SHAMOKIN AND COAL TOWNSHIP NOTABLE PEOPLE AND EVENTS

• Thomas Edison- Shamokin capitalists recognized the significance of Edison's carbon filament lamp and supplied the money to build a power station in Shamokin in 1882. The Edison Electrical Illuminating Company of Shamokin was formed. The original electric plant stood where Jones Hardware is presently located.


• St. Edwards Church- The first church in America to be lit by electricity.


• Eagle Silk Mill- At the time, the Eagle Silk Mill was the largest textile mill under one roof in America.


• "Cameron Bank"- The largest man-made culm bank.


• Shamokin High School Alumni- Shamokin High School Alumni Association is the first and longest active alumni association in the United States having been established in 1883.


• National Ticket Company- The national Ticket was once the largest ticket-producing company in the world.


• "The Shamokin"- A steam engine train that is currently on display in the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.


• Evelyn Witt- A Shamokin woman who was voted Miss Pennsylvania in 1930


• Kimber Cleaver- Credited with the idea for the laying of the transatlantic cable.


• "The Shamokin"- A steam engine train that is currently housed in the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.


• U.S.S. Shamokin- A double-ended gunboat built for the United States navy during the Civil War and was named after Shamokin.


• Dr. Kenneth Faust- Dr. Faust was selected as an Oustanding American for developing one of the major components of modern cataract surgery used by many eye surgeons throughout the world. Dr. Faust was also a two-time Pennsylvania State wrestling champion and had a 58-2 career record at Shamokin High School in 1950 an 51.


• 1955 Coal Township High School Football Team-In 1955 the Associated Press named the Coal Township High School "Purple Demons" team as the best high school football team in the state.


• Jake Daubert- Jake Daubert was a major league baseball first basenman for Brooklyn and Cincinnati and had a career batting average of .303. He won the batting title in 1913 and 1914. He won the Most valuable player Award in 1913.


• Stanley Coveleski- Stanley Coveleski was elected to Baseball's Hall Of Fame in 1969. He grew up in Shamokin and as he related " I would practice every evening by standing a tin can on a log or tieing it to a tree and throwing stones at it from about 40 to 50 feet away". He was signed by the Philadelphia Athletics in 1912 but was released after pitching 5 games. He came back to the big leagues in 1916 with the Cleveland Indians and won 20 games in each of the next 4 seasons. He was the star of the 1921 World series pitching 3 complete game victories and had a 0.67 ERA in those games. He later played for the Washington Senators where he was 20-5. He retired because of a sore arm in 1928 and opened a gas station in South Bend, Indiana where he died in 1984. The town of South Bend named their minor league stadium Stanley Coveleski Regional Stadium in his honor.


• Staff Sargent Freeman V. Horner- Freeman V. Horner was awarded the Congressional Medal Of Honor for his bravery during WW II. The citation reads:




******S/Sgt. Horner and other members of his company were attacking Wurselen, Germany, against stubborn resistance on 16 November 1944, when machinegun fire from houses on the edge of the town pinned the attackers in flat, open terrain 100 yards from their objective. As they lay in the field, enemy artillery observers directed fire upon them, causing serious casualties. Realizing that the machineguns must be eliminated in order to permit the company to advance from its precarious position, S/Sgt. Horner voluntarily stood up with his submachine gun and rushed into the teeth of concentrated fire, burdened by a heavy load of ammunition and hand grenades. Just as he reached a position of seeming safety, he was fired on by a machinegun which had remained silent up until that time. He coolly wheeled in his fully exposed position while bullets barely missed him and killed 2 hostile gunners with a single, devastating burst. He turned to face the fire of the other 2 machineguns, and dodging fire as he ran, charged the 2 positions 50 yards away. Demoralized by their inability to hit the intrepid infantryman, the enemy abandoned their guns and took cover in the cellar of the house they occupied. S/Sgt. Horner burst into the building, hurled 2 grenades down the cellar stairs, and called for the Germans to surrender. Four men gave up to him. By his extraordinary courage, S/Sgt. Horner destroyed 3 enemy machinegun positions, killed or captured 7 enemy, and cleared the path for his company's successful assault on Wurselen.




• Admiral Herbert G. Hopwood- Admiral Hopwood was a 4-star admiral and served as Commander-In-Chief of the United States Navy's Pacfic Fleet from 1958 through 1960.


• Harry Coveleski- Harry Coveleski (Stanley's brother) played major league baseball for the Philadelphia Philies, Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers. He had a career ERA of 2.39 and an 81-55 won-lost record. He was nicknamed "The Giant Killer" because in the middle of a tight NL race he beat the NY Giants three times in the space of five days.


• Bob Hauer- Award-winning Radio News Anchor and on-air personality.


• Kate Heffelfinger-Suffragette who was imprisoned for fighting for the women's right to vote. She experienced the "Night of Terror" in 1917 while serving a sentence at the Occoquan Prison in Virginia. The guards on this night brutalized the women prisoners by beating, choking and dragging them. She served three prison sentences ranging from five days to seven months for fighting for women's rights.


• Mary LeSawyer-Operetic soprano.


• Fred Rhoads- Cartoonist of the comic strip "Sad Sack".
  
  
• Bud Weiser- A major league baseball player for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1915 and 1916.


• "A Moke From Shamokin"- The song "A Moke From Shamokin" was sung by Marcy McGuire in the 1943 movie "Around The World" produced by RKO Pictures. The music was written by Jimmy MsHugh and played by Kay Kyser's band. Harold Adamsonwrote the lyrics.