Many people are well apprised of the contemporary success in North Penn athletics, but the history of the North Penn athletic programs and the programs of Lansdale, North Wales, and Hatfield High School that existed before the merger is also now easily accessible to all fans.
Art Wurster, a 1962 North Penn grad has assembled the North Penn Sports Commission, which is now an online museum of North Penn Athletic memorabilia. Wurster has been heavily involved as a North Penn alum, and the evolution of the museum into an online experience is just the latest in his efforts to see the success of sports programs continue in our area.
“It all started in 1990 when I founded The North Penn/Souderton Area sports Hall of Fame and in 2000 the North Penn Alumni Athletic Association and sports Hall of Fame. During those years I donated to the school district the Crawford Stadium sign on Summneytown Pike, the signage on the football stadium scoreboard, and the James B. Crawford plaque on the stadium ticket building,” Wurster said.
Through these initial efforts to gather and organize memorabilia from the many decades of North Penn past, Wurster quickly found himself to be the recipient of a flood of North Penn history.
“So much literature and memorabilia became available from the high schools forming North Penn High School that I felt the need to display it to everyone interested in the rich sports history of North Penn High School,” Wurster added.
After making inquiries with the PIAA to see if other high schools had sports museums, Wurster found that such entities really do not exist in much of Pennsylvania’s high school sports, but he saw the need for one here at North Penn.
“I visited the North Carolina Interscholastic Athletic Association Museum in Chapel Hill, and it just blew me away. I knew then that we needed a museum. So much physical work was involved in our live exhibits that I decided to put the museum online for the world to view,” explained Wurster.
This online sports museum is easily accessible and easy to navigate at http://www.northpennsportscommission.com. The museum welcomes any type of donation of sports memorabilia dating back through the history of North Penn and all the schools that combined to form North Penn High School. Wurster is always looking for new additions to the collection. Questions about placing items in the museum can be directed to Wurster through email at [email protected].