MLB's Ben Zobrist leads the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame class for 2022
PEORIA — The Peoria area has a long and illustrious list of ties to professional baseball.
Now, one of the area's most recent success stories is getting a call to the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame.
World Series champion and MVP Ben Zobrist of Eureka leads the GPSHOF's five-person inductee class of 2022. The 41st annual event is scheduled for March 25 at the Peoria Civic Center Ballroom.
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Zobrist will be inducted alongside longtime Metamora football coach Pat Ryan; cross country coaches Gene Jones of Metamora and Ed McGraw of East Peoria; and Pekin multi-sport star Priscilla Welch DeLaere.
Six teams also are headed in, as previously announced: the Metamora football state runner-up squads from 1996, '97, '99 and 2000; the 2005-06 Illinois Central College national champion women's basketball team; and the 1983 Limestone state runner-up football team.
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Winner of the Neve Harms Award for meritorious service to sports is Chuck Leonard, a longtime volunteer from Metamora. The 2022 Tri-County award winners also will be honored; those winners are announced next week.
Here's what you need to know about the inductees:
Ben Zobrist
The 1999 graduate of Eureka High School went on to become one of the top utility men in baseball, winning two World Series titles in his 14-year MLB career — including an iconic title with his home state Chicago Cubs.
Zobrist, now 41, also played for the Tampa Bay Rays, Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals, where he was part of the 2015 World Series champions. The following year, he helped lead the Cubs to their first World Series title in 108 years, delivering an RBI double in the 10th inning of Game 7 that cemented the win and his World Series MVP award.
Zobrist's numbers never popped off the page (.266, 1,566 hits, 884 runs, 116 stolen bases, 167 HRs and 768 RBIs) but his versatility, drive and personability among teammates were rarely matched. He played every position in his MLB career, save for catcher.
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Pat Ryan
The two-time state championship coach led the Metamora football program for three decades before retiring in 2019, building a system fueled by strong defense and a run-first style.
Ryan's teams made seven IHSA championship games, winning titles in 2007 and 2009. He made the playoffs 24 times and won 19 Mid-Illini Conference championships while compiling a 268-76 overall record — the winningest football coach in the Peoria area and among the top 15 all-time in Illinois.
Ryan, a 1981 graduate of Metamora, was inducted into the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2016. In 2021, he joined the University of Illinois football program as its director of high school relations.
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Gene Jones
The longtime Metamora cross country coach won nearly 700 matches (416 boys, 281 girls) in his more than a half-century at the Woodford County school. Both totals are the most ever by a coach in Illinois.
From 1970 to his retirement in 2021, Jones led the combined Metamora teams to 51 conference titles, 23 regionals, seven sectionals and 31 appearances at the state finals. He led boys and girls teams teams to fifth-place state finishes.
Jones was named IHSA coach of the year multiple times and was a finalist for national coach of the year in 2006. He was named to the Illinois Track & Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame in 2006. He also is a big part of the running community in Peoria, including work with the Illinois Valley Striders and the St. Jude run to Memphis.
Ed McGraw
The former East Peoria High School cross country coach has done extensive work to promote, encourage and improve distance running in the Peoria area. He founded the Illinois Striders along with Steve Shostrum.
While at EP, McGraw coached Olympian Tim Broe and all-American collegiate runner Jenelle Deatherage, who took fourth in the U.S. trials in 2004.
He was inducted into the Illinois Track & Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame in 2006.
Priscilla Welch DeLaere
One of the top all-around female athletes to compete in the Peoria area. DeLaere won 12 varsity letters at Pekin — four each for softball, volleyball and basketball.
The all-state softball player went on to play the sport at Illinois State, where she was a three-time first-team all-conference pick and third-team all-America. Still among the top 10 in multiple offensive categories, she was inducted into the ISU hall of fame in 2009.
DeLaere was drafted into the Women's Pro Softball League in 1997, playing four seasons with the Virginia Roadsters including the 1998 all-state game.
She went on to coach softball at Pekin and still is active as an assistant volleyball coach.
Neve Harms Award: Chuck Leonard
Another member of the Metamora football community will be honored — this one an often unsung part of the Redbirds' continued success.
For more than half a century, Leonard provided detailed scouting reports for Metamora, missing many playoff games because he'd be away watching the Redbirds' potential next opponent.
He arrived at the school in 1963 and worked in every era of Redbirds football, starting with Marty Stromberger and helping bring home championships with John Helmick and then Pat Ryan. The longtime teacher's influence is felt today through scholarships provided to Metamora students who go into education.
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Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame ceremony
When: March 25, 2023
Where: Peoria Civic Center Ballroom
Details: Cocktails at 5 p.m. and dinner at 6 p.m., followed by the induction ceremony.
Tickets: Guest ticket prices for the banquet are $55 before March 11th and $65 after March 15. No tickets for sale at the door. Reservations can be made by calling Susie Stockman at (309) 691-3553.
Inductees: Teams being inducted include the 1996, '97, '99 and 2000 Metamora football teams; the 2005-26 Illinois Central College women's basketball team and the 1983 Limestone football team. Individual inductees are MLB veteran Ben Zobrist of Eureka, Metamora coach Pat Ryan, cross country coaches Gene Jones of Metamora and Ed McGraw of East Peoria and Pekin multi-sport star Priscilla Welch DeLaere.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame 2022: Ben Zobrist, Metamora football
