Madison set to induct nine individuals, one team to inaugural Hall of Fame class

MADISON TOWNSHIP — Nine individuals and one team will take their rightful place in Madison High School glory.

Tom Ellis, Nate Yetzer, Sunny Litteral Jones, Joe Jakubick, Ryan Pore, Sue Subich, Melissa Stone-Watters, Rory Meister and Mike Blevins join the 1997 state championship volleyball team as the inaugural Madison Athletic Hall of Fame class.

This year's class will be honored at a banquet held at 6 p.m. on Aug. 12 at the Mid-Ohio Conference Center. Tickets for the event will go on sale in May and will be $25 and will include a meal.

Here is why each of them will be inducted.

Tom Ellis

Ellis was the wrestling coach at Madison from 1961-1979 winning conference championships in 1964-65 and 1978-79 along with JC Gorman Championships in 1964-65, 66-67 and 78-79. He coaches six state qualifiers and guided Mike Owens to a third-place finish and Jim Burch to a fourth-place finish.

Ellis was also an assistant varsity football coach and a junior high basketball and football coach during his time at Madison. He has the annual Tom Ellis Wrestling Classic named after him as he continues to attend wrestling and football practices and contests on a regular basis to show his support for Madison athletics. Ellis is also a Korean War veteran.

Nate Yetzer

Yetzer was a 3-time state wrestling qualifier during his time at Madison earning runner-up honors in 1999 and winning the 200 state championship as he is the only male state wrestling champion in Madison history. He earned National High School Coaches Association runner-up honors in 2000 and went on to become a two-time USA Wrestling Junior All-American.

After high school, Yetzer earned NCAA All-American honors in 2004 and was a three-time NCAA National Qualifier and was the 2005 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Wrestler of the Year. He went into coaching after his college career and was named the rookie coach of the year in 2013 and started the wrestling program at Roanoke College.

Sunny Litteral Jones

Litteral is a 1995 Madison grad and a four-time letter winner in softball and basketball, a two-time letter winner in soccer and a one-time letter winner in volleyball. She earned All-Ohio honors in softball, basketball and soccer and was named the Ohio Heartland Conference Player of the Year in all three sports. She is one of just three athletes to ever have her jersey number retired at Madison.

She went on to play college softball at Ashland University where she was the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference Freshman of the Year, the GLAC Player of the Year twice and a four-time NCAA All-American. In 1999, she was a National Player of the Year finalist for the NCAA Honda Female Athlete of the Year and was the only Division II softball player invited to the Olympic tryouts. She was drafted by the Akron Racers of the Women's Professional Softball League and inducted into the Ashland University Hall of Fame. She has since coached college softball at Toledo, Hillsdale, Detroit Mercy and Ohio Northern.

Joe Jakubick

Jakubick is a 1980 Madison grad who played two basketball seasons for the Rams helping them go 38-6 over the 1978-79 and 1979-80 campaigns. During his senior year, the Rams won their first Cardinal Conference championship with a perfect 12-0 league record as Jakubick averaged 24 points a game and led the Rams to a school-record 21 wins in a single season. He scored 940 points in just two years at Madison without the 3-point line and still holds the school record with 47 consecutive made free throws which included a 19-for-19 night against Dover.

Jakubick played at Akron University from 1980-84 and scored 2,583 points during his college career. During his senior year, he led the nation in scoring with an average of 30.1 points per game besting Len Bias for the top honors in college basketball. He was twice named the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year and was an Honorable Mention All-Ohioan in each of those years. He still holds the career scoring record at Akron and is second all-time in steals and 11th in assists. He had his No. 31 jersey retired and was inducted into the Akron University Hall of Fame in 1993.

Ryan Pore

A 2001 Madison grad, Pore was a four-year letterman in soccer and basketball. He was named All-Ohio in soccer during the 2000 and 2001 seasons and still holds the Ohio High School Athletic Association record for most goals in a career with 154 and in a season with 62. In basketball, he was the Mansfield News Journal Player of the Year twice earning All-Ohio honors in 2001 and 2002 and still holds the program's career record for points and 1,347 and single-season scoring record with 558. He is one of three Madison athletes to have his jersey number retired by the school.

After high school, Pore attended Tulsa University where he earned Soccer America Player of the Year in 2004, was a finalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy and earned United Soccer Coaches All-American honors in 2003 and 2004. He was drafted in the second round, No. 16 overall, in the 2005 Major League Soccer Super Draft and played 58 games for the Kansas City Wizards. He also played for the Portland Timbers from 2009-2011 scoring 25 goals during that span. He was the Supporters Player of the Year in 2010. After college, he went back to Tulsa University to coach and is now the manager of the Kansas City Roos earning coach of the year honors in 2020.

Sue Subich

Subich coached volleyball at Madison for 20 years compiling a record of 395-114 as the Rams head coach winning 15 conference championships, 11 district titles, three regional crowns and the 1997 state championship. She led the Rams to three Associated Press Poll championships in 1994, 1995 and 1996 and has an overall career record of 545-164.

She will be inducted along with the entire 1997 state championship team.

Melissa Stone-Watters

Stone-Watters is a 1993 Madison grad who won a combined six state swimming titles in both the 50 and 100 freestyle events. As a junior, she qualified for the US Olympic trials in the 50 free. She once held the fasted 50 freestyle time in the United States.

She attended Michigan University and won multiple Big Ten championships and was named an All-Americna as an individual and relay team member. As a junior in college, she qualified to participate in the US Olympic trials in the 200 backstroke. She was a three-time college Academic All-American and left Michigan holding numerous individual and relay records. She returned to the Mansfield area after college and went on to coach at Lexington in 1998 earning honors as conference and district coach of the year leading several All-Americans and state champions.

Rory Meister

Meister was one of the best all-around athletes in Madison history earning 13 varsity letters in baseball, soccer, basketball and football. He earned All-Ohio honors in baseball, twice, soccer and football. He was named the district defensive player of the year in soccer, district player of the year in baseball and was a two-time representative for Team Ohio in the Sun Belt Classic. In three years as a soccer player, he helped his teams take home two district runner-up trophies and one district championship. In baseball, he won three district titles and a regional runner-up trophy and is still the career leader in wins, strikeouts and earned run average at Madison.

After high school, Meister received a scholarship to play baseball at The Ohio State University where he was a four-year letterman and five-time OSU scholar-athlete. He was named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week twice and is No. 6 on the career saves list for the Buckeyes and eighth in career appearances. H was twice named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association preseason watch list for stopper of the year as he helped the Buckeyes win two Big Ten championships. He once recorded five pitching wins in eight days.

Mike Blevins

Blevins is a 1997 Madison grad who earned four letters in track and two in football. During his sophomore track season, Blevins finished fifth in the 100-meter dash at the Division I state meet and sixth in the 200-meter dash. As a junior, he went on to win the state championship in the 100 and 200 and led the Rams to state runner-up team honors. As a senior, he won the 100 state title and took second in the 200. During his high school career, Blevins also won the USATF Junior Olympic National Championship and the AAU National title in the 100. His 10.51 100-meter dash and 21.49 200-meter dash times are still Madison records.

Blevins attended Morehouse College and received several All-American honors in track as he took third in the NCC Division II Track and Field Championship in 1999 and 2000. He earned his Doctorate of Ministry Degree in 2021 and currently serves as the senior pastor of Morris Cathedral Church Of God In Christ and is the Director of Support Services at Brighton Hospice in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

jfurr@gannett.com

740-244-9934

Twitter: @JakeFurr11

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Madison set to induct nine individuals, one team to inaugural Hall of Fame class