Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2010

This is the ninth year for adding inductees to the Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame, but it feels like a 10th anniversary for President Jack B. Tany and his 21 board members. That’s because they got started right at the turn of the millennium, and needed some time to get organized.

“It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s really rewarding,” says Tany, a 1975 product of the former St. Mary’s Cathedral High School. “When we see people giving acceptance speeches, we see how much it means.”

The count of individuals enshrined is approaching 100, and the number of teams has reached two dozen. Tany says the board may tighten the reins somewhat in years to come, after looking back to 1894, but he never expects to run short of deserving honorees.

“The depth of talent to come out of Saginaw County is phenomenal,” he says.

 Tany is updating his landmark book from 10 years ago, “Glory: The History of Saginaw County Sports.” He also is involved with the Heroes for Kids fund-raisers established by LaMarr Woodley and Clifton Ryan, and he notes with pride that Saginaw Valley State University is establishing an athletic hall of fame.

 This year’s banquet is set for 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 7, at Horizons Conference Center, Another audience of 700 is expected.

Honorees include:

• Vonnie DeLong, formerly Vonnie Thompson, who played four years of varsity basketball at Carrollton High School from 1979 through 1982. She was a two-time all-stater and she led her teams to three Class C state championships.

• Ricky Flowers, a standout in football, basketball and track at Saginaw High School during the middle 1970s. He continued his track career at Michigan State University, where his best times included :9.6 seconds in the 100-yard dash.

• Marco Marcet, an outstanding athlete at Flint Technical High School before World War II, was Frankenmuth High School’s first athletic director, basketball coach and baseball coach, serving from 1954 through 1991. He still volunteers at the school.

• Dan MacDonald was a Class A all-state lineman at MacArthur High School during the late 1960s, and he went on to play three seasons at defensive end for the University of Iowa. He achieved all-Big Ten Conference status in 1969.

• Ray Pope pitched minor league ball in the Chicago White Sox farm system for five seasons, after signing as a 17-year-old out of Arthur Hill High School. He later was a standout in the Saginaw City Baseball Federation.

Four other inductees have passed away:

• Russell “Lefty” Franz joins his brother, Sam, in the hall. Lefty won 11 varsity letters at the former SS. Peter & Paul High School, served more than three years in the Navy during World War II, and then launched a coaching career that included 545 basketball victories.

• Harry Hawkins, 6-feet tall and nearly 200 pounds, was big for his era at Arthur Hill High School from 1920 through 1922. His teammates in track and football called him “Jumbo.” He advanced in both sports at the University of Michigan, and won the Big Ten crown in the hammer throw.

• Robert “Bob” McAnary coached at Owendale-Gagetown during the 1950s, then moved on to Merrill High School in 1959. He served 26 years at the school, coaching football, basketball and track, even laundering the uniforms and driving the team bus.

• Stanley “Tod” Moskal started to set pins at Saginaw bowling establishments when he was only 11 years old. In 1942, he won the All-Events Bowling Congress world championship. And he was the Saginaw Bowling Association champ 11 times.

Team honors this year are awarded to Arthur Hill High’s Class A state championship swim teams from 1945 and 1946, coached by Dave Gainey. The Hillites in both seasons were rated as co-national champions.