North Clarion Senior, Jack Pappas Providing A Major Service To Local High Cross Country And Track And Field Teams Through His Involvement With YDL Sports Network/D9and10Sports.com
Jack Pappas, a North Clarion senior, who runs cross country and track for the Wolves, has found himself to be quite a sports journalist with ever expanding duties with Chris Rossetti and YDL Sports Network/D9 Sports.com.
In what has become an internship, Jack has provided an invaluable service to local cross country and track and tield teams, as Districts 9 and 10 on a whole, with weekly reports, video interviews, photographs and more that run on the network’s website.
A little background on how this article came about: Central Clarion head coach Nicole Oakes, who does fine articles on Wildcats cross country for Clarion Sports Zone, suggested I should do an article on Jack, who she said does a great job reporting on the “Non-Ball Sports.”
I left her know that I was more than happy to do so, but that I would have to ask for Chris’ approval, since Jack “works” for Chris. To say that Chris approved is an understatement, as can be seen in his wonderful comments below about the great asset Jack is. The others, whose comments are in the article are just as ecstatic in their praise of this humble young man.
A runner on two Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference regular season championship teams, Jack was the recipient of the Sportsmanship Award once. His personal best time 20:40, which he ran at this year’s Big Red Invitational at West Middlesex.
In track, he runs the 800, 1600 and 3200, with his best times of 2:27, 5:41 and 12:50 respectively.
Jack shared about how the partnership with YDL began. “I will also be entering my third season as scorekeeper for the Varsity Boys Basketball team… I was approached by YDL Sports Network co-owner, Chris Rossetti, at the start of last year’s district basketball playoffs.
“He asked if I wanted to help with stats for his playoff coverage, and it ended up turning into a job shadow experience that I enjoyed. It has now turned into a little side gig for me, and I have written several articles, run the camera a few times, and led his District 9 track and field championship coverage in the spring.”
Jack mentioned a very fulfilling experience that happened early on.
“One of my proudest pieces is when I got to cover Elk County Catholic and Otto-Eldred in the state basketball playoffs last season.
“The games were at Tippin Gymnasium and I got to cover them by myself. I took notes and stats throughout the game and conducted postgame interviews with Coach Straub from ECC and Coach Francis from Otto-Eldred.
“I then went home that night and wrote two articles that were later posted to d9and10sports.com.
“Mr. Rossetti is the one who gave me this opportunity and I will be forever grateful for the chance to cover two big games.”
Ever wanting to follow his mission of love for the cross country individuals and teams, Jack said, “With my cross country articles, I have loved getting recaps weekly from different teams across Districts 9 and 10, and interacting with the coaches.
“Cross Country is one big community, and I am so glad I am able to make new connections and bring attention to the greatness of this sport.”
Jack is finding that the life of a runner/sports journalist/employee/student has its demands. “It isn’t the easiest; I usually have an invite on Saturdays and I work most Sundays and have homework to do, so I usually set aside a few hours Sunday evening to work on them and get in contact with coaches for pictures for the headline.”
And how did Jack’s involvement in cross country begin? “In 6th grade, the cross country team was hosting winter open runs for any 6th graders who were interested in joining the team, so my friend Jackson Nicewonger and I decided to give it a try.
“We loved it so much, we signed up and started going to summer runs. I ended up getting a stress fracture that fall, so I did not end up running, but Coach Roxanne McFarland was super awesome, so I came back the following year. She has been a big influence for why I still run to this day.”
Jack continued, “For track, my uncle Dan Patton is the junior high coach, so I joined track, and love doing that every spring.”
Again, the love for featuring others is coming through on his “side gig”. “Track and Field was actually one of my first solo jobs I was assigned, so yes, I would love to cover it more in depth this upcoming spring. Last season, I covered the District Meet, where I filmed finishes, interviewed champions, and took pictures that were later posted to YouTube and d9and10sports.com.”
Jack’s volunteerism has seen him on the diamond. “I am also a youth baseball umpire for Leeper and Fryburg. I have done that the past 5 years and have worked minor league, little league, and senior league. I love the game of baseball, and this allows me to stay connected to the sport, and get to see kids enjoying America’s pastime (although some people may not find my officiating the best!).”
Jack is very active in school. He has and continues to take all the honors and dual enrollment classes that North Clarion has to offer. He received the American History award, Chemistry Award, multiple scholarships, and has been on the Principal’s List since junior high.
He has taken all the honors and dual enrollment classes that North Clarion has to offer and received the American History award, Chemistry Award, multiple scholarships, and has been on the Principal’s List since junior high.
Jack is the Senior Class Treasurer, President of North Clarion Youth Council, a member of Junior Historians, National Honor Society, and serves as a Math mentor for junior high students.
He also competes on the Academic Decathlon and Science Olympiad teams. In decathlon, he received two silver medals at the regional competition for the interview category, and had the privilege to be on the team that qualified for the online national competition. In Science Olympiad, Jack received two state medals: 8th place in Road Scholar, and 9th place in Food Science.
And his plans for the future, Jack said, “My goal is to attend college (still undecided at this time) to major in Sport Management because I love sports and all the numbers and statistics that go into it, so it would be great to make a career out of my passion.
“I have also considered potentially getting a minor in journalism or communications, just to keep that door open. I do not plan to run collegiately, but I would like to continue on my own and do half-marathons, marathons, road races, etc.”
Jack had some special thanks to share.
“I would like to first and foremost thank my family. My parents, Chris and Jen Pappas are very supportive of all this work I do and never limit my opportunities, which I greatly appreciate.
“I also would like to thank my brothers; Ryan and Henry, my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins who come to nearly all my school and athletic events to support me. My family is very close, and that is not something I take for granted, everyone is so awesome.
“Thank you to Roxanne McFarland and all the assistant coaches who have helped me grow as a runner and person. I got to run on the same team as two of our current assistants, Kaine McFarland, and Kaylee Castner, both great people you want to be around.
“It would not be right to do this interview without thanking Jackson Nicewonger as well. Jackson is one heck of a runner, but also a great human being. I have gotten to call him my friend the past 8 years and I don’t know what I would do without him.
“I know I probably wouldn’t be doing cross country, which means I probably wouldn’t have had the chance to do all the cool things I get to do now.
“Lastly, thank you to Chris Rossetti for taking me under his wing and introducing me to lots of influential people across the district. He helped me realize that I would love to work a job in the sports field.”
Some of those who know Jack best, shared about his heart to serve.
North Clarion Cross Country Coach Roxanne McFarland mentioned some of the “little” things that Jack has done for North Clarion, that are maybe noticed by few, but need to be shouted from the housetops.
“I cannot speak highly enough of Jack Pappas! He is a one-in-a-million kid! As Jack’s cross country coach, I can say he is one of the hardest-working athletes, even when he isn’t receiving all the accolades of the top runners.
“Besides Jack’s hard work and optimism, the thing I value most about him is his character! It’s the things I see him doing as a young man that don’t often get recognized—like when one of our junior high kids is having an emotionally rough day. Jack, as a senior and upperclassman, will quietly go to that child and make sure they feel included and know they are important. I have seen him do this several times, and he probably doesn’t even realize that this kind of amazing, silent behavior deserves recognition!
“Jack is the type of kid who took a 7th grader under his wing last year to tutor him in math on the side. Some teachers noticed, and now the school has started a tutoring program because they saw the success Jack had with this one-on-one connection with a teammate and struggling student.
“Jack is also the athlete who will come in early, without being asked, to help me put away our team tent that got soaked over the weekend. He’s reliable, accountable, and just a genuinely good person—sometimes I tease him that he’s like an old man in a kid’s body. He’s just an awesome person!
“Jack LOVES numbers—he is my own little statistician as he scores our mock meets and keeps me informed about what he believes our team can achieve. He also keeps me straight on dates and times, haha. I don’t know what I’m going to do without him keeping me organized next year! Jack is a huge asset to his team; we are really going to miss him (and Jackson) next year.
“But I’m so excited to see what the future has in store for him. I tease him that someday we are going to run a marathon together—I just see him as a true long-distance runner—but first, we may aim for the Cook Forest 25K in 2026!”
What seems like a recent development, the joining of Jack with YDL was slowly evolving over the years, even if Jack and Chris didn’t realize it.
Chris shared, “I have known about Jack for a long time. His dad, Chris, is a teacher at East Forest where my wife, Shenessa, is the school nurse. So I have heard about Jack for a long time.
“In addition, I have done business with Jack’s Uncles Dan & Mike Patton, and his grandmother, Sue Patton. I covered his Uncle Dan in high school & college. His Aunt Sarah Seidle Patton, actually worked for me way back when when I was Sports Editor at the Clarion News. So there has been a long-time relationship with the family.”
It is more than the family tie ins that brought this about.
“That is all good & well and no doubt helped in his family trusting me to mentor him. But from my view what really got me interested in having Jack help was seeing (a) what kind of person he is and (b) seeing the work he is doing for North Clarion boys’ basketball.
“I do a little substitute teaching on the side at North Clarion and had Jack in class so I knew and saw what kind of person he is. And watching him keep the book at North Clarion boys basketball showed me how meticulous Jack is.
“All that in addition to the fact one of our stated goals as a company is to be mentors for young people, whether high school or college students, made asking Jack if he was interested in helping out a no-brainer.”
And Jack came through as advertised.
“Then Jack quickly showed how responsible and good he was at everything we threw at him so giving him more responsibility and opportunities, if he wanted them, was easy.
“When he asked if he could write cross country recaps every week this fall, that was an easy yes. He has done a tremendous job with it all fall long and has added to what those athletes get in terms of well-deserved recognition. Jack gets all that credit. This is all him. And that’s a credit to him.
“This young man has a bright future in front of him & will do a great job and be highly successful no matter what he does.
“I know I am a better person for knowing and working with Jack and look forward to continuing to work with him throughout the remainder of the school year and hopefully beyond.”
Central Clarion Head Coach Nicole Oakes had this to say, “When I got the request for a few lines each week to summarize that week’s Varsity performances, I didn’t do much more looking at the source. I just tried to comply with the request and pass along the information.
“This year, when North Clarion came to C-L for the meet with our Central Clarion team, Jack approached me in general conversation about our articles. Embarrassingly, I hadn’t realized before that point that the person I had been sending recaps to was not only a high school student but a competing athlete in our conference.
“Each week, Jack has been courteous, professional and always passing along positive comments in response to the information that I share with him.
“He is just a class act kid!”
North Clarion High School Principal, Ed Baumcratz mentioned, “Jack Pappas is a great kid, truly a gem. He works incredibly hard in his rigorous coursework here at North Clarion and is involved in just about everything — cross country, track, basketball stats, you name it.
“Jack comes from a wonderful family and represents North Clarion with pride in everything he does.
“He even helps keep our boys’ basketball coach Roger Walters, and the basketball officials in line as well.”
North Clarion Athletic Director, Larry Wiser also had high praise for Jack.
“I am pleased to write this personal observation of Jack Pappas, who has been a dedicated member of our athletic program for the past several years. As the Athletic Director at North Clarion School District, I have had the privilege of observing Jack’s growth, commitment, and professionalism both on and off the field.
“From the outset, Jack has consistently demonstrated a remarkable work ethic. His dedication to training, practice, and academic responsibilities sets him apart from his peers.
“Whether he is leading by example during team workouts or supporting his teammates in their endeavors, his hard-working nature is evident. This commitment has not only contributed to his personal success but has also positively impacted our entire program.
“Jack is not just an athlete; he is a role model for younger students, showcasing what it means to be a dedicated and responsible individual.
“Thank you for doing this article about this exceptional student.”
(Keep shooting for the stars, while caring for others, Jack!!!! Thank you to all who contributed to this article!!)