BUTLER TWP — The Butler County Sports Hall of Fame has announced the seven inductees for its 46th annual awards banquet April 30 at the Butler Days Inn.

Gaining induction are James Geist, Dess Schnur, Donald Wix, Bill Black Jr., Mike Franko, Courtnay Rattigan Bryson and the late Donald Hixon.

This will bring the Hall's total membership to 326 inductees.

The 2000 Karns City girls basketball team — with Rattigan at center — won the PIAA championship and will be honored at the fete. The team's coach, Larry Deal, will speak on behalf of the Gremlins.

“That was a tremendous team and their induction is very deserving,” Hall of Fame president Dan Cunningham said.

“This is a diverse group of inductees. A lot of sports are represented through this select group of athletes.”

Selections are annually grouped into four categories: Deceased, Era I (oldest), Era II (middle years) and Era III (modern years).

Tickets for the 6:30 p.m. banquet are $20 and table reservations of eight can be made. Tickets are available at Bill's Beer Barn and Snack ‘n Pack in Butler, Parker Appliance in Chicora and Saxonburg Drug.

Information on this year's inductees follows:

James Geist

A 1985 Knoch graduate, he excelled in the javelin throw. Geist's toss of 210 feet, four inches in 1985 is still the school record.

Geist won the Butler Invitational, Fort Pitt Invitational and WPIAL championship his senior year. He placed third in the state meet that season.

Geist moved on to Slippery Rock University and holds the javelin record of 230 feet, two inches, setting that standard in 1989.

Dess Schnur

Schnur has dedicated 50 years to baseball in Butler County as a player, coach and promoter.

He played for East Butler teams coached by his father. He went on to compile a record of 423-188 as manager of the East Butler American Legion program, winning ten county championships.

Schnur oversaw the fundraising efforts for renovation of the East Butler Baseball Complex, was vice president or president of Butler County American Legion Baseball for nearly 30 years, and is currently operational director of Pullman Park.

Donald Wix

A product of Mars High School, Wix was a three-year letterman in basketball and scored 389 points his junior year in 1954. He added 486 points his senior season.

He played baseball for the Mars American Legion team under the late Ches Marburger and played in two all-star games at Forbes Field.

Wix went on to play baseball for four years at Westminster College, hitting .354 to lead the team in 1958.

Bill Black Jr.

Born in Butler, Black was schooled at the Milton Hershey School in Hershey, playing baseball and hockey there. He returned to Butler following graduation and played baseball at Butler County Community College.

He spent 22 years coaching hockey at Butler and Hampton, compiling a record of 243-159-36, including three WPIHL championships.

As a golfer, Black has won the Butler County Amateur Open Championship twice, the Butler Eagle Amateur Open once, chaired the Butler Eagle Open committee for 12 years and won the Armco Golf Club (later renamed Oakview) several times.

Mike Franko

A two-year cross country and distance running letterman at Butler, Franko went on to be named all-state twice at Butler County Community College and completed the mile run in four minutes, 18 seconds while competing in track at Slippery Rock University.

After a tour of duty in the military, he returned to Butler and has served as president and director of the Butler Road Race since 2000.

Franko has garnered more than 100 awards for his age group in distance running, including at the Boston Marathon.

Courtnay Rattigan Bryson

A four-sport standout at Karns City, she played basketball, soccer, volleyball and ran track for the Gremlins.

Rattigan Bryson scored 1,433 points in basketball and played center for Karns City's 2000 girls basketball state championship team. She was named MVP of the title game and second team all-state.

She was first team, all-conference in soccer and third team all-conference in volleyball. She went on to play and coach at Indiana (Pa.) University.

Donald Hixon

A 1936 Penn Township graduate, Hixon was captain of the basketball team in 1936, setting the school single-season scoring record of 304 points.

He went on to play for various independent leagues in Western Pennsylvania and coached youth basketball, using the four corner offense made popular later by Dean Smith at North Carolina.

Many of Hixon's players went on to college ball. He also played catcher for Penn Township in the Eagle County Baseball League.