Photo courtesy McShea Photography
The Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame held its annual induction ceremony on Nov. 5 at Live! Casino, inducting two teams, a venue and 15 individuals.
The 2026 inductees were Carli Lloyd, Johnny Gaudreau, Jon Runyan, Bobby Smith, Agnes Stegmuller, Art Still, Ben Shibe, Dave Raymond, Edith Houghton, Gina Procaccio, Hugh Douglas, Jack Bauerle, Jimmy Lynam, Lisa Salters, Sal Paolantonio, the 1926 NFL Champion Frankford Yellow Jackets, the 1970 Philadelphia Textile NCAA Division II men’s basketball champions and JFK Stadium.
Ken Avallon, president of the Hall of Fame, offered welcoming remarks before passing the microphone on to emcee Joe DeCamara, morning show host on WIP.
Here is some information on the inductees:
• Frankford Yellow Jackets: The team was founded in 1899 as the Frankford Athletic Association, playing games at Oxford and Leiper, Oxford and Pratt and Frankford and Devereaux avenues. The team later joined the NFL, and the Yellow Jackets won the NFL championship in 1926, allowing only 49 points in 17 games.
Attending the ceremony was Mike Moran, whose dad, Hap, played on the championship team.
• Carli Lloyd: A star soccer player at Delran High School and Rutgers, she played 17 years on the U.S. Women’s National Team. She scored the winning goals in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic gold medal games and recorded a hat trick in the 2015 World Cup final. She scored 10 goals in four Olympic appearances. She played in four World Cups, winning twice. In her hat trick in a 5-2 victory over Japan in the 2015 final, she scored three goals in a 16-minute span.
Lloyd has been retired for five years, though she is looking forward to next year’s women’s World Cup. She and her husband, Brian, have a daughter, Harper, and a son, Hunter.
Lloyd thanked her parents, husband, coaches and teammates. She encouraged parents to not push their children too hard in hopes of them becoming professional athletes.
“Let them do their thing, and things will pan out,” she said.
Among those cheering Lloyd’s induction were college acquaintances.
“My experience at Rutgers was amazing,” she said.
• Johnny Gaudreau: Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played hockey at Gloucester Catholic and Boston College (winning the Hobey Baker Award for the best player in college) and in the NHL for the Calgary Flames and Columbus Blue Jackets, making seven All-Star Games and averaging almost a point per game. He and his brother Matthew were killed in August 2024 when a car hit them as they were bicycling. He and his wife had three children, including one born after his death.
Gaudreau’s parents, Guy and Jane, and sisters, Kristen and Kaitlyn, along with their husbands, A.J. and Devin, were in attendance.
The crowd gave Gaudreau’s family a standing ovation when they walked to the stage.
“We know he would be incredibly proud,” his mom said.
The Blue Jackets produced a video that included remarks by players Erik Gudranson, Zach Werenski and Sean Monahan.
“That was a beautiful video,” Jane Gaudreau said.
Jane Gaudreau thanked everyone who has kept her sons’ memories alive, pointing to a 5K run that benefits young hockey players and construction of a playground at Archbishop Damiano, a special-needs school in Westville, Gloucester County. She also thanked the Gloucester Catholic athletic director and hockey coach and players for being at the ceremony.
“It truly means more than words could say,” she said.
• Jon Runyan: Runyan, an offensive lineman who played collegiately at Michigan, played nine seasons in the NFL with the Eagles. Earlier in his career, he played with the Houston Oilers and Tennessee Titans, and he played briefly for the San Diego Chargers after his tenure with the Eagles. He played in two Super Bowls, one with the Eagles and one with the Titans, and was selected to one Pro Bowl. He also served two terms as a Republican congressman from South Jersey.
Runyan’s parents were at the ceremony, and he thanked them for telling him, “There is no substitute for hard work.”
Runyan has three children, two of whom were at the ceremony. Jon Jr., who played football at St. Joseph’s Prep and Michigan, is a lineman for the New York Giants. Bella was a star basketball player at Moorestown Friends and Villanova.
• Bobby Smith: Smith grew up in Hamilton, New Jersey and played soccer at Steinert High School and Rider College, then professionally for the Philadelphia Atoms, New York Cosmos, San Diego Sockers, Philadelphia Fury, Philadelphia Fever and Montreal Manic. He won two NASL titles playing with Pele on the Cosmos. He spent seven seasons with the United States Men’s National Team. Today, Smith lives in Princeton and runs the Bob Smith Soccer Academy in Robbinsville. He has four children and four grandchildren.
• Jack Bauerle: A La Salle High School graduate, he was a swimmer at the University of Georgia. He later coached the men’s and women’s programs at Georgia. The Lady Dawgs won seven NCAA team championships. He also coached the U.S. women’s team at the 2008 Olympics.
• Hugh Douglas: Douglas recorded 54½ sacks and made three Pro Bowls in seven seasons with the Eagles. Also played for the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars.
• Edith Houghton: A Girls High graduate, Houghton was the first woman to be a full-time scout in Major League Baseball, working for the Phillies from 1946-52.
• JFK Stadium: Built as part of the city’s Sesquicentennial International Exposition, the stadium opened in 1926 and was demolished in 1992. The Eagles and the Philadelphia Bell of the World Football League played games there, and the stadium hosted Liberty Bowl college football games. The stadium also was the site for 41 Army-Navy football games. Two famous heavyweight championship boxing matches – Gene Tunney vs. Jack Dempsey and Rocky Marciano vs. Jersey Joe Walcott – took place at the stadium. Musically, the Beatles played a concert there, and Live Aid took place there in 1985.
• Jimmy Lynam: Now 85, he played basketball at Most Blessed Sacrament, West Catholic and St. Joe’s. He began his coaching career at Lansdale Catholic. In college, he coached at Fairfield, American and St. Joe’s. In the NBA, he coached the San Diego Clippers, Los Angeles Clippers, 76ers and Washington Bullets. He is probably best known for coaching St. Joe’s to a shocking, buzzer-beating upset of top-seeded DePaul in the 1981 NCAA Tournament.
• Sal Paolantonio: Paolantonio was a politics and Eagles writer at the Inquirer before moving to ESPN. He’s written four books, one on former Mayor Frank Rizzo and three on football, including one on the Eagles winning their first Super Bowl.
• 1970 Philadelphia Textile Men’s Basketball Team: The Rams won the NCAA Division II title in 1970 under coach Herb Magee and a starting lineup that played the whole game in the final, a 76-65 victory over Tennessee State.
• Gina Procaccio: A runner at Sun Valley High School, the University of Florida and Villanova, she has been the women’s track and field and cross country teams at Villanova since 2000. She led Villanova to NCAA cross country titles in 2009 and 2010.
• Dave Raymond: Raymond was the first Phillie Phanatic in 1978. He retired in 1993. He later founded a company that designs and produces mascots, with one of them being Gritty.
• Lisa Salters: Salters played basketball at Upper Merion and Penn State. She’s worked for ESPN since 2000, serving as an NBA courtside reporter since 2005 and Monday Night Football sideline reporter since 2012. She’ll be a sideline reporter for Super Bowl LXI in February.
• Ben Shibe: A Fishtown native and emergency volunteer with the Pennsylvania 51st Infantry Regiment during the Civil War (1863), Shibe was owner of the Philadelphia Athletics and built Shibe Park, at 21st Street and Lehigh Avenue in Swampoodle.
• Agnes Stegmuller: A Delaware County native, she played multiple sports in high school and at Temple, coached various sports at Bartram and was an official for a number of high school and college sports.
• Art Still: A Camden High graduate, he played football for Kentucky, which won the Peach Bowl in 1976. Still was honored on the Bob Hope All-American Christmas Special, and has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He was the second overall pick of the Kansas City Chiefs as a defensive end in the 1978 NFL Draft. He made four Pro Bowls in 10 seasons with the Chiefs. He played his final two seasons with the Buffalo Bills, reuniting with Marv Levy, his coach with the Chiefs. Still’s sister, Valerie, was inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. She was a star basketball player at Kentucky and played and coached in the WNBA.
The crowd was entertained by the Phillie Phanatic, the St. Joe’s Hawk, Swoop and Eagles cheerleaders.
Among those on hand were former Flyers Bill Barber, Joe Watson, Jimmy Watson and Brian Propp; former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski; current and former college basketball coaches Jay Wright, Fran Dunphy, Phil Martelli and Steve Donahue; former La Salle basketball great Lionel Simmons; Stephanie White (partner of Lisa Salters), coach of Caitlin Clark and the WNBA’s Indiana Fever; and Tony Black, a famed jockey from Haddon Township, New Jersey.
The Hall of Fame has a preview gallery at Spike’s Trophies, 2701 Grant Ave. Current displays feature Herb Magee, Irving Fryar, the five-time World Series-champion Philadelphia Athletics, the Palestra and the Eagles championship teams of 1948-1949, 1960, 2017 and 2024. The gallery is open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon or by appointment. Call 215-254-5049 or email contact@phillyhall.org ••
Photo courtesy McShea Photography
