• David W. Jenkins
  Ice Skating 1982

David is the third member of his family to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Not only is David's brother, Hayes Allen Jenkins (1960) a Hall of Famer, but so is his father, Hayes R. Jenkins (1977). David followed his brother into ice skating, a sport the Jenkins' dominated throughout the 1950s. He began to compete internationally in 1954 and eventually captured the U.S. men's championship four straight years (1957-60), the North American championships in 1957, '58 and '59. However, David's most cherished moment in his ice skating career is when he won the gold medal in the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley, California. In that same competition, Hall of Famer Carol Heiss, won the women's title. David turned professional following his gold medal performance, skating one year with the Ice Follies. In 1976, Jenkins' ice skating achievements were brought to the forefront again when he was inducted into the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame.

• George Kochan
  Boxing 1982

In his heyday his pals were Jack Dempsey, Jimmy Braddock and Tex Sullivan and he appeared in a movie with Richard Widmark. As you might suspect, boxing was Kochan's claim to fame. The Akron native fought professionally from 1941 to 1948 and compiled a record of 44 wins, 21 defeats and 11 draws. Although Kochan weighed 158 pounds in fighting trim, he sometimes fought heavyweights. Ring Magazine published Nat Loubet said, "George never side-stepped a possible opponent, fought everybody tossed at him and will be remembered by the fans of Madison Square Garden for this crowd-pleasing style." Although Kochan got top billing in New York, he never got a title fight. He fought and lost to Jake LaMotta, the future middleweight champion. while never a champion, Kochan fought some of the best fighters of his time.

• Pete Milich
  Soccer 1982

One needs only to check the record books to discover what caliber of soccer player Pete Milich was during his four-year Akron U career spanning the years 1960-1963. Milich still owns six of the eight individual standards: most goals one game - 7 vs. Frosburg State, 1962; most goals one season - 31, 1961; most goals career - 85, 1960-63; most assists one season - 13, 1961; most points one season - 44, 1961; and most points career - 119, 1960-63. Lettering all four years, the 6-0, 175 pound talent broke into the Zip starting lineup as a freshman and he earned first team All-Ohio all four years, first team All-Midwest three years, and in 1962 and '63 was selected to the All-American squad. During Milich's tenure as UA's right inside, the Zips captured the Ohio Collegiate Soccer Association Championship in 1960, '61 and '63. Needless to say, he was inducted into UA's Sports Hall of Fame in 1979.

• John Cistone
  Coach 1982

Cut John Cistone and it was said he would bleed green and gold, the school colors of St. Vincent-St. Mary's High School. For the past 39 years, the last 32 as head coach, Cistone has served on the St. Vincent-St. Mary coaching staff. After graduating from The University of Akron, where he was a pretty fair quarterback, Cistone returned to serve under Hall of Famer, Eddie Wentz. He succeeded his mentor in 1965 and surpassed Wentz in number of victories during the 1990 season. Sever years into his tenure Cistone would guide his gridders to the 1972 state championships, 1981, '82, and '88. In 1972, Cistone was accorded his highest coaching honor when both the Associated Press and United Press selected him Ohio High School Coach of the Year. Previous to the opening of the 1996 season, Cistone has compiled a record of 205-109-6 in 31 campaigns.

• Robert Flanders
  Basketball 1982

A native Akronite, Flanders excelled in football, track and basketball at Kent State in the mid-1930s. He lettered two years (1934-35) in track and two in football (1933-34) under Joe Begala. However, it was in basketball that Flanders starred. he was his alma mater's first sophomore to earn All-Ohio honors, that coming in 1934. Twice he led the Golden Flashes in scoring and in 1936-37 served as the captain of KSU's finest team up to that time. The 1936-37 KSU cagers compiled a 15-7 mark, including 10 consecutive wins, for the best record since 1913. Later, Flanders became a successful high school coach and administrator. His Mogadore High School teams won 70 percent of their games and his 1950 gridders were undefeated.

• Dave Adolph
  Football 1982

 Like his brother Tom, Adolph was an integral part of the legendary Ned Novell (SCSHOF '80) football teams at Mogadore - teams that won 30 straight games over 4 years. A career highlight for Adolph was when he kicked 10 extra points in one game, vs Middlefield on October 28, 1954.

In 1958, his senior campaign as a Zip gridder, Dave Adolph became the first and last Akron U player to earn the Mike Gregory Award - emblematic of the Ohio Conference’s most outstanding lineman. At 6-1, 185, pounds, small by today's standards, Adolph earned his award as an offensive guard. However, during his three-year varsity career, he also excelled as a linebacker on defense and an extra point and field goal kicker. He culminated his career as captain of the '58 team and earned first team All-Ohio Conference and second team All-Ohio honors. In June, 1981, Adolph was inducted into UA's Sports Hall of Fame.

• Lindell Houston
  Football 1982

In 1937 Lindell "Lin" Houston moved from Wolf's Lake, Illinois, to Massillon. The Massillon coach looked at the sturdy legs, muscular arms and broad shoulders and a few months later, Houston was in a football uniform. Thus began a football association between Coach Paul Brown and Lin Houston that would last through 1953. As a member of the famed Massillon Tigers, Lin was selected All-Ohio. He followed Brown to Ohio State, helping the Buckeyes compile a 6-1-1 record in 1951 to win the Big 10 championship and nation championship with a 9-1 record in 1942. That latter year, Lin was voted All-American honors as an offensive guard. Houston joined up with Brown as one of the original members of the Cleveland Browns in 1946. All eight seasons that Houston played with the Browns, Cleveland captured championships of some sort. The Browns were All-American Football Conference titlists from 1946-49 and then promptly captured the National Football League championship in Cleveland's first season (1950). Eastern Conference championships followed in 1951, '52, and '53 before the former Silver Lake resident hung up his cleats for all time.

• Bernard Watts
  Football 1982

A guard, Ohio native, Watts was a 60-minute guard in football for the North Carolina State Wolfpack in 1946, '48, '49, and '50. He earned All-Southern honors three years was all-state four years and gained All-American honorable mention honors three times. Bill Stern named him to Look Magazine's All-American defensive team after the 1948 season and he was similarly honored by the United Press. Watts was particularly noted for his defensive play. Wallace Wade, head coach at Duke University, awarded Bernie honorary letters three years running because he spent so much time as the "fifth man in the backfield." In 1946 he played on the Wolfpacks' Gator Bowl team that lost to the powerful Oklahoma Sooners.

• Richard "Moose" Paskert
  Coach 1982

Known affectionately as "Moose," Paskert directed most of his energy toward Kent State University. This association with KSU began in 1946 as a student-athlete in which he earned three letters each in football (1946-48) and baseball (1947-49) and two years in swimming ('46 - 48). The one-time Summit County resident stayed on as a coach after graduating from KSU - including serving as freshman football coach for 18 years. However, his first love was baseball. During his 23-year tenure as baseball coach, "Moose" developed such fine professional talents as the late Thurman Munson, a Hall of Famer, Rich Rollins (Minnesota Twins), Steve Stone (Chicago White Sox), Gene Michael (New York Yankees) and Art Kusyner (Chicago White Sox). His 1964 Golden Flash team captured the Mid-American Conference championship. Paskert was KSU's resident athletic historian and kept track of the school's athletes though his 20 years of work as secretary of the Varsity "K" Alumni Association. He was responsible for developing the KSU Sports Hall of Fame and the Portage County Sports Hall of Fame.