Note: The Chambersburg Athletics Hall of Fame will induct its second class of seven athletes, one coach, one relay team, plus one team, on Friday, Sept. 12 at halftime of the football game against Harrisburg. Stories about each inductee and the teams will be published periodically before that date.

Hall of Fame – Doug Walter

Doug Walter collected numerous medals in his excellent running career at Chambersburg, including a pair of PIAA gold medals in the 1984-85 season.

But he lists a team achievement as his favorite memory of his time with the Trojans.

Doug Walter was a two-sport PIAA gold medalist for Chambersburg. He won the 3A cross country title in the fall of 1985, then came back in the spring of 1986 to capture the 800 race at the track & field championships.

Walter is one of the inductees for the second class of the Chambersburg Athletics Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame celebration will be held Sept. 12-13, and the inductees – 8 individuals, one relay team and one championship team – will be celebrated at halftime of the football game on Friday night at Trojan Stadium.

The other members of the second class include Harvey Staver (coach), Lori Reese (field hockey, basketball, softball); Chris Clever (track & field, basketball); Garett Hammond (wrestling); Donald “Mike” Waters (legacy); Angie Rideout Lowe (volleyball, basketball, track & field); Ben Gabler (tennis); the 1990 4 x 400 relay team of Beth Muehl, JuliAnn Hopkins Morrell, Tammy McClanahan Allen and Rebecca Davis; and the 1984 baseball team that earned a PIAA state title.

Stories about each athlete or team will be published from now until the end of the summer.

In the fall of 1985, Chambersburg had a good boys cross country team, with several runners back who had experience in the PIAA meet. The Trojans faced State College, a program that came into the season with a 20-year win streak, but Chambersburg pulled out a victory.

“To be a part of the team, coached by Rod Crawford, that ended State College’s long dual-meet streak was so fun,” Walter said.

When the postseason came around that year, Walter excelled individually. He captured the District 3 Class 3A race at Hershey with a time of 15:33.9 and helped his school to the district team championship.

Then came the PIAA Championships, held at Lehigh University, a 5,000-meter race. Walter kept in touch with the leaders over the first mile, running in fifth place. By the two-mile mark, he had moved up to be in the lead pack of 5 runners.

But down the stretch, Walter had the best kick to win the race in a time of 15:38.14. The runner-up was Tim Barkdoll of Dallastown in 15:40.8.

The following spring, Walter was a big point scorer for the Trojan track & field team in the distance and middle distance events.

In the District 3 meet at Shippensburg, Walter earned 3 gold medals — he won the 800 in 1:56.7, the 1600 in 4:22.1 (he had also won the 1600 in 1985 in 4:24.5), and anchored the winning 4 x 800 relay team of Tony Evans, Rod Forrester, Eddie Kimple and Walters to a time of 7:52.8.

Walter had been the runner-up at states as a junior in the 1600 to Mike Renninger of Oil City, 4:14.51 to Walter’s 4:15.72. But in his senior year, he captured gold in the 800. His time of 1:52.70 was good enough to hold off Harriton’s Ethan Fray (1:53.61).

Chambersburg’s school records list still includes two events for Walter — the 800 (1:52.0) and the 1600 (4:13.6).

Walter then went to Penn State to continue his running career and was successful there, too. He was an NCAA All-American in 1989 in cross country and in 1990 in the 1500. He placed 11th in the 1500 at the 1990 USA Track & Field Championships.

He graduated PSU with the third-best 1500 time in school history and then competed on the adidas running team after that.