Wayne HOF class of 2024 inductees a special group
- col-aaron-dorksen
- June 27, 2024
- 832
A few thoughts from the week in sports …
Every Wayne County Sports Hall of Fame induction class is special, but the 2024 group inducted at the Greystone Event Center in Wooster on June 24 will go down as one of the best.
The inductees were as follows: Erica Short-Baker (presented by Erin Short, sister), Nick Bellanco (Rich Bellanco, father), Mike Breckenridge (Doug Cline, College of Wooster men’s basketball coach), Barb Davis (Jeff Davis, brother), Terry Dilyard (Chet Martin, friend), Brad Doty (James Valentine, friend), Beth Green (Gary Green, father), Mason Monheim (Doug Davault, former Orrville football coach), Rhonda Schaffer-Smith (Selina Cook, sister) and Harold Weaver (Ray Weaver, brother).
It also was great to see the late Mary Kay Hajek honored posthumously with the WCSHOF/Harold Oswald Special Contributor Award.
Eight of the inductees had never been nominated before. If any area sports fans are interested in the WCSHOF and have some free time, I invite readers to look at the website at www.waynecountysportshof.com. You can read articles about the Class of 2024 and previous inductees, see photos, and learn more about the organization.
If you see someone who’s been left out, by all means feel free to nominate them. There’s a link on the website to nominate deserving candidates.
As was the case in past induction ceremonies, the 2024 inductees extensively thanked their families and coaches for helping them have outstanding sports careers.
One thing that really stood out to me at the 2024 banquet was several of the inductees overcame a great deal of adversity.
Bellanco, a Wooster High and Ashland alum, lost most of his junior year of high school to a leg injury and missed a year at Ashland University due to an injury. Despite the setbacks, he wound up setting numerous Eagles’ receiving records in football and becoming a seven-time Division II All-American in track.
And those medical issues inspired him to become a doctor and also have the mental strength to get through med school.
Green told a story about suffering a torn ACL while at Wittenberg and commuting back and forth all the way to Cleveland with her dad for physical therapy.
Doty is the first race car driver to be inducted into the WCSHOF. After being paralyzed from the waist down following a 1988 crash, he’s become a great inspiration and extremely popular racing commentator and promoter.
Orrville grads Monheim and Short-Baker are among the area’s all-time best in their respective sports. I’ve reported on lots of college signings over the years and the student-athletes wound up not playing at that school, but those two lived up to all the expectations and then some.
Monheim was a four-year starting linebacker at Illinois, and Short-Baker was a four-year regular at Indiana in volleyball before going on to play professionally in Europe.
Breckenridge is the “Voice of Wayne County” and Wooster radio’s all-time best announcer in my opinion.
Dilyard never lost a basketball game during his time at Northwestern and lost only one baseball game there in the 1950s. It was great to see him finally get into the WCSHOF at age 84 and be in attendance to receive his award in front of a big group of family members.
Weaver got into the WCSHOF 50 years after leading Triway to a Class AA state baseball runner-up finish and then going on to an outstanding fastpitch softball career.
Davis and Schaffer-Smith were early Wooster High girls basketball stars before going on to be outstanding college players — Davis at The College of Wooster and Schaffer-Smith at Connors State and Southwestern Oklahoma State.
I’m truly honored to be the WCSHOF president for 2023-24 and the emcee for the banquet. The WCSHOF is believed to be the oldest “county” hall of fame in Ohio and was founded in 1975.
The 2024 class was arguably the hardest to be voted into since the charter group of inductees in 1976.
That’s because COVID pushed the 2020 WCSHOF class induction back to 2022. For the 2024 class, our trustees had four years’ worth of new nominees to consider. More than 100 candidates were considered in our voting.
Eight of the 10 inductees were first-time nominees. A person has to be at least 30 years old and a resident of Wayne County for five years or more to be eligible for the WCSHOF.
Thanks to my fellow WCSHOF trustees for all of their hard work. The trustees are John Foster, Art Holden, Cindy Sickman, Lynn Moomaw, Erich Riebe, Wayne Zacour, Mike Plant (president elect), Doug Hanzie, Bob Reynolds, Sly Slaughter, Zach Bolinger, John Finn, Jim Glessner and Kim St. Clair. They all have a great deal of knowledge about Wayne County sports and are dedicated to making the WCSHOF a first-class organization.
A special thanks goes out to our secretary Rachel Eggeman for all of her help.
Parting shots
The Cleveland Guardians’ incredible season just keeps getting more and more fun to follow.
Players like Jose Ramirez, Steven Kwan, Josh Naylor and David Fry are having incredible seasons, but role players like Will Brennan, Tyler Freeman and Bo Naylor find their times to lift the team as well.
The bullpen has been phenomenal, led by closer Emmanuel Clase. Baseball fans have been taught that the key to winning baseball is great starting pitching, but surprisingly, that’s been the weakest area due to numerous injuries. Look for a possible move to bolster the rotation before the trade deadline.
Cleveland had the best record in baseball at 51-26 after a 10-8 win at Baltimore on June 25. The team has a camaraderie and next-man-up approach you just don’t see very often in modern baseball.
—Steven Kwan entered the week in incredibly exclusive company for AL hitters with a .390 batting average and 45 runs scored or higher through the team’s first 75 games. The only others to do it were John Olerud (Blue Jays, 1993), Rod Carew (Twins, 1974, 1977) and Ted Williams (Red Sox, 1941).
I thought Kwan would be an OK player when I first saw him play as a rookie, but he’s become one of the best players in the AL. After missing most of May with a hamstring injury, Kwan will become the AL batting average leader when he soon gets enough official at-bats. He’s even supplying power with 12 doubles, two triples and seven homers.
Aaron Dorksen can be emailed at aarondorksen24@gmail.com.