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Final Four Greats Set For August Ceremony
By DOUG HUFF and BUBBA KAPRAL
Four record-setting Ohio Valley Athletic Conference athletes who later starred in the college ranks, and one in professional football, will be inducted into the OVAC Hall of Fame.
Selected for the 1980s era are Dee Davis of Wheeling Park (1981) and Brian Swisher of Sistersville (1982). Honored for the 1990s era are Joey Galloway of Bellaire (1990) and Matt Gaudio of Brooke (1991).
This quartet and other members of the Class of 2005 will be enshrined into the OVAC Hall of Fame Aug. 20 at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling. Information concerning ticket sales for the second annual induction dinner will be announced later by Tom Rataiczak, executive secretary of the bi-state conference.
The OVAC Hall of Fame, sponsored by Bob Robinson Chevrolet-Cadillac in Wheeling, will be located inside WesBanco Arena.
A new category was initiated this year.
Five past greats were chosen as Legends of OVAC member schools. The group includes athletes and coaches who competed or coached before the conference was formed in 1943 or while their schools were not affiliated with the OVAC.
The initial Legends honorees will be V. Everett Brinkman, Clarke Hinkle, Lou Groza, Calvin Jones and Clarence (Bevo) Francis.
This year's OVAC Family inductees are Rudy Mumley and Agnes Timmons. Selected in the Media category was Doug Huff, retired sports editor of The Intelligencer.
Enshrined in the Officials category will be Walter Heil and Chester Grossi. Coaches selected are George Strager, Bob Burton and John (Corky) Vrotsos.
Earlier announced as honored athletes were Alex Groza for the 1940s; Chuck Howley and Dick Miller for the 1950s; Mike Sherwood and Terry Snively for the 1960s; and John (Fuzzy) Filliez and Lance Mehl for the 1970s.
Brinkman, Hinkle, both Grozas, Jones, Mumley, Heil and Strager will be honored posthumously.
Capsule summaries of the 2005 OVAC Hall of Fame honorees from the 1980s and 1990's follow:
Dee Davis
(Wheeling Park, 1981)
The first OVAC girls' athlete to earn first team All-W. Va. honors three times set Ohio Valley and state scoring records which remain on the books a quarter-century later. In all, she set three Ohio Valley and three state scoring standards.
A three-year Wheeling Park standout, she scored a school record 1,854 points including 716 for a 32.5 ppg. average as a senior. She was the 1980 state Player of the Year and captained the Class AAA all-state team.
She scored a school record 55 points against Weirton Madonna and set a state tournament Class AAA scoring record which still stands when she tallied 43 points against Greenbrier East as a sophomore in 1978.
In two state tournament games that year, she scored 76 points including 13 of 14 free throws.
Davis led Park to a state Class AAA runnerup spot as a senior when she also charted 104 steals, 71 assists and 87 rebounds. After the season, she was the MVP of the state North-South game where she scored 30 points.
She earned All-America mention in Street & Smith's and Converse magazines.
At Park, Davis also starred as a pitcher-shortstop on the school's first varsity softball teams and earned all-state recognition from the West Virginia Coaches Association.
She signed a basketball scholarship to Tennessee Tech where she played for two seasons before finishing her college career at West Virginia University. In her two seasons with the Mountaineers, she served as team co-captain in 1986 with Georgeann Wells, the first woman to dunk in a college basketball game.
In Savis' junior season, WVU recorded its second-ever 20-win season with a 20-10 mark.
She also played basketball with a U.S. All-Star team in England and scored 150 points for a 21.4 ppg. average.
Davis just completed her 13th year as head girls basketball coach at her alma mater. She has guided the Patriots into six state tournaments and won back-to-back Class AAA championships in 1998-99. That year, she became the first female to win the all-sports OVAC Coach of the Year award. The Wheeling resident also coaches softball.
Brian Swisher
(Sistersville, 1982)
The 5-foot-7, 145-pound wide receiver/kick returner became the first three-time first team All-W. Va. football honoree from Tyler County when he led Sistersville High to back-to-back state Class A championships in 1980-81.
Swisher led the Tigers to a 13-0 record in 1981 as he set an Ohio Valley and W. Va. record for scoring by a lineman with 26 touchdowns (receiving, rushing, returns) and 156 points. He was runnerup for the Kennedy Award as state player of the year but earned the Hunt Award as state Lineman of the Year.
He set season and career pass receiving marks in the Ohio Valley and averaged 39.2 yards on kickoff returns and 20.2 yards on punt returns. Swisher set an Ohio Valley record by catching passes in 36 consecutive games - every game he started.
His career regular season totals were 126 receptions for 2,174 yards and 23 TDs. He led the valley in regular season pass receiving yards for 1980 (681 yards on 47 catches) and 1981 (906 yards and 14 TDs on 53 receptions). As a sophomore, he landed 26 passes for 582 yards.
Swisher was a three-time All-OVAC and All-Valley honoree as well as all-state three times.
In the spring, he competed in track as a 100 and 200-meter sprinter, long jumper and relay member. He won eight individual medals in three state Class AA meets - a first in the 100 as a sophomore, six seconds and a third - and was a member of a astate champion 4x100 relay team. He tied a state meet A-AA 100-meter record with a 10.9-second clocking in the 1981 trials.
He signed a football scholarship with Marshall and played four seasons including three years as a starting wide receiver. He landed 106 passes from 1982-85 for 1,617 yards and 14 touchdowns. He was Marshall's leading receiver in 1983 with 32 catches for 560 yards and three scores. He also was a Herd track sprinter.
Swisher currently resides in Lewis Center, Ohio.
Joey Galloway
(Bellaire, 1990)
This Big Reds' four-sports performer has excelled on the prep, collegiate and professional levels.
The mercury-heeled wide receiver was an All-Ohio gridder for coach John Magistro before a sparkling career at Ohio State University. After his Scarlet and Gray days, Galloway was a first round draft pick by the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL.
Galloway rewrote the OhioValley record books for pass receiving yards with 2,332 and touchdown receptions with 27. He ended with 108 career catches.
The 5-foot-9 explosive gamebreaker helped lead the Big Reds to the OVAC 3-A football title his junior year, playing an integral role in the 9-1 campaign. He landed 43 passes for 973 yards and 13 TDs that fall.
Galloway was a three-time All-OVAC and All-Valley honoree and was named All-Ohio second team in Division III as a senior.
In basketball, he was just as dominating as a point guard. Galloway was a starter for three straight OVAC championship teams for coach Gene Ammirante. He earned All-OVAC, All-Valley and All-Ohio honors.
The springtime saw Galloway serve the Big Reds as an infielder on the baseball diamond but it was on the oval where he made an even bigger impact. Galloway claimed the state Division II 100-meter and 200 state sprint titles as a senior.
The Bellaire Bullet then took his amazing athletic skills to Columbus, starring for John Cooper on the gridiron.
He was honored as an All-Big Ten wide receiver as a junior - a season in which he grabbed 47 passes for 946 yards. His career totals at Ohio State were 108 receptions for 1,894 yards and 19 TDs. Galloway finished with 2,754 all-purpose yards and was the team's co-captain in 1994.
He was an All-Big Ten Academic honoree in 1991, 1993 and 1994 and earned a National Football Foundation Scholarship in 1994.
After graduating with a degree in business and marketing, Galloway was the eighth overall pick in the 1994 NFL Draft.
He played five seasons with the Seahawks, catching 283 passes for 4,457 yards and 37 TDs. In his best season in Seattle, he collared 72 passes for 1,049 yards and 12 TDs.
He left Seattle for the Dallas Cowboys and is now a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Matt Gaudio
(Brooke, 1991)
This fluid athlete dominated the West Virginia prep hardwood as he was a four-year starter for the Bruins.
He concluded his sparkling Brooke career by being named the West Virginia Player of the Year as well as the Gatorade state Player of the Year in 1991. The 6-foot-7 forward paced Brooke to records of 19-4, 22-4, 16-7 and 18-7 for a four-year career mark of 75-22.
Gaudio was a two-time all-state Class AAA honoree and twice named to the all-state tournament team. He averaged 17.9 points and 10.1 rebounds as a sophomore and followed that up with a state-Class AAA best 24.8 scoring norm as a junior while averaging 11 rebounds.
Gaudio capped his superb prep career with a brilliant senior campaign. He averaged 24.3 points and grabbed 13.4 rebounds to repeat as All-OVAC, All-Valley and All-W. Va. honors while being accorded honorable mention All-America.
He was the first Bruin to earn first team all-state boys basketball. Gaudio surpassed the 1,000 mark in career points (1,874) and career rebounds (1,108), both Bruin records.
He opted to continue his academic and athletic career at Penn State University but was plagued by chronic back problems which eventually required surgery. In spite of the medical woes, Gaudio endured the pain to turn in a solid career.
During his redshirt sophomore season, he averaged 9.4 points and 4.7 rebounds a game and was named recipient of the Lou Lamie Most Inspirational Player Award.
The following year, he served as a student assistant coach under current West Virginia University assistant Jerry Dunn while completing his liberal arts degree with an emphasis on architecture. He returned to play as a senior and was second on the team in scoring with a 13.1 average while collecting 6.4 rebounds a game during a 21-7 record season.
http://news-register.net/sports/story/0612202005_spt01.asp
By DOUG HUFF and BUBBA KAPRAL
Four record-setting Ohio Valley Athletic Conference athletes who later starred in the college ranks, and one in professional football, will be inducted into the OVAC Hall of Fame.
Selected for the 1980s era are Dee Davis of Wheeling Park (1981) and Brian Swisher of Sistersville (1982). Honored for the 1990s era are Joey Galloway of Bellaire (1990) and Matt Gaudio of Brooke (1991).
This quartet and other members of the Class of 2005 will be enshrined into the OVAC Hall of Fame Aug. 20 at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling. Information concerning ticket sales for the second annual induction dinner will be announced later by Tom Rataiczak, executive secretary of the bi-state conference.
The OVAC Hall of Fame, sponsored by Bob Robinson Chevrolet-Cadillac in Wheeling, will be located inside WesBanco Arena.
A new category was initiated this year.
Five past greats were chosen as Legends of OVAC member schools. The group includes athletes and coaches who competed or coached before the conference was formed in 1943 or while their schools were not affiliated with the OVAC.
The initial Legends honorees will be V. Everett Brinkman, Clarke Hinkle, Lou Groza, Calvin Jones and Clarence (Bevo) Francis.
This year's OVAC Family inductees are Rudy Mumley and Agnes Timmons. Selected in the Media category was Doug Huff, retired sports editor of The Intelligencer.
Enshrined in the Officials category will be Walter Heil and Chester Grossi. Coaches selected are George Strager, Bob Burton and John (Corky) Vrotsos.
Earlier announced as honored athletes were Alex Groza for the 1940s; Chuck Howley and Dick Miller for the 1950s; Mike Sherwood and Terry Snively for the 1960s; and John (Fuzzy) Filliez and Lance Mehl for the 1970s.
Brinkman, Hinkle, both Grozas, Jones, Mumley, Heil and Strager will be honored posthumously.
Capsule summaries of the 2005 OVAC Hall of Fame honorees from the 1980s and 1990's follow:
Dee Davis
(Wheeling Park, 1981)
The first OVAC girls' athlete to earn first team All-W. Va. honors three times set Ohio Valley and state scoring records which remain on the books a quarter-century later. In all, she set three Ohio Valley and three state scoring standards.
A three-year Wheeling Park standout, she scored a school record 1,854 points including 716 for a 32.5 ppg. average as a senior. She was the 1980 state Player of the Year and captained the Class AAA all-state team.
She scored a school record 55 points against Weirton Madonna and set a state tournament Class AAA scoring record which still stands when she tallied 43 points against Greenbrier East as a sophomore in 1978.
In two state tournament games that year, she scored 76 points including 13 of 14 free throws.
Davis led Park to a state Class AAA runnerup spot as a senior when she also charted 104 steals, 71 assists and 87 rebounds. After the season, she was the MVP of the state North-South game where she scored 30 points.
She earned All-America mention in Street & Smith's and Converse magazines.
At Park, Davis also starred as a pitcher-shortstop on the school's first varsity softball teams and earned all-state recognition from the West Virginia Coaches Association.
She signed a basketball scholarship to Tennessee Tech where she played for two seasons before finishing her college career at West Virginia University. In her two seasons with the Mountaineers, she served as team co-captain in 1986 with Georgeann Wells, the first woman to dunk in a college basketball game.
In Savis' junior season, WVU recorded its second-ever 20-win season with a 20-10 mark.
She also played basketball with a U.S. All-Star team in England and scored 150 points for a 21.4 ppg. average.
Davis just completed her 13th year as head girls basketball coach at her alma mater. She has guided the Patriots into six state tournaments and won back-to-back Class AAA championships in 1998-99. That year, she became the first female to win the all-sports OVAC Coach of the Year award. The Wheeling resident also coaches softball.
Brian Swisher
(Sistersville, 1982)
The 5-foot-7, 145-pound wide receiver/kick returner became the first three-time first team All-W. Va. football honoree from Tyler County when he led Sistersville High to back-to-back state Class A championships in 1980-81.
Swisher led the Tigers to a 13-0 record in 1981 as he set an Ohio Valley and W. Va. record for scoring by a lineman with 26 touchdowns (receiving, rushing, returns) and 156 points. He was runnerup for the Kennedy Award as state player of the year but earned the Hunt Award as state Lineman of the Year.
He set season and career pass receiving marks in the Ohio Valley and averaged 39.2 yards on kickoff returns and 20.2 yards on punt returns. Swisher set an Ohio Valley record by catching passes in 36 consecutive games - every game he started.
His career regular season totals were 126 receptions for 2,174 yards and 23 TDs. He led the valley in regular season pass receiving yards for 1980 (681 yards on 47 catches) and 1981 (906 yards and 14 TDs on 53 receptions). As a sophomore, he landed 26 passes for 582 yards.
Swisher was a three-time All-OVAC and All-Valley honoree as well as all-state three times.
In the spring, he competed in track as a 100 and 200-meter sprinter, long jumper and relay member. He won eight individual medals in three state Class AA meets - a first in the 100 as a sophomore, six seconds and a third - and was a member of a astate champion 4x100 relay team. He tied a state meet A-AA 100-meter record with a 10.9-second clocking in the 1981 trials.
He signed a football scholarship with Marshall and played four seasons including three years as a starting wide receiver. He landed 106 passes from 1982-85 for 1,617 yards and 14 touchdowns. He was Marshall's leading receiver in 1983 with 32 catches for 560 yards and three scores. He also was a Herd track sprinter.
Swisher currently resides in Lewis Center, Ohio.
Joey Galloway
(Bellaire, 1990)
This Big Reds' four-sports performer has excelled on the prep, collegiate and professional levels.
The mercury-heeled wide receiver was an All-Ohio gridder for coach John Magistro before a sparkling career at Ohio State University. After his Scarlet and Gray days, Galloway was a first round draft pick by the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL.
Galloway rewrote the OhioValley record books for pass receiving yards with 2,332 and touchdown receptions with 27. He ended with 108 career catches.
The 5-foot-9 explosive gamebreaker helped lead the Big Reds to the OVAC 3-A football title his junior year, playing an integral role in the 9-1 campaign. He landed 43 passes for 973 yards and 13 TDs that fall.
Galloway was a three-time All-OVAC and All-Valley honoree and was named All-Ohio second team in Division III as a senior.
In basketball, he was just as dominating as a point guard. Galloway was a starter for three straight OVAC championship teams for coach Gene Ammirante. He earned All-OVAC, All-Valley and All-Ohio honors.
The springtime saw Galloway serve the Big Reds as an infielder on the baseball diamond but it was on the oval where he made an even bigger impact. Galloway claimed the state Division II 100-meter and 200 state sprint titles as a senior.
The Bellaire Bullet then took his amazing athletic skills to Columbus, starring for John Cooper on the gridiron.
He was honored as an All-Big Ten wide receiver as a junior - a season in which he grabbed 47 passes for 946 yards. His career totals at Ohio State were 108 receptions for 1,894 yards and 19 TDs. Galloway finished with 2,754 all-purpose yards and was the team's co-captain in 1994.
He was an All-Big Ten Academic honoree in 1991, 1993 and 1994 and earned a National Football Foundation Scholarship in 1994.
After graduating with a degree in business and marketing, Galloway was the eighth overall pick in the 1994 NFL Draft.
He played five seasons with the Seahawks, catching 283 passes for 4,457 yards and 37 TDs. In his best season in Seattle, he collared 72 passes for 1,049 yards and 12 TDs.
He left Seattle for the Dallas Cowboys and is now a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Matt Gaudio
(Brooke, 1991)
This fluid athlete dominated the West Virginia prep hardwood as he was a four-year starter for the Bruins.
He concluded his sparkling Brooke career by being named the West Virginia Player of the Year as well as the Gatorade state Player of the Year in 1991. The 6-foot-7 forward paced Brooke to records of 19-4, 22-4, 16-7 and 18-7 for a four-year career mark of 75-22.
Gaudio was a two-time all-state Class AAA honoree and twice named to the all-state tournament team. He averaged 17.9 points and 10.1 rebounds as a sophomore and followed that up with a state-Class AAA best 24.8 scoring norm as a junior while averaging 11 rebounds.
Gaudio capped his superb prep career with a brilliant senior campaign. He averaged 24.3 points and grabbed 13.4 rebounds to repeat as All-OVAC, All-Valley and All-W. Va. honors while being accorded honorable mention All-America.
He was the first Bruin to earn first team all-state boys basketball. Gaudio surpassed the 1,000 mark in career points (1,874) and career rebounds (1,108), both Bruin records.
He opted to continue his academic and athletic career at Penn State University but was plagued by chronic back problems which eventually required surgery. In spite of the medical woes, Gaudio endured the pain to turn in a solid career.
During his redshirt sophomore season, he averaged 9.4 points and 4.7 rebounds a game and was named recipient of the Lou Lamie Most Inspirational Player Award.
The following year, he served as a student assistant coach under current West Virginia University assistant Jerry Dunn while completing his liberal arts degree with an emphasis on architecture. He returned to play as a senior and was second on the team in scoring with a 13.1 average while collecting 6.4 rebounds a game during a 21-7 record season.
http://news-register.net/sports/story/0612202005_spt01.asp
