About the Hall of Fame

The purpose of the Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame is to foster amateur sport's competition by recognizing present and former area athletes, coaches, and others who have distinguisihed themselves in the field of athletics, either individually, or by virtue of their performance on or in connection with athletic teams representing their high school, community college, four-year colllege, university, or professional team, or sport; or by meritorious effort on behalf of athletics. The corporation will annually nominate, elect, honor and award truly outstanding Saginaw County female and male athletes, both past and present.

 HALL OF FAME ANNOUNCES 10 MEMBER CLASS OF 2006

SAGINAW, MICHIGAN (April 10, 2006) — Jack Tany, Vice President and Chairman of the Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame's Selection Committee, announced today the “Class of 2006" for the Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame as selected by the over 650 voting members of the Hall of Fame. Nine individuals and one team were chosen.

Members of the “Class of 2006" include; The 1979 International Softball Congress world champion Saginaw Bolters , Olympic boxer Jerry “Petey” Armstrong , baseball pioneer James “Ike” Bearinger , NFL linebacker Monty Brown , International League hockey player and coach Dennis Desrosiers , University of Michigan and Arizona State University basketball coach Bill Frieder , Saginaw's Mr. Softball Art Gillis , Michigan State University football lineman and long time high school football and track coach Don Schiesswohl , University of Michigan All- American swimmer Dick Weinberg , and Frankenmuth High School's Warren “Whitey” Wilson , the most successful high school basketball coach in Saginaw County history.

The “Class of 2006" will be inducted on Friday November 3, 2006 at the HORIZON”S BANQUET CENTER, 6200 State St. Saginaw Michigan. The social hour begins at 5:00pm with dinner at 6:00pm, the induction to follow. $35.00. Tickets can be obtained by contacting Dave or Ruth Helpap (989) 793-3022.

HISTORY OF HALL OF FAME

 Don Bethune had the idea for a Hall of Fame honoring the past great sports figures from Saginaw County and with the help of Paul Neumeyer, Sports Editor of The Saginaw News, a group of volunteers got together and formed the first board of directors in 2001. The board elected officers, president Don Bethune, vice president Dr. Lou Economou, treasurer Jim McGovern, & secretary Matt Bethune. Other founding board members were; Kelly Beckman, Pat Brady, Jim Buckley, Bud Butler, Richard Curry, John DiMercurio, Alex Farrell, Jack Guttowsky, Vonnie Killmer, Bob Krogman, Tom McDonald, Bob Sanders, Don Schiesswohl, Jack Tany, & Horace Thomas. The board of directors elected the first class in 2002 including: Major League baseball players Bob Buhl, Al Luplow & Curt Young , Nebraska football coach Bob Devaney , World Champion boxer Charles “Kid” Lavigne , University of Michigan football All-Americans Ted Petoskey & Dick Rifenberg , University of Tennessee & Oakland Raiders DB Terry McDaniel , track & field standouts Reggie Jones & Bill Watson , Bradley University basketball player Ernie Thompson & the 1973 Arthur Hill high school , State Champion undefeated and unscored upon football team . It was then decided to offer $50.00 lifetime voting memberships to the public and the lifetime members have voted for each class since. Each year a banquet is held in early November to honor that year's class. Last year (2005) over 800 people were in attendance

Saginaw County is a small area in Michigan, but has a very large sports tradition which we are continuing to honor each year, currently the NBA features Saginaw County's Jason Richardson , Darvin Ham , & Anthony Roberson , the NFL features Saginawians Stu Schweigert , Charles Rogers , Alphonso Boone , James Reed , Paul Spicer , Roy Manning , Todd Herremans, Revell Martin, John DiGiorgio, Glen Martinez & Ron Stanley . Others with Saginaw County ties include Oakland A's pitching coach Curt Young , tennis star Serena Williams , Miami of Ohio University men's basketball coach Charlie Coles , Duke University woman's basketball coach Gail Goestenkors, Auburn University assistant woman's basketball coach Sue Guevara , Harlem Globetrotter director Milton Barnes , Central Michigan University baseball coach Steve Jaksa , University of Michigan football co-captain Lamar Woodley , Michigan State University's football co-captain Clifton Ryan , Eastern Michigan University women's basketball coach Suzy Merchant , Georgia State University men's assistant basketball coach Mark Macon , University of Michigan assistant football coach Sam Sword , Boston College men's assistant basketball coach Preston Murphy and sports agents Carl & Tom Poston . The list continues to grow.

The Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame is located on the campus of Saginaw Valley State University with a display of inductees plaques at the Ryder Center on campus. Free to the public to view daily. For more information visit our web site at http://www.saginawcountysports.org.

Mark your Calendar for these important dates:

• Saturday June 2, 2007 - Annual Golf Outing at The Fortress in Frankenmuth. Registration starts at 8:00am with a shotgun start at 9:00am. Contact Bill Halliday (989) 790-8027 for more information.
•  Friday, November 3rd, 2006 - Annual Induction Banquet at Horizon's Conference Center. Social Hour begins at 5:00 PM, with dinner begin at 6:00 PM and induction to follow.