The Susquehannock girls and Bermudian Springs boys were named as the York-Adams League’s 2023-24 sportsmanship honorees last week. Read more at the York Dispatch:
Sportsmanship Stalwarts
Susquehannock’s Girls, Bermudian Springs’ Boys Earn Gretchen Wolf Swartz Sportsmanship Team Awards
Susquehannock’s girls and Bermudian Springs’ boys, the two YAIAA basketball programs most frequently honored for sportsmanship, are winners of the 2023-24 Gretchen Wolf Swartz Sportsmanship Team Awards.
In a vote of the members of the York Chapter of PIAA Basketball Officials, Susquehannock’s girls won for the ninth time in the scholarship award program’s 24-year history. The Bermudian boys’ program has now captured the award six times.
In May, members of the Gretchen Wolf Swartz Scholarship Foundation Board will award scholarships to some senior basketball players from each team.
Last year, the Gretchen Wolf Swartz Scholarship Foundation Board crossed the $1 million mark in awarded scholarships. Senior members of the Littlestown High School girls’ and Northeastern High School boys’ programs received a total of $135,000 in scholarship awards.
Gretchen Wolf Swartz was a York County basketball official from 1981 to 1995. Following her untimely death from leukemia in 1997, her fellow officials created the memorial team awards and scholarship fund to promote and honor the sportsmanship she so effectively displayed.
At the conclusion of each regular season, the officials vote to recognize a boys’ and girls’ program after observing the season-long conduct of YAIAA players, fans, faculty, students, managers, coaches and cheerleaders from junior high to varsity. Both winning programs receive a traveling trophy in recognition of their accomplishments.
Bermudian’s boys, 14-8 overall (9-5 in YAIAA Division III), are coached by Jared Nace. Susquehannock’s girls, coached by Alex Fancher, are 10-12 (4-8 in YAIAA Division II).