Carbon County Area Chapter
of Pa. Sports Hall of Fame
Charlie Melley, Evan Zlock, and Charlie Berry have been selected as the 2000 inductees into the Carbon County Area Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.
Evan Zlock had his athletic career flourish to great heights in the years following his graduation from Coaldale High School in l942. While in high school, he played one year of varsity football and basketball . He then matriculated to Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, Pa., but during his freshman year he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served aboard a carrier in the Pacific Theater. Upon discharge in l946 he returned to Susquehanna
University, where he eventually graduated in l949 as a Physics major and Dean's List student.
Evie played four years of varsity football and basketball and one year of varsity tennis at Susquehanna. He was the starting signal-caller and middle linebacker for SU, being coached by Amos Alonzo Stagg Sr. and Jr. He ranked in the Top Ten in the nation in passing. He received the Jack Dempsey trophy as the Outstanding Student Athlete and was selected by the university as Outstanding Junior.
During his junior year (1947-48) he made third team All-State in basketball with a 21 point average and followed it up in his senior year with first team All-State status and a 27 point per game average. He was the leading scorer in Pennsylvania colleges, ranked second in the nation in scoring and threw in a single game record of 60 points.
Coaldale High School cagers in the late 40s and 50s used to marvel at Evie's prowess when he took to the court in the Coaldale gym for the Alumi games and practice sessions over the Christmas holidays. He was also an outstanding third baseman in the area softball leagues.
In l969 Evie was inducted into the Susquehanna University Hall of Fame and in 1999 was selected as one of the top players in 100 years of football at SU.
He played semi-pro basketball with teams in the Lancaster area and semi-pro football as quarterback with the Shamokin Indians, who copped the league championship.
Following graduation from Susquehanna, Evie worked for RCA for 30 years as an engineer and products line manager, first in Lancaster, Pa., and then at Sommerville, N.J. He retired from RCA and went into business, with his coin shop now celebrating its 20th year.
Living in Newtown, Pa., Evie married Nina Frances Lybarger and they are the parents of six sons.
Charles P. "Charlie" Melley
COALDALE
"Charlie" Melley was born on April 18, 1922 in Coaldale, the son of Charles P. Melley and Anna McInernery Melley. He attended St. Mary's School for eight years and then attended Coaldale High School where he excelled in football, basketball and Track for the Tigers through 1938-1940. He graduated in 1941. He is best remembered for scoring all the points in the 6-2 Coaldale victory over Lansford in the 1939 Thanksgiving Day Classic. He was the recipient of the Pottsville Republican Trophy for the highest point scorer in 1940 in the area. During his high school days, he also participated in track where he was a member of the Tigers relay squads, which set several records. The Tigers dominated the District 11 Class B during his time.
His outstanding play on the gridiron earned him a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania in 1941. He played the 1941 and 1942 seasons before serving in the United States Army's famed 66th Panther Division in the European Theater during the Word War II. He returned to the University of Pennsylvanian 1946. At Penn, he served as President of Student Government, President of the Inter-Fraternity Council and President of the Sphinx Society. In 1949, he received the "Bowl Man Award" one of the most prestigious awards at the University. He received his degree the same year.
Charlie spent his professional career work in personnel work. He was last employed as Personnel Manager-Data Systems Division-Martin Marietta Corp. in Orlando, Florida. He died in Orlando in June of 1977. His wife Patricia McCall Melley, a daughter Ann Marie Melley Khan of Orlando and a brother James of Coaldale, survive him.
Lean and mean would be our way of describing Coaldale's Charlie A. Berry, another of the school's outstanding athletes of the 1940s.
A 1948 graduate, Charlie was a two-way performer for the Orange and Black's grid squad but is better noted for his track and field exploits. Few of the old-timers who followed the cinder sport in the Panther Valley will forget the fluid strides of the bespectacled Berry in the middle distance events. He was labeled as poetry in motion. Charlie was also a top-notch softball hurler, performing with the Old Shack Gang and McGeehan's Roses teams in the area circuits. In addition, he threw some pretty mean darts in the local leagues.
Following graduation Charles enlisted in the United States Navy playing on the Naval Air Station's football squad for two years while serving in Corpus Christi, Tex. After completing his military obligation, Charlie attended Sacrament Junior College in Sacramento, Calif. and Kutztown State Teachers College, where he received his B.S. in l958. While at Kutztown, he performed with the Bears' track and football squads for two years.
In 1958 he joined the faculty of Livingston High School in Livingston, N.J., where he taught high school mathematics until retiring in 1993. A year after beginning his teaching career he married his wife Larue and they are the parents of sons Charles K. and Shane R. and grandparents of Devlin, Tegan and Cailin. Charlie also took time to earn his Masters Degree from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., in 1972.
While at Livingston Charlie served as track coach for 25 years.