News Release

Delta Five To Join U.P. Sports Hall

Escanaba, MI Aug 11, 2007 - The Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame induction banquet moves to Escanaba in 2008, and it will have a noticeably local flavor.

Half of the 10 inductees hail from Escanaba or Gladstone, the largest one-year Delta County delegation since the Hall of Fame started in 1972. The 37th induction banquet will be held April 26 at The Danforth Place.

Delta County’s representatives will be skier Terry Ahola of Gladstone and log roller Don Jacobs, the late football player Joe LaFleur, sportswriter Bob McGinn and hockey-softball player Joe Ricci of Escanaba.

They will be joined by basketball player Sonja (Paquin) Duncan of Cedarville, the late football player Clifford “Red” Erickson of Newberry, coach, official and softball player Fran “Pudgy” L’Huillier of Marquette, basketball player Shana (DeCremer) Ojala of Trout Creek and baseball player Dan Rambo of Sault Ste. Marie.

The Hall of Fame banquets were held in Marquette until 2002 and in Iron Mountain the past five years. It was moved to Escanaba because the Iron Mountain facility, the only location large enough to hold the event in that area, will be demolished.

The Hall of Fame display of memorabilia, artifacts, historical items and inductee plaques will remain in Iron Mountain, in Famers Restaurant at Pine Mountain Resort.

TERRY AHOLA, Gladstone. Terry Ahola came from a small hometown hill to become a U.S. Ski Team racer. He competed on the Europa Cup/World Cup series before sustaining a serious knee injury in 1983. He joined the North American Pro Tour in 1984 and was selected rookie of the year. He remained on the tour until 1991, then joined the Legends of Skiing at Vail and became a valued ambassador of the sport.

SONJA (Paquin) DUNCAN, Cedarville. An all-state basketball (1,351 points) and track performer at Cedarville High School, Sonja (Paquin) Duncan earned All-America basketball honorable mention at Saginaw Valley State University in 1986, where she ranked in the top 10 in seven career categories, including first in games played (127) and third in points (1,721), and first in single-season scoring (621). She then coached girls basketball at Rudyard, Pickford and Cedarville.

CLIFFORD “Red” ERICKSON, Newberry. Nicknamed “the battering ram of the North,” Clifford Erickson was selected to the Alma College Sports Hall of Fame in 1975. Regarded by many as “the greatest athlete to come out of Newberry,” Erickson played football at Newberry from 1922-25 and Alma from 1926-29. He was a guard on Alma’s 1927 MIAA champions, then earned all-league honors as a fullback in 1929.

DON JACOBS, Escanaba. A member of Escanaba High School’s all-time all-star football team, Don Jacobs made a bigger splash as a log rolling champion. He won 11 World Senior Division titles and placed in the top three several times in trick-and-fancy birling from 1961-2003. He also performed at major sport shows around the country and received the sport’s prestigious Russ Ellison Award in 1987.

JOE LAFLEUR, Escanaba. A versatile three-year player for the NFL’s Chicago Bears, Joe LaFleur is believed to be Delta County’s first professional football player. The Bears won the NFL title in 1924, LaFleur’s last season, when he played guard, center and punted. He also played fullback and halfback on the 1923 team which finished second to Jim Thorpe’s Canton Bulldogs. He was also a four-year football, basketball and baseball player at St. Norbert College from 1913-17.

FRANCIS “Pudgy” L’HUILLIER, Marquette. A four-sport athlete at Marquette Gravearet High School, Francis “Pudgy” L’Huillier was an outstanding fastpitch softball player. He played on eight U.P. championship teams and three state champions, and was one of the premier power hitters in the game. He also spent more than 30 years as a coach and basketball official.

BOB McGINN, Escanaba. An all-around athlete at Escanaba Holy Name High School, Bob McGinn became an award-winning sportswriter covering the Green Bay Packers for the Milwaukee JournalSentinel and Green Bay Press-Gazette. A former writer for the Escanaba Daily Press and Gladstone Delta Reporter, McGinn is a five-time Wisconsin Sportswriter of the Year (1992-94, 1996, 1999) and received first-place writing awards from the Pro Football Writers of America (1998 and 2004).

SHANA (DeCremer) OJALA, Trout Creek. An NCAA Division II Kodak basketball All-American at Northern Michigan University in 1997, Shana (DeCremer) Ojala played two years at NMU and two years at Michigan Tech. She was the GLIAC Player of the Year in 1996-97, a three-time GLIAC all-star, a three-time regional all-star and a two-time GLIAC all-defensive team player. She was U.P. Class D player of the year and Class D all-state at Ewen-Trout Creek High School in 1992.

DAN RAMBO, Sault Ste. Marie. A four-year baseball letterman as a pitcher at Central Michigan University, Dan Rambo also pitched for seven years as a professional in the minor leagues, reaching as high as Class AAA. A second-team Mid-American Conference pick in 1988 at CMU, he was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in 1989 and was California League Pitcher of the Year for San Jose in 1990. After playing independent baseball, he became baseball coach at Pickford High School.

JOE RICCI, Hancock/Escanaba. A 1944 All-U.P. football player at Hancock High School, Joe Ricci played football and hockey at Michigan Tech University. He also played independent baseball in the Copper Country, (earning MVP honors in the Copper Country Senior Baseball League in 1948), as well as Escanaba, and helped Escanaba Harnischfeger win the Class A state fastpitch softball championship in 1954. He also helped the Escanaba Hawks win hockey’s Gibson Cup in 1954 and also played for the Portage Lake Pioneers and Marquette Sentinels.

Contact:
Dennis Grall — dgrall@dailypress.net

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