WARRENDALE, Pa. – South Park (Pa.) girls basketball coach Reggie Wells Sr. will be inducted into the Western Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame on May 1.
Wells Sr. was elected to the Hall of Fame based largely on his play as a basketball standout at Clarion State College (now Clarion University), which is an NCAA Division II school about 90 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, in the 1970s, but he has also had successful stints as both the boys and girls coach at South Park.
"It’s a great privilege and honor," said Wells Sr., who coached the South Park boys to a pair of WPIAL title games and two PIAA semifinal contests in the late 1990s before winning the WPIAL Class AA title with the South Park girls in 2008. "It really caught me off guard. When you look at the people who get in, it’s a big deal."
Wells was a standout forward at Clarion from 1976-79, finishing with a school-record 2,011 points, which still stands second all-time, while grabbing 1,120 rebounds, the second-most in school history. He helped the Golden Eagles to a four-year record of 85-29, including two PSAC-West titles, four NAIA District 18 playoff berths and a spot in the NAIA National Tournament in 1977, when he led Clarion to a school-record 27 wins (27-3) while scoring 586 points and grabbing 367 rebounds.
"He’s the greatest player to ever play at Clarion," said Joe DeGregorio, Wells’ coach at Clarion, who went on to coach at
Upper St. Clair and is the dad of PIAA Class AAAA Coach of the Year Dave DeGregorio. "He was coachable. He was a tremendous athlete who perhaps could have found himself in other places."
Wells went on to play professionally in both the Continental Basketball Association and overseas in Argentina and also was in the Detroit Pistons' rookie camp in 1982. After his pro playing days were over, he joined the Pennsylvania State Police and has been with them for over 20 years, with plans to retire this summer. He also took up coaching, guiding the 1998 South Park boys team to a 23-8 overall record while winning the WPIAL Class AAA Section 4 title and advancing to the WPIAL title game before falling to Chartiers Valley (Bridgeville) in overtime. South Park then advanced to the PIAA semifinals before once again losing to Chartiers Valley.
In 1999, South Park went 20-10 and once again advanced to the WPIAL championship game before losing to Blackhawk (Beaver Falls). South Park then advanced to the PIAA semifinals before eventually losing to PIAA Champion Blackhawk again.
In the mid-2000s, Wells took over the girls program at South Park and led the school to just its second WPIAL title in 2008, when it grabbed the Class AA title with a 47-37 win over Sacred Heart. That team finished the year 22-9 after advancing to the second round of the PIAA playoffs.
"A lot of talented players have come through here," Wells said. "And I get a lot of support from the administration. They make it easy for me. They really go out of the way to accommodate me."
Wells’ two sons, Reggie Jr., and Ryan, took after their dad in terms of athletic ability. Reggie Jr. starred in football at Clarion University and was an All-American for the Golden Eagles before being drafted in 2003 by the Arizona Cardinals. He has been a mainstay since then on the Cardinals' offensive line and was the starting left guard in Super Bowl XLIII, the Cardinals first trip to the Super Bowl. Ryan, meanwhile, played two years of basketball at Clarion and scored over 700 career points while nearly grabbing 500 career rebounds and being named a first-team PSAC-West performer as a senior.
Wells Sr. isn’t the only high-profile athlete with WPIAL connections being inducted. Two additional WPIAL coaches and one Pittsburgh City League (District 8) coach are being inducted, as well.
Woodland Hills (Pittsburgh) football coach George Novak, who has turned the Wolverines into a perennial power, is being inducted along with Bethel Park girls coach Jonna Burke, who was an All-American player at the school as well, and Westinghouse (Pittsburgh) girls coach Phyllis Jones.
Also being inducted are Doug Plank, who was a star football player at Norwin (North Huntingdon) in the 1970s and went on to a professional career with the Chicago Bears, as well as former North Catholic (Pittsburgh) football coach Joe Bushofsky, who became and NFL scout, and Pittsburgh Central Catholic graduate Joe Haering, who coached professional football and is currently an assistant coach at Southern Methodist University.
Rounding out the induction class will be Penn State associate athletic director Fran Ganter, who was the longtime offensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions, Pittsburgh Steelers vice president Art Rooney Jr., former Pitt All-American free safety Bob Jury and former Duquesne University star and Pittsburgh Steeler two-way football end Charlie Mehelich.
The induction ceremony will be at the Pittsburgh Sheraton Inn North in Warrendale.
