Fitch Hall of Fame weekend Oct. 11-12

September 11, 2013 at 12:00a.m.

AUSTINTOWN

Austintown Fitch High will induct its sixth class into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame the weekend of Oct. 11-12. On Friday, beginning at 5 p.m., a pregame Hall of Fame reception featuring the inductees will be held outside the Fitness Center. Following the game against Massillon, the public is invited to a social scheduled at Quaker Steak and Lube in Austintown.

The formal banquet is scheduled Saturday at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Austintown. The reception begins at 5 p.m., the dinner at 6 p.m. and the program at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $60 (food and drinks included) and can be purchased at Fitch High School or at the main Board of Education office. For more information call 330-727-7102.

The sixth class of the Austintown Fitch Athletic Hall of Fame includes two honorary inductees who were killed in Vietnam, James Prommerberg, class of 1962, football, and Charles Brown, 1962, football. The other inductees are Raymond Hartman, 1945, football and track; Michael Bugar, 1964, football; William Beinecke, 1967, football and baseball; Fred Billock, 1969, football and track; Bobby Alleman, 1971, football; Rex Luckage, 1978, wrestling; Victor Kuchmaner, 1982, football and baseball; Gary Kohl, 1983, basketball and baseball; Tim Shina, 1983, football; D’Nelle Seiple, 1988, basketball and softball; coach Chris Flauto, football and track; coach Ralph “Buck” Weaver, football; and the 1992 football team.

Brookfield fame banquet is Sept. 21

BROOKFIELD

The Brookfield Athletic Hall of Fame banquet will be held Sept. 21 at 6 p.m. at the high school. The inductees also will be introduced prior to the Warriors’ football game Sept. 20 against Struthers. Banquet tickets are $25 and can be purchased at the high school, at Laddies or at Logan & Company.

This year’s inductees are Harris Rogner (1931), Anthony Aiello (1940), Butch Brest (1961), Ron Kurtz (1961), Kristy Sirianni Gill (1992) and the 1978 state champion football team.

49ers, Broncos remain atop AP’s rankings

The San Francisco 49ers gave up ground to the Denver Broncos while holding down the top spot in the AP Pro32 power rankings after the first week of the regular season. The 49ers earned seven first-place votes and 347 points in Tuesday’s poll after rallying to beat the Green Bay Packers over the weekend.

The Broncos earned the other four first-place votes and 344 points after Peyton Manning’s virtuoso seven-touchdown performance sent them past the Baltimore Ravens in a rematch of last year’s dramatic AFC playoff game.

San Francisco had nine first place votes in last week’s balloting of media that regularly cover the league, while the Broncos had two and Seattle had one. One voter was absent this week.

Kiwis easily capture America’s Cup Race 5

SAN FRANCISCO

Defending America’s Cup champion Oracle Team USA could be in deep trouble against scrappy Emirates Team New Zealand.

The American powerhouse was so soundly beaten by the Kiwis in Race 5 Tuesday that Larry Ellison’s syndicate had to call timeout.

Ellison, the software billionaire who runs Oracle Corp., has made crew changes before, and some could be coming after a major blunder by his team let Team New Zealand speed off to a resounding victory of 1 minute, 5 seconds on San Francisco Bay on Tuesday.

Not long before the scheduled start of Race 6, Oracle Team USA radioed in to the race committee that it was playing its one postponement card of the regatta, meaning the race was scrubbed until Thursday.

The Kiwis crushed the momentum Oracle gained with its heart-stopping win in Race 4 on Sunday.

Team New Zealand leads 4 to minus-1 and needs five more wins to claim the oldest trophy in international sports for the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

Staff reports/Associated Press