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Well before Ely High School athletics started, education was always a priority and continues to be today.
Old Central school officially opened in 1889. Because of overcrowding other schools were needed. The Winton School opened in 1896. In 1893 the principal was paid $85 a month and teachers $60. In 1899 the Pioneer School opened as Ely’s first high school building. In 1904 Ely’s first high school class graduated from a three year program. That class consisted of two students, Selma Wickman and Otto Brownell. Their classmate Cora Thomas waited until 1905 to graduate and became Ely’s first graduate of a four year high school.
A new building in Ely was dedicated on October 3, 1924 as Ely Memorial High School. This is why this year’s Ely All-Class Reunion will mark the 100th year anniversary of the Ely Memorial High School.
On Wednesday June 30, 1976 the first Ely Sports Hall of Fame class was inducted at a sports banquet that was one of the activities during Ely’s first ever All-Class Reunion. The banquet was emceed by Minneapolis Star columnist James Klobuchar. A total of 85 athletes were inducted that night representing the pre-1930s through the 1950s.
Bob Cary, editor of the Ely Echo, spearheaded the Hall of Fame Committee. Cary was quoted in the Ely Echo in 1996 saying, “There was a lot of great sports figures that came out of this community and someone should record some of this information before it is all lost. I always felt funny about it, because I was not part of the Ely sports scene. But it got in the hands of the coaches & took off from there.”
In 1995 a Hall of Fame Committee was created again led by George Marsnik. The goal was to induct a second class to the ESHOF as part of Ely’s second All-Class Reunion. The selection process stalled and that Hall of Fame class was not named until April 1, 1996 in an article in the Ely Echo. The Ely Sports Hall of Fame Class of 1996 included 92 members; athletes from the 1960s and 1970s as well as a new category called “Contributors” which included Bob Dresich, Merle Lunceford, Fred McReady, Bob Cary and Rudy Semeja.
When the list was released in 1996, Coach Marsnik was quoted in the Echo as saying, “Currently, the Ely Sports Hall of Fame is little more than names on a list. I hope that someday it will be more than that, and that a permanent site may be established either at the high school or some public location where a plaque with the names of each Hall of Famer can be listed.” Marsnik went on to say, “I hope the committee will continue to select Hall of Famers, perhaps on a more frequent basis so that the committee isn’t saddled with picking athletes from a 10 to 20 year time period in one selection period.”
That said, in the summer of 2023 (28 years after the 1995 ESHOF Committee was formed) a committee led by Mike Turnbull was formed to start the daunting process again and select the class of 2024. That committee of 18 began taking nominations from September 2023 until March 1. The committee met several times and researched the nominees put forth by the general public.
On March 18, 2024 the committee did their final voting where each nominee needed to receive 75% of the votes from the 17 members who voted to be inducted into the class of 2024. That list was released in last week’s Ely Echo. The class of 2024 includes 50 inductees from the 1980s – 2009 and a contributors, coaches, ADs and teams category.
There will be an induction event for the Ely Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2024 on Tuesday, July 2 in the Miners Dry Building as part of the All-Class Reunion festivities. Please watch the Ely All-Class reunion website, www. elyallclassreunion.com and Ely Echo for more details. The ESHOF committee also hopes to honor the 1996 class in some manner as they were never properly inducted. The ESHOF committee is also proud to announce that there will be a plaque updated with all the inductees Pre-1930s – 2009 engraved on it, that we hope to unveil for this summer’s Ely All-Class Reunion and eventually go on display in the high school.
Note to Ely Memorial High School graduates: If you haven’t done so already please check out the Ely All-Class Reunion website at www.elyallclassreunion.com for activity schedules, updates and get registered if you plan to attend.
