JAMESTOWN – Local sports figures from a variety of disciplines are included in this years inductees to the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame.
In a released statement, the Board of Directors of the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame announced the inductees who will comprise the Class of 2019. The living inductees are Cheryl Bailey, Tiffany Decker, Vince Gullo, Mike Lopriore, Bob Palcic and Mark Weaver. The deceased honorees are Jack Harper, Charles Johnston and Luella Kye.
These nine individuals will be formally inducted at the CSHOF’s 38th Annual Banquet, Monday, Feb. 18, at the Lakewood Rod and Gun Club. The new honorees will bring the total number of CSHOF inductees to 200. Tickets for the induction dinner are priced at $50. 2019 banquet reservations can be made by calling chairman Chip Johnson at 716-485-6991.
The inductees are:
Cheryl Bailey, a graduate of Southwestern Central School, she participated in track and field at SWCS, North Park College and Slippery Rock University. She was also head coach of women’s soccer at Denison University from 1979 to 1988 and head coach of women’s track and field at Denison from 1981 to 1988. She also served as athletic director at Denison University from 1979 to 1990. She then became senior associate athletic director for the University of Wisconsin until 2005. She also was the chair of NCAA women’s soccer from 1987 to 1993 and the chair of NCAA women’s basketball from 2001 through 2004. Bailey also was general manager of the US women’s national soccer team from 2007 to 2011 and executive director of the national women’s professional soccer league from 2012 to 2015.
Tiffany (Seekings) Decker, a graduate of Jamestown High School. An avid trap shooter since 1991, she competed in and won competitions in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina and Florida. She is a multiple times champion in singles, doubles, handicap, high all around and high over all events. Decker was a 10-time Amateur Trapshooting Association All-New York State Team member from 2009 to currently, including multiple team captaincies and a seven-time member of the Amateur Trapshooting Association All-American Team from 2013 to currently. She was inducted into the New York State Trapshooting Hall of Fame this year.
Vince Gullo, a graduate of Fredonia Central School, where he participated in baseball, soccer and basketball and baseball at Brockport. He has been the head baseball coach at Fredonia Central School since 2002 with a lifetime record of 305-106-1. He has won nine CCIAC League championships, 10 Section 6 championships, five New York State Far West Regional championships, two New York State Class B championships, in 2006 and 2013. He was also a four-time Post-Journal Baseball Coach of the Year in 2006, 2009, 2013, and 2016. He was twice named the New York State Class B Coach of the Year, coached seven All-Western New York players and two Class B Players of the Year.
Jack Harper, former major league pitcher with the Cleveland Spiders, St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Browns, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs. He died in 1950. He was a Jamestown resident from 1908 until his death. He pitched in the minor leagues from 1898 to 1990 and the Major Leagues from 1899 to 1906. He won 20 games for Ft. Wayne in 1890. His career major league record was 80-64, 1,208 innings pitched, 466 strikeouts, 3.55 ERA and he posted records of 23-13 with the Cardinals in 1901, and 23-9 with the Reds in 1904. He is believed to be the first player in the history of organized baseball to receive a portion of his sale to another team – Garry Herrmann, owner of Cincinnati, reportedly gave Harper $1,000 of the proceeds when he was sold to Chicago in 1906.
Charles Johnston, who died in 2017, was the tennis coach at Fredonia Central from 1962 to 1989, with an overall record of 374-47, with seven undefeated seasons. He won 17 Chautauqua County championships, 13 Section 6 championships and was the New York State Coach of the Year in 1982. He was the National Coaches Association Northeast Coach of the Year in 1983 ad served as Section 6 Tennis Chairman 1972-1985, CCIAC Tennis Chairman 1970-1985, and is a member of the Fredonia High School Wall of Fame and the Grape Belt Hall of Fame.
Luella (Baker) Kye, a Cassadaga Valley Central Schoool graduate, who died in 2012, was a catcher for Koch’s Annies softball team 1949-1953, and the first female umpire east of the Mississippi River . She umpired baseball and softball for 20 years and was instrumental in introducing Babe Ruth League softball in Chautauqua County. She also coached and organized clinics and was an inductee in the Chautauqua County Umpires Association Hall of Fame and the Western New York Softball Hall of Fame.
Michael Lopriore, a Jamestown graduate, was a certified athletic trainer from 1977 to 2012 and served as the head athletic trainer at the University of New Orleans and head basketball trainer at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette and Kansas State University. He also served as an athletic trainer for the Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Dodgers as well as rehab director for the New York Mets and Arizona Diamondbacks. He also served as head athletic trainer for Santurce Crabbers, a Dodgers winter ball team, athletic trainer for the Seattle Seahawks and Cochise College. He made appearances at numerous NCAA Division 1 basketball and baseball tournaments and championships and was a member of the 1988 World Series champion Dodgers.
Bob Palcic, a graduate of Cardinal Mindszenty High in Dunkirk was a captain of the University of the Dayton football team and coached football at the University of Dayton, Ball State, University of Wisconsin, University of Arizona, Ohio State University, University of Southern California, University of California Los Angeles, and Southern Methodist University. He also coached 12 years in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons, Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns and New Orleans Saints. Palcic coached two years in the CFL with the Toronto Argonauts and with the Ljubljana Silver Hawks in Slovenia. He coached three Outland Trophy winners: Joe Thomas, Jonathan Ogden, Gabe Carimi. He coached in 12 college bowl games, 4 NFL playoff games and 2 Grey Cups.
Grandmaster Mark A. Weaver, who works at GA Family Services in Jamestown, has a 42-year involvement in martial arts and was a recipient of his 8th-degree black belt. He is proficient in disciplines of karate, Gung-Fu, Kuntao, Ninjitsu, kickboxing, Shaolin Yangshen Kung-Fu and trained in Japan, Singapore, Korea and Thailand. He is the founder and CEO of Warrior Combat International and was inducted in 2015 into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame. Among his honors are International Fellowship of Martial Arts Grandmaster of the Year in Asian Martial Arts and Action Magazine Martial Arts Hall of Fame Excellence in Teaching Award and he was named in Who’s Who in Martial Arts. He was also USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame Kung-Fu Master of the Year and he coached the U.S. National Martial Arts Team in 2015 and 2018.
