Butler County Sports Hall of Fame: Meet 2026 inductee Jeff Schnur
For Jeff Schnur, success in one sport led to another.
Both sports — track and soccer — have earned him induction into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame.
“Most of the Schnurs were baseball players, were known for that sport, but I wasn't one of them,” Schnur said. “I loved to run. Some of my friends were on the track team, and I decided to give it a try.
“Everything just fell into place from there.”
Schnur will join Kelly Coffield, Brad Mueller, Jence Rhoads, Melinda Rhoads, Mike Seybert and William “Bee” Thoma at an induction ceremony at Butler County Community College’s Founder’s Hall. The ceremony will take place at 6:30 p.m. April 25. Individual tickets ($35) or for tables of eight are available at butlersportshall.com.
A 1972 Butler graduate, Schnur broke Howard Hammond’s Golden Tornado record in the 1-mile run. Schnur's mark was broken by Eddie Hartman. Schnur was coached by Dick Collodi in high school.
All three of those individuals are in the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame.
Schnur went on to run track and cross country at Slippery Rock University, where he was coached by Bill Lennox.
“Coach Lennox had a soccer background and believed in that way of conditioning,” Schnur said. “He had our cross country team on the soccer field playing for hours. That was my introduction to the sport.”
And Schnur stayed with it.
He founded the Butler County Area Soccer Association in 1976. He became Butler's first high school boys soccer coach when the Tornado added soccer as a varsity sport in 1983.
“Tom Campion and Robin McKee (friends from SRU and Butler) were going to join me in forming the youth soccer association,” Schnur said. “Tom wound up joining the Navy SEALS, and Robin left to become a stewardess for an airlines.
“I decided to stay with it because there was so much immediate interest in soccer in the area. It just took off.”
There were as many as 1,200 players — 9U through high school — in the youth soccer association at one point. Schnur was head coach of the Butler boys soccer team from 1983-93, winning six WPIAL section titles. He was WPIAL Coach of the Year in 1992.
“By the time the high school program got started, Butler had a lot of seasoned soccer players,” Schnur said. “We were able to be successful right away, and we maintained that success.
He was latered named the high school principal and had to stop coaching the team. But he never stopped coaching soccer in other ways.
Schnur remained heavily involved in the county youth soccer association. He coached Beadling Soccer Club for a decade and was an assistant coach with Marlene Peoples’ Tornado girls team that reached the state title game in successive years.
Schnur’s daughter, Meghan, played on those teams. She went on to play professional women's soccer and is in the county HOF.
“It was a special time for me, coaching Meghan and that team. … Their team was as good as any girls soccer teams to come through this area,” Schnur said.
Schnur has been an assistant coach on the Butler boys team for the past few years. He has been coaching soccer in Butler for 50 years.
“I still enjoy it,” Schnur said. “I always wanted to be a teacher because I love working with kids. That spilled over into coaching."
Schnur's career in education included 11 years as principal, eight years as a teacher, time as a counselor and assistant principal at Butler Junior High.
“I'm humbled to be going into this Hall of Fame,” Schnur said. “I don't know if I deserve it, but I'm grateful for it.
“I'm just proud of working with kids and serving the community all these years.”
