Meet the Knoch Hall of Fame’s 6 inductees: Celina Sanks, Josh Shoop, Jade Thrower and others
The Knoch High School Sports Hall of Fame will welcome its ninth group of inductees on Friday. The Hall of Fame Committee will hold its induction ceremony for the 2024 class beginning at 5 p.m. in the high school library prior to the varsity boys basketball game against Valley.
The class features five former student-athletes and one coach.
This year’s honorees include Knoch graduates Josh Shoop, Jade Thrower, Brittany Faust, Celina Sanks and Greg Bzorek. Former boys basketball coach Les Shoop will also be included in the group.
Greg Bzorek: A 2001 graduate of Knoch where he earned multiple letters in three different sports.
Bzorek rarely left the field during his three years of varsity football. He earned all-conference honors as a tackle in 1999 and was a first-team all-conference honoree in 2000.
He was named to the All-Butler County Team both seasons, as well as a member of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s Fabulous 22. Bzorek participated in track and field, where he earned three letters, and lettered in basketball his senior season.
He was inducted to the Edinboro University Hall of Fame after a career where helped win three PSAC championships and earned multiple PSAC and Northeast Regional honors. He was named an All-American in 2004-05, a finalist for the Gene Upshaw Award and was a starter in the Division II Cactus Bowl that season.
Brittany Faust: During her high school career from 2006-10, Faust was a nationally recognized wrestler, earning the United States Girls Wrestling Association National Championship title in 2009 and was runner-up in 2010. She was a two-time USGWA Pennsylvania state champion as well as earning a New York state championship.
Faust continued her wrestling career at Missouri Valley College from 2010-13 and at King University from 2013-15. She earned All-American honors at nationals with a sixth-place finish in the 132-pound division in 2013 and was the Missouri Valley College Women’s Open Champion and Jamestown Open champion in 2012.
Recently, she was the champion of her division in the 2019 King Tornado Open.
Celina Sanks: The 2014 graduate earned four letters as a standout outside hitter and was a team captain both her junior and senior seasons.
She was a first-team All-WPIAL and all-state honoree in 2012 and 2013 and the Butler Eagle player of the year as a senior. She was also recognized as first-team all-section for three years, and in 2013 was named to the Junior National USA Division All-Tournament Team.
Sanks attended Division I Eastern Kentucky University, where she was a four-year starter and in 2017 was named All-Ohio Valley Conference first team. She is in the record book at EKU: No. 5 in career attacks, No. 8 in attacks in a single season and No. 10 all-time in career kills.
Josh Shoop: A 1991 graduate, three-year starting big man and all-section player, Shoop averaged a school record 18.5 points per game, scoring 20 points or more in 30 games in his career. His streak of 13 consecutive 20-point games and four straight 30-point games has never been equaled.
He became the second player in program history to surpass the 1,000-point mark in January 1991. He is Knoch’s all-time leading scorer with 1,203 points and holds the single-season record with 558. He was a Post Gazette-North Fabulous 5 honoree and Butler Eagle all-star multiple times.
Shoop went on to start all four years at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and was a co-captain in 1995 and 1996, leading IUP to a PSAC championship and NCAA Division II semifinal appearance in 1995.
He has been a basketball coach at various levels at Knoch and Homer-Center high schools and has served as the athletic director at Knoch, Pine-Richland and Plum.
Les Shoop: As Knoch’s boys basketball coach from 1982-2006, Shoop’s teams went 299-246 and qualified for the WPIAL playoffs in 11 seasons and the PIAA playoffs in six.
In 2004, the Knights made their first and only appearance in the WPIAL final.
During his 24 seasons, Shoop was recognized multiple times by the Butler Eagle and Valley News Dispatch as coach of the year. Prior to arriving at Knoch, he coached 13 years at Punxsutawney High School, where his teams won five District 9 championships and won 212 games.
At Knoch, Shoop started and coached the cross country team and served for a short time as athletic director.
He was previously inducted into the Armstrong County Sports Hall of Fame, Butler County Sports Hall of Fame, Indiana University of Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame and Punxsutawney Sports Hall of Fame.
Jade Thrower: The 2008 Knoch graduate excelled in multiple sports from 2005 through 2008.
As a four-year letter-winner in softball, Jade helped lead the Knights to their first section championship in 2007 and another in 2008. She was named a member of the 2008 Valley News Dispatch and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first team.
Thrower also played basketball at Knoch for four years.
Thrower earned a partial scholarship and played softball at Edinboro University from 2009-2012. She was a four-year starter and a four-year PSAC Scholar Athlete. She ranks third in home runs all-time at Edinboro, having hit one in her first at-bat and in her last at-bat.
She has been involved in coaching at Knoch as well as in the community.
