Odessa Athletics Hall of Fame

The Odessa Athletics Hall of Fame, approximately a year in the making, is about to induct its inaugural class of athletes, coaches, teams and contributors at the annual alumni banquet to be held June 18 in the Odessa Community Center. A committee headed by chairman Bruce Todd, athletic director at Odessa High School, has been meeting about once each month since March of 2015 to lay the groundwork for the hall of fame. Vice chairman Jon Heimbigner, an OHS alumnus, has contributed his expertise in establishing sports halls of fame for several organizations in Spokane, where he has his home. He was approached by Todd with the idea of an Odessa hall of fame, and the two gathered a group of interested persons to fill out the committee.

The committee has composed a mission statement and has written rules and regulations for nominating candidates for the hall of fame. Both documents are reprinted in the insert that accompanies this issue of The Odessa Record. The insert also includes copies of the 4x8-inch metal plates that will be displayed in a special case to be located in the Odessa gymnasium. The plates include a picture of the inductee and biographical information about the person’s contributions to Odessa athletics.

Rob Hopp, another Odessa alum, has donated his time and expertise to build a display case for the metal plates. The case will have a Plexiglas cover protecting the plates of the inductees. The display at the gym will be open for public viewing from 5 to 5:30 p.m. on June 18, prior to the alumni banquet. At the conclusion of the banquet program, the inductees will be announced and awarded plaques containing the same information on the plates in the display case. There will be no speeches, so the alums can carry on with their main aim of catching up with former classmates and friends from high school.

Following this inaugural batch of inductees, the committee is hoping for help from the public in determining additional future inductees. The committee members have compiled a list of about 100 names so far, mainly of people who were active from about 1960 to the present. Help is needed with names of those who were involved with athletics from 1960 back to about 1910 when athletics began to be offered at Odessa High School according to newspaper accounts.

The committee is also soliciting donations to continue its work and pay for the awards given to the inductees. Committee members themselves have contributed startup money, including larger donations from the O-H Athletic Booster Club and from Gerald Ray, former Odessa coach and elementary school teacher.

It will be an added feature of this year’s alumni banquet, and those involved in its planning are hoping for a good crowd to welcome the inaugural inductees to the Odessa Athletics Hall of Fame.