Travis Hafner

Induction Year : 2015

Sport: Baseball

Travis Hafner enjoyed a 12-year career in Major League Baseball, the best of the seasons (10 in all) spent wearing a Cleveland Indians’ jersey.

In a four-year stretch from 2004 through 2007, Hafner was one of the most feared batters in the game, hitting 127 home runs and collecting 434 RBI. The 2006 campaign was Hafner’s finest as he smacked 42 homers and drove in 117 runs. He led the American League in slugging percentage (.659) and was so hot in August that he was not only voted a player of the week honor, but player of the month, as well.

Baseball is a game of numbers, and Hafner, who split time between first base and being a designated hitter, has them by the bushel basket.

He was the first player in MLB history to hit five grand slam home runs before the All-Star Game (2006), and remains tied for the most grand slams in a season by hitting six, again in 2006.

Hafner twice finished in the Top 10 for MVP voting, polling fifth in 2005.

In 2002, his first year in the majors as a Texas Ranger, eventual teammate Bill Selby (then a member of the Indians) gave Hafner his nickname. It was “Pronk,” a combination of him being a project as well as a critique of the way he rambled around the bases. “He just looked like a Pronk,” said Selby.

Tribe fans will fondly remember Hafner driving in the winning run in the 11th inning of Game 2 of the 2007 ALDS, also known as the “bug game.” It featured a 10-minute swarming invasion of midges that may have contributed to New York Yankee reliever Joba Chamberlain uncorking two wild pitches, one that lead to the Indians tying the game before Hafner’s heroics.

Hafner ranks eighth on the Indians all-time home run list with 200 blasts. Another of his greatest nights with the Tribe came on Aug. 13, 2003 when he hit for the cycle against the Minnesota Twins.

Hafner and his wife, Amy, and their three children, Blake, Trip and Knox, live in Avon Lake.

Brian Anderson

Induction Year : 2015

Sport: Baseball

Brian Anderson was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, on April 26, 1972, and was raised in Geneva, Ohio, where he played baseball, basketball and golf for the Geneva Eagles. Continuing to Wright State University, he blossomed into the most coveted left-handed pitcher in college baseball. The California Angels made him the third player selected in the 1993 Major League draft, and he made his Major League debut in September of that year.

Brian went on to enjoy 13 seasons in the Major Leagues with the California Angels (1993-95), Cleveland Indians (1996-97), Arizona Diamondbacks (1998-2002), Indians again (2003) and Kansas City Royals (2003-2005). His career essentially was ended by Tommy John surgery in 2005. He attempted a comeback the following year, but it was cut short again due to a second Tommy John surgery.

His career record was 82-83, including 12 complete games and four shutouts, with a 4.74 earned run average. His combined record for three seasons with the Indians was 16-13.

Brian was especially valuable to the Indians during their World Series season of 1997 when he made eight starts with a 4-2 record. He returned to the Indians in 2003 and made 24 starts with a 9-10 record.

His effervescent personality propelled him into a career in broadcasting with the Tampa Bay Rays. He has been the Rays’ television analyst since 2011.

Brian, 43, has two children, Rylyn Mae, 10, and Jackson James, 8. He and his wife, Jessica Marie, were married on Nov. 1, 2014, and live in St. Petersburg, Florida.

LeCharles Bentley

Induction Year : 2015

Sport: Football

LeCharles Bentley always left a big impression. The standout lineman was a force throughout his playing days, from St. Ignatius High School to Ohio State to the National Football League. At 6-2 and 313 pounds as a professional, he was a true force at the highest level of the game.

Under veteran coach, Chuck Kyle (2013 Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame) at St. Ignatius, he was a two-year starter and All-Ohio selection as a senior in 1997.

At Ohio State under coaches John Cooper and Jim Tressel ( 2012 GCSHOF), he anchored the offensive Line and solidified his presence throughout the country. He was a first team All-Big Ten pick in 2000 and 2001, a consensus first team All-American as a senior. He was named the Dave Rimington Trophy winner as the best center in the country in 2001.

Drafted in the second round of the 2002 NFL Draft (No. 44 overall) by the New Orleans Saints, he started all 57 games, at guard and then center, for the team during the next four seasons. He was named by Sports Illustrated as the league’s offensive rookie of the year in 2002 and was on the Pro Football Weekly the all-rookie team.

He was signed by the Cleveland Browns as a free agent in 2006. However, the high hopes for the return to his hometown team were shattered when he tore the left patellar tendon in his left leg at the start of training camp. A subsequent staph infection and numerous knee surgeries put an end to his career, and he officially retired in January 2009.

Bentley worked in the Cleveland media and established a football training school.

Frances Dickenson

Induction Year : 2015

Sport: Tennis

Frances became enchanted with tennis at the age of 10 while living in South Florida. She achieved a national junior ranking of seven and won the prestigious International Junior Orange Bowl Tennis Tournament in singles and doubles. Frances was the recipient of the Florida State Sportsmanship Award. She practiced with and competed against Billie Jean King and Karen Hantze Susman, who both went on to win major tournaments.

Marriage and children took Frances away from competing in tennis, but in her mid forties she returned to Florida to the top of the rankings. She was Florida State Champion in the 45 Singles and ranked number one for two years in a row. Still as a Floridian, she won both the 35 and 45 Western Singles Titles in Indianapolis.

Frances began bringing family members into tennis competition. She and her daughter, Farrar, finished third in the Mother and Daughter Division of the 2002 Nationals in Newport, Rhode Island. In 2012, she competed in the National Senior Games in Cleveland and won the Ladies Doubles and Mixed Doubles, the latter with her husband, David. It seems Frances found a good partner in David. They were the number one ranked Senior Husband and Wife team in the United States for both 2013 and 2014. During those years, they won four National Titles.

Frances serves on the Executive Board of the International Tennis Club of the United States and is the Women’s Captain. She has always given back to the game, helping many players and inner city children. She helped start the Eugene Scott Scholarship Fund that benefits junior players, one being Lauren Davis from Gates Mills, Ohio, ranked as high as 55 in the world.

Frances and David, who was inducted into the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame in 1992, Reside in Gates Mills, Ohio.

 

Mike Rupp

Induction Year : 2015

Sport: Hockey

St. Edward High School has turned out countless all-scholastic hockey players, many college stars and several professionals, but Mike Rupp certainly raised the bar when he broke into the National Hockey League in 2003.

He played his first NHL game for the New Jersey Devils on Jan. 13, 2003—his 23rd birthday—and scored two goals. Five months later he scored the winning goal in the seventh game of the Stanley Cup finals as the Devils defeated the Anaheim Ducks, 3-0. It was his first playoff goal. He also assisted on the other two goals. It was heralded as the greatest performance by a rookie in the history of the Stanley Cup.

When he had his “day” with the Cup, Mike and his family chartered a bus to take the massive silver trophy to all their old haunts, including the Honey Hut ice cream stand on State Road where Mike and his wife, Christi, spent many summer nights, and St. Edward High School, where he won his first trophies.

Mike was on the St. Edward state championship teams of 1995 and ’96, and the Eagles’ state runnerup team of 1997.

Mike played 12 seasons in the National Hockey League with New Jersey, Phoenix Coyotes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers, and the Minnesota Wild. While playing with Pittsburgh, he scored a hat trick against the Rangers in Madison Square Garden.

In 610 NHL games, he scored 54 goals, had 45 assists and 855 penalty minutes.

Peter van Dijk

Induction Year : 2015

Sport: Swimming & Diving

A lasting legacy has to start some place. In 1946, teenager Peter van Dijk represented the New York Athletic Club at the AAU national swimming championships in Columbus, Ohio. Robert Busbey was swimming for Cleveland’s Fenn College, the forerunner of Cleveland State University. A chance meeting before the meet wound up with the two young swimmers rooming together during the event and establishing a lifelong friendship.

An immigrant from the Netherlands born in Indonesia, van Dijk grew up in Venezuela as his father worked in the oil industry. He continued his swimming career at the University of Oregon and during a two-year stint in the U.S. Army.

He earned a Master’s Degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Busbey (1976 Greater Cleveland Sports hall of Fame) was on his way to becoming CSU Athletic Director. With van Dijk having established his design work with Cleveland’s Anthony J. Celebrezze Federal Building in the early 1960’s, it was natural that Busbey looked to van Dijk’s firm for CSU’s physical education building and natatorium in 1971.

Van Dijk’s design for the pool’s wide gutters, depth and lighting earned national acclaim as CSU went on to host national championships. He also won acclaim for his work at Blossom Music Center, Cain Park, John Carroll University and Ursuline College.

He also found the time during the past 40 years to compete in age-group swimming throughout the world. He won 50 national championships in freestyle and backstroke. In 2014, he won his 17th international gold medal as he brought home four golds at the Montreal Masters World Championship at age 85.

Northeast Ohio’s landscape bears the lasting legacy of the talented architect with a love for water.

Elmore Smith

Induction Year : 2014

Sport: Basketball

Elmore Smith was one of the greatest shot blockers in NBA history during his eight-year career in pro basketball from 1971 to 1979. Twice he finished as the league leader in blocked shots and set a single game record of 17 in one game, a mark which still stands 40 years later. He spent two seasons each with the Buffalo Braves, Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers.

The seven-footer’s name will always be associated with the greatest big men in basketball history, known as “Elmore the Rejector,” he was drafted by the Buffalo Braves and after two seasons was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers to replace Wilt Chamberlain. Two years later the Lakers traded him to Milwaukee for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Cleveland acquired him to replace Nate Thurmond as the backup center.

Although he had grown to seven feet tall by the time he was in high school in Macon, Ga, his career did not look promising. Only three colleges recruited him. He enrolled at Wiley College where the coach told him he probably never would get to play. Wiley had not won a game in three years. So Elmore transferred to Kentucky State which went on to win two straight NAIA national championships and Elmore was a two-time All-American.

He was the third player picked in the 1971 NBA draft and signed a multi-million dollar contract with Buffalo. For his career he averaged 13.4 points per game and 10.6 rebounds. Knee surgery in October, 1978, hastened his retirement. He remained in Cleveland and now, at the age of 65, lives in Beachwood. He is frequently seen at Cavs games. He also has a line of barbeque sauce available in many retail stores. Cleveland was by far the best experience, he once said, “The guys I played with were all good friends and we stay in touch.”

Erica Rose

Induction Year : 2014

Sport: Swimming & Diving

Erica Rose wasn’t born in the waters of the world. It just seems that way. The native of Cleveland Heights has swum in and around 16 countries.

Her list of accomplishments stretches from high school, to major college competition, to the international stage. Rose, who began swimming for the Lake Erie Silver Dolphins at the age of seven, was a two-time state champion and two-time runner-up in the 500 free at Hawken School where she lettered in all four scholastic years (1997- 2000). The Hawks won three state championships in her time at the Gates Mills school.

Erica was recruited by Northwestern University where she competed all four years in distance and individual medley events, advancing to a Big Ten Championship finals and an NCAA championship qualifier.

Rose excelled in open water events, enjoying a 12 year run of success that started at age 14. She was a member of seven World Championship teams, holds 10 national titles as well as seven Pan Pacific and Pan American titles.

She also scored a World Championship title in the 5K open wager swim in Perth, Australia in 1998.

Erica went out a winner. Although she had announced her retirement in 2011, she competed in the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim around New York City. At age 28, she won the grueling 28.5 mile test believed to be the longest swimming event in the world — with a time of 7 hours, 29 minutes and 46 seconds.

For added energy during the demanding Gotham swim she munched on sugary dried pineapple. For a light moment, Rose recalled having to tread water when a Norwegian Princess cruise ship was crossing her path.

Erica and her fiance, Brendan Dancik, live in Ann Arbor, Mi., where Erica is working on a dual degree in global public health and business administration at the University of Michigan. They will be married next month in Cleveland at The Arcade.

A.J. Perry

Induction Year : 2014

Sport: Martial Arts

AJ Perry’s road to international acclaim during his 40 years as a Martial Artist began in front of the television set in his W. 162nd St. home in Cleveland’s West Park neighborhood. “The first time I saw the Green Hornet™ television show,” AJ said, “I was interested. And then I saw ‘Marlowe,’ the detective show, with James Garner and Bruce Lee—I was definitely hooked!”

AJ attended classes at St. Edward High School where he wrestled under Howard Ferguson. By age 15, he was practicing karate moves in a friend’s garage. That led to classes with Master Kim. AJ went on to teach Martial Arts at St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland. As his career as a Martial Artist started to take off, he began earning trophies and championships at local and regional competitions. He won several U.S. Open championships and in 2002 he took the bronze medal at the World Championships in Panama-third in the world. That, he says, was his highlight.

He was inducted into the World Traditional Martial Arts Hall of Fame in 2006. Master Perry was also inducted into the World Sokieship Council Hall of Fame in 2005.

Now 53 years old, AJ is an 8th degree Grand Master who lives in Vermilion and runs two Martial Arts schools, one in Amherst and the other in Lorain Community College . His son Aaron (3rd degree Black Belt), once his star protege, is now his assistant instructor.

Master Perry says among the great role models who touched his life are previous Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame inductees Phil Bova, Ken McBride, Rich Rollins and Garry Roggenburk.

AJ’s full-time job is with Dominion East Ohio Gas (30 years) where he is a tech services specialist involved with fueling vehicles powered by natural gas. AJ is President of The Three Deuce Five Foundation located in Brookpark, Ohio. He is a tireless volunteer for Marines in need, such as those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after service in Middle East war zones. His Martial Arts demonstrations have raised thousands of dollars for Marine support groups. One demonstration included completing 2,200 pushups in 90 minutes.

The word Samurai translated means to serve. Master Perry as a Martial Artist has chosen to serve Marines in need as well as instilling this same spirit into his students.

Wally Morton

Induction Year : 2014

Sport: Swimming & Diving

Dedicated commitment.

Wally Morton was the epitome of that quality during his 39-year tenure in the Physical Education Department at Cleveland State University as the men’s and women’s swimming coach. He coached the Vikings to 20 conference titles during 46 winning seasons, totaling a school-record 387 dual meet victories.

After graduation from Miami University (Ohio) in 1970, where he was a member of two Mid-American Conference championship swimming teams, Morton came to CSU in 1974 and served seven years under legendary CSU coach Bob Busbey. He was named head men’s coach in 1981 and women’s head coach in 2007.

His teams won 14 Penn-Ohio, two Midwestern Collegiate Conference and two Horizon League championships. He was named conference coach of the year nine times. At the time of his retirement in June 2014, his swimmers held 11 men and six women league titles.

He guided five swimmers and one diver to the NCAA championships and three to Olympic qualifiers, with Nedim Nisic representing Bosnia at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.

The men’s team earned 47 Mid-Major All-American Awards from the College Swimming Coaches Association.  He women’s team received 17 Mid-Major honors.

Both teams have received the Scholar All-American Award a combined 57 times, with 27 earning Academic All-American laurels.

But all those numbers pale in comparison to Morton’s tireless hours spent helping Northeast Ohio’s high school and club swimming teams. As Aquatics Director, he was always generous in making the quality CSU facilities available to athletes and coaches for practices and high-caliber meets.

He lives in Strongsville with his wife, Carol. They have a son, Rob.