The lives of Stan Szymanski and Gary Kepple have intertwined on many occasions.

Both were high school coaches at Freeport High School in the late 1980s. Both live on the same street in Sarver.

And on April 25, both will be inducted into the Armstrong County Hall of Fame along with Jeffrey Bowers, John Mancini, Frank Powers, Linda Swarts-Roth, and Robert Salankiewicz.

The ceremony will begin at 5:30 p.m. in Laube Hall at the Freeport Community Park. Tickets are $15 and are available at the door.

Szymanski, 72, was known for his baseball prowess, both as a player and coach, while Kepple, 62, is being acknowledged for his success with the Yellowjackets' football team.

"I love baseball," said Szymanski. "As soon as March Madness is over, we'll be into high school baseball, then college baseball and the College World Series. You can't beat that."

Kepple was the Freeport football coach for nine seasons from 1986-94 after serving 19 years as an assistant coach under Don Earley.

"We had a nice run in there," said Kepple of his head-coaching stint. "We made the playoffs four straight years (1989-92). One year we made the (WPIAL) finals (1989) and another year we were undefeated (1990).

"We were 8-2 (in 1988), but we didn't make the playoffs. They only took so many teams, but we could have played with anyone," Kepple added.

Szymanski was a pitcher for the North Vandergrift Indians sandlot team from 1947-49 and was a member of the Vandergrift High baseball team in 1948 and 1949.

"I played for North Vandergrift when I was 15 years old. Playing on that team was like playing with the New York Yankees," said Szymanski. "Every kid aspired to play for them."

His two seasons with the Vandergrift High team were the program's first two in existence and produced a pair of WPIAL championships.

Szymanski joined the Army for the Korean War and while stationed in Fort Richardson, Alaska, he was named Most Valuable Player in the U.S. Army All-Star Game three consecutive years in Fairbanks.

"Baseball saved my rear end," said Szymanski. "I was pipelined to Alaska. I played ball, and on every June 21, we played the All-Star Game. We played starting at midnight since there was 24 hours of daylight."

Szymanski played against Doc Blanchard, the 1945 Heisman Trophy winner for Army.

"He was so funny. He was playing first base for Air Force, and if someone was running down the first base line, he'd run up, knock him down, then run back to first. He was a horse. He weighed 240 pounds."

After his discharge, Szymanski received a partial baseball scholarship to Penn State, where he pitched for three seasons before graduating in 1958.

He followed up by pitching six years with the North Apollo Merchants, who played in the Tri-County and Kiski Valley leagues.

Szymanski spent 42 years working as a credit manager for True Value Distribution in East Butler.

Szymanski also coached Little League baseball for 15 years, where he coached sons Frank and Tony. He and his wife Rose also have two daughters, Patrice and Diane.

Szymanski coached Saxonburg in the Eagle County League from 1984-86 and for Freeport High the following two years, but left shortly thereafter because he wasn't a teacher and the teachers had filed for arbitration.

"I begged the superintendent I'd bow out, but the school administrators wanted me to keep coaching. We lost in arbitration, so I got the boot," he added.

Szymanski's name is so ingrained in the area that when Ford City needed a baseball coach, his name came up but the school hired the JV coach.

As for Kepple, he graduated from Freeport, where he played football, basketball and baseball for three years.

He played baseball and basketball at Salem (W.Va.) College for three years, graduating in 1964.

Kepple taught three years at Penn Township High School (now Penn-Trafford High School) for three years, where he coached junior varsity basketball before making the jump back home to Freeport in 1967.

"I came the same year Don Earley took over as football coach and was fortunate enough to stay with him for 19 years."

Kepple, who with his wife Mary Ann have two children, was a physical education teacher at the junior high school but moved to the high school when he became head football coach.

Kepple coached Freeport for nine seasons, amassing a 56-36-1 record. That 1989 team reached the WPIAL championship game at Three Rivers Stadium and the undefeated team the following year reached the WPIAL semifinals.

Kepple guided the Yellowjackets to a pair of Allegheny Conference titles in 1990 and 1992.

Along the way, Kepple also served as an assistant baseball coach for two years (1967-68) and was the head coach the next two seasons. He also served as an assistant track coach for 29 years.