Sports Heroes

Nominations sought for new athletic Hall of Fame

The Harbor Springs School District is issuing a call for nominations to a new Harbor Springs High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

The board of education initiated the new Hall of Fame undertaking earlier this fall. A selection committee has been formed and is working with board members to get the first Hall of Fame induction held in mid- February.

“Every community and every school has its heroes,” superintendent Mark Tompkins said. “The board agreed that it is time for Harbor Springs to recognize its heroes in a formal, exciting manner.”

A nominee “must , during and following his/her career, make us proud by exemplifying the spirit of Harbor Springs and Harbor Springs High School athletics,” the nomination form reads.

In addition:

-If an athlete, he/she must have been a Harbor Springs High School graduate who graduated at least 10 years ago;

-If a coach, he/she must have coached at Harbor Springs High School for at least five years;

-If an at-large nominee, the person must have made significant contributions to the Harbor Springs High School athletics program.

“Everyone in the community is invited, entitled, encouraged to nominate a past Harbor Springs athlete, coach, or community member you feel is deserving of this honor,” Scott Cochran, Harbor Springs Athletic Director, said.

Cochran said the plan is currently to introduce the nominees at a high school basketball game on Friday night, Feb. 19. A dinner will then be held Saturday, Feb. 20. Plans also call for inviting a well-known guest speaker for the dinner.

Details on the dinner, speaker and presentations are being worked out by the Hall of Fame committee in cooperation with the board of education.

The selection committee, which does not include elected school board members, will consider all nominations, Cochran said.

“We are asking those who do nominate someone to provide as much background information as possible on the nominee,” Cochran said. “We want them to hopefully include all relevant information, statistics, media, etc. to support the nomination. Things like athletic records, awards, significant accomplishments, honors and achievements, as well as the years at Harbor Springs High School will all help the process and assist the selection committee.”

“We all realize we are working under a very tight time-frame this first year, but hopefully we will be able to kick this new Hall of Fame off with an exciting event and great inductees,” Cochran said.

Nominations will be taken until Jan. 4, 2010. A nomination form can found printed below this article.

Forms are also available at all Harbor Springs Public School offices (Blackbird, Shay, Middle School, High School and Superintendent’s offices) and Athletic Director’s office; and can be downloaded from the school website (www.harborps.org) and the Harbor Light Newspaper website (www.harborlightnews.com – go to Community FYI section on right hand side of the home page, Nomination Form (link)). For more information or questions, contact Scott Cochran, Athletic Director, (231) 526-4820; email schochran@harborps.org.

This is part of the November 25, 2009 online edition of Harbor Light Newspaper.

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