By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
ONE FEATHER STAFF
Last week, there were several major announcements from pro sports hall of fames. Major League Baseball announced Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza as its inductees this year, and the NFL announced its top 15 finalists which, by the way, includes Brett Favre who should be a unanimous first-year selection. I think I may have mentioned before I am a Cheesehead through and through.
Those announcements got me to thinking about Sports Hall of Fames in general, and I think a Cherokee High School Athletic Hall of Fame should be started. There have been many great athletes to come from the school, and the Hall of Fame would be a great way to honor them and have their accomplishments highlighted for years to come.
Off hand, I think the first year’s class should be the entire squad of the 1996 Lady Braves basketball team who won the school’s only team state championship, along with state wrestling champions T.W. Saunooke and Will Bird.
Logistics would have to be worked out with the school itself, but I envision an actual Hall of Fame located within the school very similar to what you see at big-league Hall of Fame sites. The space reserved for the Hall of Fame could include photos of the honorees, statistics, a listing of school records in all sports and categories that could be updated as they are broken, retired jerseys, relevant trophies and more.
As for selecting inductees, I would advocate for a large-scale committee to be formed including past players and coaches, current players and coaches, school staff, community members, and sports writers. Nominees could be made similarly to the larger Hall of Fames and each nominee would have to receive a certain percentage of votes to be inducted for that year.
It would neat to coordinate the announcement of the year’s inductees with the start of football season or basketball season so the largest crowds could be in attendance for the award ceremonies.
The mission of the Pro Football Hall of Fame is, “Honor the heroes of the game, preserve its history, promote its values and celebrate excellence everywhere!”
That is exactly what the Cherokee High School Athletic Hall of Fame could do.
Just some food for thought.
