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Speakers set for 11th annual Top Drawer 24 celebration

Steelers Scout Mark Gorscak, Penn State Altoona volleyball coach
Phil Peterman, Top Drawer alum Allison Stamp will address honorees

WATKINS GLEN, April 4 -- Preparations are under way for the 11th annual Top Drawer 24 celebration at the Watkins Glen State Park Pavilion on Monday, June 6.

Among those preparations has been confirmation of the appearance of a trio of guest speakers: Pittsburgh Steelers Scout Mark Gorscak, Penn State Altoona Volleyball Coach Phil Peterman, and former three-time Top Drawer honoree Allison Stamp.

Those speakers can talk from experience to this year's honorees -- the Top Drawer class of 2016 -- about life's challenges and rewards.

Said Top Drawer 24 Director Craig Cheplick:

"We have always been committed to getting great speakers for this event. This year's speakers represent two iconic institutions: the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"Coach Peterman from Penn State Altoona brings a great tradition of winning volleyball teams and a first-class program featuring academic and athletic excellence. Mark Gorscak from the Pittsburgh Steelers has become a favorite son of this event and our community. Mark is highly respected in college and NFL circles.

"Allison Stamp," he added, "continues the prestigious line of former Top Drawer members to speak at this event after excelling as student athletes at the collegiate level. Her career has been marked by perseverance, leading all the way to the NCAA Playoffs in Women's Soccer" while goalkeeper for SUNY Geneseo.

In addition, Cheplick said: "We are also excited about this year's recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award in coaching, a person who is well known in the Southern Tier area. We will announce the honoree at a future date."

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The Top Drawer team, chosen annually by committee and to be announced in May, is composed of outstanding high school students who come from school districts in Schuyler and Chemung counties.

This year the slate of school districts represented includes original participants Watkins Glen and Odessa-Montour along with Trumansburg, Spencer-Van Etten, Bradford, Horseheads, Elmira Heights Edison, Elmira Notre Dame, Elmira City Schools, South Seneca, Twin Tiers Christian Academy, and Elmira Christian Academy.

Leading the June 6 ceremony will be WENY-TV news anchor Renata Stiehl (pictured at right), serving for the second year as the program's emcee.

The evening will begin at about 5 p.m. with a social gathering -- featuring various finger foods -- 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 will be the recipient of the Susan B. Haeffner Award sponsored by The Odessa File and given annually to a high school student who embodies sportsmanship in the face of adversity.

After the awards are presented and the pictures taken, the speeches will begin. The lineup of speakers:

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Pittsburgh Steelers Scout Mark Gorscak

Mark Gorscak is starting his 22nd 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 twice at Top Drawer celebrations, 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.

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Phil Peterman is the coach at Penn State Altoona for the women's and men's varsity volleyball teams.

An Altoona native and Saint Francis University alumnus, Peterman was named head coach of the Penn State Altoona women's volleyball program before the 2008 season. He was the third head coach in the program's 10-year history as a member of the NCAA.

He also took the reins of the school's Men's Volleyball club team in 2008 and remained head coach when it became a varsity squad in 2012 -- the 16th varsity sport offered at the campus. (He is in the center of the photo at right.)

Peterman was a member of St. Francis's 2001 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association championship squad and graduated that same year with a degree in Elementary and Special Education. He also has a Masters Degree in Education from SFU.

He has also passed along his volleyball knowledge to young players, coaching high school and Keystone State Games teams for several years before taking the job as Women's Volleyball Coach at Penn State Altoona. He led the women's squad to its second-ever Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference championship in 2011, qualifying for the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Peterman also guided his women's team to Eastern College Athletic Conference Tournament appearances in 2009 and 2010. During the 2010 campaign, the Lady Lions recorded a program-best 23 wins and advanced to the semifinal round of the ECAC Tournament.

In 2014, he reached a milestone as Women's Coach by posting the 100th win of his career.

Penn State Altoona, with the third largest enrollment of the 24 locations making up the Pennsylvania State University, is a full-service, four-year, residential campus located less than 45 miles from the research campus at University Park. Penn State Altoona offers baccalaureate degree programs, associate degree programs, and the first two years of course work for more than 180 Penn State majors that can be completed at other Penn State campuses.

Penn State Altoona’s primary conference affiliation is with the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC), while being an associate member of the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) for the sport of men's volleyball.

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Former Top Drawer honoree Allison Stamp

Allison Stamp grew up in Montour Falls, and is a 2011 graduate of Odessa-Montour Central School, and a 2015 graduate of SUNY Geneseo. While at Odessa-Montour she was a three-sport athlete, competing at the varsity level in soccer, basketball and track. Chosen three times as a Top Drawer 24 scholar-athlete, Allison helped all of her high school teams to successful seasons, including multiple division-winning seasons in track, and two basketball Section IV finals.

Her favorite sport, though, is soccer, and after four years as the starting Odessa-Montour goalkeeper, in 2010 she helped O-M earn its first division championship. Graduating as her class Valedictorian, Allison still holds school records in girls' soccer for single-season shutouts and career shutouts.

Continuing her soccer career at SUNY Geneseo while earning her degree in History and Adolescent Education, Allison played for the Geneseo Blue Knights for four years. As goalkeeper in her senior year she helped lead the team to a SUNYAC championship, and to the second round of the Division 3 NCAA National tournament, earning several scholar-athlete awards in SUNYAC and NCAA women's soccer categories.

On campus she also participated in several organizations committed to helping other students through leadership training and classroom mentoring, and graduated with honors in 2015. Allison is currently pursuing her Master's degree in History at the University of Buffalo, and hopes to become a high school history teacher.

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After the speeches, each of the evening's 24 honorees will be introduced, with their achievements and future plans outlined. Each will be presented a Top Drawer 24 medallion, and plans call for presentation of Certificates of Achievement from the offices of Congressman Tom Reed, State Senator Tom O'Mara and Assemblyman Phil Palmesano.

Ralph Diliberto, a teaching assistant and volunteer strength trainer in the Watkins Glen School District, will present the invocation and benediction.

The honorees will be 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: WENY-TV anchor Renata Stiehl, Pittsburgh Steelers Scout Mark Gorscak with Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin; Penn State Altoona Coach Phil Peterman with his Men's Volleyball Team; and former Top Drawer honoree Allison Stamp.