Inductees Bert Born's outstanding basketball career has been highlighted by many awards and honors. Although heavily recruited by Bradley, Born, a 6-foot-lO center, chose the University of Kansas and played a major role in Kansas's win of the 1952 NCAA championship title. In the 1953 NCAA championship game, Kansas lost to Indiana by one point, but Born was named the tournament's most valuable player. He was also chosen as an alternate for the 1952 U.S. Olympic team.
Born first played ball for Caterpillar during the 1954-55 season. During his five years on the team, he became the all-time scorer and rebounder. Born played on Caterpillar teams that won national AAU titles in 1956 and 1958 and twice received the honor of being named AAU All-American.
Neve Harms Award
The Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame Neve Harms Award, formerly the Peoria Advertising and Selling Club's Annual Meritorious Service to Sports Award, was named the Neve Harms Award in 1966 and for a very good reason.
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Awards prior to 1981 were offered through the Peoria Advertising Club, rather than the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame. We don't have biographies for these individuals. If anyone would be able to provide the bios that were written by the club at the time of the awards, we would very much appreciate receiving them for posting. We are also missing the Bruce Saurs' bio that was written in the 1991 Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame Banquet book, and we would like to receive it also. We are specifically interested in the bios written at the time of the awards, not more or less current. Please contact Rick at rkestner@pekinhigh.net. |
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