George Guido: Kittanning’s Mitch Frerotte headed to hall

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, February 21, 2018 | 12:06 AM

Mitch Frerotte played in three Super Bowls during his six-season NFL career but also was known as a free spirit during his playing days.

His accomplishments include starting on Penn State's 1986 national championship team, playing in the Big 33 all-star game representing Kittanning and setting the NFL record for touchdowns on guard-eligible plays.

Frerotte, however, never forgot his Armstrong County roots. Now, the Armstrong County Hall of Fame will remember Frerotte posthumously at its 46th annual induction banquet April 29 at Freeport's Laube Hall.

Frerotte died June 11, 2008.

He will be one of 10 inductees at this year's event.

• Curtis Cutts. A Ford City graduate, he earned all-conference football honors as a quarterback and defensive back. Cutts later became an all-section basketball player and went on to Central Michigan, where he led the program to a pair of MAC titles and a Motor City Bowl win.

• Dave Fuhrman. A 1975 Freeport grad, Fuhrman coached Bradford High School basketball after graduating from Robert Morris. While at Bradford, he compiled a 340-171 record, winning 11 District 9 titles, and his teams won 20 or more games 10 times.

• Maggie Jones. A member of four Leechburg softball section title teams and three WPIAL runners-up, she also was on four Blue Devils volleyball playoff teams. Now the Kiski Area softball coach, Jones also lettered four times at Seton Hill as a shortstop.

•Ed King. A member of Freeport's 1972 WPIAL football runner-up, he was a stalwart on one of Armstrong County's best defensive units ever. In track, he still holds the school's discus record. After four years at the University of South Carolina, he is the athletic director at DeMatha Catholic High School in Maryland.

• Mike Nagy. A Shannock Valley and IUP graduate, Nagy lettered in basketball, baseball and cross country. He was coach at East Brady, Highlands, Shannock Valley and West Shamokin, where he guided the Wolves for the school's first 15 seasons.

•Martin Sanders. A graduate of Kittanning and an early scholastic hockey player in Armstrong County, Sanders played at IUP from 1973-77 and later coached at Butler and was a hockey official.

• Andy Tressler. The 2006 Valley News Dispatch basketball Player of the Year, he led the program to the WPIAL quarterfinals and its first PIAA tournament appearance. Tressler lettered four times at La Roche, where he also earned academic all-conference honors three times.

• Mark Hodak. An inductee in the Builder category, Hodak played football for four years at Kittanning and went on to graduate from IUP. He has been a hunting instructor for 16 years and has won awards related to outdoor recreation.

• William Ivan White (posthumous). This year's Military awardee, White attended Vandergrift and later Kiski Area, where he played football and track. The native of the North Vandergrift section of Parks, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and was killed in action in Vietnam during a battle Oct. 14, 1967, at Quan Tri Province. White is honored on the Vietnam Memorial Wall on panel 28a, line 6.

Also, a male and female scholar-athlete from the six Armstrong County high schools will be recognized.

George Guido is a Valley News Dispatch scholastic sports correspondent. His column appears Wednesdays.

Tags: Armstrong, Freeport, Kiski School, Leechburg