Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League

 
A 1959 graduate of Charleroi, Jim Chacko enjoyed a long career as a WPIAL official after an impressive athletic career. Chacko covered football, basketball, and baseball for the league, working numerous championship games. He was an umpire in pro baseball for multiple seasons in the Gulf Coast League and MLB spring training, and also officiated for the show “Superstars” on ABC, which featured top athletes competing in events that were not their own. Chacko was a well-rounded athlete at Charleroi, lettering in baseball, basketball, football, and track & field. He helped lead the Cougars to the 1958 WPIAL championship in basketball, and as a senior earned All-State and Parade Magazine All-America accolades. Chacko scored 1,188 career points at Charleroi, and set school records for single-game points (50), single-season scoring average (27.5), and single-season total points (700). After graduation, he attended Long Beach State University and played on the baseball team. Chacko later returned to Charleroi and coached the basketball team to several section titles. In 1997, he was inducted into the Washington-Greene County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame and the Mon Valley Sports Writers Hall of Fame.