Riverhounds Announce 2024 Hall of Fame Class

June 26, 2024 – United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC News Release

PITTSBURGH – Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC has selected the inductees for this year’s Riverhounds Hall of Fame class and will honor Paul Child, Randy Dedini and Gary DePalma as the Class of 2024 in this year’s induction ceremony on July 12.

Child, Dedini and DePalma all were members of the inaugural Hounds’ team in 1999 – Child as an assistant coach, and Dedini and DePalma as players – and all three played significant roles in the early years of the club, which this year celebrates its 25th anniversary.

The induction dinner will celebrate the team’s third Hall of Fame class along with friends, family, teammates and Hounds staff, and the Class of 2024 will be recognized the following night when the Hounds host Oakland Roots SC in their USL Championship match Saturday, July 13, at Highmark Stadium.

This year’s Hall of Fame class was chosen in a vote conducted among current Riverhounds staff, the living members of the Hall of Fame and select members of the media who have covered the team. All three inductees received at least 75 percent of the vote to be selected.

Meet the Riverhounds SC Hall of Fame Class of 2024

Paul Child

This year’s lone inductee in the “Builders” category and a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, Child was already a legend in the Pittsburgh soccer community prior to the establishment of the Riverhounds. A standout player in the North American Soccer League of the 1970s and 80s after coming to the U.S. from his native England, Child arrived in Pittsburgh in 1981 and established himself as one of the top players for the indoor Pittsburgh Spirit. When the Hounds were established before the 1999 season, Child became an assistant under original head coach John Kowalski and served in that role for the team’s first four seasons, later returning for a second stint on the staff of his longtime friend and fellow Hall of Famer, Gene Klein. Child and Klein continued to work together after leaving the Hounds’ bench, becoming known to newer fans in the Highmark Stadium era as the analysts on Hounds streaming and television broadcasts from 2013-19.

Randy Dedini

The starting goalkeeper for the original Hounds’ team, Dedini played five years for the club from 1999-2003 and established a number of records at his position that still stand today. The California native was already a five-year professional, having most recently played in the A-League with…