2005 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

ART COCHRAN
was a track and cross coaching legend in Central Illinois who began his coaching career at Bradford in 1954. He moved to Springfield in 1956, when he became cross country coach at Springfield High School. He was an assistant track coach under Jack Turner from 1957-59, then served as head track coach from 1960-73. He was cross country coach at SHS until 1977, and then he resumed his coaching career at Lincoln Land Community College from 1981-83. His SHS track teams won five city titles and finished second five times in addition to winning two district titles with seven second-place finishes. His cross country teams won 11 city titles and six district titles, and he had seven cross country teams advance to the state meet. At Lincoln Land, his teams won one regional title and his teams placed 13th and 16th at the NJCAA national meet.

DON HUDSON
was born in Texas but lived in Springfield since the age of 2. He is a 1953 Lanphier graduate and a two-time all-city basketball selection who became the second player in city history to top the 1,000-point mark behind only his Springfield High rival Dick Schofield. Hudson was a three-year starter and a two-time all-city pick, and his senior year the Lions were ranked as high as fifth in the state. In baseball, he was a two-time all-city selection and a three-year starter as a pitcher and outfielder, and the Lions won the City Series title two of those three years. He attended Illinois State-Normal and was a starter on the freshman-sophomore team as a freshman before giving up basketball and getting married. He was a long-time assistant football and baseball coach at Springfield High in the 1960s and '70s.

MIKE HOWARD
is a 1982 graduate of Springfield High School who passed for 2,637 yards and 27 touchdowns in two seasons. Howard was a three-year letter-winner in basketball and baseball and a two-year letter-winner in football and a two-time All-City pick in both baseball and football.  During his senior football season, Howard guided Springfield High to a 9-1 season and earned all-state honors and the nickname The Springfield Rifle. He received a football scholarship to attend the University of Wisconsin, where he was a three-year starter at quarterback and established several school passing records, including highest season completion percentage and most touchdown passes in a game.  He is still ranked as the No. 2 passer in Wisconsin history in completion percentage (.561), and he's No. 5 on the career list with 20 touchdown passes. He received honorable mention All-Big Ten honors, pre-season honorable mention All-America honors and Chevrolet Offensive Player of the Game.

CLYDE MCQUEEN
was a 1926 graduate of Tremont, where he earned 16 varsity letters. He went on to earn 17 letters at Bradley Tech: four in basketball, four in baseball, four in football, four in track and one in tennis. He was named to Bradley's All-Decade Basketball Team for the period 1902-40. He was co-scoring leader on the 1929-30 team that was Bradley's first to compete in a national tournament, the National AAU Tournament in Kansas City. He was voted MVP and captain of the basketball team and is a member of Bradley's Athletic Hall of Fame, and for his 55-game career from 1927-30 he averaged 9.2 points a game. He coached at El Paso, Washington, Mason City and Beardstown before settling in Springfield, where his SHS track team won five straight City Meet titles and twice finished second in the state track meet, in 1946 and 1947. He also was a football and basketball official on the high school and college levels from 1931-62, and he worked the 1952 state basketball tournament won by Hebron. He later served as Sangamon County Superintendent of Schools for two terms. He died in 1996.

PAM SMITH
a 1990 Southeast High School graduate, was - and still is - the only female state swimming champion from a Springfield school. She won the 100-yard freestyle at the 1990 state meet. She began her career with the Springfield USA swim team at the age of 9.  She was Southeast's Most Valuable Swimmer all four years, was a four-time all-conference and all-academic selection, a state qualifier all four years and a Spartan Scholar. She earned all-state honors in 1988 '89 and '90 and placed eighth at the U.S. Open as a member of the 400 freestyle relay in 1990. She received a scholarship to swim at the University of Minnesota, was a four-time letter-winner and served as team captain as a senior. While at Minnesota she earned NCAA All-America honors in 1992 and was an All-Academic selection four times.  She swam on Big Ten championship 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams in 1992 and served as student assistant coach in 1995-96.

 

TEAM

LANPHIER FOOTBALL 1943 remains the school's only unbeaten squad. The only blemish in an 8-0-1 season was a 12-12 against Cathedral during which one Lanphier touchdown was called back due to an offside penalty. The Lions had five shutouts in their nine games and only allowed 30 points all season while scoring 252. The captain of the team was Hall of Famer Billy Stone, who went on to play football at Bradley University and then in the NFL  for the Bears. The left end was Evan "Robin'' Roberts, who went on to a Hall of Fame baseball career.

 

FRIENDS OF SPORT

 

Libby Fox - was born in Boston, lived in Teaneck, N. J., for 25 years and moved to Springfield in 1970  from Atlanta. She worked as a secretary at Wanless Elementary and Springfield High, first for athletic director Verdie Altizer and later for then-principal Bob Hill, retiring in 1984. In addition to her duties at the school, she also began selling tickets at SHS sporting events in 1972. She remains involved with the volleyball and boys and girls basketball programs 32 years later, and she also has worked at the Special Olympics sporting events held in Springfield.


Darlene Rockford - has teamed with Fox for the past 23 years at SHS volleyball and girls and boys basketball games. Fox collects the money and Rockford takes the tickets. The Ellsworth native began work in District 186 as a secretary at Southeast in 1967 and was transferred to Springfield High in 1980, where she served as the secretary to athletic director Kris Glintborg. It was Glintborg who got Rockford involved in SHS athletic events. Rockford retired from District 186 in 1998 after 31 years but remains active, working volleyball, soccer, baseball, track and basketball games.

Joe Ramirez - has been a Northend youth sports legend for more than 40 years. He attended Ridgely School and then St. James Trade School, where he played football. He played baseball in the city-sponsored Senior League from 1953-60 and remains active in Park District-sponsored slow-pitch softball leagues. He coached the Ridgely Ratz basketball and flag football teams for 10 years, was an assistant basketball and baseball coach at St. James, coached basketball at St. Aloysius, coached basketball and flag football at McClernand School, flag football at St. Joseph's School, was Khoury League  and Springfield Flag Football League president, was an umpire in the Springfield Recreation Department's men's slow-pitch softball and T-ball baseball leagues and also coached in the Junior Football League, the Boys and Girls Clubs Football League and various men's and women's softball teams.