1997 Springfield Sports Hall of Fame Inductees
 
1997 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

 

LUKE GLEASON
Luke Gleason compiled a 135-42 record between 1948-54 as the basketball coach at Cathedral High School, and his 1948 team made it to the Elite Eight of the state tournament. His 1950 and '52 teams won City Tournament titles, and his 1954 team shared the city championship. He is a 1936 graduate of Bloomington Trinity High School (now Central Catholic), where he earned 11 varsity letters. He was an All-Intercity selection who received honorable mention on the 1935 Chicago Daily News All-State team. He attended college at St. Viator and Illinois State-Normal. He was inducted in 1994 into the Bloomington Central Catholic Hall of Fame.

 

JAMES HAMBY
James "Sam" Hamby played 22 games in the major leagues as a catcher for the New York Giants in 1926 and 1927 with a .182 batting average before injuries cut his career short. He played for Springfield in the Three-I League in 1929 and then became a Springfield resident. Hamby died in 1991 at the age of 94.

 

HENRY HAYES
Henry Hayes had an illustrious baseball and bowling career in Springfield, and in 1988 he was inducted into the Greater Springfield Bowling Association Hall of Fame. As a baseball pitcher he played professionally for Rock Island in the Mississippi Valley League in 1929 as an 18-year-old, then returned to Springfield in June to pitch the Empire team to the Muny League Championship. In 1932 Hayes pitched for a Springfield all-star team that beat House of David 2-1 in 12 innings. He quit playing baseball in 1937. He was the first pitcher to toss a no-hitter at Lanphier Park, which opened in 1925. He also coached Pony, Colt and Mickey Mantle League baseball.

 

JOHN HOMEIER
John Homeier is a 1956 Feitshans High School graduate. He was an all-city pick in basketball and baseball who scored 1,836 career points, an average of 19.3 per game, and he held the city scoring record for 29 years before Ed Horton broke it in 1985. As a Feitshans freshman, Homeier scored 29 points in a game at the Armory, setting a record for that building he would break with 42 points as a senior. He still ranks third on the all-time city scoring list behind Horton and Rennie Clemons. He received a scholarship to the University of Illinois and was on the team for three years, but never started.

 

TIM HULETT
Tim Hulett graduated from Lanphier High School in 1978, after receiving 12 varsity letters for football, basketall and baseball. He was a starting guard on the 1976-77 basketball team that placed second in the Class AA State Tournament. He attended the University of South Florida for one year and set a school record with 19 doubles, then transferred to Miami Dade-North Community College, where he set a school record with 14 home runs in 1980. He was drafted on the 39th round of the amateur draft by the Texas Rangers in 1978 but chose to go to college. Then he was picked in the secondary phase of the 1980 free agent draft by the Chicago White Sox, and he signed with Chicago in June of 1980. He made it to the major leagues with Chicago in 1983, was traded to the Montreal organization in 1986 and played in the major leagues with Baltimore and St. Louis before retiring in 1995. Hulett played in over 700 major league games and hit 48 home runs and drove in 220 runs. His best major league season was 1986 when he played in 150 games for the White Sox with 17 home runs and 44 runs batted in.

 

NORM RODIER
Norm Rodier won the city golf title three times (1963, 1965, 1971), was runner-up eight times and captured the 1996 Senior City Golf title. He was a 1964 U.S. Open sectional qualifier, two-time Bob Drysdale Junior Tournament champion (1948-49) and two-time Central Illinois Amateur runner-up. In 1950, as a high school senior at Alton's Western Military Academy, he was seventh in the stae high school golf tournament after recording the lowest qualifying score. He has won club championships at Lincoln Greens, Illini Country Club, the Rail, Oakcrest and Pubic Park (now Bunn Park) to become the only individual to be a club champion at the five major 18-hole courses in Springfield. Rodier still lives in Springfield.

 

Rich Schultz

RICH SCHULTZ
Rich Schultz is a 1968 Lanphier High School graduate who led the city in scoring as a senior with an average of 25.7 points per game. He was a three-year starter at Bradley University and he finished his collegiate career with 1,109 points, which at the time ranked No. 12 on the school's all-time list; he currently ranks 27th. Schultz was a member of the All-Missouri Valley Conference team as a senior and was named MVP of the Sugar Bowl Tournament as a senior. He had a pro tryout with Denver of the ABA.

 

JACK TURNER
Jack Turner is a 1937 Anna-Jonesboro High School graduate who earned four varsity letters each in football, basketball and track during high school, was an all-state football player and state track champion. He received a track scholarship to the University of Illinois , where he also played football. He came to Springfield in 1949 and served as head track coach until 1960, losing just one dual meet during that time. He also served as head football coach at SHS in 1954. He began playing golf at age 62, and in 1987 he won the Sangamon County Seniors Championship as well as the Pasfield Park club championship in 1994. He has five holes-in-one to his credit.

 

JERRY FRY
Jerry Fry is a 1974 Springfield High School graduate. At SHS, he played baseball and football and was a wrestler. Fry batted .377 with six home runs and 17 RBIs as a high school senior and was Montreal's No. 2 draft pick in 1874. He had nine at-bats without a hit in four games for the 1978 Montreal Expos. Fry, who still lives in Springfield, spent eight seasons with the Montreal organization before shoulder and knee injuries ended his career.

 

TEAMS

1973 Southeast High School girls track team.

 

FRIENDS OF SPORT

 

Bill Maslauski - Began coaching in the Junior Football League in 1961 and served as head coach of the Southwest Bears until 1979, quit for one year and returned to serve as head coach until 1989. He compiled a 124-21-5 record during that time and won 16 league championships. He returned to the sidelines as an assistant coach in 1995.
He also served as the first president of the Springfield High School All-Sports Booster Club. Maslauski has been a member of the State Farm Rail Classic Board of Directors since 1977 (he retired last year as the tee announcer after 15 tournaments) and has coached youth basketball and baseball.

Don Timm - Has served as an officer and/or coach in the Springfield Khoury, Pony, Colt and Connie Mack baseball leagues and also coached American Legion baseball. He assisted in the development of the Hobbs Park and McFarland baseball diamonds and assisted in the development and coached in the Springfield Junior Football League. He has served as an assistant baseball coach at Griffin and Lutheran high schools and Illinois State University and was the first head baseball coach at MacMurray College.
He received ISU's 1986 Grand Slam Award for dedication to baseball. The baseball field at MacMurray is named for Timm, and the Betty and Don Timm Complex is at Lutheran High School.

 

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