District announces Hall of Fame classes

Cardinals Schools will induct new athletic and distinguished alumni members on Sept. 21.

Two new members and one team will be inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame and two new members will join the Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame.

The 2019 Athletic Hall of Fame Inductees are:

• Todd Barcikowski (1989) - While a studentathlete at Cardinal, Todd earned 10 varsity letters. He earned 4 letters for football and was the first freshman to start at quarterback in CHS history. He earned First Team offense All-East Suburban Conference as a placekicker and was Second Team offense All-East Suburban Conference as a quarterback. In addition, Todd was an Honorable Mention All-County placekicker and set numerous passing and kicking records in football throughout his high school career. Todd earned 3 letters for basketball and was part of the team that won the ESC championship in 1986 and 1988. He earned 3 letters for baseball, even though he didn’t participate in senior year, opting instead to take the opportunity for a 6-week study abroad trip. He had a 0.356 batting average and a 4.5 ERA.

• Titus Phile (2003) - Titus was a three-sport athlete at Cardinal. He earned letters in football, wrestling and track and was recognized for multiple accomplishments throughout his career. Football honors include First-Team All-Ohio defense in 2002, First-Team Chagrin Valley Conference offense in 2001, Honorable Mention All-Ohio offense in 2001, Fox 8 Player of the Week in 2002, Football MVP of the defense for the League, County and District in 2002, First-Team News-Herald offense in 2001 and defense in 2002, and a Plain Dealer Player of the Week. As part of the wrestling team, Titus was Second-Team CVC in 2002 and was a State tournament qualifier. As a senior in 2003, he was First-Team CVC and placed fifth in the State tournament in the 215 weight class. Titus was awarded the Johnny Smallwood Award in 2003.

• 1978 State Champion Wrestling Team (1978) The 1978 Cardinal Huskies Wrestling Team is being inducted into the Cardinal Athletics Hall of Fame as the Class A State Champions of 1978. Individual State Champions are Larry Davis, Matt Dulka and Harry Weaver. Scott Chapman, Bob Reiter and Pat Soltis are all State Runners-up, finishing second in their weight class. In addition, team members earned a number of individual and team awards. The team won second place honors in the Cardinal Christmas Wrestling Tournament, the West Holmes Invitational, Sectionals and Districts. At the Cardinal Christmas Tournament, the Huskies had two Champions, three second-place winners and three third-place winners. At the West Holmes Tournament, they earned four Champion spots, had three runners-up and one third place finisher. The team had three Sectional Champs, three wrestlers finished in second place in the Sectional Tournament and had one third-place and one fourth-place finisher. At the District tournament, they had two Champions and four wrestlers finished as runners-up, with one third place finisher. The team was coached by Thomas Ferry. Team members include Keith Chapman, Jeff Neikirk, Jeff Zeigler, Al Wright, Brian Porter, Ray Porter, Tim Ohl, Lloyd Koeble, Gary Kampmoyer, Dave Kampmoyer, Roger Fisher, Harold Armstrong, Mike Pitcher, Chris Lukas, Greg Soltis, Dave Wright, Bob Reiter, Pete Chatfield, Pat Soltis, Bob Filla, Matt Dulka, Larry Davis, Scott Chapman and Harry Weaver.

The 2019 Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame Inductees are:

• Jay Willard Lytle (1964) - Upon graduating from Cardinal HIgh School in 1964, Jay Lytle enrolled at Ohio University, graduating with a degree in Government in 1968. He enlisted in the US Army in the Summer of 1968. Jay completed Basic and Advanced Infantry Training and Engineer Officer Candidate School and received his commission in June of 1969. He also completed the United States Army Security Agency Electronic Warfare Officer’s Course in 1969, whereupon he was stationed in West Germany. During his service in that capacity, he was Commander Detachment G and Commander Detachment D, while also coaching and officiating football for the Frankfurt Germany American Youth Activities and working as a US European Fast Pitch Baseball Umpire. In 1972, he was stationed at the USASA Headquarters in Arlington, VA and left active duty in 1974 with the rank of Captain.

He then joined the US Army Virginia National Guard in 1975 where he held numerous positions including Infantry Company Commander, Infantry Battalion Staff Intelligence Officer, Infantry Battalion Operations Officer, Regimental Intelligence Officer, and finally Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence for the 29th Infantry Division. He earned numerous awards during these years, most notably the Virginia Bronze Star Service Medal.

In 1994, he was selected to become the Senior Intelligence Officer for the State of Maryland. While serving in that position, he had the honor of being selected to concurrently serve as the Senior Intelligence Officer to the Director of the United States Army National Guard Bureau. He was promoted to Colonel and served in this dual capacity until his mandatory retirement in 2000.

During this period, he oversaw the increase in military intelligence positions supporting the National Guard from approximately 1,800 to over 4,000 positions. He represented the Army National Guard Bureau at all national meetings, at the US Army Intelligence Training Center and School, and with the many State Adjutants General across the Nation.

He was the first Army National Guard officer to be presented with the Knowlton Award for Excellence in Military Intelligence by the Military Intelligence Corps Association.

Upon retirement, he was awarded the National Guard Bureau Eagle Award.

Concurrently, like so many Americans, he continued his civilian employment life and activities. He attended night school at The George Washington University and earned a Masters of Science Degree in Public Administration in 1979. he worked as a Virginia High School Football official and was president of the Warrenton Junior High School Athletic Boosters Club.

Upon leaving Active Duty, he was employed as a US Army civilian government worker in the USASA from 1974 to 1980. He then moved to a position in the Defense Intelligence Agency where he worked directly under the Director for Resources. This Directorate was comprised of over 1,100 employees, both military and civilian, providing support throughout the Agency in the areas of special communications, logistics, personnel, finance, security, imagery, information technology and other highly technical intelligence support areas.

He left the Defense Intelligence Agency in 1987 for another government civilian position with the newly formed US Army Program Executive Office for Intelligence and Electronic Warfare. In this position, he was responsible for the research and development budget of the organization, with almost $900M being administered annually. These efforts involved the development of such various technologies as Night Vision equipment, Thermal Vision equipment, Signals Intercept equipment, Aerostat radars, fire detection radars and other items that proved invaluable during the first Gulf War. He routinely coordinated with the other military services and with the National Security Agency. He became the Chief of the Business Management Division and oversaw not only the Research and Development Program, but the Procurement and Fielding Programs for all these various equipments. When he left that position, he received the first ever Commander’s Award for service.

He returned to the Defense Intelligence Agency in 1994, where he headed up a team to reorganize the Department of Defense’s Human Intelligence (HUMINT) capabilities. This was another effort that required extraordinary coordination with the Military Services, the Central Intelligence Agency and certain foreign countries. Upon successful completion of this project, he was selected to become the Chief of the Resource Management Division of DIA’s Missile Space and Intelligence Center, located in Huntsville. Alabama. His mission there was to support the Center’s efforts in exploiting a huge variety of foreign weapons systems. The budget he managed was even greater than the one at PEOIEW. His successes in Huntsville, though highly classified, were most rewarding. He retired from the Federal Government in 2002.

While in Huntsville, he served as a student mentor to underprivileged children at an inner-city elementary school for six years. He also became an Alabama High School Football Association referee.

Upon his retirement from the government, I was recruited for a new governmental contractor position in support of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. In that position, he was the team leader for my company of approximately 40 people and also served in support of the government Director as his staff coordinator for an organization that numbered well over 160 people located worldwide.

While coaching and officiating, he proudly used a whistle that was sent to him from Coach Verno when he was serving in Germany!

Fran Handsel Wesseling (1966) - Fran Baldwin-Wesseling, mother of retired SF Major (Ret) Darren R. Baldwin is a civilian advocate and volunteer fundraiser for the Green Beret Foundation. Mrs. Wesseling and her husband, Jim Wesseling became Green Beret Foundation Ambassadors in 2014 and are the organizers of the Cincinnati Green Beret Classic held annually in Cincinnati, Ohio to benefit the Green Beret Foundation. Cincinnati Classic events have raised over one million dollars for the Foundation. In 2017 Mrs. Wesseling started the first Green Beret Foundation Chapter in Cincinnati, Ohio and serves as the Cincinnati Chapter Director. In 2018 Mrs. Wesseling was elected to the Green Beret Foundation’s national board of directors. Mrs. Wesseling is a former registered nurse, health care business executive and Executive Director, of Foundation For the Challenged, a charitable foundation for people with developmental disabilities. Mrs. has turned her life-long passion for helping others into advocacy for the Green Beret Foundation in response to its generous funding of her son’s, Darren’s, medical needs in the early years of his traumatic brain injury sustained in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Wesseling states “her passion for helping the Green Beret Community is what she knows her son and his wife, Bianca would do, if they could.”

In 2016, Mrs. Wesseling and her husband founded Project Rise Above, a nonprofit Veteran charity established for expanding the path of support for veteran participants of Veterans Courts in Warren County, Ohio. As Project Rise Above’s Board President, Mrs. Wesseling oversaw the organization’s mission objectives of raising awareness of Veterans Courts’ Rehabilitation Treatment Program and raising funds to cover the cost of basic living needs not covered by other resources for Veteran participants. Mrs. Wesseling and her husband Jim reside in Maineville, Ohio.

Inductees will speak at a student assembly at CHS the afternoon Sept.

20. They will then be recognized during halftime of the Varsity Football game on Sept. 20. Their official induction into their respective halls of fame will come at a dinner on Sept. 21 at Shangri La Event Center in Garrettsville. Tickets to the event are $30 each and can be purchased online at www.cardinalschools.org until September 16. Attendees can also RSVP to Athletic Director Jim Soltis at jimmy.soltis@cardinalschools.org until Sept.

16.