UP Sports Hall of Fame inductees honored

This week saw the induction of several standout sportsmen and women into the Upper Peninsula Hall of Fame, including representatives from national, regional and local teams and a wide array of sports.

Ten people who have made significant contributions to the advancement of sports in the U.P. thorugh individual or community accomplishments were honored, after being chosen by the Hall of Fame's executive council. They were inducted April 23 in Escanaba.

The inductees were: William Denton (Dolly) Gray, of Houghton; Alan Kimichik, of Norway; Jeff Nault, of Escanaba; Scott Weaver, of Sault Ste. Marie; Sara Boyer, of Rapid River; Kris (Bullock) Dunbar, of Sault Ste. Marie; Scott Hebert, of Escanaba; Jan Quarless, of Iron River; the late Dave Freeman, of Iron Mountain and Marquette; and John Flanagan, of Escanaba.

Boyer was honored for her basketball and all-around athletic accomplishments. She was a standout at Rapid River High School, competing in three sports. Boyer went on to play four years for the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and also was an assistant basketball coach there.

Dunbar followed her father, Tim Bullock, into the hall of fame, for her many roles in Sault Ste. Marie athletics, as a player, coach and administrator. She excelled in basketball at Sault High and Lake Superior State University before becoming LSSU's coach. She now is the university's athletic director.

Flanagan was the 1940 and 1941 U.P. ice skating champion, and had a star-studded career with "Hollywood Ice Revue" in 1943, followed by "IceCapades." He went on to form and direct "Stars on Ice" with his wife, Karen, and performed at international venues like Disney World and the Lido in Paris. Flanagan stopped performing at age 65,but continued to produce ice shows until he retired at 81.

Freeman was a ski jumper, setting local records and becoming national ski champion before being selected as an alternate for the 1952 U.S. Olympic ski team. He rounded out his athletic career with four years as a starting quarterback for NMU, American Legion baseball, high school football and baseball coaching and ski instructing before his death in 2004.

Gray pitched for the American League's Washington Nationals from 1909 to 1911, with a 15-51 record. He then spent nine seasons in the Pacific Coast League, winning 155 games and having 1,021 strikeouts in the professional minor league. He pitched 19 complete games as a 30-year-old rookie in 1909, and died in 1956.

Hebert is a six-time Michigan Open golf champion, and won the PGA Professional National Championship in 2008 and won five matches for the U.S. team at the PGA Cup 2009 championship. In his high school days, Hebert also played basketball and baseball. He is currently head golf pro at the Grand Traverse Resort in Traverse City.

Kimichik started out as an all-star at Norway High School, then spent three years as a tight end for MSU, setting the catch record. He was drafted by the Michigan Panthers and later traded to the Philadelphia Stars, where he was part of a title win in 1983.

Nault was an all-state and all-American football player from Escanaba. He played tight end for the University of Wisconsin and went on to coach football, as an assistant at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and head coach at the Hortonville, Wisc. high school. He now is assistant coach at Neenah High School.

Quarless coached college football for 27 years, at seven NCAA schools. He was head coach at Eastern Michigan University and Southern Illinois University. He also was offensive line coach for the Rhein Fire in NFL Europe. Quarless got a PhD in school administration and now is superintendent at Dollar Bay Schools.

Weaver was a hockey star for the Sault, who ended up on the Tigers roster. He played all-American baseball for University of Michigan in 1995 as well as being recruited to play Division 1 hockey. After debuting as rookie of the year in Junior A hockey for the Minot, N.D. Americans, he spent three years in the minor leagues for the Detroit Tigers, who drafted him in 1995.

Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Denny Grall, Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame