Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame

Honoring the individuals and teams that contribute to our local sports history.

The Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame celebrates the rich sports heritage of Peoria, Tazewell and Woodford counties. We will promote and encourage the many varied sports programs in our area, share our pride and honor the accomplishments of the individuals, teams and organizations that contribute to our enjoyment and area sports history.

Neve Harms, Tri-County award winners named

Six individuals from the Tri-County area will receive annual awards during the 44th Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame banquet on March 21 at the Peoria Civic Center.

Jane Bertolino and Jo Huber have been named co-winners of the Neve Harms Award for Meritorious Service to Sports.

Tri-County Athlete of the Year and Coach of the Year award winners also are announced by the GPSHOF Board of Directors. Male athlete is former Illini Bluffs High School wrestler Jackson Carroll. Female Athlete is former Illinois Valley Central High School volleyball player Kenna Wollard. Male coach is Mike Melick of El Paso-Gridley High School track and field. Female coach is Olivia Morris of Eureka cross country.

Hall of Fame inductees – five individuals and four teams – were previously announced.

Neve Harms Award

Jane Bertolino and Jo Huber moved to the Peoria area after graduating from Eastern Illinois University in 1980. Since 1986, they have helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for area charities, as they participated, volunteered, organized and helped run fundraising events for the Susan G. Komen Foundation and for the St. Jude Midwest Affiliate.

After years as volunteers and chairing various committees, Jane and Jo in 2001 co-chaired the 16th Annual Susan G. Komen Peoria Race for the Cure. The $680,000 raised that year remains a record for the one-day event, and the 32,000 participants made it the largest all-women Race for the Cure in the United States.

In 2000, they represented Peoria as volunteers at the first International Race for the Cure event in Rome, Italy. Also that year, both participated in inaugural Race for the Cure events in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Frankfurt, Germany, and Jane began running in the annual St. Jude Memphis to Peoria Run. She continues to run the event each year.

In 2008, Jane and Jo organized the St. Jude Golf Classic to promote awareness and raise funds for the St. Jude Midwest Affiliate in Peoria. That event has raised more than $100,000 to date.

Both women were teachers when they first moved to the area. From 1980-87, Jane was head coach for girls basketball and volleyball at Peoria Heights High School. Jo, who had played one season for the St. Louis Streak in the Women’s Professional Basketball League, volunteered as an assistant women’s basketball coach at Illinois Central College and Bradley University, then coached volleyball, softball and girls basketball at Woodruff High School.

They co-own and teach full-time at Balda Driving School.

Male Athlete of the Year: Jackson Carroll, Illini Bluffs senior, won his second successive IHSA state wrestling championship, claiming the 150-pound title in Class 1A. His 53-0 record tied for 12th all-time in a single season in IHSA history. He was 51-2 while winning the 144-pound class as a junior. He is currently a redshirt freshman at Bellarmine University.

Female Athlete of the Year: Kenna Wollard, a graduate of Illinois Valley Central, was named second-team all-America last fall after her junior season at Purdue University. Kenna ranked sixth in the nation with 577 kills and led Purdue to the NCAA Regional finals. She was a unanimous all-Big Ten selection and was named Midwest Region Player of the Year by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. This is the second time Kenna has won this award, previously taking the honor after her senior season at IVC.

Male Coach of the Year: Mike Melick mentored the El Paso-Gridley girls track and field team to the IHSA Class 1A state championship. His athletes won three state titles and set six school records at the state meet. The state championship is the first for any girls sports program in school history.

Female Coach of the Year: Olivia Morris coached the Eureka boys cross country team to the 1A state title with Eureka, edging Elmwood by 12 points. Developing extraordinary depth, the Hornets had only one runner in the top 25 but placed four in the top 55 to win the championship. Olivia previously earned Tri-County Female Coach of the Year honors for 2018.

The 44th Annual GPSHOF Induction Banquet will begin with a 5 p.m. cocktail hour at the Civic Center ballroom. Dinner begins at 6 p.m., with the award presentations and induction ceremonies to follow.

Tickets are $55 per person if purchased before March 11. The cost rises to $65 after that date. Reservations are required.

The reservation form can be downloaded from the Hall of Fame website. Payment may be made by credit card or a check payable to GPSHOF. The form should be filled out completely and mailed to: Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame, P.O. Box 9338, Peoria, IL 61612-9338.

For more information, contact Lynn Thompson at (309) 256-6823 or lthompson87@yahoo.com.

Individual Hall of Fame inductees represent five different sports

What do baseball, billiards, bowling, football and softball have in common?

Each of those sports will be represented when five all-time greats are inducted into the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame during ceremonies at the Peoria Civic Center on March 21.

The individual inductees are softball star Brigit Cornish Grunow, longtime college and National Football League coach Pete Hoener, billiards champion Judex James, veteran Major League Baseball pitcher Zach McAllister and high-scoring bowler Gary Smith.

They will be joined for induction by four teams whose selections were announced last month: the 2002 and 2003 Eureka High School girls track and field teams, the 2004 Peoria Notre Dame boys soccer team and the 2006 Illinois Valley Central baseball team.

Also being honored at the banquet will be the annual winner of the Neve Harms Award for Meritorious Service to Sports and the Tri-County Athletes and Coaches of the Year. Those award-winners will be announced later this month.

Brigit Cornish Grunow was an All-State softball player at Dunlap High School, which she led to fourth place at the IHSA state tournament as a junior in 1992. A three-year offensive MVP for the Eagles, she batted over .400 as a sophomore and over .500 as a junior and senior.

Playing for Hall of Fame coach Lorene Ramsey at Illinois Central College, Brigit was a two-time NJCAA All-American, helping lead the Cougars to third- and sixth-place finishes at the national tournament. She was the first player twice selected to the NJCAA All-Star Team that played in the prestigious Canada Cup International Tournament and was named game MVP in the tournament five times.

Her career at ICC led to a scholarship to the University of Iowa, which she helped lead to consecutive appearances in the NCAA Women’s College World Series. Switching from righthanded to lefthanded as a batter, Brigit hit .353 as a junior and .315 as a senior, when the Hawkeyes won the Big Ten Conference with a 22-0 record, the only perfect regular-season in league history.

Pete Hoener played football at Richwoods High School and for the last team fielded by Bradley University, in 1970. After graduation from BU in 1974, he embarked on a coaching career that took him to eight colleges over 24 years and five National Football League teams over 22 years, including nine with the Carolina Panthers under head coach Ron Rivera.

Renowned for his work with tight ends, Pete mentored the Panthers’ Greg Olsen, who became the first tight end in NFL history to chalk up three successive 1,000-yard receiving seasons. His NFL service included time with the Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, San Francisco 49ers and The Washington Football Team, working as an offensive line coach and tight ends.

Pete’s coaching career began at the University of Missouri. He would move on to Illinois State, Indiana State, Illinois, Purdue, Texas Christian, Iowa State and Texas A&M, specializing in offensive line and tight ends, but also coaching running backs at A&M.

Judex James was a spectacular billiards player, at one time ranking as high as 12th on the senior professional tour. He defeated five USA Open winners or Players of the Year in tournament play, including Steve Mizerak, Jim Marino, Corey Duca, Dallas West and Nick Varner.

In one game, after his opponent broke, Judex ran 150 balls. From 1969-80, he won nine of 12 Peoria City tournaments and finished second twice.

In 2016, at the age of 74, he represented West Peoria’s Racks on Rocks team in Las Vegas, where they won the Billiards Congress of America Pool League national championship by topping 421 other teams in the Men’s Mixed Open 8-Ball Division.

Zach McAllister made his first big splash in 2006, when he was named Gatorade Illinois Baseball Player of the Year after leading Illinois Valley Central to the IHSA Class A state championship. He posted a 12-1 record with a 1.04 ERA and 116 strikeouts as a pitcher, while also batting .486 with 12 doubles, six home run and 38 RBI. That followed a junior season in which he had a 0.74 ERA and .475 batting average.

Drafted in the third round by the New York Yankees shortly after the state championship, Zach rose through the farm system and in 2009 was named their Minor League Pitcher of the Year while pitching for Trenton in the Eastern League. He was traded to the Cleveland Indians in 2010 and made his big-league debut on July 7, 2011. That season, he mostly pitched for the Tribe’s farm club in Columbus and was named by Baseball America to the Triple-A All-Star Team.

Zach earned his first major-league victory on May 7, 2012 against the Chicago White Sox. Coming up as a starter, Zach in 2013 went 9-9 with a 3.75 ERA in 24 starts. He would appear in 287 games in a nine-season MLB career, mostly as a relief pitcher. He made two postseason relief appearances with the Indians in 2016, one in the ALCS and one in Game 2 of the World Series against the Chicago Cubs. He also pitched briefly in the bigs with the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees.

Gary Smith was arguably the most skilled bowler in area history. He threw 26 perfect games, including four in Professional Bowlers Association competition and additional 300s in the Peoria City, Illinois State and nationally televised ABC Masters tournaments. He authored four 800 series, with a high of 847.

An original captain in the prestigious local Masters League, Gary also won four PBA regional championships.

Gary died on December 8, 2024. He was 71. At the time of his death, the Peoria River City Bowling Association posted on Facebook that Gary’s “impact on the sport was immeasurable.”

The 43rd Annual GPSHOF Induction Banquet will begin with a 5 p.m. cocktail hour at the Civic Center ballroom. Dinner begins at 6 p.m., with the award presentations and induction ceremonies to follow.

Tickets are $55 per person if purchased before March 11. The cost rises to $65 after that date. Reservations are required.

For more information, contact Lynn Thompson at (309) 256-6823 or lthompson87@yahoo.com.

Four teams earn induction to Hall of Fame

Three state championship teams and one state runnerup will be inducted into the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame when the organization hosts its annual banquet March 21, 2026, at the Peoria Civic Center ballroom.

Set for induction that evening are the 2004 Peoria Notre Dame boys soccer team, the 2006 Illinois Valley Central baseball team and two Eureka girls track and field teams, the 2002 state champ and 2003 state runnerup. Individual inductees will be announced in January.

Annual award winners, including Tri-County coaches and players of the year and the Neve Harms Award for Meritorious Service to Sports, also will be honored at the banquet. Social hour begins at 5 p.m., with dinner at 6 and induction ceremonies to follow. Ticket prices and reservation information will be announced in January.

2004 Peoria Notre Dame soccer

In its seventh consecutive Elite Eight appearance, Notre Dame finally broke through for its first state soccer championship, winning the 2004 Class A title. It was the first state crown won by a soccer team from the Peoria area.

The Irish clinched the championship with a 3-2 triumph over Sycamore on a Patrick Masso goal with 40.8 seconds left in the fourth overtime. Goalkeeper Adam Robertson was credited with nine saves in the game.

Coached by Peter Nash and led on the field by Journal Star Player of the Year Kellington Boddie, Notre Dame finished with a 24-2-2 record. The Irish season included shutting out eight opponents in a row.

2006 Illinois Valley Central baseball

Illinois Valley Central dominated the 2006 Class A baseball tournament, winning the regional and sectional title games, plus the supersectional, by a combined score of 31-0. The Grey Ghosts beat Trenton-Wesclin, 8-3, for the state championship.

Coached by Hall of Famer Jerry Rashid, IVC opened the season with a 21-game winning streak, finished with a 40-2 record and won the Mid-Illini Conference. The Grey Ghosts’ only losses were to M-I opponents Washington and Limestone, both Class AA schools. At season’s end, they were ranked No. 40 in the nation by Baseball America.

Senior Zach McAllister, a future major-league pitcher, posted a 12-1 record with a 1.05 ERA. Freshman Chris Razzo was 13-1 with a 0.97 ERA and a no-hitter over Coal City in the supersectionals.

The team set school records in batting average (.364), slugging percentage (.548), RBI (323), ERA (1.19) and strikeouts (316). Five players hit better than .410, led by McAllister’s .486 average. Tyler Anderson drove in 46 runs.

2002, 2003 Eureka girls track and field

The two Eureka girls track and field teams gained induction together as an Era of Excellence. The Hornets won the Class A state championship in 2002, then followed up with a second-place finish in 2003.

Both teams were deep with talent that spread across the spectrum of events. Abby Heinold finished her career with 14 state medals, including first place in the 400 meters and as anchor of the champion 4 x 400 relay team in 2002. She also won two medals in the pole vault. Megan Reese, who had won the state high jump as a sophomore in 2001, missed the 2002 meet with a broken foot, but returned in 2003 to win the event again.

The Hornets took the 2002 team championship with 48.5 points, easily outdoing second-place Braidwood Reed-Custer by 17.5 points. In 2003, Eureka scored 52 points but took second in the team standings behind the record-shattering 86.5 points scored by Freeburg. Don Samford coached the Eureka teams.

Nominations Page and Form

Download Banquet Reservation Form

Grant money for area youth sports

The Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame is reinstating a grant program to provide financial assistance to youth sports organizations in the Tri-County area. The program was launched in 2016 and suspended when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020.

Youth sports programs from Peoria, Tazewell and Woodford counties are eligible to apply for the grants, which will be funded by benefactor contributions and revenues generated by the GPSHOF annual banquet.

Programs interested in receiving a grant should submit a request by the deadline of March 1, 2025. Applications will be reviewed by the GPSHOF Board of Directors, and three winners will be announced at the awards banquet on March 29.

Written request letters must include: