LIMA — Lima Senior High School honored 26 athletes, five coaches, two state champion teams and four contributors to its athletic program at the school’s first Athletic Hall of Fame induction banquet on Saturday night at the University of Northwestern Ohio’s Event Center.
The banquet and ceremony honored those whose achievements have made Lima Senior sports what they are. And in the process, it might have encouraged some young athletes to follow in the footsteps of the Hall of Fame inductees.
Some of Saturday night’s inductees talked about the inspiration they drew from athletes they watched when they were younger.
Kevelin Capers, a first-team All-Ohio quarterback in 1987 and honorable mention All-Ohio in basketball as a senior in the 1987-88 season, remembered watching a Who’s Who of 1980s Lima high school basketball as he was growing up in Lima.
“I started watching players like Castro McClellan, Bruce Andrews, Anthony Thompson, Andre Reed, Lee Stewart and from the city, Bruce Hodges. And from a football standpoint, William White,” Capers said.
“This almost seems like a family affair. All the players I just named, I kind grew up watching them at the local basketball courts over at Hope and Nova or at the Bradfield Center,” he said.
Cobie Carlisle, a first-team All-Ohio basketball player as a senior in 2002 and a three-time state qualifier, also remembered looking up to Lima Senior athletes as she was coming up through middle school and junior high school.
“I’m excited the school and city are giving recognition to all these different levels of athletes. The 1996 football team, I remember watching them when I was in sixth grade at South Middle School. Those guys were like iconic to us.
“I think it (the Hall of Fame) gives the kids now something to look forward to as they progress in their athletic ability. Maybe one day they can be in the Hall of Fame,” she said.
“When I was playing, I looked up to Madinah (Slaise). Then my freshman year I was playing varsity with Jeanine Johnson, Danielle Lyles, Angel Thompson, Katrina Towns. I looked up to all them.”
Lima City Schools has had a Hall of Fame open to any graduate since 1987 but this is the first year for its Athletic Hall of Fame.
The athletes in the first Athletic Hall of Fame class are: Tom Barrington (football), Kevelin Capers (football and basketball), Cobie Carlisle (basketball and track), David Cheney (football), Mike Current (posthumously for football), Richard Glover (football and basketball), Shaun D. Guice (track), John Edward Henderson (posthumously for football, basketball and baseball), William Howard (football), Denny Hullinger (football), Robert Wade King (posthumously for track), Leonard Truex (track), John McCullough (basketball), Gary Moeller (football), Joe Morrison (posthumously for football), Jarrod Pughsley (football), David C. Reynolds (football and baseball), Bill Sharp (baseball), Greg Simpson (basketball), Kendall Lamar Stevens (track), Christine Stump Duncan (basketball and softball), Travis Walton (basketball), William White (football), Tammy Williams (basketball), Steve Wilt (swim) and David Wilt (swim).
The coaches who were inducted are: Larry Barker (posthumously for basketball), Joe Bowers (posthumously for baseball), Corrine Brown (volleyball and softball), Leonard Rush (football), Seraph Pope (posthumously for football).
The two Hall of Fame teams are the 1964 baseball state championship team and the 1996 Division I football state championship team.
The four contributors are: Walter “Bugs” Koch (posthumously), Jack Saine (posthumously), Harry Shutt and family, and Jim Tobin.
.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}
