Midland's Simmie Hill, Aliquippa's Mike Zmijanac named to WPIAL Hall of Fame
PITTSBURGH – Every year since the WPIAL Hall of Fame was created in 2007, at least one athlete, coach or team from Beaver County has been inducted. Such will be the case again this year.
The late Simmie Hill and Mike Zmijanac are among those chosen for the Class of 2024.
Hill, a 1965 Midland graduate, arguably has been called the greatest high school player in Beaver County history.
Zmijanac, a 1960 Aliquippa grad who coached football and basketball at his alma mater, is the only coach in Pennsylvania high school history to win state titles in football and basketball.
Hill and Zmijanac were among 14 inductees introduced Wednesday at a press conference held at the Senator John Heinz History Center and Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum.
The 2024 WPIAL Hall of Fame class will officially be inducted Friday, May 31 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Green Tree.
Hill, who died in 2013 at the age of 66, was nominated by Chris Shovlin, a 1972 Midland grad who’s on the WPIAL’s Hall of Fame steering committee.
“It was a no-brainer,” said Shovlin, a life-long radio broadcaster who’s still the play-by-play announcer for Robert Morris University football and men’s basketball games.
“I thought there was a hole in the (WPIAL) Hall of Fame without Simmie being in here. So, I submitted his nomination and everybody on the committee recognized the name right away. The committee overwhelmingly voted him in.”
Hill, a 6-foot-7 forward, was one of two talented players who led Midland to a perfect 28-0 season in 1965 that included WPIAL and PIAA championships. The other star for that Leopards that season was the late Norm Van Lier, who was inducted into the WPIAL Hall of Fame in 2008.
As a senior, Hill averaged “only” 23.2 points per game. He and others in the starting lineup could have scored more but because the Leopards blew out so many opponents, coach Hank Kuzma sat his starters in the fourth quarter of several games.
In the 1965 WPIAL 3A final against Aliquippa, a 62-41 Midland win, Hill scored 38, a WPIAL championship game record at the time. In the state final, a 90-61 win over Steelton-Highspire, he scored 31. Playing for the Pennsylvania all-stars in the prestigious Dapper Dan Roundball Classic, he earned Most Valuable Player honors by scoring 29 points and pulling down 15 rebounds against the U.S. all-stars. He was then named a first-team Parada All-American.
“Simmie had more skills than any of the great players from Beaver County,” Dave Tadich, a 1964 Aliquippa grad who’s a long-time local hoops aficionado, told the Beaver County Times in 2013 after Hill had died.
“He could dribble the basketball. He had a deadly turnaround jump shot. He was impossible to stop. When Simmie Hill wanted to score, no one could stop him. He could rebound. He could defend. He was just the best all-around player.”
After high school, Hill played collegiately at Wichita State University, Cameron Junior College, and West Texas A&M University. He also played four seasons in the American Basketball Association (ABA).
Hill has already been inducted into several Hall of Fames including Beaver County Sports (1986), West Texas A&M Athletics (1988), Midland Sports (2010), Cameron Athletics (2011), and the Pittsburgh Basketball Club (2018).
“How appropriate it is that Simmie will be getting into the WPIAL Hall of Fame,” Shovlin said. “Norm and the ’65 team have already been inducted, so it’s time Simmie gets in, too.”
It’s appropriate, too, that Zmijanac will be getting in.
He was nominated for induction by Vince Sortino, the WPIAL’s chief operating officer.
As was the case with Hill, the 10-person WPIAL Hall of Fame steering committee agreed that Zmijanac was Hall of Fame worthy. After all, he’s the only coach to ever win state titles in football and basketball.
A creative writing and American literature teacher at Aliquippa for 39 years, Zmijanac spent 24 years as an assistant football coach, most as defensive coordinator under WPIAL Hall of Famer Don Yannessa either at Aliquippa or Baldwin.
In 1996, Zmijanac was hired as Aliquippa’s basketball coach. As the Quips’ hoops coach for seven years, his teams compiled a 166-43 record with three WPIAL titles (1998, 2000, 2003) and the 1997 PIAA Class 2A championship.
In 1997, he was hired as the Quips’ football coach. During his 21 years as coach, Aliquippa compiled a record of 240-59 with six WPIAL championships (2000, 2003, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2015) and the 2003 PIAA Class 2A title. He was the first coach in WPIAL history to take his team to 10 consecutive WPIAL championship games.
Zmijanac, who didn’t attend Wednesday’s press conference at the Heinz History Center, has already been inducted into the Pennsylvania State Football Coaches Hall of Fame (2016) and the Western Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame (2018).
“Mike’s certainly deserves to get in,” said Yannessa. “Just look at his record.
“Many years ago when I started coaching at Aliquippa,” Yannessa added, “I asked Mike to be our defensive coordinator. He said he didn’t know anything about football. I told him, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll teach you.’
“Well, he sure learned fast. He was a great defensive coordinator. He was a great head coach. And remember, he was Aliquippa’s athletic director, too, for a lot of years. Mike always had a lot of energy.”
Perhaps the most famous member of the WPIAL Hall of Fame Class of 20024 is Tyler Boyd, a former Clairton three-sport star who’s now a wide receiver for the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals.
Boyd helped Clairton to a 63-1 record and four WPIAL and PIAA Class 1A championships from 2009 to 2012. He held the WPIAL record in touchdowns (117) and ranked fifth in WPIAL history in rushing yards (5,755) when he graduated. He played college football at Pitt and was picked in the second round (55th overall) of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Bengals. He’s currently in his eighth season with the team.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Midland's Simmie Hill, Aliquippa's Mike Zmijanac named to WPIAL Hall of Fame
