NEW CASTLE, Pa. (D9Sports) – Rich Herman, the retired Sports Information Director at Clarion University and a former member of Clarion Borough Council, was inducted into the Lawrence County Sports Hall of Fame Sunday in ceremonies held at The New Englander in New Castle, Pa.
(Photo of Rich Herman (left) with his brothers Alex (center) and Tom (right) at Sunday’s induction ceremony. Photo by Chris Rossetti)
A native of Ellwood City, Pa., Herman came to Clarion in 1980 as the Sports Information Director at Clarion spent 35 years in that position before retiring in 2015. During his time on campus, he also served as the assistant baseball coach and then the head baseball coach (1989-1999). While working at the university, Herman also served two terms (eight years) on Clarion Borough Council.
Prior to coming to Clarion, Herman, who earned the headline Hall of Honor Award Sunday, was an outstanding athlete in his own right at both Lincoln High School in Ellwood City and Point Park College.
At Lincoln High, Herman played baseball, basketball and golf and was a two-year starting catcher for the baseball team where he helped Wolverines to the WPIAL Championship game in 1971, his junior year. He also lettered three times in golf and was the No. 1 golfer for Lincoln as a senior, and was a two-year letter winner in basketball as well.
Herman continued his athletic career at Point Park lettering all four years while helping the school take home three NAIA District 18 titles and earn a spot in the NAIA College Baseball World Series in 1974 when the Pioneers finished fourth.
This is the third Hall of Fame Herman has been inducted into. He is also a member of the College Sports Information Directors of America Hall of Fame and a member of the Legends of North County League (a hall honoring alums of the North County Summer baseball league in the Lawrence County area).
“My heroes are in my own family,” Herman said in the Hall of Fame program story on him. “I couldn’t have asked for better parents. My dad had a work ethic to beat no one. He worked 45 years in the mills and missed just three days. My mom was competitive in everything. I had two older brothers and they were talented athletes and successful people as well.”
Herman also credits his wife Paula, who he has been married to for 36 years. The couple still resides in Clarion.
“Paula shows me what courage really is,” Herman said. “She has so many things to face on a daily basis, but she is always looking to do more. I trust her in so many ways. She just means everything to me.”
Herman, standing second from right with his family including wife Paula, sitting second from right
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