What do Cleveland, OH, Cooperstown, NY, Canton, OH, and soon Marietta High School all have in common? They all have a Hall of Fame. Granted the Marietta High School Hall of Fame will not be physically as extravagant as say the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Clevelend, or the Baseball and Football Hall of Fames, but the sentiments and memories housed in Marietta High School's will be just as strong and meaningful.
On Saturday, October 17th the Marietta High School Hall of Fame Athletic Committee will induct its inaugural class, made up of eight former Tigers. The nine person committee is chaired by Mark Duckworth, the current Marietta High School men's varsity basketball coach.
"We began this process over a year ago when we decided it was long over-due to have the Marietta High School Athletic Hall of Fame. It has been talked about in the community for many many years, but no one had stepped forward to take the project on and attack it," said Duckworth. "So we sat down with the school administration and forumulated a plan. We studied what other schools were doing, both at the high school and college level to get some ideas."
The committee developed and passed bylaws, standards and guidelines to determine which candidates to induct into the Hall of Fame. The plan moving forward, according to Duckworth, is to induct eight this year, eight next year, and then no more than five in the following years. This year's inaugural class is made up of Brenda Wilson, Harry Coggwell, Bob Annasenz, Bob Becker, Bob Fogle, Frank Christie, Adam Abele, and Mark Bradley. The inductees will be introduced during halftime of Friday's football game; the introdcution ceremony taking place in the Lafayette Hotel Ballroom on Saturday. Each inductee will recieve a plaque and have a plaque displayed in the lobby of Sutton Gymnasium on the left as you enter. Currently the Hall of Fame committee is working on adding a modern touch to the Hall of Fame.
"We are currently in the process of raising funds for a interactive touchscreen device to put in the lobby of Sutton Gymnasium that will display the inductee's information, accomplishments, records, and let people hear their Hall of Fame induction speech," said Duckworth.
According to Duckworth the committee is expecting 300 people to attend the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Saturday.
