Phoenix to honor HOF class Saturday
Oct. 15—PHOENIX — At long last, Phoenix High School is ready to induct its newest class of hall of famers.
After nearly a decade of waiting, 17 individuals and three teams will see their names added to the Phoenix Athletics Hall of Fame during a ceremony Saturday night, the first in-person ceremony being held since 2014.
The ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. in the Phoenix High School Commons.
"We're really looking forward to it," said Phoenix athletic director Dave Ehrhardt. "For several reasons, we haven't been able to have an induction ceremony, so to do this — and a lot of effort was put in back in 2011 and 2014 when this first started — it's fun to continue this tradition."
Individuals being inducted are: Bruce Timmerman (cross-country coach), Brent Watts (soccer/basketball/baseball), Jordan Lewis (baseball), Jack James (football/baseball), Denna Haverkost (volleyball/basketball/track), Mike Miles (football/baseball), Tom Murphy (basketball/volleyball coach), Martyn Mayfield (football), Mike Mondale (football), Othar Richey (football/basketball/track and field), Kimberly Parducci (basketball/softball/volleyball/soccer), David Westfall (football), Tiffany Ross (softball/volleyball/basketball), Kerry Paxson (football/basketball/track and field), Leon Small (football/track and field), Gerald Sloper (football/basketball) and Elliott Jantzer (cross-country/track).
The 17 inductees span over five different decades from the 1960s to the 2000s.
The three teams going into the hall of fame are Phoenix's 1979 state champion football team and the state champion wrestling teams from 1980 and 1981.
Phoenix will also induct Katheryn and Bert Stancliffe, both lifelong supporters of Phoenix athletics, for meritorious service. Katheryn Stancliffe was a teacher for 39 years and was Phoenix's first female mayor, while Bert Stancliffe managed the Phoenix cemetery for 40 years and served on the Phoenix City Council.
"It is a larger group and it's three teams," said Ehrhardt, "so to look back through the history of Phoenix and Talent athletics, there are some really incredible athletes. It's probably a little more than what we'll do in two years when we start a two-year rotation, but to have 17 individuals and three teams is pretty special."
Ehrhardt said that they will continue to have multiple teams inducted in any given years as the schools works their way through their title-winning teams.
He also said that starting this year, Phoenix will hold athletics hall of fame inductions every other year going forward.
"I've been heard (as AD) for six years, so I've met some of them, but not all of them," said Ehrhardt. "Some of these people are from the 60s or 70s, so they've been retired for a while or haven't been here. But it's been fun to go through yearbooks and look at biographies to get to know them. We're really looking forward to meeting them in person and to celebrate them and their accomplishments and continue to build our hall of fame."
Banquet tickets are available at getmeregistered.com/PHSHallOfFame
Reach reporter Danny Penza at 541-776-4469 or dpenza@rosebudmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @penzatopaper.
