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AMBER SMOLINSKY MERCURO

Athlete, North Penn High School, 1999

6 Varsity Letters: 3 Basketball, 3 Softball

Basketball: 1159 points scored in 3 seasons,

1999 Co-Captain and NPHS MVP

1^st Team SOL All-League; Averaging 21.6 PPG

1999 Leading Scorer in District 1 & Suburban Philadelphia

1998 Second Team SOL All-League

1999 NPHS Senior Athlete Genuardi Award

2018 Delaware Valley College Athletic Hall of Fame Inductee

Delaware Valley College, BS, 2003

Inducted 2019

North Penn High School, 1999

Amber Smolinsky was named outstanding athlete at NPHS for her class all three years.  She started at first base all three years for the softball team and ran two seasons of cross country.  She excelled at basketball and scored 1159 points in three years.  Her teams qualified for district playoffs every year.

In her senior year, Amber led all of District 1 and suburban Philadelphia in scoring.  She was selected to the First Team for the Intelligencer, Times Herald, and Philadelphia Inquirer-North all-area teams.  She played in a Pennsylvania All-Star game following her senior year.

Amber spent the summer before her senior year playing on five basketball teams: her Fencor AAU team (with which she reached the AAU national playoffs in Dallas one year) and four different teams in four different summer leagues.  On many occasions, she played multiple games at different sites on the same day. 

She was the only returning starter her senior year at NPHS and one of only three returning letter winners.  Amber led the team in points, assists, steals, and was two shy of the rebounding lead.  She scored in double figures in every game. Her final two high school games were a 37 point performance in an upset win against the 9^th ranked team in the district and 27 points, including 17 consecutive for her team, in a playoff game.

Academically, Amber was on the honor roll or distinguished honor roll every marking period.

In addition to her passion for basketball, Amber also excelled as an equestrian and had her own horse, Doc.  Riding and basketball competed for her time, but both were done at the highest level.  The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a story on Amber’s Delaware Valley College choice as “choosing hooves over hoops”.

At Del Val Amber was a four-year letter winner at guard and played on teams that earned three consecutive MAC Freedom Conference playoff berths.  She played on an ECAC championship team which is also the winningest team in Del Val history.  Another of her teams went to the MAC championship game for the only time in school history and also qualified for the ECAC tournament.

Amber was known for her court awareness, relentless desire to attack the basket as evidenced by her career ranking in free throws, and her speed.  She usually matched up defensively against the opponent’s best guard.

When Amber graduated, she ranked 4^th on the career list with 1409 points, 3^rd in assists, 1^st in free throws made and 5^th in field goal %.  She still ranks in the top 10 in all four of those categories and an additional four categories as well.

For her success, Amber earned a 1^st team All-Conference selection as the leading scorer and a d3 Hoops All-Region 2^nd team nod her senior year.  She earned 2^nd team All-Conference another year.

Amber was able to balance a demanding Equestrian Science major to graduate with honors and was named to the MAC All-Academic team on two occasions.

She was inducted into the Delaware Valley Athletic Hall of Fame in 2018.

Amber is married to Dr. John Mercuro.  They own and operate Piedmont Riding Stables in Hopewell, NJ near Princeton.