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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Cunningham Announces Lehigh County Hall of Fame

Every year or so, Morning Call columnist Bill White inducts some poor soul into his Hall of Fame, making that person an object of ridicule and scorn for the rest of his or her life. White even continues to take digs after the "winner" passes into the Great Beyond.

It's a really horrible and mean thing to do to another person.

I wish I had thought of it.

Lehigh County Exec Don Cunningham, in the course of getting ready for Lehigh County's Bicentennial on March 6, has announced an Inaugural Hall of Fame, too. But unfortunately, this is a nice list of twenty four prominent current and former residents of Lehigh County. are attached.

Honorees will be formally inducted at 6:00 p.m. on Community Celebration Day, March 10, an all-day event at the Agri-Plex building located on the grounds of the Allentown Fairgrounds.

The Bicentennial Committee still needs about a dozen volunteers to help coordinate on the day of the community celebration. Anyone interested in helping can go to www.lehighcounty.org and click on the bicentennial logo, or call (610) 782-3001.

In addition to the Hall of Fame induction, the community celebration will feature more than seventy-five community groups, businesses, historical societies and ethnic and cultural groups with interactive, educational and historical displays including a live bison visiting from the Lehigh Valley Zoo Food and drinks will be available on a cash basis. The day will end with a fireworks display and a bicentennial performance by the Allentown Symphony Orchestra at Allentown’s Symphony Hall.

J.B. Reilly will be juggling all day, while Mayor Edwin Pawlowski has volunteered for the dunk tank. Marcel Grown will collect all the trash.

Allentown is imposing a 200% sales tax on all food and beverages sold. City Council will pass a law later making it all legal.

All proceeds that do not go into the NIZ will fund the George Taylor House in Catasauqua, one of only a handful of remaining homes of one of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence.

Below are the Inaugural Hall of Famers:
Lehigh County Hall of Fame Inaugural Class
Athletics

Curt Simmons, baseball         Phillies Whiz Kids/World Series Champ            Whitehall
Chuck Bednarik, football      NFL Hall of Fame                                            Coopersburg
Matt Millen, football               NFL Super Bowl Champ 4x                             Whitehall
Andre Reed, football             NFL Super Bowl participant 4x                        Allentown
Dan Koppen, football            NFL Super Bowl Champ 2x                             Whitehall
Larry Seiple, football             NFL Super Bowl Champ 2x                             Allentown
Ed McCaffrey, football          NFL Super Bowl Champ 3x                             Allentown
Marty Nothstein, cycling        Olympic Gold Medalist                                    Emmaus
Michelle Marciniak, bball        NCAA National Champ/WNBA                         Macungie

Arts and Entertainment

Carson Kressley                    TV Personality                                                  Weisenberg
Amanda Seyfried                  Actress                                                            Allentown          
Christine Taylor                    Actress                                                            L. Macungie
Michaela Conlin                    TV Actress, Bones                                            S. Whitehall

Business
Ed Donley                          Former Air Products & Chemicals CEO               U. Macungie
Raymond “Chip” Mason      Founder of Legg Mason financial firm                 Bethlehem
Lee Iacocca                        Former Chrysler Corp. CEO/Author                  Allentown

Government and Military
Brig. Gen. Anna Mae Hays           First woman general in US military             Allentown
Gen. Thomas R. Morgan              Four Star General/Asst. Marine                  Slatington 
                                                   Commandant                                 
Innovation and Philanthropy

Joel Spira                                    Founder of Lutron Electronics/                  Coopersburg
                                                  Inventor of dimmer switch             

Literature and Communications
David Zinczenko                        Editor of Men’s Health/Author                     Emmaus
John Grogan                             Author of Marley and Me/Columnist            Coopersburg
Charles Bierbauer                      Network White House correspondent          Allentown
Billy Packer                               Network basketball broadcaster                   Bethlehem
Rich Lerner                               Golf Channel broadcaster                             Allentown


18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a great way to cull future big time donations. Just a thought. With all the categories, once the obvious are on then it may be, "who ya know and what ya got".

Anonymous said...

This is such a crap list. How about people who dedicate their lives to low paying community service?

What does being a 4 time Super Bowl "participant" (i.e. 4 time loser) have to do with reputable fame worthy of being inducted in the hall? Seems like a random assortment of "Who's Who Lehigh Valley." Hope it doesn't cost any money.

Anonymous said...

You forgot Duane "The Rock" Johnson of the WWE and movie star!

Anonymous said...

Sorry Bernie, maybe, you will make the list next year.

Anonymous said...

Bernie
Do you mean these celebrities are going to be there? Ms. Taylor? Wow.
Love her.

Anonymous said...

Bernie
Can you find out who picked this group? Yes, The Rock, Definitely should have been tapped.

Anonymous said...

Any Lehigh County list absent Emma Tropiano is irrelevant.

Anonymous said...

How about all the drug dealers and murderers who keep the criminal justice system afloat.

Alan Earnshaw said...

I believe Dwayne Johnson is from Bethlehem. If he's from the Northampton County part, he wouldn't qualify for the list.

Anonymous said...

Harmless, but a waste of time.

-Clem.

Anonymous said...

Surprised Cunningham didn't put himself on the list.

PippySqueek said...

What I find most interesting of the list is how many of them still live in the LV? Only a fraction?

Anonymous said...

I hope to get luckey at the EIT grab bag booth. Maybe I can get mhy hands on some tickets to the NIZ suite at the Lehigh Valley Arena.

Anonymous said...

There was a nominations process that was all over the place for several months. Yeah, the rock would have been good.

I think he really only lived here for a year or so, though. He mostly grew up in California and hawaii.

Anonymous said...

How about Max Hess?

ironpigpen said...

Dwayne Johnson did, in fact, play his high school football for Freedom before going on to the University of Miami ...

Anonymous said...

This is the usual innocuous Cunningham stuff. Fluffy meaningless fare to entertain the masses. It gets their minds off the real issues of the county.

Anonymous said...

I guess the Rock is from Northampton County if he went to Freedom.