Bald Eagle javelin thrower inducted into PA Track & Field Hall of Fame

Angela Hoover of Bald Eagle Area competes in the javelin throw Thursday April 22, 2004.

Angela Hoover of Bald Eagle Area competes in the javelin throw Thursday April 22, 2004.

Center Daily Times, file

Angela Hoover had a distinguished career as a javelin thrower in the Bald Eagle Area and is now being honored for her accomplishments.

The 2004 BEA graduate was elected to the Pennsylvania High School Track & Field Hall of Fame on Friday and is scheduled to be inducted during a ceremony on Saturday, May 28. It will take place during the PIAA Track & Field Championship meeting at Shippensburg University.

Hoover said she’s looking forward to both the ceremony and the chance to return to where she started.

“I am incredibly honored for this induction and proud to once again represent Bald Eagle, especially at the state level. To be a part of PA athletics history means a lot to me,” said Hoover. “The fact that they’re honoring you for the ceremony in Shippensburg, that’s going to be great. You can go to your induction and it’s in the same place that you attended and you have all these memories. I am really looking forward to going back there in May.”

Hoover won four PIAA AA Javelin gold medals from 2001-2004 and had a competition record of 154 feet, 5 inches in 2003. She is also a four-time District 6 AA javelin throw champion (2001-2004) with a contest record of 152 feet 0 inches in 2003. She set the Pennsylvania record in the javelin throw with a 159 foot 7 inch throw at the West Central Coaches Meet in Altoona (2003) and became a Track & Field News Third Team All-American that same year.

Hoover5.JPG
Bald Eagle’s Angela Hoover stands on the podium after earning her 4th consecutive gold medal in the girls’ javelin throw during the 2004 PIAA Track and Field Championships in Shippensburg. May 29, 2004. Center Daily Times, file

Going into athletics almost didn’t happen for Hoover. She loved basketball, but her siblings all competed in track and field, coached at BEA by Ron Hoover, her father. While her siblings encouraged her to follow their example, her father challenged her to go her own way.

Luckily for Angela Hoover, it worked in her favor.

“I might have put a little pressure on me to try (track) because her four older brothers and sisters were all in track,” Ron Hoover said. “She wanted to play basketball and I was like, ‘You know what, I’ll drive you anywhere. Let’s give athletics a month. Let’s meet up or something, see if you enjoy it or not. If not, that’s fine. You can focus on basketball.” Her first meeting of the year was in Lock Haven, it was an invitation and she broke the school record with her first throw. So it was a pretty good start for them.”

BEA athletic director Doug Dyke has known Angela Hoover for many years — he babysat the future track star and was close to all of her family. Her father is still BEA’s throwing coach for the track team and her younger sister Abigail currently competes on the team and is a senior. The two continue to push their family member’s legacy as a pitcher, Dyke said.

“We have her (Angela Hoover’s) picture and jersey hanging in our lobby,” he said. “Kids will pay attention. So that will all still be there and right now both (Ron and Abigail Hoover) are here and Ron is still coaching the track team who are helping.”

Angela Hoover continued her throwing career at college in Pittsburgh. She won a Big East Conference indoor track and field title with the Panthers in 2005, but underwent midseason surgery to repair a damaged ulnar collateral ligament in her throwing arm. It was “a painful couple of years of tossing” after the surgery, said Hoover, who is still in pain to this day. It hasn’t stopped her from pursuing a career in law enforcement.

Angela Hoover is the Warden of the Clinton County Correctional Facility, which makes her schedule very tight. Dyke attempts to carve out some time that she is available to be honored on the BEA’s campus before being honored in Shippensburg.

“I don’t know if she’s made it to any track meetings in the last few years, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she makes it to any, just not here,” Dyke said. “She supports her brother and sister and she even has a nephew who plays sports at Central Mountain. Hopefully she’ll be recognized sometime this spring if we can make it.”

Kyle J. Andrews is a 2018 graduate of the University of Baltimore, home of the perpetually unbeaten bees. Before joining the Center Daily Times, he spent time as a sports reporter for the Baltimore Sun Media Group, covering the Ravens and Orioles for 105.7 The Fan, Baltimore Beatdown and Fox Sports 1340 AM.

Comments are closed.