By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
After winter weather delayed the ceremony by three weeks Buckeye Central welcomed its Hall of Fame Class of 2014 Saturday afternoon.
Jan Bates, Travis Vanderpool and the 1986 Buckeye Central Buckettes volleyball team were enshrined Saturday evening as the newest members of the Buckeye Central Hall of Fame in front family, friends, and fans.
Bates was introduced by his son and daughter John Bates and Casey Bates. Bates served most recently as athletic director for the school, but coached nearly each sport at Buckeye Central during his 27 years in the district.
“It feels great I am not sure I am deserving of it,” Bates said. “But it’s great to be put in with a lot of the names sitting there up on the wall, it is great.”
During his speech Bates drew laughter numerous times while thanking those who touched his life and recounting memories from his career at Buckeye Central.
Paving the way for what Buckeye Central’s volleyball program was to become the 1986 Buckettes team went 16-5 and was the first volleyball team from the school to make it to the state semi-finals. Accepting for the team were Jenny Keiser (Heydinger), Tammy Evans, (Kheres), Shelly Loy (Sheibly) and Clare Heydinger who accepted the honor on her mother Jatona Heydinger’s behalf.
Vanderpool was a vital part of the offense for the Bucks’ football squad from 1997-2000. When Vanderpool graduated, he held most school’s of the rushing and scoring records. Vanderpool spoke briefly during his induction speech thanking all of his coaches, as well as teammates.
“These were some of the best times I had in sports,” Vanderpool said. “Playing high school sports was amazing, and I couldn’t have done it without my teammates.”
Prior to being announced in between the boys’ junior varsity and varsity basketball game against Riverdale, the inductees were treated to a dinner which was catered by Uncle Dudley’s.