Hall of Fame
Chuck Pora '68 was the 2018 Distinguished Service Award recipient. Pora has contributed to the Gannon athletics program in many different ways during more than a half-century of involvement, dating back to his first season on the Gannon baseball team in 1965. Most notably, the 2017-18 season will mark his 49th consecutive year as a statistician for the Gannon basketball program and he served on the Gannon Athletics Hall of Fame Board from its inception in 1984 until 2016. Having kept the home team statistics for the basketball program since the 1969-70 season, Pora is the longest-serving member of the scorer's table that has approximately 150 years of combined service. His duration of 49 consecutive years and approximately 1,500 women's and men's games worked has set the standard high. Not only has he served the Gannon Athletics Department, but he has done so by donating his pay back to the department during the last two seasons.
The Erie, Pa., native was a member of the Gannon baseball team under legendary head coach Ivan George before graduating in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in business management. In the early 1980s, Pora presented the idea of a Gannon Athletics Hall of Fame to former Athletics Director Bud Elwell, and worked with Elwell on its formation. During his 32-year tenure on the Hall of Fame Board, he served in numerous capacities, including photographer, secretary, sub-committee member and by-laws coordinator.
In 2016, Pora spearheaded a 50-year anniversary celebration of the Gannon men's basketball team's six-overtime game against Youngstown State. He also previously served on the 2014 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Elite Eight committee while helping secure sponsors. In the '80s and '90s, Pora was the head of a committee at GTE that provided volunteer support of Gannon's annual fund telethon.
