The National Football Foundation Hall of Fame Ceremony

It was officially the 43rd National Football Foundation-Lehigh Valley Chapter Hall of Fame Banquet Friday night at the Northampton Memorial Community Center.

But it could have been viewed as an East Stroudsburg University football meet, as four of the five inductees – Bob Bydlon, Chris Gerhard, Mike Falcone and Mike Terwilliger – are ESU graduates. And the fifth person inducted, former Pius X and Lehigh star and current Notre Dame-Green Pond coach Phil Stambaugh, has a solid connection to ESU. His father, Mike, was a teammate of Terwilliger's at ESU.

The Hall of Fame Banquet is always one of the highlights of the year for the NFF local chapter. The other major banquet is the dinner between scientists and athletes on the first Sunday in March.

Always looking for new members and promoting local soccer at all levels, the Lehigh Valley organization is the third oldest NFF chapter in the country and is now in its 64th year.

The chapter's first induction class in 1982 included Chuck Bednarik, J. Birney Crum, Al Erdosy and Andrew Leh – an NFL icon and three guys for whom stadiums were named. Other outstanding local players who went on to play professionally, such as Matt Millen, Larry Seiple, Kim McQuilken, Mike Guman and Keith Dorney, were honored.

Kim Bydlon, the daughter of one of this year's candidates, sang the national anthem before the banquet began.

Here's a quick look at each of this year's new additions:

Bydlon: He has been coaching for 44 years, including 25 years at Catasauqua as head coach and assistant. Bob also spent time as an assistant coach at Whitehall, Nazareth and Hamburg and coached at ESU in the spring of 1979.

A native of Summit Hill, Bob attended Marian Catholic where he was a three-sport athlete in football, basketball and baseball. He earned all-league and all-county honors in football and baseball at Marian University and was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Carbon County Hall of Fame in 2022.

At ESU, he started four seasons on offense for legendary coach Denny Douds and earned All-PSAC honors. He was head coach at Catty from 1990 to 2000, had an overall record of 59-25 and led the team to three Colonial League titles and two Eastern Conference titles. He was both the Colonial League and Morning Call Coach of the Year. He remains involved as a part-time assistant on Tom Falzone's team in Nazareth.

Falcone: He has been a high school football coach at various schools throughout the Lehigh Valley for the past 49 years. His specialty is coaching the offensive and defensive lines as well as coordinating the strength programs at the schools he has coached. His coaching career began in 1974 as an assistant at Pius X.

At Pleasant Valley, he was head coach from 1982 to 1984 and again from 2004 to 2009, and one of his teams was co-champion of the Mountain Valley Conference. As an assistant at Pleasant Valley, he coached Hall of Famer John Blick, who later played at Penn State.

He was also an assistant coach at Allentown Central Catholic and coached in the 1994 All-American Bowl in Allentown. The former Bangor star also coached at Nazareth and is currently an assistant at Palmerton, where his son Matthew was an NFF student-athlete winner in 2009.

Gerhard: He was a three-sport standout at Catasauqua, where he graduated in 1982. He was captain of the undefeated 1981 football team and passed for 2,291 yards and 24 touchdowns in his career. He was a first-team all-league running back and defensive back and was a two-time district and regional champion in wrestling and a 1982 state champion.

He played at Fork Union Military Academy and was part of an undefeated team before heading to ESU, where he made a name for himself as the top punt and kick returner in NCAA Division II and started at defensive back.

He holds the ESU records for kick return yards (2,008) and combined return yards (2,767) and ranks first in career fumble recoveries (7). Additionally, he ranks second at ESU in career punt return yards (759).

He also served as a high school coach and head coach at Nazareth, Northampton and Catasauqua for more than 20 seasons. He led Nazareth to two Eastern Conference titles and an MVC Mountain title in 1991, as well as two District 11 playoff appearances.

Stambaugh: Stambaugh, who graduated from Pius in 1996, was an all-state quarterback as a senior and finished his career as the school's all-time passing leader while also winning a District 11 title in wrestling.

He then played football and baseball at Lehigh. During his football career, he led Lehigh to 31 wins, an undefeated regular season in 1998 and two NCAA FCS playoff appearances. He is the only Lehigh quarterback to beat Lafayette four times and was the first freshman to win the MVP award in the Lehigh-Lafayette game. He was the 1998 Patriot League Player of the Year and still holds most of Lehigh's passing records.

After spending five years in professional football, he returned to Pius

Terwilliger: He will begin his 50th season as a player and coach at ESU in 2024. He was inducted into the East Stroudsburg University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994 and was honored in the 2022 season for his 500th consecutive game as a Warrior and has held a role as quarterback, offensive coordinator or quarterback coach in each of 518 games. This includes all 471 games alongside former head coach Douds.

He has taught many of ESU's top quarterbacks, including his son Jimmy, who is currently ESU's head coach, as well as Andy Baranek and current Penn State University coach James Franklin. He has twice received major national honors from the American Football Coaches Association. He was named Division II Assistant Coach of the Year in 2006 and received an Outstanding Achievement Award in 2015.

As a player at ESU, he was a starter at QB for four years from 1974 to 1977, leading the team to a 30-4-1 mark during that time, including an undefeated season and PSAC titles in 1975 and 1976. In his He threw for 3,799 yards and 33 TDs in his career.