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Mechanics Club

Serving the youth of our area since 1932. Click here for details.

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We also have a Business Card Page. Click here. 

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To visit the Schuyler Little League website, click here or on logo above.

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Click below to call up a Boosters e-mail form.

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WATKINS GLEN SPORTS BOOSTER CLUB

Supporting the Senecas! You can reach the club at wgboosterclub@yahoo.com

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Mechanics Club - Serving the youth of our area since 1932 - click here for details.

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We also have a Business Card Page. Click here. 

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To reach the Watkins Glen School District website, click here. 

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703 South Decatur St., Watkins Glen, New York. Call (607) 535-4666.

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Click on the ad below, and go to the H.L. Stephens website

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To go to Jim Guild's Famous Brands website, click on the drawing above or here.

Speakers set for 8th annual Top Drawer 24 gathering

WATKINS GLEN, April 29 -- Preparations are under way for the 8th annual Top Drawer 24 party at the Watkins Glen State Park Pavilion on Thursday, June 6.

Among those preparations has been confirmation of the appearance of a line of guest speakers headed by Pittsburgh Steelers scout Mark Gorscak.

In addition, WENY-TV Sportscaster Andy Malnoske will be a speaker, along with former two-time Top Drawer 24 honoree Hilary Swartwood and long-time journalist Glenda Gephart Phoenix, currently Director of Administration and Communications at the International Motor Racing Research Center in Watkins Glen.

Those speakers can talk from experience to the honorees -- the Top Drawer class of 2013 -- about life's challenges and rewards.

The Top Drawer team, chosen annually by committee and to be announced in late May, is subtitled The Brian J. O'Donnell Schuyler County Scholar-Athlete-Citizen team, named in honor of the retired Watkins Glen High School principal who is completing his final term as the district's School Board president (at right). The team is composed of outstanding high school students who come from school districts wholly or partially within Schuyler County: the Watkins Glen, Odessa-Montour, Trumansburg, Spencer-Van Etten and Bradford districts.

The evening will begin at about 5 p.m. with a social gathering -- featuring fruits, cheeses, sandwich wraps and cake -- and there will be a group picture of the 24 honorees snapped by parents and by a photographer from this website for publication here. Awards sponsored by E.C. Cooper will also be presented to The Odessa File Athletes of the Year from the Watkins Glen and Odessa-Montour High Schools. Another honoree: the recipient of the annual Susan B. Haeffner Schuyler County Sportsmanship Award sponsored by The Odessa File.

The Top Drawer 24 honorees will go on a brief walk with O'Donnell at about 5:45, after which speeches will begin -- all fairly brief. The lineup of speakers includes.

--Pittsburgh Steelers scout Mark Gorscak

Mark Gorscak is starting his 19th year with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He is an area scout whose focus is mainly in the South, but he has scouted the whole United States in his career. His team has been to four Super Bowls in his career, winning in Super Bowl XL and XLIII.

Gorscak (pictured here on the left with Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin) previously spoke at a Top Drawer celebration in 2011, and was a huge hit.

A high school and college coach for 16 years, he saw sideline action first at Perkiomen (Pa.) Prep School, and followed that with coaching assignments at Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College), Dickinson College (his alma mater), Gulliver Prep (Fla.) High School, and two tenures at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah.

In 1987, between stints at Weber State, he became the first general manager of the Pittsburgh Gladiator in its inaugural season of the Arena Football League. Additionally, he has been an athletic administrator at Dickinson College and Weber State.

He graduated with a degree in psychology from Dickinson and received a master’s degree in sports administration from St. Thomas University in Miami, Fla. In 2010, he was inducted into the Mid Mon Valley Hall of Fame.

Gorscak has also served as the Starter for the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine and can be seen on the NFL Network. Also, ESPN the Magazine profiled him in the 2010 NFL Preview magazine as one of the 90 Faces of the NFL.

He is a native of Donora, Pa., and currently resides in Pittsburgh.

--WENY-TV sportscaster Andy Malnoske

Andy Malnoske came to WENY-TV in February 2009 as a sports reporter and then worked his way up to Sports Director in October 2010. He currently anchors Twin Tiers Tonight sports at 5:30 and 6 p.m. weeknights on WENY-TV.

A Horseheads native, and once intern at the station in spring 2006, Andy’s honored to be covering sports for the area he grew up in.

He graduated from Ithaca College in 2007 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sports Media, and received a Master's Degree in Communication Studies from Shippensburg University in December 2008. While at Shippensburg, he was actively involved with WSYC 88.7 FM radio, where he hosted his own weekly show, "Sportainment," and did play-by-play for numerous Red Raider athletics. He received the school's Exceptional DJ Award for broadcasting excellence, and also covered sports for The Slate student newspaper. 

During his time in South Central Pennsylvania, Andy worked in the Shippensburg University sports information office, and assisted WHP-TV CBS sports in Harrisburg. Andy created a documentary on the 1990 Shippensburg Little League National Champions, and it's now a part of the Little League Baseball Museum video archives.

In his time at WENY-TV, Andy’s work has been honored several times by the New York State Associated Press (AP) for best annual sports coverage, as well as by The Syracuse Press Club for best sports story of the year. Additionally, Andy is on the board of The Chemung County Sports Hall of Fame, has worked as the play-by-play voice of WELM 1410 AM for high school football and basketball, and served as a color analyst and voice for RLMSports.Net.

In his spare time, Andy loves to hang out with friends and family, watch pro wrestling, and write. Some of his work has been published by the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum, and has been featured in Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine. If you see Andy out, say hello and get ready to talk sports.

--Former Top Drawer honoree Hilary Swartwood

Hilary Swartwood, a 2010 graduate of Trumansburg High School, was a member of the Top Drawer 24 in both her junior and senior years. She was an outstanding student-athlete who competed in soccer, indoor track, and track, and held several school track and field records.

Since then, she has been attending the University of Buffalo, where she has been running Division 1 Cross-Country, Indoor Track and Outdoor Track as a middle-distance runner. She currently holds the third fastest time for the 1500 meter race on the team, and has competed at the MAC Championships in both Cross-Country and Outdoor Track

She is also serving as a representative for the Cross-Country team on the SAAC (Student Athlete Advisory Committee), and was recently elected as the Community Service Representative for SAAC. In that role, she will be required to develop Community Service activities for the 500 athletes who participate in athletics at the university.

She is one of two student-athletes selected from the university to attend the APPLE Conference in Virginia where she networked with athletes from 40 other colleges pertaining to drug testing regulations and development of policies at the collegiate level.

She is also a Peer Educator for fellow athletes on bystander intervention and drug/alcohol, and is responsible for giving monthly seminars on this topic. In addition, she:

--Was chosen as a representative from the University at Buffalo to attend the MAC (Mid-Atlantic Conference) leadership Symposium being held in Ohio this May;
--Created a mentor program for the Cross-Country team to increase the communication/support between upperclassmen and incoming freshmen;
--Is pursuing a Major in Environmental Studies with a minor in Geography – and will graduate in May 2014.

--Glenda Gephart Phoenix, Director of Administration and Communications at the International Motor Racing Research Center.

Gephart, a Pennsylvania native and a graduate of Penn State University, has been a leading member of the Schuyler County community for many years. In her early years here she was chief of the Elmira Star-Gazette's Watkins Glen bureau, and later worked in the newspaper's main office in Elmira.

She followed that experience by taking on the job of editor of the Watkins Review & Express, and was widely recognized for raising that publication's journalistic standards to a level reflecting her long and proficient experience in the media field.

She joined the Racing Center in communications and public relations, and took over administrative duties this year. She is a former president of the Watkins-Montour Rotary Club, former head of the Watkins Glen High School Sports Boosters (which she led for seven years), former president of the Watkins Glen Parent-Teacher Association, and a member of the WGHS Sports Hall of Fame for her contributions to the school's athletic successes.

She is married to Bill Phoenix, owner of Watkins Sporting Goods, with whom she has raised two sons, Travis and Nick -- both WGHS graduates. She and her husband reside in Reading Center.

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After the speeches, O'Donnell will introduce each of the 24 honorees, describing their achievements and presenting each with a medallion. Plans also call for presentation of Certificates of Achievement from the offices of Congressman Tom Reed, State Senator Tom O'Mara and Assemblyman Phil Palmesano. Watkins Glen High School Principal Dave Warren will once again serve as emcee.

The honorees are being encouraged to invite as many people as they wish: friends and family who can share in the celebration. The event is also open to the public. There is no charge.

Photos in text: From the top: Brian O'Donnell; Mark Gorscak with Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, Andy Malnoske, Hilary Swartwood and Glenda Gephart Phoenix.