Hall of Fame
From childhood through early adulthood, Dr. Robert Hartnett played nearly every sport, including two seasons as a guard on the Pitt-Johnstown basketball team at the “Asphalt Campus” on Cypress Avenue from 1954 through 1956. However, it was after becoming a physician that Dr. Hartnett truly made his mark by giving back to Pitt-Johnstown and the Greater Johnstown area.
After graduating from Greater Johnstown High School in 1950, Dr. Hartnett served his country in the US Air Force during the Korean War. He enrolled at Pitt-Johnstown in 1954 and joined the basketball team, where he, along with 2007 Hall of Fame inductee Carl Sax, guided the Mountain Cats to a spot in the Keystone Junior College Tournament. Dr. Hartnett led the team in assists during his two-year career.
In 1956, he transferred to the University of Pittsburgh where he earned his bachelor’s in pre-medicine. He entered medical school and earned his doctorate in medicine in 1961. Dr. Hartnett completed a one-year internship at Johnstown’s Memorial Hospital and began his career. He was later named Chairman of Family Practice at Memorial Hospital, a position he held until his retirement in 1986. In addition, Dr. Hartnett held the title of Memorial Hospital Chief of Staff for one year and was a member of the Board of Directors.
During this time, Dr. Hartnett began to give back to his community. He served Pitt-Johnstown, as well as several area high schools, as a team doctor for nearly 25 years where he visited the campus to examine and treat athletes. In 1984, he established the Dr. Robert W. Hartnett Scholarship Fund at Pitt-Johnstown to provide grants to aid deserving undergraduate students from the Greater Johnstown School District. His scholarship is still being awarded today.
In the late 1970s, Dr. Harnett helped to create a local chapter of the “Flying Physicians Association,” a group of certified physicians and pilots who used their own aircrafts to travel to emergency sites to aid victims in any part of the continental United States.
Dr. Hartnett was on the Pitt-Johnstown Advisory Board from 1985 through 1997, and currently holds Emeritus status. He serves as Treasurer on the Executive Board of Directors of the Church of the Brethren Home in Windber. Dr. Hartnett was also active in many other community organizations, including holding a position on the Red Cross and the Cambria County Conservation Boards of Directors. Dr. Hartnett sponsored a team in Johnstown’s AAABA Baseball League and has been the commissioner of the AAABA National Board of Directors for more than 30 years. In 2001, he was inducted into the AAABA Hall of Fame.
Dr. Hartnett, an avid outdoorsman and fly fisherman, and his wife Joan, have been married for 56 years. The Hartnett’s have four grown children, Scot, Robin, Shaun and Kelly, 11 grand children and two great grand children.
“I’m extremely honored to be inducted into the Pitt-Johnstown Athletics Hall of Fame,” Dr. Hartnett said. “This is not just an individual honor. This is spread around the team I played with during the two years I was at Pitt-Johnstown. No one man stands above the rest of the team. Everyone I played with is worthy on this honor. I accept this as a team award.”
