Joe Micchia
Joe Micchia was an outstanding high school standout at Sharon who went on to a National Collegiate Hall of Fame career.
Joe was a three-sport athlete at Sharon. He began playing football at age 8 and as a high school senior in 1984-85 he led the Tigers to the Keystone Football League championship.
He received a scholarship to play at Youngstown State University, but struggled to find time for both football and his biology major. When his coach Bill Narduzzi was fired in 1985, he felt he was not in the plans of new coach Jim Tressel to play quarterback.So a friend of his who was playing at Westminster College talked him into transferring. It turned out to be a great move for both Joe and the Titans of Coach Joe Fusco. While playing four games in 1987, he helped lead the team to the playoffs but missed the season-ending loss to Geneva with injury. That was the last loss the team would experience in Joe's career.For the next two seasons he led the Titans to undefeated seasons and the NAIA National Championships. At one time the team had the longest winning streak in the nation, 27 games, regardless of division. He made his mark his junior year when on a snow-covered field in the national title tilt and the score tied at 14-14 with Wisconsin-La Crosse, he fired a 33-yard touchdown pass to win the crown for the Titans. Westminster won the title again the following year and Joe was named the MVP for a second-straight season.
One of the most brilliant passers in Titans history, he was named second team All-American his junior year and first team in 1989. He was the school's first-ever 4,000-yard passer and still holds school records in career touchdown passes (68) and TD passes in a season (32). He was a perfect 31-0 as a starter for the Titans.
Joe was the NAIA's representative in the National Football Foundation Divisional College Football Class of 2013. That Hall is a branch of the College Football Hall of Fame.Now the Wake Forest (N.C.) physician joins his hometown Mercer County Hall of Fame.