Local historian Chuck Langerman has shared the backgrounds of two notable Cheltenham High School graduates who went to Hall of Fame inductions in their respective sports.

Albert Caesar III, Class of 1954 (above left)

Caesar played football, basketball, and baseball for the Panthers. He grew up on North Bent Road in Wyncote and matriculated at Lafayette College in Easton where he played halfback on the football team and third base on the baseball diamond.

Caesar led the nation in home runs in 1957. In 1958, he smashed a three-run homer in the fifth inning into the upper deck at Philadelphia’s Connie Mack Stadium to give Lafayette a 5-1 over NYU, sending the Leopards to the NCAA College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.

He maintained a .358 career batting average at Lafayette and was named second-team All-American his senior season. He also won the award as the top student-athlete in the Class of 1958, and the Al Caesar ’58 Pavilion attached to the Kamine Varsity House at Lafayette was named in his honor.

In 2000, Caesar was inducted into the Lafayette Marron Club Athletic Hall of Fame.

Thomas Boggs, Class of 1940

On March 18, 1939, Cheltenham High School junior Thomas Boggs decisioned Bob Bach of Forty Fort High in Luzerne County in the 95-pound weight class to become the first PIAA state wrestling champion from Cheltenham High.

Boggs is one of only three state wrestling champions in school history. In 1940, Joe Tropp (Class of 1940) won the 165-pound title, and former University of Maryland head wrestling coach John McHugh (Class of 1953) captured the 103-pound title in 1953.

In 1990, Boggs was inducted into the first class of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Wrestling Hall of Fame at Council Rock High School.

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