Wellsboro Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2017

John Deibert is a 1960 graduate of Wellsboro High School and was a member of the first undefeated Wellsboro Football team in 1958. John played two years of football, three years of basketball, where he was the starting center and member of the 1959-60 Tioga County League Championship team and was named league MVP, and four years of baseball as a first baseman and pitcher and helped guide the Hornets to three straight league championships in 1958, 1959, and 1960.

After High School, John received a full, four-year scholarship to the Pennsylvania State University for football. As a tackle there, Deibert saw action in bowl games from 1962-1964 and was named All-East his senior year. John was drafted by both the New York Giants and the Buffalo Bills, but did not play because of knee injury.

John continued his education at Rutgers University where he earned his doctorate in Educational Administration. John had a 40 year career in public education where he became a teacher, coach, and eventually a long-term public school superintendent in New Jersey.

John Antoine Prevost was a 1953 Wellsboro High School graduate and is the namesake of the Wellsboro Male and Female Athlete of the Senior Class Awards. John was President of the Wellsboro Student Council in 1952-53, was the captain and starting guard of the 1951-52 District IV Boys Basketball Championship team, and was captain of the 1953 Baseball team. John was also a Babe Ruth Leadership Award winner, President of the Sophomore and Junior Class, members of the National Honor Society, band, Glee Club, and Senior Class play.

After High School, John attended Mercersburg Academy. He received the Swope Award for Leadership in 1954, was captain of the Basketball team in the 1953-54 season, and was voted Athlete of the Year as a member of the Football, Basketball, and Baseball teams. John also attended Lafayette College, where he was President of the Newman Club, President of Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity, captain of the 1958 Lacrosse team, and lettered in Football, Baseball, and Lacrosse.

On August 20, 1960, John was killed on Navy Air Duty serving on the U.S.S. Oriskany in Subic Bay, Philippines in preparation for the Vietnam conflict.

Excerpt from the Wellsboro Gazette - August 25, 1960

Last Saturday, Wellsborans were shocked and grief stricken when the tragic news spread through the town of the untimely death of Johnny Prevost.

So much that is joyous can be told of Johnny, but in the first sense of loss, only what was fine and truly good in him springs to mind, for always in his happy, carefree, youth there was ever a certain dignity and highly developed sense of responsibility. His warm, vital personality glowed with affection for his fellow man, he was constantly eager to devote his time and energies to children especially.

Johnny was an exceptional person. He was Wellsboro's "All-American Boy," grown to manhood, and in his young strength and gaiety of heart, in the end becoming a truly living symbol of sacrifice for that which he held most dear.