• Wilson "Sparky" Sparhawk
  Basketball 1975

One of Howard "Red" Blair's all-around athletes at The University of Akron during the 1930s. Playing center Sparky was a good enough to be named All-Ohio and All-Ohio Conference in 1933 as well as captain of the Zip team. He also lettered in basketball, track and baseball on the Hilltop.

• Louise Molenaur
  Bowling 1975

This distaff bowling duo gained fame and entry into the Hall of Fame by winning the Central States Doubles Championship in 1960. They also won the City Doubles title that same year in what may have been their best effort. They won many honors prior to that time including many selections to the Beacon Journal Ladies All-Star teams in the early 50s. They were members of the great ABC Cleaners team, certainly one of the best in the history of local bowling. Other members were Donna Zimmerman, Ruby Loy, Dotty Focht and Goldie Duffy - all Hall of Famers. Later, as the Bowlers Pride Grip team, they finished fourth in the WIBC Tourney in Denver. Lou's personal scoring highs are 685 series and a 279 game and Jo's personal scoring highs are a 665 series and a 279 game.

• Josephine "Jo" Stafinski
  Bowling 1975

This distaff bowling duo gained fame and entry into the Hall of Fame by winning the Central States Doubles Championship in 1960. They also won the City Doubles title that same year in what may have been their best effort. They won many honors prior to that time including many selections to the Beacon Journal Ladies All-Star teams in the early 50s. They were members of the great ABC Cleaners team, certainly one of the best in the history of local bowling. Other members were Donna Zimmerman, Ruby Loy, Dotty Focht and Goldie Duffy - all Hall of Famers. Later, as the Bowlers Pride Grip team, they finished fourth in the WIBC Tourney in Denver. Lou's personal scoring highs are 685 series and a 279 game and Jo's personal scoring highs are a 665 series and a 279 game.

• Bobby Nichols
  Bowling 1975

He first hit the big time when he won the Southwest Conference Championship while a student at Texas A and M. He turned pro a few years later and won his first title as a pro in the 1962 St. Petersburg Open. He won 12 other championships on the Pro Tour and is still competing. His biggest victory came in the 1964 PGA Tourney at Columbus, Ohio. Three years later he finished second in the Masters and in 1968 was appointed head professional at Firestone Country Club. In 1971 he was named a member of Golf Magazine's All-American team and has also won the Canadian Open Championship. He was a member of the 1967 Ryder Cup team where he won all four of his matches.

• Karen Oldham
  Track & Field 1975

A gold medal victory in the javelin with a throw of 161'3" in the 1955 Pan American Games in Mexico City was one highlight of Karen Anderson Oldham's outstanding athletic career. In her specialty, the javelin, Karen finished eighth in the 1956 Olympics and four years later in Rome she was 13th. From 1954 until 1966 she held the American record in the javelin. She no longer tries to throw a javelin out of sight but in recent years Karen has concentrated on golf. Her many club championships and her Akron District tourney wins attest to her skill.

• Ara Parseghian
  Coach 1975

A fabulous career in football and football coaching carried him to the very pinnacle of his sport. After 24 years of coaching - 11 with Notre Dame - he stepped down in 1974 after having accomplished virtually every coaching goal. During his period at Notre Dame his teams won 95 games, lost 17 and tied four, second only to the legendary Rockne. When he hung up his collegiate coaching cap, his 170 victories were topped by only four other coaches. A native Akronite, he was a football and basketball player under "Doc" Wargo at South High and played football under Paul Brown at Great Lakes Naval Station. He enrolled at Miami Where he competed in football, basketball and baseball. He was and All-Ohio halfback in 1947 and received All-American mention. After two years with the Cleveland Browns, Ara returned to Miami as assistant to Woody Hayes in 1950 and took the head job the following year. After five ultra successful seasons at Miami, he coached eight years at Northwestern where he had five winning seasons.

• Jackie Lee
  Football 1975

A star quarterback at Ellet High School under Joe Burks, he enrolled at the University of Cincinnati in the late 1950s and became one of the finest signal callers in the history of that school, being named to the All-Ohio team in 1960/ That same year he was selected to play in the senior bowl game where he was named the Most Valuable Player - completing 13 of 21 passes for 283 yards and two touchdowns. A first round draft pick of the Houston Oilers in the American Football League, he played with Houston though the 1963 season. He played with Denver the next two seasons, was back to Houston for one year and finished his 11 year pro football career with four more seasons at Kansas City.

• Charles Slack
  Basketball 1975

Wanted to pursue a college football career but nagging injuries made him switch to basketball - the result as a career at Marshall University that twice carried him to the Mid-American Conference and national rebounding records that are still standing. During the 1954-55 cage season he hauled down a NCAA record 25.6 rebounds a game and for his career with the Thundering Herd, Slack averaged 17.7 points and an amazing 21.8 rebounds. In 1960, as a member of the Goodyear Wingfoots, he established two National Industrial Basketball League records in a single game when he scored 42 points and grabbed 35 rebounds against the Tuck Tapes. Slack also was an alternate of the 1960 U.S. Olympic team.

• Lester W. N. Scarr
  Coach 1975

The first baseball coach to be named to the Ohio High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame and certainly one of the greatest ever to coach in the Akron area. In 19 years at Barberton High School his teams won 253 games, lot 167 and had five ties. The Magics won four regional championships, advancing to the Ohio Championship game in both 1947 and 1959. On the 1947 team that lost to Upper Arlington, 2-0, in extra innings were Hall of Famers "Bo" Schembechler and Hal Naragon. He was also honored with induction into the Kent State Hall of Fame.

• Jack Shanafelt
  Football 1975

An outstanding football player and honor student at Springfield High School, he entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1950. Before he had finished at Penn in 1954 he had played tackle for the Red and Blue against such teams as Ohio State, Navy, Michigan, Notre Dame, Army and Penn State and at 6-1 205 pounds, he was outweighed in 27 of the 28 games he started for the Quakers. Also cited by the Football Writers' Association, he was picked on the All-America team for Look Magazine. He received such other honors as All-East in both 1952 and 1953, and the All Ivy League team both of those years. He finished his football playing days with the Army All-Stars in Japan.

• Wyatt Webb

Coach, Basketball 1975

He earned four varsity basketball letters at The University of Akron, helping the Zips to a 22-3 mark his senior season. He went on to quickly get his masters at the University of Cincinnati where he was schooled under Ed Jucker and during the next two years he got more coaching knowledge from Fred Taylor at Ohio State while he earned his doctor's degree. The following year he became assistant coach at Akron U and then - at the ripe old age of 26 - became the 13th head basketball coach at his alma mater. Over a seven year span his Zip teams produced 126 victories and 60 defeats. He took his teams to the national college division finals three times, finishing runner-up in 1972 when the team won 26 of 31 games - most ever in the school's history.

• Robert E. Lewis

Track & Field 1975

One of the finest athletes in the history of track at Ohio State University in the late 1930s, he co-captained the team in 1939 winning the Big Ten Championship in the 220-yard dash in both 1938 and '39. Back in the day when sub 10-second dashes were rare, Lewis won the 100 during the 1939 Big Ten meet with a time of 9.4, and then later anchored the Ohio State mile relay team to the championship in the Drake Relays in record-breaking time.

• James Cullom

Football 1975

Excelled as a player on the gridiron, lettering three years at Kent State University in 1951-53. In 1953 he was named fullback on the All Mid-American Conference team. But it was coaching where Cullom really came into his own. In 1968 his Green High School team won the Suburban League Championship and he was named the Summit County Coach of the Year. His untimely death cut short a promising coaching career.

• Verlin Jenkins

Football, Official, Basketball 1975

 A three sport star at South High at the end of the First World War, Jenkins went on to Akron University where he lettered in three sports - track, football and basketball. He was a standout fullback on the grid team and an outstanding guard in basketball. In 1923 the football team, under Fred Sefton, won four, lost three and tied one with Jenkins earning All-Ohio honors. During that same season he led the Zip basketballers to an 11-1 season mark. Following graduation in 1924, Jenkins turned to officiating football and for the next 30 years was one of the best-known officials on the high school and collegiate front.

• Joe Kotys

Gymnastics 1975

Gymnastics ranked as his first love, but he also won awards in the water. Three times Koyts was the Ohio collegiate diving champion as a member of the Kent State team. But he probably did as much or more than anyone else to gymnastics to where it is in the Greater Akron area today. He was only 5-7 and 150 pounds when he won the Pan American Games gold medal in 1955. He was a member of the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team in 1948, an alternate in 1952 and again made the team in '56 but withdrew because of an injury.