University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Athletics

    Dr. Patricia Ritter-Sharbaugh’s athletic accomplishments as a gymnast at Pitt-Johnstown created history when she became Pitt-Johnstown’s first ever National Champion.  Dr. Ritter-Sharbaugh was crowned the 1982 Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) National Balance Beam Champion and placed second in the uneven parallel bars on her way to a national runner-up finish in the All-Around competition.
     Dr. Ritter-Sharbaugh, a member of the Pitt-Johnstown women’s gymnastics team from 1980-84 under Head Coach Ernie Fetzer, won the 1982 AIAW East Regional Championship held at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.  She garnered All-Region and All-American honors in 1981 and in 1982. 
 In addition, Dr. Ritter-Sharbaugh, a native of Nazareth, Pa. and a graduate of Nazareth Area High School, was a two-time recipient of the Mountain Cat Award for Athletics and received the school’s Ray Scott Award for her high performance in intercollegiate athletics and exceptional qualities of character and student citizenship in 1984.
     After graduating from Pitt-Johnstown in 1984 with a degree in business economics, Dr. Ritter-Sharbaugh continued her education by earning a Master of Divinity Degree at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 1991 and a PhD in Roman Catholic systematic theology at Duquesne University in 2009.  She is currently an Instructor of Theology at St. Vincent College in Latrobe.
     Dr. Ritter Sharbaugh and her husband John, also a Pitt-Johnstown graduate, have three college-aged children, Patrick, Rebecca and Molly. The Sharbaugh family resides in Ligonier.
     “It’s an honor to be named to the Pitt-Johnstown Athletics Hall of Fame,” Dr. Ritter-Sharbaugh said.  “I am very grateful for the recognition and for the education and encouragement I received as both a student and as an athlete at Pitt-Johnstown.”