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‘It’s history that needs to carry on’: Illinois Valley Sports Hall of Fame inducts 2027 class · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Its history that needs to carry on. Illinois Valley Sports
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  Hall of Fame inducts twenty twenty seven class. Written by
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  Kevin Schlumm, this article is being read by an automated
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  voice brought to you by Everlett. Standing on the stage
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  at the Auditorium Ballroom in LaSalle, TJ. Lewis perfectly summed
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  up the mission of the Shaw Media Illinois Valley Sports
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  Hall of Fame. Its history that needs to carry on,
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  Lewis said, as he was representing his late father Ted.
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  There was a lot of history in the room Thursday,
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  as the Shaw Media Ivy Hall of Fame inducted its
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  twenty twenty sixth class, which included fourteen individuals and three teams,
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  with the induction of Lewis, Carla Wolgenbach, Koskowski, Ron Merriken,
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  John Bailey, Garrett Barness, Joe Messino, Merk Metzinger, June Gross,
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  John Bellino, Christian Walgren, and Todd Hopkins. Along with the
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  nineteen fifty six to fifty seven Ottawa Boys basketball team,
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  the nineteen seventy nine LaSalle Peru football team, and the
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  two thousand and one Hole football team. The Hall of
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  Fame now includes ninety three individuals and nineteen teams. The
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  inductees shared memories from their illustrious careers and talked about
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  common themes such as competitiveness and relationships. Gaskusky's induction kicked
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  off the festivities. She was a standout athlete in volleyball, basketball, softball,
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  and track and field at Tanika and IVCC, and later
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  was a successful coach and longtime volleyball official. I loved
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  sports in general, and I loved competing, Goskusky said. I
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  had that desire to excel. I think just by doing
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  things over and over, that repetition, you get better. I
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  did a little bit of everything. I enjoyed it. It
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  was a passion and it's still a passion. Dave Moore
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  accepted a Hall plaque on behalf of his step son's
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  Garrett Barness, who quarterback Valis to a state championship in
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  Harper College to a national championship and also earned five
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  state track and field medals at a young age. You
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  could tell competitiveness was there, said Moore, who coached Barnason
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  football at BV. Some kids have it. He took it
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  to another level. Joe Messino's son's son Greg joked that
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  he didn't want to misbehave on a night his father's
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  team lost. That didn't happen often, as Messino coached the
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  Hennepin and Putnam County baseball teams to more than four
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  hundred wins and guided the Panthers to state in a
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  one class system in nineteen seventy two. He was a
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  pretty competitive man. Greg Messino said he didn't like to lose.
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  His teams were very hard working and very fundamentally sound.
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  That was Putnam County Baseball. Walgren reflected on growing up
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  the youngest of four brothers and how that helped shape
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  him into a two time state champion wrestler at Princeton
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  who went on to compete at the Naval Academy. When
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  you go into a wrestling room like that and you
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  have a lot of other champions from other states coming
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  into one room, the competitiveness is at another level. Walgren
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  said about his time at the Naval Academy, it was
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  tough because it was a big learning curve, but it
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  made me a better wrestler. Ted Lewis and Terry Gross
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  remembered their fathers building relationships with their athletes that helped
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  them succeed. Ted Lewis coached Mendota football to nine conference
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  titles and mentored many players who went on to play
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  in college or coach. I think one of his biggest
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  attributes is he became a part of his kids' lives
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  and they stayed with him their entire life. TJ. Lewis
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  said Gross coached many sports at Ottawa, but was most
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  well known for coaching pole vaulters. He coached a pole
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  vaulter to state for thirty one consecutive years and coached
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  four state champions. He put up some big numbers, but
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  what he appreciated is the kids who wanted to learn.
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  Terry Gross said he really appreciated after they left school
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  when they'd come back and visit him. Morrell led the
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  state in your uards per carry at leasal Peru in
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  nineteen sixty and was a three time track state qualifier
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  before going on to compete in football and track at Purdue.
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  He said among his favorite memories were being a captain
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  at Purdue and beating Michigan three years in a row.
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  The teammates and coaches you meet along the way are
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  what you remember morel said. Marrikan recalled his first baskets
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  on a hoop in an alley with a plywood backboard.
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  I made that first basket and said I can do this,
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  said Marrikan, who went on to score one thousand, seven
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  hundred and sixty seven points for Depew and help the
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  Little Giants to a super sectional in nineteen eighty. Bellino
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  was a standout athlete at Saint Bede before returning to
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  his alma to coach football and baseball for more than
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  thirty five years, leading the Bruins to one seventy six
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  wins and fifteen playoff berths in football and six twenty
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  five wins and a state title in baseball. I was
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  in college and kind of wandering, and father Kevin told
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  me they had an opening. Billino said, I went back
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  to help coach and never left. M c Lanni Slevin
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  called Hopkins a rarity, as he was inducted as an
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  active coach. In fifty five seasons as a boys and
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  girls basketball coach and baseball coach at Marquette, He's had
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  just one losing season. He's coached the baseball team to
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  three state titles, and his Crusaders play Saturday for another
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  sectional title. I've had good kids and good assistants. Hopkins said,
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  Marquette has been great to me. Bailey was a standout
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  golfer and basketball player at Street before going on to
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  excel in both sports at Michigan State and later coach
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  high school golf. Chrisler, a Mendota alumnus, served as Michigan's
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  football coach and athletic director. He is credited with introducing
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  Michigan's famed winged football helmet. Metzinger, an area reporter for forty years,
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  was the Distinguished Media Award recipient. He was loved by everybody.
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  His niece, Alice Schmidt said, was the recipient of the
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  Lanny's sleven Lifetime Achievement Award. Colemoone spent more than thirty
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  years as a coach, teacher, and athletic director at Hall.
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  I'm real proud of it, Colmane said, it's an honor
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  to be put in that category. The nineteen fifty six
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  to fifty seven Ottawa boys basketball team placed third in
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  state in a one class system. The nineteen seventy nine
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  LP football team went twelve to one and finished as
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  Class four A runner up. The Cavaliers were represented by
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  assistant coaches Jerry Panizzi. And Brattisbauer and fifteen players. The
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  two thousand and one Hall football team went thirteen to
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  one and won the Class three Estate title. Coach Gary Vassini,
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  assistant Steve Smith, Pete Kasperski, and Joe Ferlin, along with
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  fourteen players represented the Red Devils. Their bond started in
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  sixth and seventh grades. Vassini said they played youth football together.
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  They had great togetherness as a team. They were very intelligent.
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  They were great guys to coach.