UPPER SANDUSKY — The Wyandot Sports Hall of Fame’s ninth annual banquet is scheduled for Saturday, April 20, at the Masters’ Building at the Wyandot County Fairgrounds.
This year’s induction class includes Michael Dennis, Tim Gebhardt, Ed Hahn, Conrad Walcutt, Jon Wells, D. Jack West and the 2010-11 Wyandot Indians basketball team. Longtime Wyandot Indians basketball player Chuck Brinker also will be given special recognition.
Two of the inductees are of special interest to Crawford County and the immediate area.
Tim Gebhardt was a 1,000-point scorer in basketball and a standout baseball player at Wynford High School, from where he graduated in 1971. He was an All-Ohio first-team basketball selection his senior season and went on to Muskingum College.
His baseball career included three varsity letters and a regional appearance with the Royals in 1970. He was an OHSAA basketball official for 43 years, working nine state tournament games, also officiating NCAA women’s basketball.
In basketball, Gebhardt was on varsity teams that went 16-5, 19-2 and 20-2 during his career, winning North Central Conference championships in 1970 and 1971 and sectional championships in 1969 and 1971. The 1970 team ranked No. 3 in the AP and UPI polls.
He finished with 1,168 points in his varsity career, averaging 18.3 per game, and was AA first-team All-Ohio his senior year. He had a career-high scoring performance of 41 points in 1971 when he averaged 21.2 points per game and shot 85 percent from the foul line. His Wynford freshman team finished 13-1.
At Muskingum Gebhardt earned three letters and set a school record by making 114 free throws in a row. That is also where he earned his officiating license. As a basketball official, Gebhardt officiated OHSAA games for 43 years, including 28 consecutive years of regional tournaments and nine state tournament games. He officiated NCAA women’s basketball on the Division I, II and III levels for 34 years, and NCAA tournament games, including the 2009 Division III Final Four. He is a past president of the Lake Erie Basketball Officials Association.
He is a member of the Wynford, Crawford County, Lake Erie Basketball Officials, Northern Ohio Basketball Officials and Ohio Basketball Officials Halls of Fames.
Gebhardt and his wife, Patti, live in Pepper Pike.
William Edgar “Ed” Hahn was born in Nevada, Ohio Aug. 27, 1875. Very little is known of Hahn until he made his appearance into the frays of Major League Baseball.
Hahn started his major league career with the New York Highlanders in 1905 after hitting .305 for the New Orleans Pelicans in the Cotton States League. After a slow start for New York in 1906, he was sold to the Chicago White Sox and became the team’s starting right fielder.
In that first year, his batting average wasn’t the greatest, but he was third in the American League in walks with 72 and being hit by pitches with 11. It was said his “style of play” fit right in as Chicago was known as the “Hitless Wonders.”
The White Sox advanced and won the 1906 World Series against the cross-town rival and heavily favored Chicago Cubs, still considered one of the biggest upsets in World Series history, and Hahn was a factor in the win.
As the leadoff hitter, Hahn struggled at the plate the first two games, and in game three sustained a broken nose when hit by a pitch. He came back to hit .429 in the series as the White Sox won in six games.
The 1907 season was Hahn’s best. He was in the top five in the league in runs scored (87), walks (84) and hit by pitches (12). He also led all outfielders with a .990 fielding percentage.
Hahn had another solid year in 1908, but after poor hitting 1909 and 1910 seasons, he was sent to the minors. He played a year in Ohio and then went to Des Moines, Iowa, where he played for five years.
Hahn owned a pottery business during the off-seasons and after baseball he became a night watchman for a cement company in Des Moines. He died in 1941.
The WSHOF also will honor area All-Ohioans from the past year and will award scholarships to Carey’s Hannah Lonsway and Casey Crawford, Mohawk’s Aubrey Margraf and Chris Klopp, Riverdale’s Brooke Kuenzli and Alec Loveridge, Upper Sandusky’s Jenna Rodriguez and Levi Malone, and Wynford’s Teresa Lambert and Alizhah Watson.
Doors open at 5 p.m., with the banquet, which includes a catered meal, to begin at 6 p.m. Tickets are $20 and are available from any WSHOF committee member, by e-mailing president@wyandotsportshof.org or at Koehler Drug in Upper Sandusky and First Federal Bank in Carey.