Bob McNelly
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- Class Year:
- 1979
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- Induction Year:
- 1999
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- Role/Sport(s) Played:
- Basketball, Track and Field
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- Club Team:
- Student-Athlete
An accomplished athlete on the scholastic and collegiate scene, Bob McNelly was a track and field and basketball standout on College Hill. After finishing as high as fourth place in the PIAA track and field championship in the intermediate hurdles and taking 14th in the PIAA golf championship during his career at Somerset High School, he earned six varsity letters while at Juniata. A three-year letter winner and a captain on the track and field squad, he earned the J. Foster Gehrett '16 Award (presented to the most valuable performer on the track and field team) in 1976, 1978, and 1979. He won the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) 400-meter hurdle title in 1978 and 1979 and posted a fifth-place showing in the same event at the NCAA Division III championship in 1978 to earn all-American honors. He set the 400-meter intermediate hurdle school record (a mark of 52.67 seconds that still stands) while winning the 1979 MAC crown. He was a captain on the basketball court and played alongside the Twistin' Twins, Roger Galo and Bob Musser. He posted 265 points, 154 assists, and 151 rebounds in 72 career games. He capped his collegiate tenure by earning Juniata's prestigious John E. Blood Memorial Award as the graduating senior student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA.
