Three inducted into York Sports Night Hall of Fame
Two Dallastown head coaches and a West York graduate make up the York Sports Night's 44th Hall of Fame class.
David Gable (Dallastown), Richard Howley (Dallastown) and Kevin Stover (West York), who were voted in by the York Sports Night committee, will be inducted during a ceremony on May 15. The three new inductees will join the likes of Brad Livingston, Randy Edsall, Brad Senft, Bruce Arians and Chris Doleman, who have all been honored in recent years.
Stover, who currently coaches the Hershey High School track and field team, ran cross country and track for West York in the early 1980s. He was a YAIAA and District 3 champion and finished second in the state in the mile and 2-mile runs in 1985. Before graduating in 1985 and attending Millersville University, Stover was named an AAU Junior Olympic All-American for the 3,000- and 1,500-meter races. At Millersville, he was named to the All-PSAC team eight times and was a NCAA All-American in 1990. Stover went on to race for the Reebok National team for five years in the 1990s and was the steeplechase master's national champion in 2008.
Howley has coached swimming at Dallastown since 1986. His boys' and girls' teams have combined for 38 YAIAA Division I titles. In addition to winning more than 400 meets, Howley has coached more than 100 All-American swimmers and 42 district champions. He has also been named coach of the year more than 20 times.
Howley, who admittedly doesn't like shining the spotlight on himself, was humbled by the induction, he said.
"I'm in disbelief that somebody thinks that highly of me to nominate me, then a group of people think that highly of me to induct me," Howley said. "I got into coaching because I love working with kids. Coaching and teaching are avenues to do that. ... My recipe for success has been: Surround yourself with people better than yourself and surround yourself with unbelievable kids and great families. We've done that here and I've kind of hid in the middle of all that."
Howley was also complimentary of Gable, a fellow Wildcat and inductee in this class.
"They don't make them much better than Dave," Howley said of Gable.
Gable, who graduated from Dallastown in 1982, coached the Wildcats' wrestling program to a 257-84-1 record from 1989 to 2009 and coached two state champs. In his own day as a wrestler, Gable won 101 matches for Dallastown and was the first wrestler in school history to reach the 100-win plateau. He was a four-time sectional champion before graduating and wrestling at Franklin & Marshall College where he qualified for the NCAA championships twice.
"It's definitely a nice surprise and a great honor," Gable said. "Any time you're recognized as a coach it's a shared honor with a lot of people, including other coaches and former players. I'm proud to be a part of such a neat group. I hope some of the former wrestlers who were a part of the program can feel a sense of pride because they definitely share in this honor."