Indiana University of Pennsylvania Athletics

Well-known Indiana businessman and civic leader Chuck Spadafora is being presented the honorary Bell Ringer Award posthumously in recognition of his long-time support of and many contributions to IUP athletics.

Spadafora was owner of Colonial Motor Mart, Colonial Toyota and Mark Arbuckle Nissan when he died Aug. 8 at the age of 77.

A graduate of Indiana High School (1959) and the U.S. Naval Academy (1963), Spadafora enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and served in Vietnam. He returned to Indiana in 1973 to work at the automobile dealerships owned by his father, Cecil, and then succeeded him as president.

Spadafora was named Civic Leader of the Year in Indiana in 1997; received the Indiana County Athena Award, which honors leadership, in 2002; was presented the Distinguished Citizen Award by the Laurel Highlands Council of the Boy Scouts of America in 2014; and, along with his father, was inducted into the Indiana County Business Hall of Fame in 2017. With others in the Colonial family, he shared the Family Business of the Year Award from the University of Pittsburgh's Katz School of Business and the Distinguished Family Business award from IUP's Center for Family Business.

Spadafora was a long-time member of IUP's Wheels of Support Program and has given financially to the athletic department over the years. His father, Cecil, was the first recipient of the IUP Athletic Hall of Fame Bell Ringer award in 1996.

Spadafora is survived by his wife, Linda; children Char-Lynn, Charles Jr. (C.J.), Sam and Jo-Una; and eight grandchildren.