate, Barthlow was a four-time WPIAL champion — twice each in the 100-yard butterfly and backstroke — and a state champion in the 100 butterfly.

He still holds school records in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke. Barthlow was also ranked among the top three nationally at the 2004 YMCA national championships.

He went on to a promising collegiate career at East Carolina before shoulder injuries curtailed his career.

Brandon Fusco

A Seneca Valley graduate, Fusco went on to a great football career at SRU, winning the Gene Upshaw Award in 2010 as the best lineman in NCAA Division II and being named All-American.

A team captain while at The Rock, Fusco was drafted in the sixth round by the Minnesota Vikings and enjoyed an eight-year NFL career with the Vikings, San Francisco 49ers and Atlanta Falcons.

Fusco played in 90 NFL games, including 87 starts from 2011-18.

Lily Grenci

A 2009 Mars graduate, Grenci scored 1,718 points and collected more than 1,000 rebounds in her high school basketball career. She was the WPIAL Class AAA Player of the Year her senior season.

She went on to Siena College, where she scored 1,974 points and collected 624 rebounds.

John Papa

A 1979 SRU graduate, Papa was an outstanding national competitor in the decathlon. He went on to coach The Rock’s cross country and track and field teams for 35 years.

During his coaching career, Papa guided 12 national championship teams and 127 All-Americans. His teams tallied 25 PSAC titles and he was named PSAC Coach of the Year 21 times, Atlantic Region Coach of the Year 16 times.

Dana Petruska

The retired Mars girls basketball coach excelled at every stop of her coaching career. She led teams to the WPIAL playoffs 23 teams, the PIAA playoffs 11 times and won a state title with the Planets in 2018.

Her coaching career — which included softball, volleyball and basketball — spanned more than 30 years.

Kevin Doyle

A 1998 Knoch graduate, Doyle scored a then-school record 19 goals for the Knights soccer team in 1996. He set school records in the 1,600 meters and 3,200 meters at Knoch as well.

He was WPIAL champion in the 1,600 in 1998 and went on to Saint Francis (Pa.) University, where he was NorthEast Conference cross country champion and ran a school-record time in the 5,000 meters.

Tammie Kelley

A 1983 Knoch graduate and 1987 SRU graduate, Kelley was the No. 1 ranked heptathlete in 1985-86 while at The Rock. She set school records at Knoch in the 400 meters, 300 hurdles, 100 hurdles, 4x400 relay and 200 meters.

She also played basketball and volleyball at Knoch before accepting a full scholarship in track at SRU. She went on to become an FBI agent, winning the fitness award in the FBI Academy in 1995.

John Enrietto

Sports editor of the Butler Eagle for 27 years, Enrietto is receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award. He’s spent 44 years in sports journalism.