A collegiate athletic administrator/director of four decades, a three-time national champion, a two-time national champion, two Ohio State wrestling scholarships, a softball scholarship to Bowling Green and a basketball scholarship to Malone highlighted some of the accomplishments from Springfield’s 2010 athletic hall of fame class.
Springfield inducted former athletes and graduates Bud Haidet, Anthony Gary, Bo James, J.W. Wearley, Terri Shackelford-Engel, Lisa Williams-Ferguson and Paul Ward to the 2010 Russ Pastuck Hall of Fame at a near-capacity banquet held at Hartville Kitchen Feb. 25. The inductees were honored the next night at halftime of the Springfield boys basketball game against Field.
“It has been seven or eight years since it was last done,” said Larry Murphy, a Springfield teacher who helped oversee the Hall of Fame induction process. “So we inducted a few more this year. We’ll probably induct about four per year in the future.”
Perhaps the most well known on the national stage is Bud Haidet, a 1953 Springfield grad who served the past 41+ years as Athletic Administrator and Director of Athletics between Miami University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM).
Haidet was recently inducted into the UWM Athletics Hall of Fame, which is now named after him. At Springfield, Haidet participated in football, basketball and track, where he was an All-Metro League Tournament High Point Champion. Haidet went on to the Miami University track team and U.S. Marine Corp Battalion football team.
He received the Miami University Distinguished Alumni Award, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award and several additional collegiate awards through more than four decades of service. Haidet announced his retirement from UWM in April 2009.
“Athletics builds a lot of character,” Haidet said. “It helps you go through life and learn how to cope with and love life.”
Gary’s name may ring a bell to those who have followed Ohio high school sports for the past 15 years. Gary, who graduated in 1994, was a standout football player and wrestler for the Spartans. His many accolades include two Ohio wrestling state championships, a state wrestling runner-up finish, a high school senior wrestling national title, a full-ride scholarship to wrestle at The Ohio State University, twice placing in the Big Ten and twice qualifying for the NCAA Wrestling Tournament.
And he was a pretty good football player too.
Gary was named Beacon Journal player of the year in 1993, and was the runner-up for Ohio’s Mr. Football that same year. He was a Parade All-American Honorable mention, and has too many other football accolades to print.
“The years I spent at Springfield were very positive,” Gary said. “[Springfield] was good both athletically and academically, and I got good exposure and a scholarship at Ohio State.”
Gary is currently the head wrestling coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary, where he looks to pass on the lessons he has learned.
“The things people learn in sports can have a positive influence through their careers,” he said.
During his high school career, some viewed Bo James as Gary’s reincarnate. James, a 1997 graduate, won a wrestling state championship in 1997, was a 1997 wrestling All American, and was First Team All-Ohio in football, leading the Spartans to the state quarterfinals and an AP Poll state championship in 1996.
After high school, James went to The Ohio State University on a wrestling scholarship, where he was a three-year starter and ranked as high as sixth in the nation.
J. W. Wearley was another Springfield football and wrestling standout. Wearley, a 1994 grad, was a football captain in 1993, and named First Team All-NBC. Wearley went on to play at Mount Union, where he was part of three national champion teams and a COSISA First Team All-American.
“[The banquet] was very special,” Wearley said. “You write down all the coaches who you want to thank, and you walk in and they’re all there.”
Though wrestling and football draw a lot of attention at Springfield, it’s softball that the Spartans might be most widely known for. Springfield has the most softball state championships of any school in Ohio, and two of its former softball greats were elected to the Hall of Fame.
Terri Shackelford-Engel, a 1979 graduate, played softball, basketball and field hockey for the Spartans, and was a member of the 1979 softball state champion team. Engel was First Team All-Metro in both softball and basketball, and was named Record Courier Basketball Athlete of the Year in 1979.
Engel earned the first women’s scholarship at Malone as well as an academic scholarship. At age 33, after having three children, Engel went back to Malone for a second degree and played basketball for one season.
“This has been a real blessing and honor,” Engel said. “I was surprised at how much it impacted me [at the Hall of Fame banquet] just to be part of a group that’s so honored.”
Lisa Williamson-Ferguson was a softball, basketball and volleyball standout and 1986 graduate. She was named to First Team All-Metro in both basketball and softball, and earned a softball scholarship to Bowling Green, where she was a Second Team All-MAC catcher. Ferguson also won two national titles in the ASA Summer Softball League.
Paul Ward, a 1971 graduate who was unable to attend, was an All-Metro football player in 1969 and 1970, and Second Team All-Metro basketball player in 1971.
With all their success both at Springfield High School and after graduation, a few of the Hall of Fame inductees had advice for current and aspiring high school athletes.
“My advice is listen to your coaches and work as hard as you can,” Wearley said. “The relationships you’ll build in sports last forever.”
Engel echoed his sentiments.
“Work hard and never give up,” she said. “The lessons you learn in athletics will apply to all of your life.”
And always remember sportsmanship, Haidet said.
