The Marian Catholic High School Sports Hall of Fame will induct 10 former student-athletes into its fraternity during a dinner program set for Sunday, Oct. 20, at Capriotti’s Banquet Hall, Tresckow.

The hall was founded in 2004 and inducts former players and coaches every two years.

The event will begin with a social hour from 3-4 p.m., followed by the dinner and induction ceremony. Billy O’Gurek, head coach of the Marian football team, will be the master of ceremonies.

Tickets to the event are available by contacting committee chairwoman Sue (Shimkus) Connely at 570-590-3041 or Bill O’Gurek Sr. at 570-249-1117. The cost is $34 for adults, $24 for children aged 4-12 and no charge for children under 3.

Members of the 2024 induction class include:

Colette (Makowiec) Thomas

Colette (Makowiec) Thomas attended Marian Catholic High School from 1998-2002, during which time she was a steady presence on the Fillies’ basketball teams.

She was the starting point guard for the Fillies in her freshman season and continued to lead them through four successful years.

She was a four-year letter winner and two-year captain who achieved a number of accomplishments while playing for the Fillies, who advanced to the PIAA state playoffs in each of the four years she played, with appearances in the Eastern state final games in both her freshman and senior years. She made multiple All-Area and All-State teams throughout her career.

(Makowiec) Thomas is one of the leading scorers in Fillies’ history, having tallied 1,126 points.  She, along with 20 other Marian Fillies alumni, share the honor of being in the 1,000-Point Club.

After graduation in 2002, she attended King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, where she played for four years for the Lady Monarchs, graduated with a B.S. in biology and met her future husband, Ryan Thomas. She remained at King’s as an assistant coach in the 2007-08 season and completed a year of health care administration graduate school.

Since college, she has enjoyed pick-up basketball, running and crossfit-style workouts.

She resides in Maple Glen where she and Ryan almost have a team of their own: three girls, Priya (8), Naomi (5) and Leona (almost 2).

She is a principal medical device sales representative for Medtronic in the Cardiac Diagnostics Division, serving the medical and patient community in the Philadelphia territory.

Edward Shober

A 1977 graduate of Marian Catholic High School, Edward “Ed” Shober was a vital cog in the ascension of Colt football to supremacy. A two-way standout lineman, his offensive prowess was part of a state record in which, as a starting tight end and offensive tackle on the 1975 and 1976 Colt teams, he helped four different running backs surpass the 1,000-yard rushing mark.

That feat was never achieved by any other Pennsylvania high school grid teams between the late 1980s and 1995, which was seven years into the expansion of PIAA classifications when teams played between 12-16 games.

A son of the late Edward Sr. and Marie Shober of Summit Hill, and a highly-recruited Division I football prospect, Shober was one of the earliest D-I scholarship players from Marian, having been recruited by Army, Brown, Penn State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Rutgers, Temple, West Virginia, Cornell and Penn, which were among some 25 colleges and universities who sought his services.

Shober became the starting tight end on the Colt varsity team as a junior in 1975 and helped the team go 10-1 with two 1,000-yard rushers, Pete Albano and Fred Segilia. The following year, the Colts went 9-1 with two other 1,000-yard carriers, Jim and Joe Agosti, and during that two-year span, Shober was a major contributor to Blue and Gold teams that went 19-2, winning local championships both seasons and receiving the noted P & B Trophy that went to the area’s best team.

Possessing great blocking skills, especially on downfield blocking, Shober was a force to be reckoned with when the Colts took the field. In his senior year, with Hall of Famer Kevin Trice as the other starting tackle, Marian had what the Harrisburg Patriot called “the best tackle combination in the Southern Division of the Eastern Conference.”

Defensively, Shober and his teammates delivered six shutouts in a 10-game schedule, allowing just 53 points the entire season. Offensively, the Blue and Gold racked up 308 points, averaging a record 30.8 ppg.

After All-County, All-Region, All-Anthracite, All-Southern Division and All-East-West honors, as well as being a Big 33 Game nominee, Shober selected Brown University as his college choice, where he went on to become an offensive tackle who later had workouts with the Cowboys, Chiefs, Seahawks and Jets in the NFL.

After football, he had a highly-successful executive leadership career for 43 years, serving as senior vice president at Air Products. During his time there, he was also the chief operating officer of the company’s venture TriMEGA and CEO and board chairman of the DuPont Air Products venture, DANano.

He went on to leadership positions with APCI’s Versum Materials and then Merck KGaA of Germany.

Shober and his wife, the former Virginia Effie Depos of Hometown, have two daughters, Christie and Stephanie, who are both nursing home administrators, and they have three grandchildren, Maria, Mark and Matthew. 

Justin Barrasso

Justin Barrasso, a 1999 graduate of Marian Catholic High School, played a key role in helping the Marian Colts football team win the District 11 championship in 1998, its first since the 1993 season, and was the major offensive threat to opponents as the Blue and Gold advanced to the PIAA Eastern final.

Beginning his senior year as a slotback, Barrasso eventually moved to tailback full-time around midseason and went on to become a 1,000-yard rusher for the Colts, whose journey through the playoffs included four games.

In the District 11 competition, he rushed for 184 yards and four touchdowns in a win over Wilson Area, after which time the Colts won the district title by defeating Northern Lehigh in a game in which Barrasso had two TDs.

Against Bermudian Springs, he rambled for 230 yards and four touchdowns, before the Colts were saddled in the Eastern final by eventual state champion Mount Carmel.

Barrasso was an equally talented track speedster, but his football career started when he was a slotback on the Colts’ undefeated freshman team. He lettered as a sophomore when the Colts first defeated Catasauqua and then advanced to the District 11 title game before bowing to North Schuylkill. The following year, he sustained a separated shoulder but the Colts made it to the district finals again only to lose to Northwestern Lehigh.

After his career in Hometown, Barrasso went to Lehigh University on a football scholarship where he played for head coach Pete Lembo, the current head coach at the University at Buffalo who recruited current Marian tight end Michael Gelatko. He started his junior and senior years as the Lehigh fullback and played on the Engineers’ Patriot League championship teams in his sophomore, junior and senior years. They advanced to the second round of the NCAA playoffs when Barrasso was a junior before losing to Furman, which was quarterbacked by Billy Napier, the current head coach of the Florida Gators.

Also in his junior year, Lehigh won the Lambert Cup as the best Division I football team in the East. 

Angela (Rutch) Chromiak

A 2004 graduate of Marian Catholic High School, Angela (Rutch) Chromiak was a three-year starter on the volleyball court whose career was highlighted by a state championship and Times-News Co-Volleyball Player of the Year laurels with teammate Jill (Homyak) Snyder.

A three-year starter, (Rutch) Chromiak was a major contributor in the Fillies’ success as they won the District 11 championship in each of those years, as well as winning the gold medals in the Schuylkill League three times.

She and her teammates copped the ultimate prize in winning the 2003 PIAA state championship. In the title game, she recorded 20 kills and 17 digs and after the title match she was named Blue Ridge Cable TV Channel 13 Player of the Week.

In addition to being named the Times-News Co-Player of the Year on the court, (Rutch) Chromiak received other athletic/academic honors, being named Marian’s Female Scholar Athlete to the Schuylkill County chapter and receiving a Wendy’s Heisman Scholarship.

Before her career ended, she recorded 449 digs, 473 kills, 125 aces and 100 blocks. After her senior year, she was named to the All-State Second Team, the first teams of District 11, the Morning Call and Schuylkill League, and to the second team of the Pottsville Republican Herald All-Area Team.

The year prior, she was a second-team District 11 member, which she attained three consecutive years, and was an honorable mention Schuylkill League player.

Outside volleyball, she was a manager/statistician for the Colts’ baseball team for four years, including when they copped the 2000 District 11 championship. She later was a manager for the Colt basketball teams.

(Rutch) Chromiak went on to study special education at Moravian College and Kutztown University. For the past 13 years, she has worked for Access Services supporting adults with intellectual disabilities. She was honored recently with the Outstanding Community Service award from the Carbon-Monroe-Pike Mental Health and Developmental Services. 

Alanna (Zahora) Carr

Alanna (Zahora) Carr, a 2004 Marian graduate, played a leading role in helping the Marian Fillies basketball team go 50-14 over a two-year period in which they advanced one year to the PIAA Eastern final and the following season to the state championship game.

Transferring to Marian for her junior year, she helped the Fillies go 23-8 before bowing to Nativity in the Eastern final. That year, she led the area in scoring with 509 points, averaging 16.4 points per game and became the 14th player in Marian’s history to reach the 1,000-point mark.

As a junior, she was named the Times-News Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year, as well as to its First Team, and was named to the Pottsville Republican and Evening Herald All-Area Girls’ Basketball First Team. She also attained an honorable mention to the All-State team that year.

As a senior, she was tasked to lead a Fillie team that graduated four starters from the prior year. She and her teammates went 27-6, winning the Eastern final in overtime and advancing to the state championship game before bowing to Bishop Carroll.

That year, (Zahora) Carr tallied 19.2 points per game and scored 610 points, finishing her career with 1,762 points.

In addition, she grabbed 299 rebounds that campaign.

She was named to the All-State Second Team, Standard-Speaker Co-Player of the Year, Reading Eagle All-Anthracite First Team, Times-News Girls’ Basketball All-Stars First Team, Times-News Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year, the All-Area Girls’ Basketball First Team and the Channel 13 Player of the Year.

After her career at Marian, (Zahora) Carr received a full basketball scholarship to the University of New Haven. She went on to score 800 points there and helped the team advance to the semifinals of the East Coast Conference in her freshman and sophomore years, and then to the conference championships when she was a junior and senior, the latter when the squad made it to the NCAA First Round North East Regional.

She graduated with honors with a B.S. in accounting and earned a Master’s degree in accounting and taxation from the University of Hartford.

She and her husband of 15 years, Chaz, and their three children, Jayden (15), Liam (12) and Audriana (10) reside in Harleysville, where the children are involved in basketball, track, football and lacrosse.

David Lewis

David Lewis, a 1988 graduate of Marian Catholic High School, was a versatile member of the 1985 Colts 13-0 team that won the Eastern Conference Championship. He played wingback, slotback and wide receiver.

In the Colts’ only undefeated season in 70 years of football, Lewis had 19 receptions for 495 yards (26.1 ypc), 23 rushes for 223 yards and nine TDs.

On defense, he manned the safety position in the secondary, where he had two interceptions and numerous TD-saving tackles. He was a constant on special teams, averaging 34 yards as the punter and handling kickoffs as well.

Among Lewis’ heroics in a Blue and Gold uniform were a 77-yard TD run against Wilkes-Barre GAR in 1986 that sealed the Colts’ EC semifinal win; catching five passes for 105 yards and a TD against Central Columbia in the Colts’ 1986 EC championship win; and finishing his career with four receptions for 85 yards in a 14-0 win over Tamaqua Area in 1987.

At the end of the campaign, Lewis was named to the Schuylkill County First-Team Offense and to the All-American Football Second-Team Defense.

Despite suffering a broken leg in his senior year of 1987, Lewis came back in midseason and led the team in receptions with 23 and yards with 380 in just five games, earning Schuylkill County All-League First-Team honors. He went on to represent Marian in the Schuylkill County All-Star Game, where he had two receptions for 55 yards.

He ended his career with 43 receptions, 890 yards and 7 TDs and rushed 28 times for 236 yards and three six-pointers.

Lewis was a three-year starting catcher for the Colt baseball team. As a junior, he led the team in hitting with a .434 average with 23 hits, three home runs and 15 RBIs. The following year, he captained the team that went 14-5 and won the Schuylkill League division championship.

Lewis went on to play wide receiver for Bloomsburg University for four years and was second on the Huskies’ squad in 1990 with 33 receptions for 336 yards.

He graduated from Bloomsburg with a degree in education/biology, returned to Marian as a biology and human anatomy teacher from 1995-99, during which time he was an assistant football and baseball coach. He has been teaching biology and is the science department chairman at Pleasant Valley High School, Brodheadsville.

Lewis and his wife, Lori, and three children, Anthony, Talia and Justin, reside in Hometown. 

T.J. Lawrence

Trevor “T.J.”Lawrence, a 2004 Marian graduate, played varsity football and baseball each for four years and basketball for three campaigns, earning 11 letters, as one of the finest athletes to wear the Blue and Gold of Marian Catholic High School.

He entered the record books during his four years from 2000-2004 at the Hometown diocesan school, most especially being one of the most outstanding pitchers and hitters to step on the Colts’ diamond. He was also a standout on the gridiron as a star quarterback in the long list of Marian record-setting passers.

Lawrence suited up as a backup QB and played on numerous special teams in his freshman season of 2000 when the Colts won the District 11 Class AA championship while advancing to the PIAA Eastern final and finishing with a 12-2 mark. In the next three seasons, he took over the reins of the Colt offense and put up great numbers that placed him fifth in Marian’s career yardage passers. He amassed 3,546 yards, ranking him behind  Brent “Chuck” Andrew, Brian Kennedy, Ethan Kuczynski and Stan Dakosty Jr. He tossed 27 TDs and also ran for 14 TDs and 336 yards in his career.

It was his same strong arm and strength that enabled Lawrence to make an immediate impact on the Marian Colt baseball team, where he started as a pitcher and right fielder. In his four-year career, he put up prolific record-breaking numbers on the mound and at the plate.

The hard-throwing righty hurled all four years and also was the opening day pitcher for all four years, going 4-3, 7-1, 5-1 and 7-2 on the mound for a combined record of 23-7. He fanned 236 batters in 208 innings.

As impressive and dominant he was on the hill, Lawrence was even better at the plate, finishing his career as one of the top hitters in Marian history with 100 singles, 25 doubles, four triples and nine home runs.

During his career on the diamond, the Colts went 61-22, winning the Schuylkill League Division III championship in four straight years (2001-04), going undefeated in Division III play once and winning a District 11 title.

He became the second Marian pitcher to amass 20 wins. His total of 23 wins is still a Marian school record.

Lawrence also donned a Colt basketball jersey, playing three years of varsity ball, including back-to-back seasons when he saw action in all 27 Colt games. He ended his cage career with 533 points in 68 varsity appearance.

He went on to graduate in 2009 Moravian College, where he played baseball all four years, including his freshman season when he was the Commonwealth Conference Co-Rookie of the Year. 

Jill (Homyak) Snyder

Jill (Homyak) Snyder was a 12-time letter winner in her four-year athletic career as a Marian Fillie, having played significant roles on championship teams in basketball, volleyball and softball.

A 2004 graduate of Marian, she collected accolades in all three sports before a softball career at Bloomsburg University.

Perhaps (Homyak) Snyder’s most successful endeavors were on the volleyball court, where she helped the Fillies win four consecutive District 11 championships, including in the 2003-2004 campaign when the Fillies won the PIAA state championship. They won the Schuylkill League crown in three of her four years as well.

(Homyak) Snyder and her Fillies net teammates won the league and district titles when she was a freshmen and sophomore and were state semifinalists in 2001-2002.

In 2002-2003, she was named Times-News Volleyball Player of the Year, Republican Herald All-Area First Team and All-State honorable mention, when the Fillies were league and district champs and a state semifinalist.

The following year, they won the league, district and state crowns, when (Homyak) Snyder was again named Times-News Player of the Year and to the Republican Herald All-Area First Team. She was recognized as the school’s all-time leader in aces, second in digs and fourth in kills and was named the Schuylkill League Division II Player of the Year and to the First-Team All-State squad.

On the basketball court, she helped the Fillies advance to the PIAA state playoffs four times, including the 2002-2003 season in which they advanced to the state championship game in Hershey as the Eastern Pennsylvania champions.

In all four seasons, the Fillies cage teams she played on copped either silver or bronze medals in District 11 competition, as well as garnering the Schuylkill League championship when she was a senior. In addition to the state finalist finish when she was a senior, the Fillies were a semifinalist when she was a junior.

That year, she was named a Blue Ridge Athlete of the Week and to the Senior Charity Bowl All-Star Team.

(Homyak) Snyder played softball for the Fillies for four years and helped the team win the 2004 Schuylkill League co-championship. She went on to play for Bloomsburg for four years when the Huskies once won the Eastern Regionals and three times were its runner-up.

She and her husband of 14-plus years, Craig Snyder, reside in Lancaster, where (Homyak) Snyder works as a financial advisor. They are the parents of Aubrey, 13, and Brooklynn, 11, who have been successful soccer, lacrosse and basketball players. 

Paul Coombe

Paul Coombe, a 1967 graduate of Marian High School, perhaps holds the distinction of being the school’s first-ever state champion.

During a fabulous track career, Coombe won the Pennsylvania Catholic Interscholastic Athletic Association state titles in the mile and 800-yard runs, culminating a three-year reign as one of the best distance runners Marian has ever seen.

From his sophomore year in 1965 through his senior campaign, Coombe broke the finish line tape first almost every time in those two events. In 1965, he was undefeated in the mile run and had one loss in the 800, setting school records in both events.

He was even better as a junior and senior, when he was undefeated both years in both events. As a junior, he placed fourth in the mile run in the PCIAA meet, and then became a state champion in both the mile and 800 in his senior year, when he was also part of the Colts’ fourth-place mile relay team.

He set the school record in the mile at 4:38.1, a time that stood tops for 26 years, while his 800 school-record time of 2:05 stood for seven years. As a point of information, all of Coombe’s races were run on cinder tracks, many of poor quality, as he never had the opportunity to compete on an all-weather track.

Also, at the West End Stadium in Mahanoy City in 1967, he was clocked at 2:04 and 4:34.4 in the 800 and mile, respectively. However, because it was not certain the track was accurately measured, those times were not counted as school records.

Coombe was also the Diocese of Allentown High School Cross Country champion in 1964 and 1965 and the runner-up in 1966 when he had only one loss. There was no PCIAA cross country state meet at the time. He was undefeated in dual-meet races for the three-year period.

He went on to be among the top seven runners on the Mount Saint Mary’s College cross country team, co-captained it in 1969-70, and competed in the U.S. Track and Field Federation Championships at Penn State University.

At the Mount, he ran in the 1969 U.S. Track and Field Federation Championships at Madison Square Garden in the two-mile relay, and also competed in the Penn Relays.

A graduate of Mount St. Mary’s with a B.A. in history, he earned his Master’s degree in education administration from Wilkes University, taught at Mahanoy City Catholic School from 1971-89 and became the principal of Holy Family School, Frackville, in 1989. From 1998-2010, he returned to Marian to be its vice principal and also taught psychology and American history.
Coombe coached the Colts and Fillies track teams from 1973-76, 2000-2004 and 2006-2009. His Colt teams of 2002, 2008 and 2009 won the Schuylkill League Division II championships.

He also coached the Marian cross country teams for 10 years in the 1970s and 2000s.

Coombe served as a PIAA track and field official from 2012-2022. 

Ed McLaughlin

Ed McLaughlin’s ability to shoot the basketball made him an immediate star on the hardwoods of Marian High School. Before he graduated in 2003, he tallied 1,636 points, ranking him third on the boys’ all-time scoring list.

He made an immediate impact on the Colt cagers, becoming a starter as a freshman and never looking back, captaining the squad in his senior campaign and garnering All-Star status in each of his four years.

He was named four times to the Times-News and Standard-Speaker All-Area teams, being named to the second team by both papers as a freshman and then to the first team for the following three years. The Pottsville Republican and Herald named him to its first team in 2001, 2002 and 2003, to its All-Rookie Team and an honorable mention to its All-Area team when he was a freshman, and he received honorable mention All-Area status in the Morning Call for three years.

McLaughlin helped the Colts reach the District 11 playoffs all four years, set school records and earned numerous laurels for his performances.

In 2001, he set a Marian record with 10 3-pointers in a game, which contributed to his 294 career 3-pointers, a record yet to be broken in the Times-News area.

His other honors included being named to the 2000 Raider Holiday Classic All-Tournament Team and to the Reading Eagle All-Anthracite Third Team, and selected three times as the Morning Call Athlete of the Week and once as an Eyewatch 13 Athlete of the Week.

The Schuylkill League Hardwood Club named McLaughlin to its first team for three consecutive years after an honorable mention as a freshman.

He scored 50 3-pointers or more for four straight seasons and had the second most 3-pointers in a single season in the Times-News area.

McLaughlin was also a three-year starter on the Marian golf team, serving as its captain in his senior year. He was a starter and member of the 2001 undefeated (13-0) Colts golf squad, which also won the Schuylkill League All-League championship, being the first Marian team to attain that honor. He finished in fourth place as a medalist in the 2001 Schuylkill All-League Individual Match Play and was a District 11 qualifier.

McLaughlin went on to graduate with bachelor’s degree from Kutztown University, a Master’s degree from Drexel University and a professional education endorsement in educational administration and leadership from Western Governors University.

He coached the Jim Thorpe Junior High School boys’ basketball team to a 14-2 record in 2004-05 and served as a middle school golf coach at Stetson Charter School, Philadelphia, from 2013-17.

McLaughlin and his wife, Dr. Angela (Burda), 2004, and their son Brady, 4, reside in Pennsburg.

McLaughlin works as the regional director of schools for SESI Schools, Inc., Camden, New Jersey, and as a special education evaluation faculty member at Western Governors University, Salt Lake City, Utah.

People-Tag: Alanna (Zahora) Carr, Angela (Rutch) Chromiak, Colette (Makowiec) Thomas, David Lewis, Ed McLaughlin, Edward Shober, Jill (Homyak) Snyder, Justin Barrasso, Paul Coombe, T.J. Lawrence