SRU's Mihalik gains Pa. Sports HOF berth
SLIPPERY ROCK — George Mihalik is adding another Hall of Fame to his legacy.
The 24-year Slippery Rock University head football coach will be inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame’s Western Chapter May 5 during a dinner at the Four Points Sheraton Pittsburgh North in Cranberry Township.
This will be the fifth induction of Mihalik’s career. He was previously enshrined in the SRU Athletic, Butler County Area, Cambria County and Ebensburg Bishop Carroll High School halls of fame.
“They’re all great and I cherish them all,” Mihalik said of his inductions. “This one, I had no idea was coming. It’s even more humbling because it’s on a larger scale.”
Mihalik was nominated for the Pa. Sports Hall of Fame by Darrell Hess, a Rock graduate and member of the SRU Athletic Hall of Fame.
The induction will cap a memorable nine-month stretch for Mihalik, who saw N.Kerr Thompson Stadium renamed Mihalik-Thompson Stadium last fall, coached The Rock to a share of the PSAC West championship and a berth in the conference title game, and helped produce one of the best recruiting classes in school history earlier this month.
“I just hope I don’t wake up,” Mihalik said. “It feels like a dream. I’ve truely been blessed.
“I appreciate all that’s happened and I take time to smell the roses along the way. I’ll certainly be doing that on this night in May.”
Mihalik is SRU’s all-time leader in football wins, carrying a 161-98-4 record. He ranks third in wins among active PSAC coaches, is fifth on the conference’s all-time victory list and ranks 12th among active NCAA Division II coaches in career wins.
Last fall’s PSAC West title was the fifth of Mihalik’s career.
“SRU is very proud of all that George Mihalik has accomplished here,” Rock athletic director Paul Lueken said. “And he’s done it the right way.
“George will tell you how the student-athletes and his fellow coaches are responsible for this ... They’ve helped make him successful and he’s helped make them successful.”
Mihalik said that without those players and coaches he’s been associated with, “none of this is even remotely possible.”
Mihalik has no retirement plans in the near future.
“We haven’t even talked about how many more years he’s going to coach,” Lueken said. “He can stay here as long as he wants.
“He’s working with a group of alumni on developing more scholarship support for football. This guy is far from just mailing it in. He’s excited about what the future holds here. We all are.”
SRU is putting in new turf at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium for the 2012 season.
“The success we enioyed last season has definitely re-energized me,” Mihalik said. “It’s given me even more motivation to expand upon that success and have an even better season next year.
“The challenge of going out there and achieving victories, chasing championships ... It keeps you young.”
Mihalik will be one of 10 inductees entering the Western Chapter of this HOF May 5. Others include former NFL quarterback Babe Parilli, Duquesne University basketball standout B.B. Flenory, longtime Duquesne basketball announcer Ray Goss and curent Boston Red Sox executive Larry Lucchino.
The Pa. Sports Hall of Fame was formed in 1962. Former SRU football coach N. Kerr Thompson — whose win record Mihalik broke — was inducted in 1985.
