Topper Standouts Inducted Into HHS Hall Of Fame Sept.
6
Two
teams
and six individuals
were inducted into the Hillsboro High School Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday,
Sept. 6, during a banquet hosted by
the Hillsboro
Sports Boosters.
Enshrined were the 1914
state champion boys basketball team, the 2006 state champion girls basketball team, 2006
golf state champion Brooke (Beeler)
Lynch, 2007 shot put state champion
Maria Pretnar, 1991 and 1992
wres tling state champion Matt Hughes, three-sport star Walter Westbrook, 1924 one-mile state
champion Pat McClurg, and 1935 shot put state champion Tony Corso. They joined
Mark Frailey, Tony Parola, Stan Wallace,
Mary Beth Zimmerman, Harold Osborn, Ed
Dahler, and Buzz
Ott
in
the Hillsboro High School athletic hall of
fame.
Terry Guthrie,
grandson of Chester Guthrie who was named
to the all-tournament team for the1914 state champions, accepted the award for the team. "I'm honored to be here on behalf of
my grandfather and his teammates," he told the crowd.
"The memories have been coming back
in bunches," Coach Bret Tuetken said in accepting the award on
behalf of the 2006 state champions. "They met every challenge," he said of the hall of
fame team's
run
to the title. "It didn't matter if they were playing the Chicago Bulls, they would have thought they could beat them."
Brooke (Beeler) Lynch, a member of the state champion
basketball team who
won the golf state
title that fall, was introduced by Coach Fuzzy Jacobs
as a golfer who "had few
competitors." "2006 was a great year for me," the hall-of-famer said before thanking her family. "All of us are proud to be here."
Maria Pretnar, also a member of the state champion
basketball team who won the shot
put state
championship in 2007, was introduced by her brother, Nic Pretnar, who said in shot put, "her competitor was this arbitrary number." "Throwing like a girl is not a bad thing," the hall of fame state
champion shot putter said in accepting the award. She also thanked her coaches, trainers, and family with especially gracious words for her father.
"There will probably never be another boy who equals his record in high school or even comes close to it," Coach Dave Ball said in introducing two-time wrestling state champion Matt Hughes, who went on to a collegiate all-American career and a hall of fame world champion in UFC. "I have
never been the most athletic person," Hughes said in accepting the award. "I'm a big believer that you're a product
of your environment. My dad taught me how to work and my brother taught me how to compete."
The
award for
hall of famer Walter Westbrook
was accepted
by the inductee's
wife, Donna, and sons Scott, Lance,
and Mark. Scott described his father's athletic career
and his untimely death at age 38 in 1973. "He
was
a helluva guy and a great athlete," Scott said.
"Dad
would be very
proud of his home town, and he
would be very humbled with this honor."
Tobin Ott, public address announcer for Hillsboro basketball
and
football games and master
of ceremonies for the induction banquet, introduced the 1914 team as well as state champion runner
Pat
McClurg and state champion
shot putter Tony Corso.
Hillsboro Sports Boosters president Earlene Robinson opened the evening with words of welcome, Eric White
auctioned sports memorabilia donated
to the fundraiser, and the Hillsboro Knights of
Columbus catered the meal.
Hall of famers from the 2006 state champion girls basketball team, front row from the left, were Stacie Liebscher, Alex Ginos, Brooke (Beeler) Lynch, Sarah Puckett, and Shan Liddell. Back row: Mallory Zimmerman, Hope Schulte, Coach Bret Tuetken, Maria Pretnar, and Katie Homa.Photo courtesy of The Journal-News, Mike Plunkett
Hillsboro Athletic Hall of Fame inductees, front row from the left, are Lance, Donna, Scott, and Mark Westbrook representing Walter Westbrook, and in back, Matt Hughes, Terry Guthrie representing the 1914 state champion boys basketball team, Maria Pretnar, and Brooke (Beeler) Lynch.Photo courtesy of The Journal-News, Mike Plunkett