By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
Stories were told and laughs were shared as the Crawford County Sports Hall of Fame welcomed five new individuals and one team to its ranks Saturday night.
The 1990 Bucyrus Lady Redmen softball team, Jim Glauer, Amber Rall Groves, Robert Haas, Howard Koons, Larry Simmermacher, and Cecil Souders were inducted as members of the Class of 2014 during the Hall of Fame’s banquet held at the Bucyrus VFW.
Karla Schiefer, who introduced Groves, said the former Wynford All-Ohioan and Ashland University All-American was extremely competitive and could do anything that she had set her mind to due to hard work and determination.
“The thing about Amber was the worst thing you could do was to tell her that she couldn’t do something or to say that it is not possible, because her goal and her mission was to go out and prove that it could be done,” Schiefer said. “She worked when she was at practice, she worked hard after practice, and it was obvious the time she put in.”
Jim Glauer was excited to go into the Crawford County Sports Hall of Fame with the Class of 2014.
“It’s a great honor to be here. I am going in with a lot of great people who are very deserving of this honor,” Glauer said.
Glauer said that his favorite memories came from coaching baseball at Crestline High School.
“My favorite memories were coaching the Crestline baseball team for many years. We had very good families, very good athletes, and we had a great winning tradition in our program back in the day. A lot of league titles, a lot of sectional championships, district championships, a few regionals, and three state appearances during my time at CHS.”
North Robinson basketball standout and Willard coaching legend Robert Haas was honored to go into the CCSHOF. Haas explained that it \was great to be included among the inductees past and present.
“It is certainly a pleasure and an honor. As I look down the list of all the names inducted not only tonight, but also the previous years, and to be associated with them means an awful lot to me,” Haas said.
Haas explained his favorite memories playing basketball for North Robinson.
“There are so many, but I always revert to the county schools as the big 10, the real big 10, and the competition between the teams in the county was kind of unique. My senior year in ’58 we had five or six great basketball teams,” Haas said. “Obviously Holmes-Liberty were the kings and made it to Columbus, and almost won the state championship. Sulphur Springs had made it to districts eight years in a row, New Washington had a good team, Tiro had a good team, and North Robinson had a good team. We made it to the county final and lost to Holmes-Liberty by one point.”
The Holmes-Liberty basketball powerhouse of the 1950s featured two 6-foot-5 brothers who were threats not only on the boards, but also scoring. The CCSHOF rejoined the brothers as part of the Hall of Fame team, with Howard Koons joining his brother Delbert, who was inducted in 2012.
“It is really a great honor; I really didn’t think I would get in it. There are a lot of great athletes in Crawford County, and I only had one good year back in 1956,” Howard Koons said. “I set a county record in scoring, and I set the school record with 46 points in one game. But I averaged 24 points that year so I had a good record.”
Bucyrus softball coach Jack Hewitt explained that the 1990 season was a fun time.
“It was fun because we were loaded, we had the pitching, we had the speed, we had everything; no apparent weakness,” Hewitt said.
Larry Simmermacher was inducted into the CCHOF posthumously, accepting the award was his son Bret. Bret explained one of his favorite stories about his dad.
“Jerry Harbaugh, who is already in the CCHOF as well as the Crestline Hall of Fame, they both worked at PPG, and I was coaching football with him at Crestline, and he said, ‘Did I ever tell you this story about your dad?’
“They had worked nights together and got off of work, and he said, ‘Hey Larry, a bunch of us are going golfing.’ And my dad said ‘I don’t have any golf clubs, Jerry.’ And Jerry goes, ‘I have an extra set you are more than welcome to borrow them, only thing is they’re left-handed.’ And my dad goes ‘Well if you let me use them I’ll go.’
“My dad was a switch hitter in baseball, and never played much golf, and went out and shot par in golf. That just shows his athleticism and how good of an athlete that he was,” Simmermacher recalled.
Cecil “Cy” Souders played football for the Bucyrus Redmen, the Ohio State Buckeyes, and professionally for the Detroit Lions. Souders explained the joy of being celebrated at home.
“It’s a great honor, getting to come home and being in the Hall of Fame of Crawford County,” Souders said.
The Class of 2014 was the sixth Hall of Fame class. The Hall now features 33 individual members as well as six teams.