VENICE – Venice has a long history in athletics and the Sports Hall of Fame Electors Committee has formulated revisions and updates to a 2013 electors meeting.
These are the results of the Oct 21, 2023, meeting and general update.
Electors included:
Mike Henry VHS ’75, Mike Edwards VHS ’64, Jim Jeffries GCHS ’59, Rich Essington VHS ’68, Willis Stover VHS ’60, Clarence Hand, ’60, Donn Hornberger VHS ’59, Bill Cockrill VHS ’55, George Cross (honorarium), Carmi HS ’41, John Crnkovich, GCHS, ’57 (historian ad litem).
Former Electors, deceased, include Jack Tolliver VHS ’43, Bob Dubinick VHS ’52, and Barbara Baseden Jobson VHS ’59; George Cross Carmi HS, ’43, inactive.
The Sports Hall of Fame Committee met, on April 21, at the Park Grill. The effort of the participants is much appreciated.
The following decisions were made.
Decision #1:
New Honorable Mention Category
A category for all Cheerleaders is officially established and the girls from all decades, all Venice schools, are considered to be appointed to the Honorable Mention category.
Decision #2
Several athletes are now placed into the Honorable Mention category.
Basketball…Don Davinroy, Coach and player; Willis Stover, Larry Gray, Eddie Gray, Don Wells, Paul Sitton, John Corrie, John Koelker, Jerry Ciccio, Fessor Gray, Cedric Gardner, John Gardner, Chuck Mosby, David Painter, Bobby Joe Ponce
Baseball…Earl Crawford, Roosevelt Brown, both from Lincoln of Venice; Donn Hornberger.
Soccer: Jason Mueller Hon, BAC assistant coach and junior All-American; Larry Mueller Sr, Hon, outstanding Collinsville Senior League player
Decision #3:
For the Hall of Fame membership in general, several new athletes were nominated and elected into the Sports Hall of Fame:
Eddie Foley, Golden Gloves champ; Lloyd Patterson, Golden Gloves runner-up; Robert Foxworth, Golden Gloves Middleweight champ; Basketball: Percy Dillon, Donn Hornberger, basketball and tennis; Russell Turner, baseball, track and field, also Scholar-Athlete;
Baseball Teams:
Conference-winning undefeated 1966 VHS team members, Russell Turner, Ed Harper, Ken Patterson, Gregg Puent, Denny Hill, Tom McIntosh, Terry Cooper, Jerome McGlover, Bob McIntosh, Lee Gonterman, John Gardner,
Conference-winning champs, 1965, Jim Miller, Ed Harper, Mike Leatherman, Jerry Devaney, William Goetz, Jerry Bartlett.
Lincoln Rams baseball: Roosevelt Brown, 1956 Conference Champs; Earl Crawford, 1957, 1958 Conference Champs.
