Talented Berks Hall of Fame Class of ’23 includes four inductees with NFL ties
The Class of 2023 will go down as one of the most talented and successful of the 20 selected by the Berks County Football Coaches Association.
The current Hall of Fame class includes six members, who will be inducted at the annual banquet Sunday at Green Valley Country Club.
It includes former NFL players Chad Henne, Matt Lytle and Greg Storr, former Miami Hurricane James Bryant and coaches Ron Zeiber and Bob Dudek.
The Hall now includes 131 members, a group that consists of players, head coaches, assistant coaches, officials, special contributors and media members.
Bryant will be the 28th member with ties to Reading High, the most of any school. Henne and Storr give Wilson 25 members. Dudek is Muhlenberg’s 13th member.
The BCFCA Hall of Fame was inaugurated in 2003 with the induction of former Conrad Weiser head coach and current Wyomissing assistant Al Silveri.
Last year’s class included Jasen Esposito, Bruce Harbach, Bill Hess, Jack Prutzman and Al Wolski.
The first full class, in 2004, included: Ollie Eyrich, Reading High; John Gurski, Wilson; Al Gursky, Gov. Mifflin; Ferdie Kuczala, Conrad Weiser; Ray Linn, West Reading and Gov. Mifflin; Tommy Miller, Reading High; and Lenny Moore, Reading High.
The largest induction class came in 2015 when 10 members were added. Most years the class has numbered between five and seven members.
Here are this year’s inductees:
James Bryant
Bryant was a centerpiece of some of Reading High’s most powerful teams and went on to play at the University of Miami.
He helped the Red Knights set a program record with 10 wins his senior season, 2003, and led them to a 34-7 record and a pair of Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 titles over four seasons.
He was Berks Player of the Year as a senior in 2003 when he rushed for 910 yards, scored 11 TDs, made 87 tackles, had eight sacks, four interceptions and four fumble recoveries.
He had 314 tackles, 18 sacks and nine fumble recoveries in his career.
He rushed for 281 yards in a 2002 win over Cedar Crest, third-highest in program history.
Bryant earned All-State honors and played in the U.S. Army All-American game. He was selected for the Big 33 Classic and blocked a punt in the game.
He also played on Reading High’s 2004 District 3 Class 4A championship team and ran on the county championship 4×100 relay team, which medaled at districts.
At Miami, Bryant played 32 games over three seasons, from 2004-07, primarily at fullback his first two seasons before switching to linebacker. He played in 11 games as a true freshman and 12 as a sophomore. He later transferred to Louisville, where he played one season.
He chose to play at Miami over offers from Florida, Ohio State and Pittsburgh.
Bryant was signed as an undrafted free agent with the Washington Redskins in 2009 and participated in a mini camp and played with the Detroit Lions during training camp in 2012. He played with several teams in the Arena League and with the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League in 2011.
Bryant is a Cyber Security Adviser and lives in Dallas, TX, with his wife Amber and children Layal and Brayden.
Bob Dudek
Dudek has been an assistant coach at Muhlenberg for 57 years and is one of the few assistants to earn a spot in the Hall of Fame.
He began coaching kickers in 1966 for head coach Dick Koch and has remained on staff with 10 subsequent head coaches. He coached two-time All-State kickers, Zach Hoffman and Chris Reed, who earned All-American status at Muhlenberg College.
Dudek started the school’s weight training program, which became instrumental to the football team’s success under John Yocum in the 1990’s and 2000’s. He was also the school’s equipment manager for three decades.
He coached cross country for 30 years and has been an assistant track coach for more than 50 years.
Dudek was a guard and linebacker at Gov. Mifflin in 1954-55.
Chad Henne
Henne set numerous Berks passing records during his four seasons at Wilson before going onto the University of Michigan and a 15-year career in the NFL that ended last season with his second Super Bowl championship.
He became the Bulldogs’ starter the second game of his freshman season and went on to throw for a then-District 3 record 7,071 yards over four seasons. He led Wilson to a pair of Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 titles, was named Pennsylvania’s Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior in 2003 and a Parade All-American.
Henne became just the second freshman in Wolverines history to start at quarterback and went on to pass for over 8,740 yards and 87 TDs over four seasons. He was the MVP of the Capital One Bowl his senior season after throwing for over 350 yards.
He was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the second round of the NFL Draft in 2008, became a starter the next season and later played for the Jackson Jaguars before signing with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2018.
Henne primarily served as a backup and mentor to budding star Patrick Mahomes during six seasons with the Chiefs. He played a key role when Mahomes was injured in the 2021 AFC Championship game, stepping in to preserve the 22-17 victory with some late heroics.
Matt Lytle
Lytle set passing records at Wyomissing, played 27 games over four seasons at the University of Pittsburgh and later had stints with the Carolina Panthers, Seattle Seahawks and Baltimore Ravens.
His playing career included stops with the Rhein Fire of NFL Europe, the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League and the Colorado Crush of the Arena Football League.
Lytle, playing in the run-oriented Wing-T offense, passed for over 3,500 yards with the Spartans, a program-record and fifth-most in Berks history at the time. He threw for a program-record 1,228 yards as a sophomore, just the second 1,000-yard passing season at the time.
He went on to throw for over 3,700 yards at Pitt, including 2,092 yards with 16 TDs as a senior in 1998. He played 27 games over four seasons, throwing 26 TDs.
Lytle quarterbacked the Fire to the 2000 World Bowl VIII championship.
He made his NFL debut in Oct. 2000 with the Seahawks. The following season, after signing with Carolina Panthers, he got a November start against the St. Louis Rams and completed 15-of-25 passes with a TD.
Lytle was also an outstanding pitcher at Wyomissing and was drafted by the New York Mets out of high school.
Greg Storr
Storr was an outstanding linebacker at Wilson who went on to play for Boston College, with the Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans and then Portland Breakers of the USFL.
He was an All-Berks linebacker in 1976 and earned a scholarship to play four seasons at BC, where he played defensive end, earning All-East and All-ECAC honors.
Storr was drafted in the sixth round of the NFL draft by the Vikings, who were coached by Bud Grant at the time. He later played for Don Shula and the Miami Dolphins.
He was a captain for the Breakers in 1985, where he started every game and led the team in special teams tackles.
Storr was a member of Wilson’s first Lancaster-Lebanon League entry, in 1975, and led the Bulldogs to an 8-3 finish as a senior in 1976.
Ron Zeiber
Zeiber played quarterback at Reading High and Mansfield and went on to coach for 34 seasons, including 24 as a head coach.
He was named Berks Coach of the Year in 1998 with Exeter and Pioneer Athletic Conference Coach of the year in 2006 with Boyertown.
Zeiber spent nine seasons at Exeter, from 1993-2001, leading the Eagles to the 1997 Inter-County League championship.
He coached Boyertown for six seasons, from 2002-2007, winning the school’s first PAC championship in 2006.
He was head coach at Hempfield from 2011-19, taking the Black Knights to six District 3 playoff appearances in his nine seasons.
He was an assistant coach at Reading High and later at Central Dauphin before being hired at Exeter. More recently he’s been an assistant coach at Conestoga Valley and Daniel Boone.