This year’s Gretchen Wolf Swartz Sportsmanship Team Awards are going to a first-time winner and to a program that is no stranger to this kind of recognition.
Delone Catholic High School’s girls added yet another highlight to their extraordinary season by earning the prestigious team honor. They are currently 23-1 and seeded No. 1 in the District 3 4A competition. They join Susquehannock High School’s boys, which are being honored for the fourth time and the first time since winning three in a row from 2002-2004. The Warriors are 15-7 and still alive in the District 3 5A tournament.
In May, members of the Gretchen Wolf Swartz Scholarship Foundation Board will recognize some senior members from each team with scholarships. Last year, the Board awarded more than $100,000 in scholarships to members of the Hanover High School School girls and Red Lion High School boys teams. The Board has awarded over $750,000 in scholarships since awarding its first scholarships in 2001.
The winning programs are determined by a poll of members of the York Chapter of PIAA Basketball Officials. 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.
According to Phil Miller, president of the York Chapter, PIAA Basketball Officials, every YAIAA member school received at least one vote for either their boys’ or girls’ team.
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 a scholarship fund to promote and honor the sportsmanship she so effectively displayed.