Banquet honors inductees

The 48th annual Lorain Sports Hall of Fame banquet at DeLuca’s Place in the Park on May 4 was a moment of celebration for some of the greatest athletes and contributors to sports to ever walk through Lorain.

Inductees were honored, jokes were told and great food was served.

The Hall of Fame inductees were Meredith Ferlic Bingham, David Emerick, Michael Horne, Bill Morris, Norris Sinclair, John Telatnik, Matthew Wilhelm, David Dury and the 1985-86 Admiral King basketball team.

All inductees were given Hall of Fame jackets as part of the honor.

“I am humbled, thrilled and thankful to be a part of this enshrinment,” Horne said.

Horne was inducted for his outstanding basketball career at Lorain Catholic, which included AllLorain County, All-District and

All-North Central Conference First Team honors in his senior season.

Horne was also named to the United Press AllOhio Third Team and to the All-Ohio Tournament First Team.

“As a kid growing up in Lorain, sports was my passion,” he added. “All I wanted to do was be the best basketball player in Lorain County. Being honored means a lot to me tonight, but I am so inspired by those role models who played before me.”

Bingham was a 1995 graduate at Lorain Catholic and was the only woman of the group honored.

She was a standout volleyball player and won several awards, including First Team All-County and All-District, and Best Defensive Player and MVP. Her 1994 team went 26-1 overall and finished as a runner-up in the Division IV state tournament.

That team was inducted into the Lorain Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.

“Being the only female on here takes me back to my childhood days,” she said. “Growing up in a Lorain neighborhood with 17 boys and two other girls, one being my sister. There wasn’t much time to play Barbie or dress-up. We spent endless hours playing baseball, football, tag, riding bikes and four square.

“Little did I know the street games and snowball fights would be the building blocks of lifelong lessons and cherished memories.”

Another member inducted was Wilhelm, a 1999 graduate of Elyria Catholic. Wilhelm stood out in football and basketball, winning Lorain County Offensive MVP and Player of the Year and was a two-time team MVP in basketball. Wilhelm did it all, from winning a football national title in 2002 with the Ohio State Buckeyes, to playing an eightyear career as a linebacker in the NFL and winning the Super Bowl in 2010 with the Green Bay Packers.

“It was never about me,” Wilhelm said. “I represented that name on the back of my jersey. I represented the city which is ever so humbling. In winning the national championship, the first camera and microphone that showed up in my face on the biggest stage of my entire life and winning the greatest championship I could have ever won after 38 years to bring a national championship back to the great state of Ohio. And I uttered the words, ‘This is for South Lorain and for Lorain. This is for all the people back in Lorain.”

The three-hour ceremony concluded with honors to the current crop of brightest Lorain stars. Lorain High’s Naz Bohannon was awarded the J. Ed Uland Memorial Award for excellence in athletics, scholastics and extracurricular activities. He also received a special recognition honor. Bohannon is committed to playing basketball at Youngstown State and sports a 3.93 grad-point average.

“Basketball has opened a lot of doors for me that I wouldn’t be able to pursue,” Bohannon said. “I love everyone in the city of Lorain and I love being here.”

A special recognition was also given to Lorain’s Zion Cross, Carlos Chavis, Daesean Brooks and Clearview’s Antonio Bennett, Cross was the first boys athlete from a Lorain City School to win a state title last season (100 meters) since 1947 when Telatnik won the high jump.

Cross and Telatnik shook hands on stage for a rare moment of past and present greatness.

“It’s really a pleasure to get recognized,” Cross said. “Being a state track champion is a blessing.”