Paul Sanders
A great individual athlete in his own right, it is for his contributions as a coach that earned Paul Sanders a spot in the Mercer County Hall of Fame Class of 2022.
A state champion in cross country in 1956 at New Castle High School and national top 10 finisher twice at Westminster College, his coaching career at Hickory High School is legendary. He served as head coach or assistant from 1968 through 1983 with five teams going undefeated (1968, 70 and 71 in track and 1970 and 71 in cross country). His cross-country team lost the opening dual meet of the season in 1969, but went on to win 52 straight duals.
His teams won 6 Mercer County Championships, three in each sport. His 1971 team won the District 10 Cross Country title, while the Hornets finished runner-up twice. His teams placed high in the PIAA state championships several times and many individuals had Top 10 finishes. Overall his track teams went 98-68, while cross country clubs were 168-66. His student-athletes set 8 outdoor track records that are now retired.
Paul trained several top runners such as Bill Moder, Dave Lawton, Alex Kasich, Tom Kocis, Tom Herrmann and Len Krichko who went on to outstanding college careers. Kasich and Krichko were collegiate All-Americans and are Mercer County Hall of Fame inductees. He also coached and mentored two other runners who won state championships, Bob Petrini at Kennedy Catholic and Jordan Williams at Sharon.
For 21 years he was assistant coach in cross country and track at Westminster College where the women's track team won four Presidents Athletic Conference Championships and the men won three. He was inducted into the Westminster College Titans Sports Hall of Fame in 1994 and Lawrence County Hall in 1990. Since 2009, in his honor, Lawrence County has awarded the Paul Sanders Elite 8 Teams Awards to the top 8 boys and 8 girls cross country runners in the county. He has served as a track and cross country official for more than 20 years.