Wheeling Central to Induct First Hall of Fame Class Oct. 22
WHEELING — When Mike Young took on the added duty of being Wheeling Central’s athletics director in 2007, he did so with a simple premise in mind. He wanted to leave the school better than he found it.
Mission accomplished.
Through various partnerships across a myriad of platforms with Wheeling Jesuit, Wheeling Hospital, the Wheeling Recreation Department and the tennis courts and gym at Mt. de Chantal, Wheeling Central is thriving. During Young’s tenure many things have happened, not the least of which was the building of the East Wheeling Sports Complex. And now the refurbishment of the school’s gym floor as well as a new sound system that will also welcome fans with a new heating and air conditioning unit.
But there’s one other item Young wanted to check off his list: the Wheeling Central Hall of Fame. On Saturday, Oct. 22, the inaugural class will be inducted in a brunch ceremony at the school. Later on that day, the members will be recognized at halftime of the Maroon Knights’ football game against Beallsville.
”My goal when I took over as the dean of students, the athletics director and the football coach, was to eventually get a hall of fame and to do as many things as I could knowing that I am going to be 68 years old next month, and to make as much of a positive impact on the athletic program that I could possibly do.
”I am so proud.”
The initial class will consist of 12 members that will be chosen from the decades of the 1940s-1990s. Next year eight will be inducted and eventually, Young said, each class will welcome six honorees.
”This will be the largest class because it’s the first,” Young said.
Each group will be selected from a committee that includes chairman Bo McConnaughy, Young, Nick Bedway, Becky Sancomb, Larry Bandi, Stan Kanieski, Sally Beatty and other past athletes and administrators.
”So we’re well-represented by past and present student-athletes,” Young said. ”Because of the academy and Central being separated and because of Title IX, the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s there’s no female representation.”
Young has always taught that no individual is ever greater than the group, so it comes as no surprise that he refers to future classes as teams. The hall will have a place for both — teams and individuals — as well Crystal Cross recipients for those who ”maybe weren’t instrumental on the fields, but instrumental in the development of Wheeling Central.”
”We also have a number of coaches in Skip Prosser (the new basketball court will be named in his honor), Jim Thomas and Earl Haberfield, as well as coaches coaching now,” Young said. ”It’s going to be a wide range, but yet we’re trying to isolate it down the first year.
”At the same time we don’t want to make this a hall of fame of players, because we have had success as teams as far as state championships and OVAC championships.
”We feel if you’ve had a combination of those, those teams need to be into our hall of fame too.”
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