By DOUG HUFF

For the News-Register

Four highly honored prep athletes and an ultra-successful prep coach will be honored in the 17th class of Legends of Ohio Valley Athletic Conference schools.

The five Legends selections will be feted at the 18th annual OVAC Hall of Fame banquet on Saturday, August 13 in Dowler Hall at Belmont College.

The honorees include Johnny August, a football-basketball standout at Shadyside who starred at the University of Alabama; Al Christopher of Caldwell, a prep football standout and long-time prep and college coach; Allan Collins, who coached Morgantown High to championship success; Jim Monigold, a five-sport prep performer and long-time coach at Conotton Valley; and Julie Wheeler, a two-time girls basketball state Player of the Year at Morgantown High.

The OVAC Hall of Fame, sponsored by the Robinson Automotive Group of Wheeling, and the OVAC Sports Museum are located inside WesBanco Arena in Wheeling.

The Legends of OVAC schools honor athletes and coaches who competed prior to the conference start in 1943 or while their schools were not OVAC members.

Capsule summaries of the Legends’ honorees follow:

JOHNNY AUGUST

(Shadyside, Class of 1940)–The 5-10, 160-pounder was a four-year basketball and three-year football regular and star on the 9-1 record Upper Ohio Valley League title team of 1939 which outscored foes, 294-42. The two-way halfback-punter-kicker earned 1st Team All-Valley honors. In basketball, the senior team captain led the team in scoring with 305 points in a low-scoring era and set a school record with 40 points in a 64-46 regular season finale win over Barnesville. He was a three-time All-Section Tournament choice.

He declined a basketball scholarship at Indiana U. to play football at Ohio State. After a year on the freshman team, he transferred to the University of Alabama and became a starting tailback as a junior. A top runner, passer and punter, he was labeled by local media as “Triple Threat Johnny August.” He was a standout in a 37-21 Orange Bowl victory over Boston College on Jan. 1, 1943.

August then served two years during World War II as a Marine drill instructor at Parris Island, S.C., before returning to Alabama for his senior year in 1945. He was a starting fullback with famed Harry Gilmer at tailback. In the Jan. 1, 1946 Cotton Bowl, the Tide lost to a Texas teram led by Bobby Layne and Tom Landry.

He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the 8th Round and the 70th overall NFL pick. He played one season with the pro Brooklyn Dodgers bugt injuries cut short his career.

He died in Rome, Ga., in 1998.

AL CHRISTOPHER (Caldwell, Class of 1953)–He was an All-Ohio Class A quarterback on the Redskins’ 9-0 unbeaten team of 1952.

Also, an All-Muskingum Valley League honoree, the three-year starter completed 143 of 288 passes for 1,789 yards in an era of limited passing. He also played prep basketball. At Ohio University, the 1957 graduate was a four-year kicking specialist on the Bobcats’ football team.

A prep football coach at Wyoming High in Cincinnati, he won three conference titles and was head coach of the Ohio Shrine Game and coached in the North-South All-Star Game in Canton. He served as President of the Ohio Coaches Association in 1966.

He went on to Muskingum College as head football coach (1970-80), golf coach (1978-92) and athletic director. He earned Ohio Athletic Conference Coach of Year honors when Muskingum won the 1975 OAC title and led the golf team to an OAC conference title and No. 13 national ranking.

An avid golfer, he won the Zanesville Senior Championship in 1994, 1996 and 1998.

A charter 1998 inductee into the Mid-Ohio Valley Sports Hall of Fame, he also is inducted into the Muskingum U. Athletic Hall of Fame.

ALLAN COLLINS (Oak Glen, Class of 1970)–He retired as head girls’ basketball coach at Morgantown High as the most successful largest Class AAA pilot in state history. In 24 seasons (1986-2010), he compiled a 488-104 record for an 82.5% winning percentage. His teams won five state titles in 1990, 1992, 1993, 2005 and 2007 and finished runner-up in 1989, 2003 and 2006.

The Mohigans advanced to 15 state tournaments with 20 wins or more in 14 seasons.

The unbeaten (27-0) title team of 1992 was ranked No. 23 nationally by USA Today. That squad was led by fellow OVAC Legends’ honoree Julie Wheeler, a junior and state all-class Co-Player of the Year who repeated that honor as a senior.

Collins also coached two other state Players of the Year in Virginia Tech recruit Stephanie Carter (1990) and Robert Morris recruit Keri Pryor (2005).

Collins coached seven NCAA Division-I recruits among over 20 who earned college scholarships.

He was named state Girls Basketball Coach of the Year twice as well as conference coach of the year and The Dominion Post Coach of the Year honors. He served as coach of numerous all-star teams including the state North-South game, W.Va. vs. Ohio All-Star game and conference all-star classics.

Collins, a Morgantown High School Athletic Hall of Fame honoree, resides in Morgantown.

JIM MONIGOLD (Conotton Valley, Class of 1966)–He competed in five sports in one year for the Rockets–baseball, basketball, football, golf and track. He was named All-Eastern Ohio first team in basketball his junior and senior seasons. He went on to Ashland College to play basketball and baseball his freshman and sophomore seasons.

After college, he took over the CV baseball program starfted by Dave Graham, the son of famed Cleveland Browns’ quarterback Otto Graham, and became head coach in 1974, He led the Rockets to district titles in 1977, 1982 and 1988.

In 2000, he was inducted into the Harrison County Sports Hall of Fame and, the following year, he was inducted into the Cy Young Baseball Hall of Fame in Tuscarawas County. He was honored in the Conotton Valley Sports Hall of Fame as an individual and his 1977 baseball team also was inducted.

The new baseball field at the school was named “Jim Monigold Field” in his honor in 2018.

JULIE WHEELER (Morgantown, Class of 1994)–The most honored girls basketball in Mohigan history, she earned 1st team Class AAA All-State three seasons and was the sparkplug to the school’s back-to-back state titles and a national ranking.

Playing for fellow OVAC Legends honoree, coach Allan Collins, she led the unbeaten (27-0) team to a national No. 23 ranking by USA Today. During her MHS career, she scored 1,612 points in 79 games for a 20.4 average and converted 81% of her free throws. She set a school, and then-state, record with 199 career three-point goals.

She was twice a statewide, all-class major honoree, sharing the Thom Award as Co-Player of the Year as a junior, and repeating as Player of the Year as a senior. She also was the state Gatorade Player of the Year and the USA Today state Player of the Year.

Wheeler accepted a scholarship to Providence College where she played in 101 games as a four-year letterman and starter. The 5-foot-7 guard set the school record with 252 3-point goals and also led the team in assists two years and recorded 343 career assists. She ended with 1,039 points for a 10.2 average.

She currently resides in Florida.