Title...
Proclamation congratulating Richard Antoncic for being inducted into the McKeesport Area High School Hall of Fame on October 10, 2015.
Body...
WHEREAS, Richard (Rich) F. Antoncic learned to love the sounds of 1957 rhythm and blues in an unlikely place -- his room at Sloan-Kettering Memorial Hospital in New York City. He was 10 years old and battling an especially deadly cancer (osteogenic sarcoma) that eventually took his right leg. He had a transistor radio for company. For him, music was a solace, then a hobby, an avocation, and finally a vocation; and
WHEREAS, Rich became the leading expert in the “oldies” of the 1950s and early 1960s. He has collected over 40,000 records and has played in many venues on the East Coast, has appeared on countless radio stations, and is a sought-after disc jockey; and
WHEREAS, Rich is committed to the McKeesport-area community and is considered a champion for disabled people, particularly those with cancer. He often donates his work for charity endeavors. His knowledge of music, artists, flip sides, labels and little-known facts has earned him the titles of “King of Vinyl” and “The Living Legend of the Mon Valley”; and
WHEREAS, Rich attended the American Broadcast School for Radio upon graduation from McKeesport, but he began learning his craft by working at the city’s National Record Mart while still in school. In 1968, he founded his own store, Rich’s Records. In 1974, he joined the Allegheny County Controller’s Office as Supervisor of Post Processing, a job he held until 2004;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Allegheny County Council does hereby congratulate Mr. Richard F. Antoncic for being inducted into the 2015 Hall of Fame Class for McKeesport Area High School’s Hall of Fame.