Trumbull HOF welcomes 12 in 10th class

October 29, 2012 at 12:05a.m.

WARREN

The Trumbull County Sports Hall of Fame held its 10th annual induction ceremonies with 12 new members earning enshrinement Sunday at Warren’s DiVieste Banquet Center.

Eight with a tie to football either as a player or coach, three basketball players, a track and field coach and two with a basketball/volleyball pedigree earned their place in the local hall of fame, bringing to 124 the number to have been so honored since its inception in 2003.

All honorees, which included two posthumous selections, agreed on one very important principle; they did not earn their way into the hall of fame without the help of the many coaches and teammates who taught or surrounded them during their stellar careers.

“There’s no secret as to why we are up here. It’s because of the youngsters that we have coached and the coaches that we have been surrounded by,” Phil Annarella, former head football coach of the 1990 state champion Warren G. Harding Raiders and current Austintown Fitch coach said.

“I humbly accept this honor, but they should all be up here standing with me as well,” added Annarella, who notched his 200th coaching victory this past Friday when his Falcons defeated Cardinal Mooney.

Former Warren JFK and YSU basketball star Bruce Timko was unable to attend due to a business conference in Texas for his employer, NCR Corporation.

His high school coach, Dennis Jasinski, accepted on his behalf and called his star pupil a one of a kind hoopster.

“He wasn’t the biggest, fastest or even the strongest, but he was second to none on the court. It’s a shame that you cannot measure heart because he represented his family, JFK, YSU and Trumbull County in a first-class manner all of the time,” Jasinksi said.

Bob Razum, former Howland Tigers and Hiram College star, called out his sandlot baseball coach, Fred Faiver, thanking him for getting him to Hiram College.

“Coach [Fred] Faiver took me on a visit to Hiram College and that’s where I met Terriers baseball coach, Bill Proverbs. I just knew that this was the place for me, both educationally and athletically,” Razum said.

“There is no ‘I’ in team and being surrounded by good people who made me look better didn’t hurt.”

Judy Santiago-Hoover, a member of the 1988 Division III Mathews Mustangs state championship basketball team seemed to put everything into the proper perspective.

“I never thought about individual or team accomplishments back then, but some 25 years later they truly remain very special,” she stated.

Other honorees included Phil Koppel (posthumous, coaching), Pat Meyer (football), Chuck Montgomery (basketball/volleyball), Bob Sanders (track & field), Bob Shaw (football), Joe Thomas (posthumous, football adminstration), Deryck Toles (football) and Dennis Whetstone (football).