Susan Rauch Gerhart 

            After retiring from competitive softball at the age of 25, Susan Rauch

Susan Rauch Gerhart

Gerhart needed to scratch her competitive itch. Off-road racing served that purpose.

            In 25 years of racing Jeeps with her father and brother, Gerhart collected numerous trophies and made multiple friends. She said it was as much fun as playing softball.

            "Whatever I did I was very competitive," said Gerhart, a 1974 graduate of Upper Perkiomen High School. "I did my best, and it always paid off."

            Growing up in the Palm section of Upper Hanover, she started playing softball at a young age. At the age of eight, Gerhart was taught to pitch by her aunt, Carol Greiss.

            "She had me throwing pretty hard then," Gerhart said.

            In high school, she dominated on the mound. Gerhart pitched every game during her four varsity seasons for the Indians. During her junior and senior seasons, she helped lead them to consecutive Bux-Mont League titles and garnered the team's most valuable player award both seasons.

            On the basketball court, Gerhart displayed a scoring touch. She led the league in scoring one season with a 20-point average.

            "Basketball was a favorite sport," Gerhart said.

            Gerhart simultaneously played for the Pennsburg Shamrocks, which competed in one of the top ASA fastpitch leagues around. They won several state titles during her tenure.

            "I was intimidated in the beginning," Gerhart said. "But I held my own with all the other pitchers."

            After graduating from high school, Gerhart and several other players from surrounding league schools created an all-star team. Craig's Clippers, named after a hairdresser based in Souderton, won a state championship and made a deep run into a national regional tournament.

            At age 23, in 1979, Gerhart joined the Allentown Patriot Queens and helped pitch them to a third-place finish in a national tournament in Bay City, Michigan. She called it the highlight of her softball career.

            Two years later, Gerhart retired from the sport. She described 25 as old for the world of competitive softball. In 1982, she climbed into a four-cylinder Jeep built by her dad and brother.

            "Racing is pretty awesome," Gerhart said.

            Competing in a women's division, she participated in events that included a drag race, a hill climb and an obstacle course up and down the east coast. According to Gerhart, the obstacle course – which included rocks and water – was her best category.

            "It was so much fun," said Gerhart, who works at Continental Automotive Systems, Inc. in Allentown. "I made a lot of friends from racing. It was very family-oriented."

Craig Kriebel

            Craig Kriebel earned a college scholarship to pitch at St. Joseph University.

Craig Kriebel

However, the 1979 graduate of Upper Perkiomen High School considered basketball his best sport.

            Kriebel posted a few 30-point games in his career. As a senior, the point guard averaged 20 points a game and finished third in the Bux-Mont League in scoring.

            "I took a lot of shots," he said. "I shot a lot from the outside. I drove to the basket, too. I got a lot of foul shots."
            At 5-foot-8, the Pennsburg native said he probably could have competed at a small Division II or Division III school. Instead, Kriebel accepted an offer to play baseball for the Hawks.

            From 1980 to 1983, the right-hander relied on a fastball that topped out at 88 mph and two decent breaking balls. As a junior and a senior, he pitched in the same rotation with Jamie Moyer, a Souderton native who collected 269 Major League victories over 25 seasons.

            "It was pretty competitive," said Kriebel, who credited Ernie Quatrani, the head coach his senior year at Upper Perkiomen, for getting him into St. Joe's.

            Kriebel, who posted a team-high two saves in 1982, generated some interest from professional scouts after his junior season. However, an injury he sustained pitching the following summer for the Allentown Wings on a flat mound in New York, tempered that interest.

            In high school, Kriebel played all over the field for the Indians. He played some as a sophomore, then filled a significant role as a junior pitching and playing mostly third base and the outfield in the field.

            The Upper Hanover resident says his athletic experience taught him the basic values of hard work, preparation and learning to succeed. Kriebel has stayed close to both sports by working as a PIAA basketball official and a baseball umpire. Since 1992 has worked games in both sports in the Pioneer Athletic Conference and the Suburban One. He also umpires American Legion games during the summer.

            "It keeps me close to the games," said Kriebel, who has worked at Blommer Chocolate the last five years after a 15-year career as a real estate agent. "I've worked a lot of games with guys I played against who are now coaches. It's kind of funny. If they think I made a bad call, they're going to get mad at me, but they're not going to take it to the extreme."