1964 inductees
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Charles C. Hostetler
Baseball 1964
This Pennsylvania native who grew up in Ravenna had a rather topsy-turvy career. Got his start in baseball on Speed Bosworth's General Tire team. In 1928, at the age of 25, Roger Hornsby saw one of General's games and signed Hostetler on the spot. After a season at Providence he was back in Akron playing in the Central League. Later he moved to the Western League playing with Tulsa and Topeka and finally retired in the late '30s. However, unbelievably, the Detroit Tigers resurrected him at an age when most players have retired - 41 - in 1944. Hostetler, an outfielder responded by batting .298 in 90 games. A year later, Hostetler could only manage a .159 average in a pinch hitting role. However, the Tigers captured the American League pennant and went on to defeat the Chicago Cubs in the 1945 World Series. His two seasons in the majors were memorable ones for Chuck Hostetler.
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Abbie Aston
Bowling 1964
She has been referred to as "Mrs. Bowling" because she knocked down pins for nearly 50 years and was a pioneer of women's bowling. Along with another Hall of Famer, Florence Amrein, and others, she organized the Akron Women's Bowling Association in 1925. Abbie, needless to say, was its first president. Subsequently, Mrs. Aston organized or helped to organize the Greater Akron Bowling Council, Akron Women's 20-Year Bowling Club, Akron Women's 600 Bowling Club and the Grandmother's Individual Bowling Classic. Not only was Abbie, a Kinsman, Ohio native, an organizer but ranked with the finest women keglers in the area. In 1925 she won the first Beacon Journal Classic and 12 years later she made off with the Ohio women's singles crown with a 618 series.
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Robert K. Cope
Basketball 1964
Most famous of the Salem High School brothers, Bob came to the Goodyear Wingfoots in 1933 from Mount Union College where he had played on the 1931-32 Ohio Conference championship team with Hall of Famer Leroy Raber. At Goodyear he was in the twilight of his career playing alongside Chuck Bloedorn, Mel Rush, Charlie Shipp, Wes Bennett and Howard Ginaven - all Hall of Famers. In 1937 and again in 1938 he helped Goodyear win the National Basketball League Championships.
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Charles "Chic" Maglione
Boxing 1964
This North Akron-born fighter only had eight amateur fights behind him when he turned professional at the age of 17, beating Jimmy Rich in a Canton eight-rounder. Subsequently, Maglione fought 92 times as a featherweight and lightweight, losing only two decisions while outpointing 41 and kayoing 35 other opponents. Some of his career highlights were winning the Ohio amateur featherweight title the same night Hall of Famer Willie Ames captured the Ohio amateur bantamweight crown at the International Harvester in Akron in 1919, at age 22. Chic held the Ohio lightweight crown and was a leading contender for national honors. At the insistence of his wife, he hung up his gloves in 1920 but made two brief comebacks in 1926 and again in 1931.
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George Mollis
Swimming 1964
Boston-born, Mollis was quite a swimmer when he came to Akron from McKeesport, Pa., in 1926. By that time he had won two junior distance titles. At the old Central YMCA, he, along with Hall of Famer Any Fela, came under the tutelage of "Bus" Gladwin. He finished second in his first marathon effort and didn't lose another until 1930. His biggest victory was the 1928 state championship t Maumee Bay, near Toledo. In his prime, he was unbeatable on the state level but never competed nationally.
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Betty Lachok Russ
Swimming 1964
Most swimming buffs remember this Akron-born Garfield High graduate as Betty Lachok. She swam for Harold Minto's Firestone Aquatic Club from 1942 through 1948 but, she crowded most of her major achievements into one brilliant season - 1945. Highpoints in '45 were the national junior and senior long-distance championships she put together in the space of 10 days at Clementon Lake, N.J. In both events, Betty established new AAU marks. In one meet she broke nine records. Lachok climaxed the year by nearly beating her idol, Ann Curtis, in a 400 meter race in Los Angeles. She retired from competition after failing to qualify for the 1948 Olympics in the 100 and 400 meter freestyle events.
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Howard "Howe" Welch
Football 1964
There were five Welch brothers, three of them gridders - Charles, Stephen and Howard with the nicknames of Shang, Suey and Howe, respectively. Shang and Suey played at South High but Howe quit in the eighth grade to work at Goodrich. In 1914, the Burkhardts, a semi-pro team was organized by Suey around brothers Howe and Shang and Hall of Famer Carl "Squash" Cardarelli. After three seasons, Welch performed for and/or coached the Suey Welch-backed and managed Akron Indians, playing against many of professional football's early stars including fellow Hall of Famer inductees Al Nesser, Ralph Waldsmith, "Tumble" Crisp and Fred Sefton.
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Jimmy Aiken
Football, Coach 1964
There was never a dull moment for this Hall of Famer who's coaching career spanned 29 years including five years at Canton McKinley (1932-36) and three years at Akron U (1936-39). At McKinley his 1933 gridders only lost one game and in 1934 they were undefeated in 11 contests. At Akron U he brought in such players as Frank Zazula, Stan Junius and Dominic Patella - all Hall of Famers. However, it was Aiken's recruiting that got him in trouble and the Zips were expelled from the Ohio Conference. Undaunted, Aiken went out and scheduled such teams as Toledo, Davis & Elkins, Xavier, Carnegie Tech and Illinois Wesleyan. During his three-year tenure his teams compiled a 19-7-1 mark. He went on to coach at the Universities of Nevada and Oregon. Aiken, who was on Washington and Jefferson's 1921 football team that tied California, 0-0, in the Rose Bowl, died in 1961.
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Marvin Huffman
Basketball 1964
Born in New Castle, Indiana, Marv went on to Indiana University where he concentrated on basketball after a knee injury shortened his football playing days. Playing for the immortal Branch McCracken, Huffman captained the 1940 Hoosier team the defeated Kansas, 60-42 for the NCAA Championship in Kansas City. Huffman who scored 12 points in that contest was selected to the All-Tournament team. He then joined Goodyear, playing with Chuck Bloedorn and Ben Stephens on the 1940-41 team - the Wingfoots last in the National Basketball League a they disbanded during the war.
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Stanley B. Cofall
Football 1964
The Cofall story began in Cleveland where he starred in football at East Tech and East High from 1910-12. He went on to Notre Dame where he was soon installed in the lineup as a left halfback and later made several All-American teams in 1916. After college it was on to the pros. Stan played for and/or coached six different teams - Massillon Tigers, Youngstown Patricians, Philadelphia Union AA, Pottsville, Pa. Marrons and the Frankfort, Pa. Yellow jackets. On December 17, 1917 hi dropkicks of 31 and 34 yards while in Tiger uniform upended the Canton Bulldogs, 6-0, ending a five-year unbeaten string for Jim Thorpe, Pete Calac and supporting cast.