New Ely H.S. Sports Hall of Fame Class to be inducted in ‘24
If you haven’t heard by now, Ely Memorial High School will be celebrating an All-Class Reunion in the summer of 2024 from June 29-July 7.
As part of the festivities the All-Class Reunion committee is planning on inducting a new class to the Ely Sports Hall of Fame and possibly holding an induction celebration at Miners Dry on Tuesday, July 2 to honor the new class and past inductees.
The first class was named in 1976 honoring athletes from the pre-1930s through the 1950s. A second class was inducted in 1996 recognizing new members from the 1960s and 70s along with special contributors. The class of inductees to be added to the ESHOF in 2024 will include the 1980s, 90s and 2000-2009.
A committee headed by Mike Turnbull is currently being formed. “We are assembling a group of ex-Ely athletes and coaches and a few individuals that have served on previous ESHOF committees along with media representatives. Some members will serve as consultants and some will eventually have the daunting task of voting and making final selections from the nominated athletes.”
With the hope of being able to have the ESHOF class of 2024 ready to be finalized by the end of May and honored at the All-Class Reunion, nominations will be accepted up until March 1, 2024.
Nominations can be emailed to Tom Coombe at the Ely Echo, tcoombe@aol.com. Keep in mind that Coombe will not be a voting member of the ESHOFcommittee. He will consult and pass nominations on to the committee for their consideration.
When nominating please include as much substantiated information as possible. Minimum: Name, graduation year, sports played, team and individual accolades (awards, records, statistics) and athletic experience beyond high school. And contact information for the nominator and nominee (if still living). Team and individual accolades and athletic experience beyond high school.
The ESHOF committee adopted several rules to follow in their selection process in 1996 to be adhered to in future selections.
1. Nominations for selection of ex-athletes are restricted to those who attended Ely High School and participated in sports and consideration was also given to sports accomplishment by the nominees for participation beyond the local level. Special contributors do not have to be graduates of Ely High School but have made outstanding contributions to local sports. The latter group included coaches, advisors, media personnel, etc… and consideration was also given to sports accomplishments by the nominees for participation beyond the local level.
2. Nominees cannot be selected until 15 years have elapsed from the time the nominee would have graduated from high school and the date of his/her selection.
3. Information on the nominees will be gathered from school records, media accounts of sports activities, coaches and nominees themselves.
Turnbull added, “We hope we can do a great job and continue to build upon the work by previous committees for the ESHOF and the foundation they have set forth. Previous committees headed by George Marsnik discussed the idea of a plaque at the school that never came to fruition. We hope we can get that done.”
In the April 1, 1996 edition of the Ely Echo, Tom Coombe quoted Marsnik as saying; “I hope that the committee will continue to select hall of famers, perhaps on a more frequent basis so the group isn’t saddled with picking athletes from 10-20 year time periods in one selection period. From here it should be much simpler. We have set a procedure for future committees.”
Upon hearing that, Turnbull commented, “Once we get through the task of choosing an inductee class from three decades, I hope Coach Marsnik’s prophecy comes true and classes are elected more frequently. It has been nearly 30 years since the last ESHOF class has been selected. Let the nominations begin. The ESHOF committee is looking forward to your input.”
