2012 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

STEVE JEFFERS
1982 Springfield High School graduate played baseball, football and basketball. In baseball, he was a two-time all-conference and all-city selection and a three-year starter on the varsity. He won the Mitch Cohen Award for leadership in 1982. He batted .324 as a sophomore, .393 as a junior (15 stolen bases) and .404 as a senior (10 doubles, 31 stolen bases). His 31 stolen bases as a senior are No. 4 in school history, and his 55 career stolen bases also rank fourth. His career .378 average ranks No. 3 in school history. In football he was All-Big 12 Conference in 1981. He was a two-year starter at safety and wide receiver. In basketball he was an All-Big 12 Conference selection, the 1981 and 1982 SHS Winter Sports MVP and finished his career with a .915 free throw percentage. He played baseball at Western Illinois and is a member of the WIU Hall of Fame. He set a school record with 181 hits and also set school records for six triples in a season and 46 runs in a season, and he appeared in 150 games during his career. In 1986 he was the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament MVP. He was a 30th-round draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals as an infielder and played professionally from 1986-88. He spent the 1988 season with the Class A Springfield Cardinals of the Midwest League. In his professional career he batted .228 with 17 stolen bases.

JENNIFER SMITH
1991 Lanphier graduate was a standout in volleyball, basketball and softball. As a senior in 1990-91 she led the girls basketball team to a supersectional berth -- Lanphier was the first Class AA city school to qualify for the supersectional--and a 25-6 record. She was all-city in softball four times, all-city in basketball three times and all-city in volleyball twice. She was both the basketball and softball Player of the Year in 1989-90 and 1990-91, and as a senior she was named first-team all-state in basketball by the Champaign News Gazette. She was named State Journal-Register Female Athlete of the Year in 1991. She played softball on he Illinois Central College team that finished seventh in the nation as a freshman, but she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and had to give up competitive collegiate athletics. Since her sophomore year in college she has undergone 24 surgeries -- including five joint replacements -- and is blind in her left eye. Nevertheless, she still bowls four nights a week at a very high level and is a regular on the golf course.

GENE STRODE
1955 Lanphier graduate was a three-year letter-winner in football and track. He also was football team co-captain as a senior, all-conference, all-city and all-state in football as a senior, named the city's Best Lineman by the Illinois State Journal and Illinois State Register and also was very active in school activities. He played football at Western Illinois Univerity for three years and was team captain and an all-conference selection. After graduation he began a 34-year career in coaching and athletic administration, first as an assistant at Bartonville Limestone, Peoria Central and Hinsdale Central and then he became the head coach at Hinsdale Central. He speit 21 years as the head football coach at Hinsdale and compiled a 113-74-2 record with five conference titles. He was assistant athletic director for six years and then athletic director from 1978-93. He was named to the Lanphier Hall of Fame in 1961, the Western Illinois University Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Illinois Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1988. He was named Illinois' Outstanding Athletic Director for the 1988-89 school year.

 

RICH SUHS
1979 Griffin High School graduate was the first Springfield athlete to win a state swimming title when he captured the 100-yard butterfly at the 1979 IHSA State Meet. He also was second in the 100 backstroke at the state meet in 1979 and third in 1978. He was a two-time High School All-American (100 backstroke in 1978, 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly in 1979). Suhs finished third at the YMCA National Championships in 1978 in the 100 backstroke, and he was second in the 100 backstroke and sixth in the 100 butterfly in 1979, when he was the YMCA Senior Swimmer of the Year. He attended Texas A&M in 1979-80 before transferring to Southern Illinois Carbondale, where he was a member of the swim team in 1981-82. He was Age Group Swimming Coach of the Year for Southeastern Swimming in 1989 and Coach of the Year for Michigan in 1993, 1995 and 1997. In addition, he was the Senior Swimming Coach of the Year for Michigan Swimming in 1995, 1996 and 1997 and the YMCA Swimming Coach of the Year in 1996. He won the American Swim Coaches Award of Coaching Excellence in 1996-97.

MIKE SUPPAN
1971 - Springfield High School graduate who earned all-city and All-Big 12 Conference football honors as a senior and was called "the best safety I ever coached" by veteran SHS coach John Sowinski. He had seven interceptions as a senior. Suppan also was a two-time letter-winner in baseball and earned all-city honors in 1971. He went to the University of Illinois as a walk-on and was a starting defensive back on the freshman team, earning a scholarship for the remainder of his college career. He won varsity letters as a junior and senior. After he graduated from the U of I in 1975, he took up racquetball and became one of the top players in the Springfield area. He won three city titles in the open division and was ranked in the top 10 for open racquetball players in the state twice. In 1992, he beat the reigning state champion in a Springfield YMCA tournament. He also became a competitive runner from 1976-2006, competing in five marathons, numerous half-marathons and many other road races.

TEAM

1997 SPRINGFIELD HIGH BOYS SOCCER TEAM
Went 25-2-3 on the way to the Class A State Tournament title, the first soccer state championship ever won by a Springfield school. The Senators won the Rockton Hononegah Tournament in Septermber, and as the season went SHS kept getting better. Over the final 14 games of the season Springfield outscored its oponents 68-3. In seven playoff games, SHS ourscored its opponents 28-1. The team won the Central State Eight Conference title, outscored opponents 123-19 and had 17 shutouts. It set a record for most goals scored in the state title game (7). In three state tournament games the Senators didn't allow a goal. Jason Vijil set a record by scoring six goals. Brian Bond set a record with three assists in the title game, and Vijil set a record by scoring three goals in the title game. Team members were Dan Bartolomucci, Brian Beck, Mike Berg, Brian Bond, Brent Borah, Grant Carter, Jason Cox, Andre Dickerson, Mike Gulley, Eric Kjellander, Cress Maddox, Todd Moore, Mike Nelson, Scott Oberreiter, A.J. Peterson, Jack Pierson, Nick Schafer, Brian Smith, Ryan Steinkamp, Ryan Stoddard, Jason Vijil and Johnny Williams. Coaches were Phil Eck and Al Loken.

FRIENDS OF SPORT

DR. RICHARD MECKES
Quincy native was a teacher and administrator at Williamsville from 1971-90 who spent 15 years coaching youth baseball in both Quincy and Springfield. He coached Khoury League baseball and softball teams on which his four children played, including the Hurley Shoemakers, U.S. Electric, Capitol Bank, Rhodes and Rodier and Capitol P and H. His favorite was the Larry L. Evans team he coached from 1973-79 that won six regular-season titles, had five undefeated seasons and won three state championships, three regional titles and three national titles and went 112-12 in six seasons.

 

BRUCE RICHARDS
1951 Lanphier High School graduate who played football and baseball in high school. After a tour of duty with the United States Navy, he returned to Springfield in 1954 and worked at Sangamo Electric and for the City of Springfield and the Springfield Fire Department. He began coaching in 1957 in the Sangamo Little League, and in 1967 he formed the Firefighters Local 37 team of the Connie Mack League for 17- and 18-year-olds. He devoted more than 50 years to coaching in the Connie Mack, Thorobred and Senior league as well as with the Springfield Caps of the Central Illinois Collegiate League and at Lincoln Land Community College. His 1971 Firefighters team played in the Connie Mack World Series, finishing sixth. He founded the Springfield Pally's baseball team, and in 1984 Pally's won the Thorobred World Series. In 1990, Pally's moved into the Senior League. He was an assistant baseball coach at Lincoln Land Community College for 32 years before retiring in 2005, and he served as a scout for the Baltimore Orioles, Montreal Expos and Philadelphia Phillies. Richards died Jan. 22, 2006, at the age of 72.