BUFFALO, N.Y. – Former Nittany Lion men's basketball player Chuck Crist and wrestler Jeff Prescott will be included in the 2019 class of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. Crist and Prescott are two of 13 inductees honored for their career athletic performances, including their time at Penn State, and commitment to Western New York sports.
Inductees will be introduced Tuesday, June 4, at a 3:30 p.m. event in the KeyBank Center foyer. A formal dinner will be scheduled for a date later this year.
Crist, a Salamanca, New York, native, was a two-sport star at Salamanca High School in basketball and football before attending Penn State in 1969. He was named Salamanca's Athlete of the Year in his senior year in 1968 after being named to the Lake Shore all-star team two years in a row for both football as a quarterback and basketball.
Crist turned his focus to basketball with the Nittany Lions and was a three-year letterwinner under head coach John Bach. For his career, he averaged 8.78 points per game and shot 40.6 percent from the floor.
Named team captain for his junior and senior seasons, Crist scored over 10 points per game in those two campaigns and was the second-leading scorer in 1972-73. He helped lead the Nittany Lions to a 17-8 record in 1971-72 and was elected team Most Valuable Player.
Crist was given a unique opportunity to return to the football field when the New York Giants signed him as an undrafted free agent following his graduation in 1972. Crist played seven years as a defensive back in the NFL with the Giants (1972-74), New Orleans Saints (1975-77) and San Francisco 49ers (1978).
After his professional football playing career was over, Crist returned to the Salamanca School District where he served as the elementary and high school principal of the district, among other administrative positions.
Prescott, a native of Olean, N.Y., was a three-time New York state champion at Olean High School prior to joining the Nittany Lions in 1988. Prescott won 120-straight high school matches and was named the New York state meet Most Outstanding Wrestler in 1986.
At Penn State, Prescott produced one of the most decorated careers in the history of the program with a pair of individual NCAA national titles in the 118-pound weight class in 1990 and 1991. He is one of 10 Nittany Lion wrestlers to win multiple national titles.
Prescott was also a three-time NCAA All America selection and was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the 1991 NCAA Tournament.
Additional wrestling accolades earned by Prescott include a 1991 University Freestyle championship and a 1991 Junior World Champion title. Prescott was also inducted into the Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) Hall of Fame in 2007.
Prescott has spent much of his post-wrestling career coaching, including leading Jupiter Christian High School to a Florida state championship in 2006. He also started and managed a pair of wrestling schools in western New York in the late 2000s.
Crist and Prescott are now two of 343 inductees into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame since its inception in 1991.
