Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of Fame
2015 Induction Ceremony
July 30, 2015
Each year the Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of Fame
honors the stellar athletes and coaches from the region. This year, the following individuals and
teams have been selected for inclusion in the hall.
Individuals:
Chuck Block, Lansing Community College Cross Country Coach
Jesse Gallegos, a Boxer and Baseball Player from Waverly
High School
Fritz Kellerman, a Wrestler from Lansing Sexton High School
Scott Kemp, a Grand Ledge High School Baseball Player
Andy Simmons, Wrestler from Williamston High School
Nick Simmons, Wrestler from Williamston High School
Stephanie Smiley, Basketball Player from Holt High School
Kim Spalsbury, Track and Cross Country Coach from Fowler and
Grand Ledge High Schools
Teams:
DeWitt High School Softball Team of 1977
Lansing Eastern High School Golf Team of 1979
Haslett High School Football Team of 1960
Also being honored with the Dick Letts Community Service
Award are:
Larry Cockroft
Judge George Economy
This year’s crowd of roughly 600 people was the largest
crowd ever for the Annual Induction Ceremony.
Before the event started, there was memorabilia of all the
current and previous inductees. I was so
intrigued by the vast store of information, that I ended up looking at pictures
and reading plaques during almost the entire time dedicated to mingling. I took particular interest in the 1980
Lansing Eastern Basketball team, as this was the first year I lived in Lansing
and I’ve always been a huge basketball fan.
You can see all the great stories of all the Hall’s
inductees on the Hall’s website!
As a nice touch, they had Genadi Zagor, a fine jazz pianist
providing background music for the proceedings.
It was time for the main event. The co-hosts were Bob Every, the Chairman of
the Hall of Fame and David DeMarco, who is known as Mad Dog, the host of the
popular AM-730 morning sports talk radio show.
They thanked everyone for attending and cited Duane Vernon
for his forty years of service to the hall.
As this was the 40th Induction Ceremony, they invited Dr.
Walter B. Lingo, one of the Co-Founders to give the welcome. Dr. Lingo was gracious and thanked the
current Board for all they are doing to keep the Hall alive and relevant in the
lives of Greater Lansing Area sports fans!
Kellie Dean, the President and CEO of Dean Transportation,
was invited up to the stage to give the invocation. He spoke to promote the Hope Scholarship
Program. This program has already raised
a million dollars to help send underprivileged students from Lansing to
community and four year colleges. They
are currently providing funding to help 100 students attend Michigan State
University.
After a fine dinner, Bob Every thanked various local
individuals and organizations for their help in promoting the Hall. These included the Lansing State Journal as
well Dean Staudt from Channel 10 and Fred Heumann from Channel 6.
He also recognized Mike Price from the Lansing Sports
Authority, the Lansing Center and its chef, Jeff Langer, ASAP Printing for
donating the professionally done programs and the Hall’s Sponsors. The Sponsors include Auto Owners Insurance,
Dan Henry Distributing, Dean Transportation and Applegate Home Comfort.
Bob Every invited all the previous inductees to the
stage. There was a fine turnout as these
people formed a line across the entire front of the banquet hall. He cited three members who have attended
every year since they were inducted in 1976, Jim Sinadinos, Dean Look and Don
Johnson.
He finally awarded Duane Vernon a special Americna Eagle
award for his 40 years of service to the Hall of Fame.
It was now time to start giving out the Community Service
awards and formally inducting the Class of 2015 into the hall!
Please read the following links to learn about the inductees
and their acceptance speeches!
Fritz Kellerman
Jamie Wesley Klein
Kim Spalsbury
Jesse Gallegos
Chuck Block
Andy Simmons and Nick Simmons
Stephanie Smiley
Scott Kemp
1960 Haslett Football Team
1979 Lansing Eastern Golf Team
1977 Dewitt Softball Team
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